The Final Five: Our Last Round Of Mainstream Gaming Cases
Inside The 400R
Corsair's 400R supports up to six hard drives on removable trays, in addition to four 5.25” external drives.
From this angle, we can also see part of the 120 mm bottom intake fan mount, located a couple inches forward from the power supply’s intake vent.
400R Intakes
LED backlighting on the 400R’s twin 120 mm intake fans adds some flair, though a switch on the case’s front panel lets you turn them off if you want.
Atop The 400R
Corsair designed its 400R to support two 120 or 140 mm fans, spacing both sets of holes appropriately for dual-fan radiators.
Yet, with only 1.3” of clearance in both directions (above and in front of the board), you might find it difficult to mount anything thicker than a pair of fans there. We suggest checking your motherboard for DIMM and sink clearance before attempting to pair this case with the firm’s Hydro H100 kit.
400R Cable Management
A moderate amount of motherboard tray offset complements the 400R’s larger side panel, creating lots of hidden space for cable routing.
400R Filtration
An extra-long dust filter on the 400R’s bottom panel covers its optional intake fan mount, as well as its power supply intake fan. It slides easily out the case's rear edge for cleaning.
Stay On the Cutting Edge: Get the Tom's Hardware Newsletter
Get Tom's Hardware's best news and in-depth reviews, straight to your inbox.
The 400R’s front panel also has filter mesh, though it’s not as easily removed.
In Win Buc
At least from a marketing standpoint, In Win seems to be two companies. Its Web site is split between stodgy office-oriented products and its newer In Win Style brand.
Deep contours and mesh panels classify the Buc as one of In Win's Style cases, though a centrally-located 3.5” external drive bay harkens to the company’s past. We like that touch of tradition, since we still own a few 3.5” bay panel devices.
Eight holes on the mesh side panel allow builders to add two 120 mm fans, if they choose.
Buc Ports
In Win adds a handy storage tray atop the Buc, but complicates the use of that tray by mounting two USB 3.0 ports inside of it (presumably to be used by devices sitting in the tray). Other connectors are found on the enclosure's front panel, though. Color us confused by this design decision.
Behind In Win’s Buc
Sliding the Buc’s side panels back an inch or so allows them to be lifted off. Plastic pegs prevent the side panels from sliding accidentally. Instead, they're extracted by lifting the edges of tabs on each panel. If you want to lock the panels down even more securely, In Win drills screw holds near each of those plastic tabs.
Two grommeted holes along the top of the Buc’s rear panel support external liquid coolers.
Inside The Buc
The Buc provides five hard drive trays, in addition to four 5.25” and one 3.5” bay. Devices populating those spaces are secured via push-in pins.
Screw-less card latches for the Buc’s seven expansion slots are also visible in this shot. Screw holes offer additional security, if you need them.
Buc Cable Management
Space between the Buc’s motherboard tray and right side panel is barely adequate for small cables. A vertical channel between the tray and drive bays creates some room for the main power cable, though the hole you see at the very top isn't large enough to pass an ATX12V or EPS12V connector through it.
In Win adds backplane connectors to four of the case’s five 3.5” hard drive trays, and each tray is designed with offset 2.5” mounting holes to assure proper positioning of both drive sizes.
Cooler Master has so many leftover Shark X cases that it's selling them at $4,300 a piece in Japan — the case is admittedly cheaper than the $7,000 pre-built PC that Cooler Master was offering
Smuggler packs 200 pounds of meth into PC cases, gets busted — Australian Border Force foil drug smuggling plot
-
bit_user I'm quite happy with my Lian Li PC-9F, thank you. It has good airflow, plenty of drive bays, good noise reduction, easily removable air filters on the intakes , and I'm a fan of its mature, understated looks. When you use a case like that, all the small touches really make you feel like you got your money's worth.Reply
-
Crashman bit_userI'm quite happy with my Lian Li PC-9F, thank you. It has good airflow, plenty of drive bays, good noise reduction, easily removable air filters on the intakes , and I'm a fan of its mature, understated looks. When you use a case like that, all the small touches really make you feel like you got your money's worth.Yes, I'm usually a fan of Lian-Li's designs. On the other hand, the Antec Solo II is quieter than most of the Lian-Li's I've tested, and more durable, so there are options within these three sets of five cases that will please a wide group of buyers.Reply
Actually, Lian-Li doesn't usually compete in price-based roundups. I think some of that is due to their use of materials that bolster performance but boost price by a larger amount than performance. Appearance doesn't show up in a performance value chart, but the price you pay for it does. -
Crashman JOSHSKORNWould love to see benchmarks on these (airflow/heat and noise consumption).Looks like the benchmarks are coming up a week from Tuesday. If you check every day until then, the increased traffic might give the the bosses justification to add another editor :)Reply
-
A Bad Day I would love to see a case specifically designed for GPUs that vent their exhaust sideways instead of through the rear.Reply -
Crashman A Bad DayI would love to see a case specifically designed for GPUs that vent their exhaust sideways instead of through the rear.One of the cases in THIS preview (Raidmax Seiran) has a side fan that can only be mounted as exhaust. But have you considered that a vented side panel that lets out twice the noise kind of defeats the purpose of a multi-fan GPU cooler that makes half the noise?Reply
-
JOSHSKORN CrashmanLooks like the benchmarks are coming up a week from Tuesday. If you check every day until then, the increased traffic might give the the bosses justification to add another editorHopefully a competent editor...one that at least knows where the spell check button is. I'm not asking for too much, am I?Reply
Anyway, I'll be looking forward to this. I'm on the fence about getting a new rig, now. That Antec Solo II case looks good to me. -
Onus The Antec case I'm sure is high quality, but being limited to only three drives limits my enthusiasm for it. If I use a SSD boot drive and a RAID-1 for my data, I'm already out of drive bays. An adapter in a 5-1/4 slot isn't an option; it's only got two, one for an optical drive and one for just one of: a utility drawer (those are really useful), a memory-card reader, OR a fan controller.Reply
The InWin Buc was interesting; reminiscent of a 1950s locomotive. Some people will probably like that look and find it imminently suitable; although it isn't my personal style I can still appreciate it.
MSI has created another child's toy, and Raidmax looks gimmicked out the kazoo with a lot of plastic parts that look about as sturdy as a sugar wafer.
-
cknobman I really like the Antec and Corsair designs but some of the other vendors cases in this roundup are fugly as heck.Reply
I guess I am more of a less outspoken person these days vs my younger days when I built PC with flame throwing skulls illuminated by blue and red leds all over the side panels.
FTR I absolutely love my Antec P280!!!! -
A Bad Day CrashmanOne of the cases in THIS preview (Raidmax Seiran) has a side fan that can only be mounted as exhaust. But have you considered that a vented side panel that lets out twice the noise kind of defeats the purpose of a multi-fan GPU cooler that makes half the noise?Reply
Maybe a box could be placed over the side exhaust with only one opening, to the rear. Not as efficient cooling, but it should muffle more of the noise.
The only issue I can think of is that it may look unsightly.