Five More Mainstream Gaming Cases, Rounded-Up
We've already given you a pictorial walk-through of cases six through 10 of our 15-chassis round-up. Today, we build PCs inside of them, evaluate their value, and pick one as the most likely to satisfy your needs (though several excel in other ways).
Building With The SilverStone Kublai KL04
Like the Storm Enforcer, SilverStone’s Kublai KL04 (KL04B for black; add –W if you want a side window) uses a bottom-mounted SSD cage behind the hard drive cage. But with room for six 2.5" drives, the KL04 holds three times as many SSDs. Its 3.5” cage also has more capacity (up to eight drives) in the removable portion and one hidden bay in its base. What's more, the SSD cage can be moved from the KL04’s base onto the removable hard drive cage.
SilverStone’s attempt to cut cost without sacrificing durability or performance shows through in places like its missing internal grommets and folded-out card holder tab, both of which appear out of place on a case with such a flexible storage configuration. One of the ways SilverStone retains its hallmark quality is through rolled edges on all cable holes, which really make grommets superfluous.
The KL04’s installation kit includes a 5.25”-to-3.5” external bay adapter, a USB 3.0-to-USB 2.0 header adapter, and a bag of miscellaneous mounting hardware complete with cable ties and a miniature screwdriver.
A ribbon-style front-panel lead and HD Audio support (no AC'97) clean up and simplify the KL04's cable bundle.
Elegant simplicity is found in the KL04’s external drive latch. If the latching tab doesn’t appear secure enough to you, holes in the mechanism also support screws.
We installed our SSD without removing the cage, since the case has screwdriver access from both sides. The rest of the enclosure is large enough to accept our slightly oversized motherboard without blocking its cable access holes.
The finished build again looks more like a workstation than a gaming PC, but that’s fine with most of us. Reduced noise is a benefit of the windowless, ventless panels, and we look forward to finding out if fans and vents in other parts of the chassis can still give us the cooling performance we require.
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samorf That's a great looking case. I know value isn't a huge point for the CM Cosmos 2 but I would love to see your benchmarks on it.Reply -
mjmjpfaff I really thought that the Antec Eleven Hundred would get this site's nod, especially with its build quality and its plethora of features to help with cable management, as well as all of its removable dust filters which many cases at the 100$ mark lack as well as some cases well over 100$.Reply -
jimmysmitty mjmjpfaffI really thought that the Antec Eleven Hundred would get this site's nod, especially with its build quality and its plethora of features to help with cable management, as well as all of its removable dust filters which many cases at the 100$ mark lack as well as some cases well over 100$.Reply
Antec, I think, has fallen behind in case design as of late. While the Eleven Hundred is much better than the aging 900/300 design, it still has some small points of meh such as only one 2.5" drive bay when there are other cases close to the price (not current price but original price) trat support 2.5" in every drive bay.
Also the design is a bit meh. Though I have fallen in love with the Corsair 500R so its a bit hard to make me think of another case. And the CM Storm Enforcer is ok. Had one in the shop the other day. Nothing amazing honestly but its not overly bad. -
Crashman jimmysmittyAntec, I think, has fallen behind in case design as of late. While the Eleven Hundred is much better than the aging 900/300 design, it still has some small points of meh such as only one 2.5" drive bay when there are other cases close to the price (not current price but original price) trat support 2.5" in every drive bay.Also the design is a bit meh. Though I have fallen in love with the Corsair 500R so its a bit hard to make me think of another case. And the CM Storm Enforcer is ok. Had one in the shop the other day. Nothing amazing honestly but its not overly bad.I really liked the Eleven Hundred, it's just that the Enforcer's super-low price makes it a better value for the majority of builds.Reply
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damric I really felt like I was reading a commercial. Was this review cut and paste from the marketing documents provided?Reply -
Crashman damricI really felt like I was reading a commercial. Was this review cut and paste from the marketing documents provided?I'll have what you're having! Then I can look past all the careful observations, performance data and criticisms and see a world made of cotton candy!Reply
BTW, you should at least read the ENTIRE conclusion before calling an article a fluff piece. Thanks! -
randomkid ^No editing feature while in the Article comment mode. But I found out that once in the forum, it can be edited or deleted just like any post.Reply
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jaquith I tend NOT to recommend cases to folks (personal preference) - it's like saying your Girlfriend is ugly or has a flaw.Reply
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
As long as the case functions and has what you need -- it's all what YOU like and flips that switch. -
eddieroolz I'm not a fan of obviously gamer looking cases, but the Antec 1100, by virtue of being so similar to my P280, gets my vote.Reply