Do Cases With More Features Offer More Value?
A few small requirements narrowed a field of over fifty mainstream cases to just fifteen, but even an in-depth look at that subset would have taken us a full month to complete. Rather than tackling a 15-case round-up, we broke the samples into three groups of five.
But that presented a new conundrum: in what order should we present the contenders? The easiest solution was to create groups of five enclosures based on when each brand delivered its first sample. Second samples will show up in the third round-up.
Now, you'd think that our almost completely random selection would result in an equally random set of features in each five-way comparison. So far, though, each story has only seen one stand-out design. We already saw these features individually, and here’s how they compare:
| Header Cell - Column 0 | Antec Eleven Hundred | Cooler Master Storm Enforcer | Fractal Design Arc Midi | Raidmax Agusta | SilverStone Kublai KL04 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dimensions | |||||
| Height | 20.7" | 19.0" | 18.7" | 23.8" | 19.3" |
| Width | 9.3" | 9.0" | 9.3" | 9.3" | 8.4" |
| Depth | 21.7" | 20.8" | 21.6" | 21.7" | 19.8" |
| Space Above Motherboard | 1.2" to 2.2"**** | 1.6" | 0.6" to 1.6"**** | 0.2" to 0.8"**** | 1.6" to 2.6"**** |
| Card Length | 13.8" | 11.1" to 16.6"^^ | 11.7" to 17.8"** | 16.9" | 17.3"^^^ to 18.1"^^ |
| Weight | 20.0 Pounds | 19.0 Pounds | 23.1 Pounds | 17.7 Pounds | 18.5 Pounds |
| Cooling | |||||
| Front Fans (alternatives) | None (2 x 120 mm) | 1 x 200 mm (2 x 120 mm) | 1 x 140 mm (2 x 140 mm) | 1 x 120 mm, 1 x 80 mm (None) | None (None) |
| Rear Fans (alternatives) | 1 x 120 mm (None) | 1 x 120 mm (None) | 1 x 140 mm (1 x 120 mm) | 1 x 120 mm, 2 x 80 mm (3 x 80 mm) | 1 x 120 mm (2 x 120 mm) |
| Top Fans (alternatives) | 1 x 200 mm (None) | None (200 mm, 2 x 120 mm) | 1 x 140 mm (1 x 180 mm, 3 x 140/120 mm) | 2 x 120 mm (None) | 1 x 120 mm (2 x 120 mm, 1 x 140 mm) |
| Left Side (alternatives) | None (2 x 120 mm) | None (None) | None (2 x 180/140 mm) | None (1 x 180/120 mm) | None (None) |
| Right Side (alternatives) | None (1 x 120 mm) | None (None) | None (None) | None (None) | 1 x 120 mm (2 x 120 mm) |
| Drive Bays | |||||
| 5.25" External | Three | Four | Two | Five | Four |
| 3.5" External | None | 1 x Adapter | 1 x Adapter | None | 1 x Adapter |
| 3.5" Internal | Six | Six | Eight | Six | Nine |
| 2.5" Internal | Two | Two + 1 x Adapter | Eight* | Six* | Six |
| Card Slots | Nine | Seven +1 | Seven +1 | Seven | Eight |
| Price | $100 | $80 | $100 | $120 | $95 |
| *Shared on 3.5" tray **Slots 1-3 ***Slots 2-4 ****w/o Top Fan ^w/o fan bracket ^^w/o Center Cage ^^^12.5" w/HDD installed |
Carnival geeks are a good reminder that standing out isn't always a good thing. Yet, the computer geek in all of us hopes that the most elaborate of these designs can stand up to the performance and quality of its less-flashy rivals. We built a system into each of these cases to find out.
If you missed the first part of this series, or our recent picture-based tour of the five enclosures being evaluated today, then check out the links below:
