Best Of The Best, Part 1: Who Makes The Most Elite PC Case?

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Azza Genesis 9000

Part of Azza’s continuous up-market climb, the Genesis 9000 attempts to bring high-end customers the typical selection of upscale features without deviating too far from the traditional full-tower layout. Five of the nine 5.25” bays are filled with hard drive adapter trays, separate brackets add external 3.5” drive support, and the case even includes a pair of side-mounted fans to assist drive cooling and overall ventilation.

“Front-panel” ports, including two USB 2.0, two USB 3.0, eSATA, headphone, and microphone jacks line up across the front edge of the top panel. Power, reset, and fan speed buttons line up behind them. The close proximity can be an issue; during use, I accidently used the power button a couple of times while attempting to alternate fan speeds.

The top panel and a small section of the front panel are secured with extra-long screws. Drive bay covers above this panel unlatch by squeezing the sides.

Around back, we find ten card slots for the XL-ATX-supporting motherboard tray, a handle to aid in motherboard tray removal, an exhaust fan, a pair of coolant line holes for external liquid cooling, and a sheet metal cover over the rear-panel power supply mount.

A power plug socket next to the mount hints at the case’s internal power supply mounting option, while a large rear slot and smaller side slot feed air into a full-length slide-out dust filter.

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Summary
  1. What Does It Take For A Case To Be Elite?
  2. Azza Genesis 9000
  3. Inside The Genesis 9000
  4. Building With The Genesis 9000
  5. In Win Tòu
  6. Inside The Tòu
  7. Building With The Tòu
  8. Rosewill Blackhawk Ultra
  9. Inside The Blackhawk Ultra
  10. Building With The Blackhawk Ultra
  11. SilverStone Fortress FT04
  12. Inside The Fortress FT04
  13. Building With The Fortress FT04
  14. How We Test Our Four Elite Cases
  15. Heat, Noise, And Heat Vs. Noise
  16. Which Case Is Elite?
About the author
Thomas Soderstrom

Thomas Soderstrom is a Senior Staff Editor at Tom's Hardware US. He tests and reviews cases, cooling, memory and motherboards.

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117 comments
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  • blackmagnum
    Does elite mean most unattainable purchase prices?
  • Crashman
    Anonymous said:
    Does elite mean most unattainable purchase prices?
    We would have been happy if In Win could deliver that case for under $300. Unfortunately, I think the company budgets $300 of its $800 MSRP just for replacement glass and glass shipping.
  • AndrewJacksonZA
    Oh please! What rubbish is this?!?! One can't abuse the word "elite" when talking about a case! It depends on the individual and each individual's needs and, perhaps most importantly, aesthetic taste!

    **go to heat and noise page and then the last page from the first page**
    I really don't have the inclination to read each - and - every - page in this article based on a piece of rubbish idea. Really Tom's, what on earth possessed you to do thi...**sees the picture of the In Win Tou**

    Hmmm...

    **reads to the In Win Tou pages**

    Wow. Ok, that case is quite the looker. Gee, that construction kinda justifies the stratospheric pricing. What a beautiful case! With some nice watercooling this case will be quiet AND cool AND cool-looking! I agree with you that this is the most elite, erm, showboat-iest case of these four!

    Thanks for making your readers aware of products that they would've otherwise missed Tom's! :-)
  • samesdf
    Did Rosewill copy from CM 690 II Advance or the other way around?
  • Shunrei
    Will wait for something from NZXT might miss something..
  • Crashman
    Anonymous said:
    Oh please! What rubbish is this?!?! One can't abuse the word "elite" when talking about a case! It depends on the individual and each individual's needs and, perhaps most importantly, aesthetic taste!

    **go to heat and noise page and then the last page from the first page**
    I really don't have the inclination to read each - and - every - page in this article based on a piece of rubbish idea. Really Tom's, what on earth possessed you to do thi...**sees the picture of the In Win Tou**

    Hmmm...

    **reads to the In Win Tou pages**

    Wow. Ok, that case is quite the looker. Gee, that construction kinda justifies the stratospheric pricing. What a beautiful case! With some nice watercooling this case will be quiet AND cool AND cool-looking! I agree with you that this is the most elite, erm, showboat-iest case of these four!

    Thanks for making your readers aware of products that they would've otherwise missed Tom's! :-)
    The article was actually conceived as a showcase for two different cases, one of which didn't show up and the other arrived late enough to be reserved for Part 2 of this 2-part series :)
    Anonymous said:
    Did Rosewill copy from CM 690 II Advance or the other way around?
    Rosewill buys its cases...I'm not even certain it has a mechanical designer. Most other case brands design a case based on an existing case, so there's always the possibility of two different products coming from the same supplier and sharing some stampings.
  • Mac266
    Sees cases. (Yeah, not to bad) Sees pricing. Sees Win Tou pricing. Picks jaw up off ground.
  • weavermsi
    Dear lord that In Win thing is an abominable turd. The only case here with any pedigree is the Silverstone, and that's easily the ugliest object they've produced. Please, NZXT and Corsair, put us out of our misery.
  • Memnarchon
    Since we are talking for the best of the best,... Where is the Silverstone's TJ11?
  • Crashman
    Anonymous said:
    Since we are talking for the best of the best,... Where is the Silverstone's TJ11?
    Great question, since they sent a cheaper model! It was probably neglected due to age.
  • mamasan2000
    The most elite is one which you cant find commercially available.

    http://www.forbes.com/pictures/fkim45flf/1-dark-blade-2/

    20 of the most elite
  • 4Ryan6
    Since many are going to water cooling that needs to be addressed in the build possibilities of these cases and not just the CLC capabilities they all can handle, but complete kits of today as well.

    What size radiators can be fit into these cases?

    With all due respect, there's a whole lot more regarding a case review, than has been covered.
  • Redspeed93
    I would argue the Phanteks Enthoo Primo needs a top spot. Darn good case!
  • AndrewJacksonZA
    While we're throwing out suggestions, I vote for the Nanoxia Deep Silence 1 and Deep Silence 6 cases: Understated elegance with cool and very quiet performance.

    However, they have almost zero bling, so I guess they might not fit this series. For me though, they're the cases I want to own right now. I don't do much showing off of my computers.
  • ubercake
    I like how the In Win case looks, but I could never forgive myself for spending that much money on a case. Now a couple of video cards?... Heck yeah! But a case? No.

    The NZXT Phantom 630 (aside from some of the angles), in my opinion, is the most practical case I've had the pleasure of working with to this point. The innards and internal case design just make sense.

    'Elite' definitely doesn't mean practical.
  • velocityg4
    It seems to me all these case have an inefficient design for airflow. They need to be designed with open air flow from the front to the back. So that you get a solid wall of air moving across. Which is why I modded a PowerMac G5 case for ATX components.
  • Reynod
    crash nice work mate ... as always.

    A bit of advice ... don't feed the trolls !!

    Don't bother responding to the idiots with the stupid questions, and if they follow up with more tripe then let the mods clean up for you.

    You will get all worked up and then we have to come around with a bottle of Jacks and sedate you ...

    :)
  • Crashman
    Anonymous said:
    crash nice work mate ... as always.

    A bit of advice ... don't feed the trolls !!

    Don't bother responding to the idiots with the stupid questions, and if they follow up with more tripe then let the mods clean up for you.

    You will get all worked up and then we have to come around with a bottle of Jacks and sedate you ...

    :)
    So it's a go then? :p

    I used to mine in the Elitist Jerks pool, until I figured out that I was too good for them...
  • Reynod
    :)

    I was scratching my head over what to call the front fan on the Win case as well ... almost like it was an afterthought.

    Can't wait to see part II.

    Back in the day the V1000 ... V6000 Thermaltake cases were pretty good ... huge great honking things. The 1000's were steel ... mine could have taken a 7.62 round and kept going. Reminded me of my Combi Van ... had fans everywhere. Heavy. I took to it with a bosche nibbler and improved it no end in terms of airflow.
  • 4Ryan6
    Crashman, Did you send any invitations to CaseLabs or Mountain Mods as these are the Best of the Best cases money can buy?

    I was wondering if they refused to participate?
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