Roundup: Four Gaming Cases Under $150

NZXT Hades

Weighing in at only 16 lbs. with the installation kit, the Hades is a true lightweight from NZXT. One might expect such a diet to include the use of aluminum, but we instead find painted steel and plastic throughout.

Even at only 16 lbs., much of the Hades’ weight comes from its plastic drive door, a reinforced member containing the power switch and LED, plus a three-component temperature display. Opening that door reveals four 5.25” external bays, the reset button, and two knobs for controlling front and side 200mm fans.

NZXT reflects the style of its side panels, while the added space on the right panel provides extra room for stuffing cables behind the motherboard tray. Two rubber grommets for external liquid-cooling components can also be seen from this angle.

A quick look at the top reveals sets of mounting holes that support up to two 140mm or 120mm fans. A third set of less-apparent holes can be used to install a 2x120mm radiator inside, offset 1.25” from the motherboard (click the photo to enlarge).

Mesh covers over inlets reduce dust and NZXT even makes the one over the power supply removable for easy cleaning.

Top-panel connections include headset jacks, eSATA connectivity, and two USB ports. The lack of any FireWire port is suitable for low-cost builds, though the case’s $100 price might not be.

Thomas Soderstrom
Thomas Soderstrom is a Senior Staff Editor at Tom's Hardware US. He tests and reviews cases, cooling, memory and motherboards.
  • skora
    Good article. But I'm a little surprised that the Element actually found the Buy award. Usually seems like that's set aside for superior products that don't have the QC issues this did.

    I'm sure there will be request for this case and that and across a lot of price ranges.

    If you do enough of these, you could do a "Best Gaming Case for the Money" series. Or is that peeing in Don's yard?
    Reply
  • sarsoft
    No Antec Nine Hundred case...
    Reply
  • p1n3apqlexpr3ss
    That wouldnt be a bad idea tbh skora, would like to know what the best budget case is out there... not excactly a fan of the antec 200/300
    Reply
  • 4ILY45
    No CM 690 II??
    Reply
  • bk641
    the cm doesn't have a fan control option, afaik.
    Reply
  • Gosh, that Zalman is butt-ugly.
    Reply
  • zoemayne
    ANTEC 902?
    Reply
  • sarsoft
    More cases need to be added. There are other case under $150 that are better choices.
    Reply
  • bk641
    the lancool (lian-li) k62 is a very, very good case for a sub $100 range. i'm using one, and it has pretty much everything you'd want in a mid-tower case. i especially like its HDD bay system, which can be configured to have the hard drives straight on, or perpendicular. in addition to that there are four quiet fans (two on top) and room for two 5870s.
    Reply
  • Crashman
    sarsoftNo Antec Nine Hundred case...No OLD cases. The Cooler Master case ended up in here by mistake, it was supposed to be for stuff released from November onward.
    Reply