Part 2: Four More Gaming Enclosures Under $50

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Inside The PS05B

While several of the PS05B’s steel panels are designed identically to those of AeroCool’s VX-R, SilverStone specifies fan mounts for the top. These even have offsets of 0.1” for the center and mounting holes, adding around 0.2” of distance between the fan blades and grille for quieter operation.

Installing fans on the other side requires finding fans that perfectly fit the top-panel grill.  The fans that came with our Swiftech cooling system did not fit over its centering pegs, and the frames in our Scythe S-Flex fans were too thick to fit under the edge clips. Reinstalling the fan grille is also more difficult once fans are installed, since the center clips will be pushed out of alignment with the four relief holes punched into the sheet metal chassis. We'd suggest SilverStone-branded fans to those who really need the extra airflow, at least until the company comes out with a more exact list of recommendations.

SilverStone’s PS05B motherboard tray is also dimensionally-identical to AeroCool’s VX-R, but SilverStone turns its hard drive cage sideways to ease drive access. This prevents the drives from interfering with card installation, and vice-versa.

SilverStone uses trays, rather than rails, for its hard drives. This makes it easy to keep track of the mounting hardware, since it is already clipped into position by the factory. SilverStone also adds the fan filters missing from AeroCool’s dimensionally-identical bottom panel, though the power supply must be removed to clean its filter. We’ll count that a second, less-significant design issue.

A hinged card holder unlatches from inside the PS05B, extending through a rectangular hole in the back panel. We mentioned that many of the case’s panels are designed identically to those of AeroCool’s VX-R, and both enclosures have this hole, though only the PS05B uses it.

Previous Next
Summary
  1. And Then There Were Seven
  2. AeroCool VX-R
  3. Inside The VX-R
  4. Building With The VX-R
  5. NZXT Gamma
  6. Inside The Gamma
  7. Building With The Gamma
  8. Rosewill Challenger
  9. Inside The Challenger
  10. Building With The Challenger
  11. SilverStone Precision PS05B
  12. Inside The PS05B
  13. Building With The PS05B
  14. Test Settings
  15. Test Results
  16. Conclusion
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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  • Anonymous
    The Antec 300 is the only case in the roundup that doesnt look and feel like your buying a cheap ass case. It is well worth the extra money and I dont think anyone should really consider building with anything less.
  • AMW1011
    stm1185The Antec 300 is the only case in the roundup that doesnt look and feel like your buying a cheap ass case. It is well worth the extra money and I dont think anyone should really consider building with anything less.


    Have you actually used an Antec 300? The quality is only average. Plus it lacks a lot of features that all the others have. Seems pretty cheap ass to me.

    Note I've used one Antec 300 and two Rosewill Challengers in different builds. Quality wise I would put them pretty close, the Antec 300's paint finish is like sand paper, where the Challenger is smooth, however the Antec 300 has slightly thicker metal. Feature-wise, its no comparison, and everyone who saw them together preferred the challenger.

    Nice review Tom's. Hopefully you will move on to some more gamer class cases ($50-$100).
  • pangedit
    Awesome article toms. Appreciate it :D
  • wielander
    "Rosewill destroyed NZXT’s value leadership goals by putting a greater number of fans in an otherwise-similar chassis at the same price."

    Except that the NZXT gamma costs $7 less shipped (current and suggested prices) and has for a while now.
  • sparkle_ftw
    I hope the HAF 912 get reviewed and compared. And centurion 590... but that is old and tom's did something with it a while ago
  • ceps
    I love my NZXT Gamma (mostly cos no floppy slot and mate finish), although as mentioned, u need to buy fans, 6 fan slots but only 1 included.
  • takeapieandrun
    Its pretty cool how cheap cases nowadays can top cases like the Antec 900 in some aspects.
  • TommyV
    no offense to anyone who owns one of these cases, but all four of those cases are really ugly. All but the rosewill looks like a busted up autobot.
  • RazberyBandit
    Well, you showed us 4 cases, but truly just two designs. The NZXT and Rosewill are almost identical, while the AeroCool and Silverstone are as well. You could have paired each general design together and pointed out their subtle differences simultaneously.

    If I were truly on a tight budget, I might consider one of these designs. But, it's easily argued that there are higher quality and more feature-rich cases (that don't cut any corners like grommets, fans, filters, etc.) within a $20-$30 earshot of these.
  • Zplendid
    I love my Gamma because I got it for $35 with a $25 MIR(which I received). Can't complain about a $10 dollar case, eat it 300!
  • Tamz_msc
    AMW1011Have you actually used an Antec 300? The quality is only average. Plus it lacks a lot of features that all the others have. Seems pretty cheap ass to me.Note I've used one Antec 300 and two Rosewill Challengers in different builds. Quality wise I would put them pretty close, the Antec 300's paint finish is like sand paper, where the Challenger is smooth, however the Antec 300 has slightly thicker metal. Feature-wise, its no comparison, and everyone who saw them together preferred the challenger.Nice review Tom's. Hopefully you will move on to some more gamer class cases ($50-$100).

    Only problem with the Antec 300 in cable management and there is not enough room for a big Graphics card.Otherwise, it is a solid case.
  • elbert
    I have purchased a many sub $50 case and by far I like the GIGABYTE gz-ph1a3. At only $20 is the best built and best looking case I have seen under $50. The only thing worth note about this case is its 13.78" depth. Any GPU over 9.6" would require you to cut some metal. The 5770 works out great in this case. Luckily the HD bay is set to the outer edge with the HD's second metal hanger is recessed about middle way. Due to the divider between the 5.25" and 3.5" drive bays the mobo may require the remove of the back fan to slide in place. No worry tho just reattach it after. For what you get for $20 you should be expecting a little work.
    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811233061
  • ares1214
    Whoever says the 300 is a "far superior" or "not cheap" case has clearly never used it. It has pretty much 0 cable managment, higher price, and no terribly good features. Its actually quite a standard, generic, "cheap" case. All of these cases had a black interior, decent cable management, a lower price tag, and considering the 300 is stock with more fans than most of these, then put the same amount of fans in and im sure cooling would be the same.
  • zooted
    I enjoy my challenger that I got for my sub $500 build
  • cknobman
    For the last couple of years I have found it mighty hard to beat Rosewill when it comes to value for your money.

    For building a cheap computer gaming or otherwise I always go Rosewill.
  • jonxor
    I have the NZXT Gamma, and I built a server out of it. 2 8-port RAID cards, D-link 5-port Gigabit switch powered from the internal ATX power supply. I was able to cleanly tuck over 40 Ft of cable in the case, I would love to share pictures search flickr for "bnrclearcase" I'll post the updated pics tonight.
  • coldmast
    3 FANS! for $40 US and a CASE! The Rosewill Challenger is definitely a good case for a budget build.
  • jestersage
    Aw... Silverstone! What were you thinking with those top fan mount offsets? Oh well, I'm sticking to my mATX box for now.
  • TheStealthyOne
    I got the Gamma for 30 bucks, and wow, what a value. I added three more case fans and it was a budget beast!
  • kilthas_th
    Ahh, cheap cases. Spending hard-earned money for a good suck or blow that may not be illegal, but is still pretty dirty.
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