Case for under £45

ChrisGreen1993 · 14 Oct 2009 at 19:30

Hi

I'll be building a pc soon and I need a case. My budget is small so I need a cheap case. I liked the Antec 300 and i've heard that its good; but it doesn't have an external 3.5" drive bay which I need for a card reader.

So whats the best case under £45 (the cheaper, the better) that has a 3.5" external drive bay and has a bit of room for me to work in (its my first build).

I've also noticed that all the cases seem to be out of stock; does anyone know when they'll be back in stock?

Thanks

BriT · 14 Oct 2009 at 20:15

Antec 300? not seen one in real life so not sure how big it is.

PGdude · 14 Oct 2009 at 20:19

BriT said:
Antec 300? not seen one in real life so not sure how big it is.

He just said no to that so I presume not... Although I'm sure its possible to source an adaptor. Oh the hassle.

Coolermaster Elite series cases. Cheap, full of good features. External 3.5 bay, enough room. They seem like a workhorse of a case. Popular that is. OcUK use them frequently in their pre-built systems, so where can you go wrong?

PermaBanned · 14 Oct 2009 at 20:26

To be honest, a case is a pretty hard thing to screw up. Sure they can have sharp edges and be flimsy but the sole purpose of them is to be a box. You can get some good £20 (or even less) cases on a certain competitor website which do that job very well.

bifday2k · 14 Oct 2009 at 20:30

a lot of cases don't come with external 3.5" anymore, but its easy enough to source adapters to convert a bigger pay to it.

I have the antec 300, and build quality is very good for the cost of the case.

These do have the bay u require, never used but some might now.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-184-CM&groupid=701&catid=7&subcat=

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-160-CM&groupid=701&catid=7&subcat=

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-061-SV&groupid=701&catid=7&subcat=

Hope this selection helps.

paininlife · 14 Oct 2009 at 20:30

what abt this one

BriT · 14 Oct 2009 at 21:00

Oops must learn to read the post in full heh

beefybarn · 14 Oct 2009 at 22:39

Go for the Coolermaster 335 great case at the price.

ChrisGreen1993 · 15 Oct 2009 at 17:11

Thanks for the help

I've noticed that most of the cases come with one fan; I'm not thinking of overclocking but do i need to buy another one?

PGdude · 15 Oct 2009 at 17:33

Cases don't need fans. It's just there to keep your parts a little more comfortable.

ChrisGreen1993 · 15 Oct 2009 at 18:17

thanks

PermaBanned · 15 Oct 2009 at 18:19

It's best really to at least have an exhaust fan, or else the hot air is just staying in the case. I know somewhere you can get fans for less than £2 though, they aren't the best but mod them to use less volts and they're quiet and good enough.

Enable your Trust and i'll send you a message.

edGfaCTor · 19 Oct 2009 at 23:25

NZXT M59
NZXT Beta Black

Both are on or just under your budget but m59 is not listed here.

TipTop · 20 Oct 2009 at 09:31

NZXT Beta EVO. http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/830

Marsman · 21 Oct 2009 at 18:40

I have the Antec 300. I love being able to insert and remove the HDD's without having to take out the sound card and gfx card like some cases. Also with the PSU at the bottom of the case, it's real easy to keep the cables tidy in the area provided. But you would have to get a 3.5" bay adaptor though as has been mentioned. I ended up needing one after I bought a fan controller/usb front bay panel. Got one from the world famous auctoin site.

Coolermaster make some nice cases for the budget market. As for the fans, I think a lot of cases that cost around £30-40 have space for a 12cm intake and usually 12cm outtake too.

The NZXT cases mentioned look good too.

PermaBanned · 21 Oct 2009 at 19:16

Something from Sunbeam?