Good cases in the <£150 area

stoofa

stoofa

stoofa

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A long time ago I purchased a Cooler Master ATC201.
Right now my PC is housed in that same ATC201.
When I bought that case it was not cheap, however it has been a great investment - it has seen upgrade after upgrade and is still going strong.

I need a new case for one of our PC's at home and I'm thinking about possibly rebuilding my fiancee's machine into my ATC201 and maybe going for something new for myself.
Alternatively I may just buy the new one for my fiancee's machine - either way I think I want to invest in another good quality case with good cooling, plenty of room inside and none of those horrible sharp edges (the Cooler Master is just so well made).

So what is available and which would you consider the best cases around at the moment.
Ideally around the £75 - £100 mark (No PSU required) although willing to maybe go that little higher.
The conditions are:

Aluminum - Very rarely need to move it, however when I do it needs to be light-weight, none of this steel stuff.
Must take a Hyper Type R Modular PSU - Only recently purchased this and do not plan on replacing it.
Full Size ATX Compatible - Needs to take the Gigabyte DS4 MB I've just bought and ideally the large Zalman HSF (tight fit with the Hyper on the 201)

Drives are minimal - 2x HD, 1x DVD-RW, 1x DVD-ROM, Floppy (just in case).
All my drives are black - The ATC201 is silver, so that colour would be fine or a black case.

Please don't immediately jump to the high-end of my budget because if there is something at the cheaper end then of course the money will nicely go towards other things.

Ta
 
I have got an Akasa eclipse 62 on the way, it has loads of room and good cooling and its black.
Some people dont like the front but I do, can be had with optional window or advanced thermal panel (its got a fan on it)
If u do go for it u will need 2 buy 2 x 120mm fans for it as it doesnt come with any
 
lian li pc7+, can't get much better for your price range. Looks great aluminium, spacious and ment to be nearly on par with eclipse for cooling. 2 x 120mm fans and blowhole at the top. Brilliant Case. Sure yewen ill be around to guide you soon though.
 
just got an akasa eclipse 62 myself and oh my god.... its the best thing ever:D
the motherboard tray is a thing of wonder, the width of the machine is brilliant, enough room for a small family, great cooling potential, its black, you can get a window for it, it comes with wheels, i could go on forever but i gotta say it is abit of awesome...
 
THe Eclipse and the PC7+ are not a patch on the 201 for build quality really, the PC7+ is just a 120mm version of what you have really, you would not be that impressed considering what you are coming from.

I would be looking at the Akasa Eclipse or preferable the Lian Li v1000+ / v1100+ as they both offer a real upgrade for you. :)
 
WJA96 said:
V1000B+ is my favourite - especially if you can get the II version which seems to have a few more of the annoying things sorted.
Click to expand...

Agreed, just got mine and i love it. The hyper r modular is the same psu i have and it fits fine but you need to take one of the bottom Hard drive brackets out. The case has space for 6 Hard drives, removing 1 bracket leaves you with enough space for 3.
 
In the description for the V1000+ it does say:

The case takes advantage of the BTX thermal design by mounting the motherboard upside down

That doesn't actually cause any problems does it?
Also I notice it is on castor's/wheels - can these be removed as I place my case on a lower shelf on a computer desk and I've got a feeling they might get in the way?

Ta
 
Yes they can be removed.

Only causes slight issue with heat pipe motherboards, just means they run a couple of deg hotter. Same design is used on several cases.
 
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