why ignore the budget cases

I recently build pc for my friend using MSi vampirac. This case was £44 What surprised me the most it included 1 12cm RGB fan, MSI Immerse gH60 Headset and 10$ Steam voucher after submitting review. I added Deepcool RF120 RGB 3 Fan pack which was on offer totaling £66. Going back few years you would not get this look for £66 P.S Don't look at the cpu cooler :P
 
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I don’t know when the RGB thing started or when it becomes so mainstream. That is really the problem with getting a case that is full glass and Perspex or with lots of RGB effects. It’s fashionable now then a few years down the line it is not. RGB has nothing to do with the functionality of the computer so not really the topic of discussion I want to raise in the thread. But nevertheless, expensive case with RGB short lived fashion statement. Anyway, I really don’t mind subtle mood lighting but some cases are as some one said a light show from close encounter of the third kind.

under chassis lighting is quite cool I think, like under chassis lighting for cars. :D
 
Had the budget cases - moved on - settled on Lian Li.
All but one of the PC's around my home are Lian Li cases - larger cases for Gaming-PC's and their HTPC range for Media-PC's.
 
Have to say the most impressive case I have every had for under £100 is the
Sharkoon Night Shark RGB Mid Tower Gaming Case.
Comes with so many mounting possibilities for drives etc, plus it has a GPU Bracket, very nice
fans and a RGB hub.
 
pc-guy said:
I don’t know when the RGB thing started or when it becomes so mainstream.
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It began with having one or two components (probably peripherals) that had battery or status indicator lights on. Someone figured out that the lights looked better when stylised. Someone else figured out a way to offer different colours of light, to look better. Someone else figured out how to offer more lights, while someone else figured out how to change the lights and have different effects, while someone else turned the effects into patterns, before someone else found a way to have ALL the colours in all these different patterns, all while adopting this stuff from other walks of life (like under-counter and under-cupboard lighting in kitchens).

pc-guy said:
RGB has nothing to do with the functionality of the computer so not really the topic of discussion I want to raise in the thread. But nevertheless, expensive case with RGB short lived fashion statement.
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I have Aquasuite - All my RGB components can be configured to reflect or indicate the status and conditions of anything my motherboard can detect or monitor through sensors - Hard drive and network activity, CPU and GPU temperatures, fan and pump speeds, media sound, flow rates, voltages, wattages, amperages, warning alarms... just about anything you can imagine, really.
It can be exceedingly functional, if you so desire!

pc-guy said:
Anyway, I really don’t mind subtle mood lighting but some cases are as some one said a light show from close encounter of the third kind.
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That is purely subjective, though. What you consider a garish dress sense might pass for smart-casual in someone else's view.
It's also down to personal implementation. Most of my RGB is toned down, but I can whack up the brightness if I choose to have a light show. Many people can't be bothered with the tweaking, and the level of ******* around in things like i-Cue make it more like a full-time job!
Far easier to just leave everything set to the default Unicorn Puke demo mode.

pc-guy said:
under chassis lighting is quite cool I think, like under chassis lighting for cars. :D
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Most RGB light shows are, in the minds of those people, as cool to them as your chavvy kevved-up car underlighting is to you.

But regarding your original point - When there's a £200,000 Bentley available with a V12 engine, all the bells and whistles and fully automated, that will always be the star of the show. Far fewer people will be interested in the £35,000 Bentley with a V4, plastic trim, cloth seats, no aircon, one bell, a very quiet whistle and only a 4-speed DSG gearbox.
Same with phones - People will starve themselves and kill each other to get the new Galaxy S20 Plus Ultra über-Note... but not the Galaxy A01.
 
ttaskmaster said:
there's a £200,000 Bentley available with a V12 engine, all the bells and whistles and fully automated, that will always be the star of the show. Far fewer people will be interested in the £35,000 Bentley with a V4, plastic trim, cloth seats, no aircon, one bell, a very quiet whistle and only a 4-speed DSG gearbox..
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that’s a fair point. The days of me blowing £100 £200 on a PC case is long gone. Haha. Nowadays I try to find the most reasonable brand with the most reasonable case with the most reasonable budget. Issue with that is exactly that - it’s such an average joe case, it’s nigh on impossible to make an informed decision on which case is the most suitable due to lack of exposure/review/specs/details.
 
The 2 most important parts of a computer build are the case and PSU as these constitute the computers environment.

Server rooms have climate controlled cooling, dust filtering and clean power. You don't have a server room, but a good case and PSU can somewhat compensate for this.

A good case you want all metal to reduce outside interference, good cooling and good filtering. You also want good built quality so the motherboard / boards line up straight. A quite case is also important especially if your working close to it.

One of the best functional cases ever made was the Silverstone FT-02.
 
pc-guy said:
Issue with that is exactly that - it’s such an average joe case, it’s nigh on impossible to make an informed decision on which case is the most suitable due to lack of exposure/review/specs/details.
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Can't say I've ever really read many reviews... I look at the pictures, maybe read the manual, and that's usually enough for me to size up how well it will do.
 
When I select a case, some of the questions (but not necessarily in this order) I ask are:
  • How many fans at 140mm can I fit? (first fan preference)
  • How many fans at 120mm can I fit? (second fan preference)
  • Is there room for a large CPU cooler? (I don't do watercooling - yet)
  • What are the fan positions? - do they allow for a good throughput of air?
  • How many 5-1/4" bays has it got? (I do require these on some of my builds)
  • How many 3-1/2" bays has it got? (I also require these on other builds)
  • Does it look good?
  • What is the build quality like?
  • If it's expensive - can I justify buying it?
  • Will it take standard components? (for example: I avoid cases that require non-standard size PSU's)
The above are some of the questions that I ask to suit my requirements and your requirements will be different so your questions will be different, but I hope you find the above a useful starting point.
 
Having built a couple of PC's for my kids recently in cheaper cases it's clear they are built to a price, the PCI covers are a prime example requiring to be prised off with a pair of grips.

I like my 750D - it's old but it's a joy to work in and doesn't seem to have much in the way of compromise. If you are going to build once and leave it as is forever then a cheaper case will be fine but if you want to regularly do maintenance, replace parts then a good case is money well spent.
 
Grimley said:
One thing you have to consider when buying a case is, how long will the switches last? I found that out to my cost when I built my nephew his 1st PC almost 10 years ago.

I'll turn back the clock..

Coolermaster Elite 430 Case - my short review.
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By comparison my ATCS Coolermaster 200 version 2 celebrated it's 18th birthday this year and is still going strong. I'm even debating whether to put my planned build into it or finally relegate it to the wife's machine.

I miss the days of the original ATCS Coolermaster cases and some of the amazing mods done to them.
 
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