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Cases 101
Revision History 1.00 - July 2006 1.01 - August 2006 Contents
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ASUS P5K Premium WiFi-AP, Q6600@3.7 / ASUS P5ND, E6400@3.8 4GB OCz Platinum XTC 8500 / 4GB CorsairXMS2 6400 5x500GB Seagate 7200.10 / 2x500 Seagate 7200.10 OCz 8800GTX 768MB @ 630/800 / 2x Galaxy 8800GT SLI Last edited by Praetor; 08-24-2006 at 10:17 AM. |
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Section 01 - All them Fancy Terms
ATX, mATX, BTX etc
Internal vs External Bays As the name suggests, these are expansion bays that allow you to add things like CDROM drives, harddrive, fan controllers etc. Intuitively, the internal vs external descriptor indicates whether or not the drive bay is accessible from the external environment or not. Furthermore, drive bays come in two varieties, 3.5" and 5.25" which define the width of the bays respectively. Expansion Slots Directly related to the specification conformity of the case, this parameter defines how many PCI/ISA/PCI-Express/PCI-X or what have you slots the case supports. Generally speaking, the bigger (rather, the taller) the case, more the expansion slots will be supported. A small case like this only provides four such slots however a larger case like this one provides seven. Drive Cages All cases will have internal/external 5.25" and 3.5" bays however their implementations may be different.
Case Material The three mainstream materials cases are made from are acryllic, steel and aluminum with specialty cases being made from other materials like wood, foam etc.
Cooling With each new generation of hardware this becomes more of an issue: the cooling effectiveness of a case is determined by several factors
Motherboard Tray Really an overhyped novelty that some of the more premium cases have. With a case that has a motherboard try, you can remove the tray, mount the motherboard easily outside of the case and then mount the tray back in the case (usually with two thumbscrews). This is a horribly overrated feature as it only "benifits" people who have small heatsinks and remove their motherboards a lot. Still, a novelty is a novelty and all things being equal, I suppose having a tray-option isnt bad. Toolless A novelty with casebuilding that's developed over the last few years, a tooless case is one the computer can be mounted into the case without (or with very minimal use of) tools. Rounded Edges Cases of the 1990s were characterized by having sharp steel edges that, if you werent careful, could slice open your hand. cases with rounded edges have these edges dulled down significantly -- it's not impossible to slice yourself open however it is much more difficult. SECC Steel SECC is an abbreviation for Steel, Electrically Chromate Coated which essentially translates to "stainless steel".
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ASUS P5K Premium WiFi-AP, Q6600@3.7 / ASUS P5ND, E6400@3.8 4GB OCz Platinum XTC 8500 / 4GB CorsairXMS2 6400 5x500GB Seagate 7200.10 / 2x500 Seagate 7200.10 OCz 8800GTX 768MB @ 630/800 / 2x Galaxy 8800GT SLI Last edited by Praetor; 08-24-2006 at 10:19 AM. |
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Section 02 - Ok so how do I pick a good case?
Step 01 - Pick your formfactor There are some generalized considerations here
Step 02 - Pick Your Material There are three generic "camps" to choose from here each with it's up and its downs
Another thing to note: just because a case is made of, say, steel, does not mean it will be a stronger case than one that is made from aluminum. It's important to pick a heavy enough gauge of steel to house all your components! Otherwise you end up with cases that you can deform with your bare hands. Generally 0.8mm steel is sufficient with the higher end cases packing 1.0mm and 1.2mm steel. For aluminum cases, you'll want again 0.8mm as a minimum and the ideal point at 1.0mm. Step 03 - Minor Details Here is where you'll want to consider some (or all or none) of the following)
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Section 03 - I'm Lazy! What case should I pick?
We all know there a ZILLION of cases out there to choose from and I would need a fairly sophisticated and sortable organizational structure that would allow me to analyze, review and comment on all of them in a standard manner (read: not as a forum post). As that isn't possible, this section is simply a handpicking of cases that I would reccomend having a look at (selection taken from Newegg's vast collection). The reason I've chosen this technique (other than due to the organizational monstrosity that a proper job would entail) is because picking a case is, for the average customer, is an esthetical and basic-functional purchasing decision (which is why I am often perplexed when people ask questions like "is this a cool case?" or something to that effect. This section of the 101 is for people who really need a case reccomendation -- based foremost on the function and value of the case rather than it's form and asthetics. I've tried to breakdown the reccomendations into useful market segments tailoring to various requirements. Budget Cases - No PSU Cases in this bracket must be less than $40 and have some form of side-cooling (to be Prescott compliant and just as a general good idea). The emphasis here is on quality and value (since were are generally lower end parts) to begin with. Budget Cases - PSU Included Cases in this bracket have the same requirements as their PSU-free brethen but with the added requirement that they include a decent PSU (see the http://www.computerforum.com/showthread.php?t=10764 for further info on what makes a good PSU and some examples. Mainstream Cases - No PSU The majority of case hunters will probably fall into this category: looking for a solid, well-made case which tailors to cooling, noise, functionality and asthetics. The price bracket here witll be $100. All the cases must, at the least, have three fans (front, side and rear). Mainstream Cases - With PSU With all the case requirements as previous but now the cases need to ship with very robust power supplies which can be paired with (potentially) high end systems that are enclosed by these cases High End Cases Cases in this category have no price restriction and also do no come with power supplies (as often, customers in this bracket will buy custom PSUs anyways). Only well known, proven cases get picked here. Also, beaing feature oriented cases, they'll definitely be big! Silent Cases This category deserves it's own section due to how common people look for them. This is by no means anything semblance of complete but only of the cases I have personally used and found to be quiet, the folks over atSPCR will be infinitely more knowledgeable on this niche market
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ASUS P5K Premium WiFi-AP, Q6600@3.7 / ASUS P5ND, E6400@3.8 4GB OCz Platinum XTC 8500 / 4GB CorsairXMS2 6400 5x500GB Seagate 7200.10 / 2x500 Seagate 7200.10 OCz 8800GTX 768MB @ 630/800 / 2x Galaxy 8800GT SLI Last edited by Praetor; 08-24-2006 at 10:20 AM. |
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Section 04 - VFAQ
Should I get a case with a window or not? I dont even know why people ask this question ... it's asthetics. If you want it, then get it. If you dont, then dont get it. Pretty simple ... sure a metal panel might be more impact resistant than a plexy panel but if you're planing on puncturing your case it wont matter much now will it? Do aluminum cases cool better? No! Read here for more info as well as some numbers to back it up. Will my mATX motherboard fit into this ATX case? How about the other way around? A mATX motherboard will most likely fit into an ATX case (there are wierd exceptions so unless you have one of them really messed up cases, you'll be ok). An ATX motherboard wont however, fit into an mATX case. Should I get BTX? Well going BTX would require you buying a BTX CPU, BTX motherboard, BTX case, BTX cooler etc. And given the industry's trend for performance/watt, BTX is probably going to die (since the point of BTX is to improve cooling performance for Intel's hot, old generation CPUs). Overall, not worth it. Should I get a case with a PSU included? Well, if it's a good PSU then sure. Now if you need to know how to pick a good PSU, have a look at PSU 101. Generally, higher performance buyers will have less of a need for this as most included PSUs wont be in their comfort zone handling some of the higher performance gear (i.e., Crossfire, QuadSLI) Should I get tooless? Thats a matter of personal opinion ... so you decide! Should I get a door? Built in watercooling? Windows? Vents? Wheels? Lights? These too are all personal opinions -- so decide what you want!
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ASUS P5K Premium WiFi-AP, Q6600@3.7 / ASUS P5ND, E6400@3.8 4GB OCz Platinum XTC 8500 / 4GB CorsairXMS2 6400 5x500GB Seagate 7200.10 / 2x500 Seagate 7200.10 OCz 8800GTX 768MB @ 630/800 / 2x Galaxy 8800GT SLI Last edited by Praetor; 08-24-2006 at 10:15 AM. |
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