Best Cases (Archive)

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There is a Micro ATX case in there, and I let Adam know about it last night, but he hasn't been around to fix the entry yet. I don't believe any horizontal cases have won an award in a while, but when they do they'll appear under the largest motherboard form factor (micro ATX, mini ITX) that fits inside.

 
Like my Cooler Master HAF XB II EVO. Wanted to keep my GPU (1080 with backplate) and Cpu cooler vertical because of the weight. I also have a 230mm case fan on top. System is super quiet.
 
??? NO Editors' Choice cases other than the NZXT one which got that award in 2012?? Seems a bit strange to me, especially given how many cases are out there. I'm starting to think about new builds, since our pair of Sandy Bridge 2500K machines date back to 2011, as do the Antec 900 and 902 cases they're in. Of course, there's been a lot of upgrading--graphics and SSDs and RAM. I'm not at all sure that new builds would gain us enough to offset the cost, though.
 
Eternal sadness seeing the turn the case industry has taken since the time quality materials were used in their manufacture, only to be replaced by plastics, a steel skeleton frame typycally, and shiny rgb lighting. But I know there are still those among us who know what makes a good case. And I believe there must be a way to build such cases once again, without charging a small fortune. If so, soon enough I shall prove it.
 


i have one of those as well and freaking love it. nothing you can't fit into it and the flat mobo let's the gpu and super sized cpu cooler not stress the mobo slots at all. cool and quiet is the word of the day for this case!!!
 
We never tested the 500R, did we?
Even approved awards put product in the case awards showcase.
Editor's Choice is a "must have" at the time it's reviewed. A high-end case for $100 would be there, so would a solidly mid-range case at $80, and if someone produced a case that overwhelmed us and was priced exorbitantly, the editor would be forced to consider "would I buy this if I were wealthy". We just haven't seen any products that stand out so starkly in a long, long time.
 

The only CaseLabs case we tested was a fairly basic unit that could only win on material quality.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/atx-pc-cases-caselabs-merlin-sm8-corsair-graphite-760t-thermaltake-urban-t81,3865-2.html
We recommend specific cases to fit relatively large niches. The nice thing about CaseLabs is that it produces specific cases to fit your specific requirement, but that makes it hard for anyone to guess which specific configuration will win in a comparison of cases designed for a broader range of buyers.
 
I would have preferred to see some other categories as well: HTPC, half rack mount home server cases (Chenbro, etc.). Most of these cases now adays bore me and this list is too big.
 
This list is inclusive. If an ATX HTPC case was awarded, it would be under the ATX category. The reason you're not seeing these cases is because they're not sending them.

 


Meh.. List definitely is not too big imho, if anything its rather sadly short. But agree re being somewhat boring. What we're looking at, regardless how it may look on the outside, is more or less the same strategy being executed in each case regardless of manufacturer, with few (if any real) exceptions.
 
The word "dampening" is use in listing details of the cases. This incorrect as it means wettiing. The correct word would be "damping" meaning suppressing or reducing (in this case, noise).
 
what about best premium cases?

i'm tired of cheap plastics on my pc cases.

i'd say best cases in the range of $200 to $500.

none of the cases mentioned in this article appeal to me at all. corsair obsidian and lian-li only 2 cases that even look premium. all others full of cheap chinese plastics
 

Did you consider the Phanteks Enthoo Evolve ATX Tempered Glass?
 


yes i have. Very asthetically pleasing case. surprised at the good airflow considering the fact that the front and sides are completelly enclosed.
however, i do need a optical media slot. i use my PC for blueray movies/shows.

but in that regard, the inwin 805 infinity is much nicer than the phanteks. the problem is that the inwin has terrible airflow.

i ended up getting a bequiet dark base pro 900. absolutelly feature packed with some dead silent operation while having superb airflow. Wireless QI charger is icing on the cake.
only con is the stupid power supply mount and the fact that it took me 4 hours to complete my build.
the instructions were useless. had to mess around by dissembling the case completelly to understand it's capabilities. putting it back together took me forever.
overall i'm satisfied with it.

however, i was ready to spend 400-500 for something out of the ordinary.

this is the closest to my visual satisfaction, if only it were available in full ATX form instead of mini:

http://www.lian-li.com/en/dt_portfolio/pc-y6/

it's quite expensive at $399 for what you get, but boy is it a head turner!
 
We tested the Dark Base Pro 900, it has superb quality:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/be-quiet-dark-rock-900-pro-case,4615.html
Unfortunately, it under-performed some of those cheap plastic cases, and didn't get an award. Germany rated it on a "pass/fail" system in order to justify giving it an award without actually comparing its performance, but we don't do that in USA.
 
"i ended up getting a bequiet dark base pro 900... ...only con is the stupid power supply mount"

Sad but true. Seeing the dark base 900, I thought to myself, wow, bequiet is attempting to bring quality to the market with this series, until I saw the psu mount. If one looks at the gallery pics from BQ for these cases, focus on the psu placement is usually avoided. Why couldn't the design have a well placed psu? Hard to believe it was decided being able to mount the removable mobo tray on either side (which doesn't end well if one tries anyhow, from what I saw) was somehow more important than a solidly mounted psu.
 


you are right in assessing the case as in the review. it has flaws and it's not perfect. but at least it's trying new things. i just wanted something different from the mainstream and at the same time i wanted as many features as possible.
thing is, PC cases have been either too bland or lacking features for far too long. All the cases mentioned in this article are great performers, i'm not denying that. but it's 2016 for christ sakes, time for some EXCESSIVE cases. we have $600+ graphic cards selling like hot pancakes (gtx 1080), monitors into the $800+ (gsync + ips), $400 motherboards (asus rog), you get my point.......
but PC cases we are still led to believe sub $200 ones are best (most reviews) just because they give you more bang for the buck.
i think PC enthusiasts are all about EXCESS. i mean who needs a 6 core cpu? 12 core?
we have plenty of $2000+ systems, yet they are housed in cheap plastic. that's my gripe.
it's like stuffing a 700 horsepower v12 on a honda civic shell. what the heck?

just my 2 cents
 
Where are the ThermalTake cases? I've been using them for years and quality wise they've been so far above the Lian's that I've seen that there is simply no comparison. Given that the same manufacturers have multiple cases here I wonder if this site isn't biased by advertising dollars - even though they say they're not. Probably better to look elsewhere for a *fair* comparison.
 
LOL, it doesn't get any more fair than testing whatever is sent. The fact that nobody here noticed is most easily attributable to the fact that we're not keeping track: Not caring about which brand the case comes from is the ultimate in fairness.

 
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