Best Of The Best, Part 3: Who Makes The Most Elite PC Case?

[RedJaron]

It seems Silverstone engineers are far ahead from others. They are far ahead in the Temperatures Over Ambitient with high fans and far ahead in the Acoustic Efficiency with low fans.

If the high fans wouldn't produce so much noise, I think it would take the elite award...

With three 180mm fans, a low speed already provides good airflow. Kicking them on high is usually unnecessary. I suppose if you wanted to hook them to a more granular fan control, it'd be nice if you wanted just a little extra air without sending them to max rotations.

I really like the DS6 here. It seems to be very well thought out. Even if you don't get as much acoustical insulation as you hope it would give, I think it's obviously a premium product.

However I have to agree with the frustration of many people here. Too many of these products have "well, duh" problems with them. Here's some ideas for an "elite" case:

• 
  ■ Aligned backplane for at least three drives. Drive rails should be correctly offset for either 3.5" or 2.5" drives.
  ■ Large intake fan ( 140mm or better, ) blowing over the aforementioned drive cage.
  ■ 140mm exhaust fan in CPU area.
  ■ Room above mboard to mount triple radiator ( both 120mm and 140mm support. )
  ■ PSU mount with independent intake and exhaust grills.
  ■ Easy remove dust filters over every intake.
  ■ 12.5" GPU card clearance without removing drive cages.
  ■ Front access USB, audio, and eSATA.
  ■ Sound dampening material on main panels.
  ■ Triple channel fan controller with gradient knobs ( no high/low switches. )
  ■ Bonus points if you can get the 90* Raven rotation.

This can't be too hard to combine in a tower case and keep it under $200, right? Makes me want to fire up some 3D software and design my own.

 

[Memnarchon]

It seems Silverstone engineers are far ahead from others. They are far ahead in the Temperatures Over Ambitient with high fans and far ahead in the Acoustic Efficiency with low fans.

If the high fans wouldn't produce so much noise, I think it would take the elite award...

With three 180mm fans, a low speed already provides good airflow. Kicking them on high is usually unnecessary. I suppose if you wanted to hook them to a more granular fan control, it'd be nice if you wanted just a little extra air without sending them to max rotations.

I really like the DS6 here. It seems to be very well thought out. Even if you don't get as much acoustical insulation as you hope it would give, I think it's obviously a premium product.

However I have to agree with the frustration of many people here. Too many of these products have "well, duh" problems with them. Here's some ideas for an "elite" case:

• 
  ■ Aligned backplane for at least three drives. Drive rails should be correctly offset for either 3.5" or 2.5" drives.
  ■ Large intake fan ( 140mm or better, ) blowing over the aforementioned drive cage.
  ■ 140mm exhaust fan in CPU area.
  ■ Room above mboard to mount triple radiator ( both 120mm and 140mm support. )
  ■ PSU mount with independent intake and exhaust grills.
  ■ Easy remove dust filters over every intake.
  ■ 12.5" GPU card clearance without removing drive cages.
  ■ Front access USB, audio, and eSATA.
  ■ Sound dampening material on main panels.
  Triple channel fan controller with gradient knobs ( no high/low switches. )
  ■ Bonus points if you can get the 90* Raven rotation.

This can't be too hard to combine in a tower case and keep it under $200, right? Makes me want to fire up some 3D software and design my own.

I agree that high settings on fans are not required. I have the same case as you do and I never used anything than low fans...

But I don't think that having a tons of features is the ideal since as you said it your self, anyone can design a case large enough (like mountainmods) in order to have all these. What makes a case special is its thermal and acoustic performance.
Who would buy a case with all these features if it cannot provide good temps or it will sound like a jet?
That's where innovating engineering comes to play and offer incredible performance and acoustics and great designs.

Although I agree that some features should be like minimum requirements for the best of the best....

 

[SilverStone Guy]

It seems Silverstone engineers are far ahead from others. They are far ahead in the Temperatures Over Ambitient with high fans and far ahead in the Acoustic Efficiency with low fans.

If the high fans wouldn't produce so much noise, I think it would take the elite award...

The FT04 has analog fan controllers built-in so you can fine-tune its fan speed to any setting that suits your system.

 

[Amencerment]

Where are the Caselabs cases? They are clearly the most elite of all cases.

They used the SM8 Merlin and only the base model. So no fans, or dampening. The case had no airflow nor any db resistance. so that case would never win, But if they would have added some fans say 8-10 fans and a good control unit and it would be one damn good case in this race.

What I don't get is most of these cases are not elite, even the SM8 Merlin is not elite and that's probably one of the most expensive cases in the group, but to make it really elite you have another $120 to put in it and it is getting nice.

For an elite case they should have picked out a Magnum STH10 added 20 Noctua case fans and you have the starts of an elite airflow case... But for really elite is taking this same case and having the ability to add 5 480 RADS, and 3 360 RADS at the same time is what elite is truly about...

Oh... Not to mention get a killer paint job from an art studio, as many have with CaseLab cases and see what elite really is...

 

[Amencerment]

Where are the Caselabs cases? They are clearly the most elite of all cases.

They used the SM8 Merlin and only the base model. So no fans, or dampening. The case had no airflow nor any db resistance. so that case would never win, But if they would have added some fans say 8-10 fans and a good control unit and it would be one damn good case in this race.

What I don't get is most of these cases are not elite, even the SM8 Merlin is not elite and that's probably one of the most expensive cases in the group, but to make it really elite you have another $120 to put in it and it is getting nice.

For an elite case they should have picked out a Magnum STH10 added 20 Noctua case fans and you have the starts of an elite airflow case... But for really elite is taking this same case and having the ability to add 5 480 RADS, and 3 360 RADS at the same time is what elite is truly about...

Oh... Not to mention get a killer paint job from an art studio, as many have with CaseLab cases and see what elite really is...

 

[Shadz]

Where's part 2??

Here's Part 1, but can't fit 2...?

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/elite-atx-case-inwin-tou-silverstone-ft04,3812.html

 

[Crashman]

Where's part 2??

Here's Part 1, but can't fit 2...?

You]http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/elite-atx-case-inwin-tou-silverstone-ft04,3812.html

You mean the one with the Caselab unit that people keep linking while others ignored the links? You're far enough into the thread you might have passed by it, so here it is again:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/atx-pc-cases-caselabs-merlin-sm8-corsair-graphite-760t-thermaltake-urban-t81,3865-2.html

 

[Shadz]

what about the primatek enthoo primo?

 

[Crashman]

what about the primatek enthoo primo?

Please ask them, I'm sure they'd love to tell you why they didn't send it.

 

[Haravikk]

f we factored in Mini-ITX the NCase M1 would blow your train out of the water.

Maybe I don't get the definition of Elite being used here, but personally I'd have been inclined to include the NCase M1; it's small but can still fit a full-sized dual slot GPU. Even better, if you use a liquid cooled CPU and GPU (either a custom loop or a single-radiator all-in-one each) then it can beat these cases on noise while maintaining competitive thermals. You even still have a good amount of room for hard-drives (who really needs more than two drives in their gaming rig?) so I'd call that pretty elite IMO, more so than these unnecessarily huge, ugly-as-hell, over-priced cases.

 

[Luay]

Cases have evolved since these models so I wouldn't brand them as "elite"

Right now the trend is to separate a case into compartments for actively cooled components such as processors, motherboards and video cards, preferably in front of large window to be showcased, and passively cooled (& ugly) ones such HDDs, SSDs, PSUs and optical drives to be hidden along with the cables.

Thermaltake somewhat started with the level7 and Corsair showed how it's done and took it into mainstream with their Carbides Air 540 & 240.

High-end aluminum case manufacturers finally took notice that this is the way to go. Their cases cost half of what was reviewed today but I'd choose theirs over these any day.

Jonsbo has made the W2, which is the most elegant, high-end, compact & roomy ATX case I have seen, Lian Li made the PCV359 MATX, which did not impress me due to it's close size to the W2 & PCQ36 MITX, which is 32x32x25cm in dimensions vs the W2's 40x40x28cm and fits any video card, PSU and CPU cooler you can think of. Not bad at all. Please check them out Tom's and let me/us know if you think they're worth a review.

 

[Luay]

Cases have evolved since these models so I wouldn't brand them as "elite"

Right now the trend is to separate a case into compartments for actively cooled components such as processors, motherboards and video cards, preferably in front of large window to be showcased, and passively cooled (& ugly) ones such HDDs, SSDs, PSUs and optical drives to be hidden along with the cables.

Thermaltake somewhat started with the level7 and Corsair showed how it's done and took it into mainstream with their Carbides Air 540 & 240.

High-end aluminum case manufacturers finally took notice that this is the way to go. Their cases cost half of what was reviewed today but I'd choose theirs over these any day.

Jonsbo has made the W2, which is the most elegant, high-end, compact & roomy ATX case I have seen, Lian Li made the PCV359 MATX, which did not impress me due to it's close size to the W2 & PCQ36 MITX, which is 32x32x25cm in dimensions vs the W2's 40x40x28cm and fits any video card, PSU and CPU cooler you can think of. Not bad at all. Please check them out Tom's and let me/us know if you think they're worth a review.

 

[maddogfargo]

No CaseLabs SMA8 or similar?

 

[maddogfargo]

...Or How about an Enthoo Primo?

Meh...decent article but I really think there are more that could have easily been included for comparison.

Just my $0.02

 

[rpjkw11]

I'm surprised and disappointed that Phanteks' Enthoo Primo is missing! "Elite" is a very subjective term, but the Primo's quality is outstanding and that is not subjective. Just sayin'.

 

[rpjkw11]

I'm surprised and disappointed that Phanteks' Enthoo Primo is missing! "Elite" is a very subjective term, but the Primo's quality is outstanding and that is not subjective. Just sayin'.

 

[ingtar33]

i gotta say, when you started this series one case came to the top of the list of cases i knew about... that would be the Fortress Series by silverstone. I knew this contest would be lacking without the fortress, and that it would be one of the best "elite" cases out there.

I have to admit, This result is about what i'd expect. The fortress series has long been a bit on the high priced side of things, but it's also been at the top of the list of high quality cases. Not a surprising result, but still, quite an interesting series. good job to the author.

 

[Agera One]

400$ just for cases That's a lot of money in my country !!

 

[Spirillum]

As far as non-custom cases go, the Enthoo Primo is what I'd consider "elite".

 

[Amencerment]

If I were to look at a list of cases this is how it would go...

Sites used are just for reference, not pricing...

Highend...

http://www.corsair.com/en-us/obsidian-series-800d

http://www.amazon.com/Silverstone-Tek-FT02B-USB3-0-Aluminum-Uni-Body/dp/B008J0ZPE4/ref=sr_1_19?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1412132949&sr=1-19&keywords=silverstone+case

http://www.amazon.com/Phanteks-Aluminum-Ultimate-Computer-PH-ES813P_BL/dp/B00EB0A6FE/ref=sr_1_2?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1412133059&sr=1-2&keywords=computer+case

http://www.amazon.com/Cooler-Master-Cosmos-II-Computer/dp/B00BCXF4JQ/ref=sr_1_1?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1412136293&sr=1-1


Ultra...

http://www.amazon.com/Silverstone-Tek-TJ07B-W-USB3-0-Aluminum-USB3-0/dp/B008J0ZODG/ref=sr_1_1?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1412136375&sr=1-1

http://www.amazon.com/Lian-Li-PC-D600WB-Aluminum-Computer/dp/B00HNVTEYC/ref=sr_1_2?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1412136375&sr=1-2

http://www.corsair.com/en-us/obsidian-series-900d-super-tower-case

http://www.caselabs-store.com/merlin-sm8-case/


Elite...

http://www.caselabs-store.com/magnum-sth10/ (just base need to add more to make good, about another $200)

http://www.amazon.com/Lian-Li-Pc-v2120b-Aluminum-Computer/dp/B0043EJEWE/ref=sr_1_2?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1412136995&sr=1-2

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/searchtools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=7246656&SRCCODE=WEBGOOPA&utm_source=google&utm_medium=paid_search&utm_campaign=paid_search_google_pla&scid=scplp691008&gclid=CjwKEAjwqamhBRDeyKKuuYztxwQSJAA1luvGdWLSmBSaF9SQvQKSYypXEmvq-VeKqD1_h7vS-eSx6hoC_Ybw_wcB

http://www.ldcooling.com/shop/atx-hptx/73-ld-pc-v8-atx-hptx-black-red.html


Now the ridiculous...

http://www.caselabs-store.com/magnum-tx10-d/ (Base case you must add everything, can be in excess of $1,200.00 easy)

http://www.ldcooling.com/shop/ld-pc-v10-reverse/94-ld-pc-v10-phase-change.html


There are more out there, this just my quick take.

 

[allanitomwesh]

The caselabs is decidedly a chassis for the watercooling enthusiast,and it does what it does very well. I get an elite case should be good at everything though.
I do feel the silverstone deserved it's award. It may not be elite designwise but it is insanely good performancewise,and function can come before form any day. Zalman should've sent in something more expensive,theydo have them. Oh well...lets do it again sometime,different brands!

 

[Crashman]

Silverstone, Corsair and Thermaltake all had great ideas in spite of that order of "cheapness" in materials and quality. If a premium case company could incorporate some real genius they'd have won.

 

[allanitomwesh]

Caselabs and Monstermods won't stop making ultimate rad support cases any time soon. Caselabs especially does have the build quality to make a niice "enthusiast gamer" sort of "ordinary" chassis though. Other than them and maybe Lian Li if they took two seconds to actually design a proper interior,not a lot of people left.
Something i would have been interested in seeing here is the Jonsbo UMX2 Zone/Rosewill Legacy MX2,but Rosewill dropped the ball on that one. It is probably the cheapest chassis with 2/3mm aluminum panels

 

[tridon]

These three articles have been some of the most interesting reading I've done here. Great stuff. Thank you =)

 

[RedJaron]

But I don't think that having a tons of features is the ideal since as you said it your self, anyone can design a case large enough (like mountainmods) in order to have all these. What makes a case special is its thermal and acoustic performance.
Who would buy a case with all these features if it cannot provide good temps or it will sound like a jet?
That's where innovating engineering comes to play and offer incredible performance and acoustics and great designs.

Although I agree that some features should be like minimum requirements for the best of the best....

I agree on the acoustic efficiency, which is why I like to see thick panels and noise dampeners. And you're right, I'm not saying an elite case needs to have every feature thrown in just because. But we are talking about the premium case market. People willing to spend $180+ on a case either have more money than brains, or they have very specific reasons for it. Usually those reason are for a high-end PC. To that end, I think a premium case should have a number of features not often found in the sub-$150 market that aren't there just to be there, but because they're more likely than not to be used and appreciated.

Let's use the Raven 3 as an example. It's already a very nice case. Now add some acoustic damping material. Next, switch the bottom three 5.25" bays for 3.5" bays that are accessible from the left and have an aligned backplane. Finally, change the fan controller from switches to granular knobs. Those changes would take it from "very nice" to top-shelf and highly desirable to just about anyone.

Innovative engineering as you call it can design a case that has the "kitchen sink" features, but includes them in a way where they're all useful rather than tripping over themselves.