System Builder Marathon, June 2011: Alternative $2000 PC

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Look guys, I own the HAF X and I like the looks. Sure I like the 650D better for looks but when I bought my case it was not available. We all get it that some people don't like the looks of the HAF X. That is a dead issue unworthy of further discussion. Either you like the look or you don't - but either way it is a quality case. As far as overall cooling it is in the top three cases available and it is renowned for being easy to build in. As an owner of the case I can vouch that it is solid and quality all the way. Mine was only $180 which is about $70 cheaper than the 650D and it cools better.

Yea I love the look of the Corsair 650D much better than my own case - but the HAF X is still a top quality case in its own right.
 
[citation][nom]flong[/nom]Look guys, I own the HAF X and I like the looks. Sure I like the 650D better for looks but when I bought my case it was not available. We all get it that some people don't like the looks of the HAF X. That is a dead issue unworthy of further discussion. Either you like the look or you don't - but either way it is a quality case. As far as overall cooling it is in the top three cases available and it is renowned for being easy to build in. As an owner of the case I can vouch that it is solid and quality all the way. Mine was only $180 which is about $70 cheaper than the 650D and it cools better. Yea I love the look of the Corsair 650D much better than my own case - but the HAF X is still a top quality case in its own right.[/citation]I have both the HAF X and Three Hundred, and the Three Hundred is more durable: I stripped a couple screw holes in the HAF X already. Now, what's wrong with this picture?
 
[citation][nom]Crashman[/nom]I have both the HAF X and Three Hundred, and the Three Hundred is more durable: I stripped a couple screw holes in the HAF X already. Now, what's wrong with this picture?[/citation]

Not sure. The case has a 5 egg rating at Newegg with 583 reviews which usually means that it is doing something right. I have not heard of any other people have "stripped" screws and frankly there are not a lot of screws to strip as much of the installation is tooless.

A person can strip screws on any case if they are not careful - though I am not accusing you of not being careful. If a person cross-threads a screw and forces it wallah - stripped screw.

Have you addressed the issue with Cooler Master?
 
[citation][nom]flong[/nom]Not sure. The case has a 5 egg rating at Newegg with 583 reviews which usually means that it is doing something right. I have not heard of any other people have "stripped" screws and frankly there are not a lot of screws to strip as much of the installation is tooless. A person can strip screws on any case if they are not careful - though I am not accusing you of not being careful. If a person cross-threads a screw and forces it wallah - stripped screw.Have you addressed the issue with Cooler Master?[/citation]I haven't addressed it because I found the "problem": The metal around the holes is thinner. Both companies thicken the holes for thread by piercing rather than drilling the metal, but Antec either uses a slighly thicker metal to begin with or slightly different piercing equipment.

Either way, except for that issue I'd say the case is on-par with the Three Hundred. And that's why I asked if you saw the problem with calling it a "top quality" case. It's a mid-quality case with a few extra features and a high-end price.

It's too bad Antec cheapened up the One Hundred's metal, since that would have been another eight-slot option if not for it being low-quality.

 
[citation][nom]Crashman[/nom]I haven't addressed it because I found the "problem": The metal around the holes is thinner. Both companies thicken the holes for thread by piercing rather than drilling the metal, but Antec either uses a slighly thicker metal to begin with or slightly different piercing equipment.Either way, except for that issue I'd say the case is on-par with the Three Hundred. And that's why I asked if you saw the problem with calling it a "top quality" case. It's a mid-quality case with a few extra features and a high-end price.It's too bad Antec cheapened up the One Hundred's metal, since that would have been another eight-slot option if not for it being low-quality.[/citation]
So what quality rating would you give the nzxt panzerbox ?
I've built a system in such a chassis a few years back and was surprised by the low quality. Not as bad as the time I built a system in an antec sonata chassis where everything fell apart (2008), but still I wasn't happy. I only have had one of each to build in. But overall I'd have to say the silverstone TJ07 and my custom chassis have been the best ones to build in. The lian li one looked good, but already started breaking down after a few months.
 
[citation][nom]Crashman[/nom]I haven't addressed it because I found the "problem": The metal around the holes is thinner. Both companies thicken the holes for thread by piercing rather than drilling the metal, but Antec either uses a slighly thicker metal to begin with or slightly different piercing equipment.Either way, except for that issue I'd say the case is on-par with the Three Hundred. And that's why I asked if you saw the problem with calling it a "top quality" case. It's a mid-quality case with a few extra features and a high-end price.It's too bad Antec cheapened up the One Hundred's metal, since that would have been another eight-slot option if not for it being low-quality.[/citation]

Well I don't own the Antec 300 and I am not exactly sure what your quality scale is. I have not found any metal screw connections on my case that have "thinner" metal and so I am not really sure what you are talking about. Again most of the installation is tooless. I've not had any problems with stripping screws and nothing on this case seems cheap or thin. I am really at a loss to understand your criticism of the HAF X and I own it.

I looked at the 300 before I bought the HAF X and the professional reviews were not as good and at the time it did not have USB 3.0. That being said, it is a very highly rated case on Newegg also and a lot of people swear by it. It is $100 cheaper than the HAF X but it does not have nearly as many features of the HAF X either.

You seem to be saying that the 300 is top quality but the HAF X is not. I guess your entitled to that opinion seeing as you own both cases. Remember the Silverstone cases and the Lian Li cases with the same features or less are $70 - $120 more in cost (some of the Lian Li are even more than that). I am not sure that it is a fair comparison. Most of the Silverstone cases don't even have USB 3.0 yet as far as I know. They are somewhat dated.

Also, there have been a lot of criticisms of the Lian Li cases for thin metal and the Tom's Hardware review noted a connection that had to be jury rigged. Granted it is one of their cheaper cases but still, for a $130 case you wouldn't expect this type of problem. It seems like nearly every case has its weakness.

I wish the Corsair 650D had been available when I bought my case, I would have paid the extra $70 for it. I really like the looks and its features and it is extremely well made by all accounts.
 
@ flong : the usb3 issue never was one for me, as I've yet to build any system for a customer that has asked for front usb3 connectivity. That being said though, you can have a cheap coolermaster chassis for like $70 with usb3 front panel in a 5,25" bay.
Anyway, from a sheer quality point of view, the silverstone wins (between those I've tried), and by a large margin the piano black antec sonata (old model) loses even against noname chassis designs I've been forced to use.
I know silverstone and lian li are pricier, and not nessecarily worth it. But on a quality scale price isn't a consideration. It's a factor in the buying choice, but most probably make do with midrange quality, as the high quality options simply aren't worth their premiums.

ps. I built an i7 system with sas drive and everything in a black lian li PC-A70 chassis. I ended up having to spend $60 on new fans from arctic, as the bundled ones were just too loud. And fast forward a few months, and the top plastic cover over the usb is broken, and the front's still rattling in the same manner it used to when it was new. Nothing's broken over the last 1½ years, but it's still a sad sight considering the price.
 
[citation][nom]flong[/nom]The new Silverstone Raven has moved to USB 3.0 and appears to be a rockin case for $160[/citation]

Forgot to address that one ! From what I've seen from the RV03 it's really great, but according to those at silverstone I've spoken to it won't ever be released in any other color than black (a white like the limited ed. rv02 would be great), and black's putting me off. Black's the new biege. It's the option if there is no option.
 
Lian Li is a mystery to me. It is hard to find reviews of the models and yet some people who own them think that they are the best cases made.

Silverstone has always made some of the top cases ever, the fortress is the best cooling case made right now and it still manages to remain fairly quiet. Still they have been slow to adopt SATA III and USB 3.0. It could be that they were waiting for the official connection to be finalized.

For me USB 3.0 was an important consideration because I do not want to crawl under my desk to connect to a rear port every time I use a device. Also, 3.0 is a major improvement in speed over 2.0 (something like four times faster) - it is clearly the future. I have noticed that many people really don't care.

I now see what you are talking about as high quality. It is funny, many of the very pricy cases are without a doubt well built with high quality components and yet often they don't function well. The last "Low-Noise case" review by Tom's Hardware was amusing. Several expensive cases could not beat the lowly Silverstone Raven beat them all in both cooling and quietness (one case was slightly quieter)and yet it costs much less than the other cases. The Lian Li didn't do too bad either.

Cases are funny animals and many people have very strong likes and dislikes.

Here is the Tom's Hardware link: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/rv02-e-lian-li-sonata-iv,2946.html

 
[citation][nom]neiroatopelcc[/nom]So what quality rating would you give the nzxt panzerbox ? I've built a system in such a chassis a few years back and was surprised by the low quality. Not as bad as the time I built a system in an antec sonata chassis where everything fell apart (2008), but still I wasn't happy. I only have had one of each to build in. But overall I'd have to say the silverstone TJ07 and my custom chassis have been the best ones to build in. The lian li one looked good, but already started breaking down after a few months.[/citation]Most of the materials were OK, but the workmanship was crap. Tom's used it a while ago simply because it supported a big radiator. Silverstone makes better-quality cases.
 
I would like to propose an alternative 2000 dollars configuration
I have a workstation:
Q6600-200 $
16 GB DDR3-150$
Gigabyte MB-100$
SSD 128 GB-200$
4*3TB HDDs=12 TB of storage-600$
6970 video card-350$
Case with PSU 750W-100$
2 Blu-Ray writers-200$
Total:1800$
That is better all around workstation
 
[citation][nom]Anonymous[/nom]I would like to propose an alternative 2000 dollars configurationI have a workstation:Q6600-200 $16 GB DDR3-150$Gigabyte MB-100$SSD 128 GB-200$4*3TB HDDs=12 TB of storage-600$6970 video card-350$Case with PSU 750W-100$2 Blu-Ray writers-200$Total:1800$That is better all around workstation[/citation]

That's terrible. I have a q6600 and I wouldn't pay $50 for one and definitely wouldn't build a new pc based on it trying to throw as much stuff as possible to hit a near $1800 price tag. Also, you didn't include an after-market cooler which assumes you may overclock it somewhat without increasing voltage, which could put you at 2.8ghz, maybe 3ghz if you're a little lucky. The 6970 will be bottle-necked, and on a workstation you'll sorely miss all the architecture improvements and optimizations found in even a core i3 setup.
 
This is my ~$2000 buid:
Intel E3-1270/ASUS P8B WS - $490
16G ECC RAM - $300
That is ~800, if you add 2 video card, cpu fan, PSU, case, 2 LCD monitor, HD or SSD, etc, then it will reach ~$2000
 
[citation][nom]jimss[/nom]I wonder how much they are paid to overclock the crap out of the boards ...[/citation]Tom's Harware pays writers the same rate regardless of overclocking results. I don't think they're looking for more editorial employees but they might accept some freelance work if you're interested.
 
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