The Final Five: Gaming Cases Between $80 And $120, Rounded-Up

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I'm cool with the NZXT because they remembered to put space for a bottom fan in it. It's the most efficient place for a fan to blow in cool air. Hot air rises, cool air sinks. If you throw cool air at your gpu, you allow for a direct pathway for air to go out of the case. Also it has a pretty freakin sweet look to it.

Also: Rosewill R5 anybody? Seriously that and the thor v2 are on opposite ends of this price range and they both are completely review-worthy cases.
 


Yup, went back and found it. Scored fairly well. And I'm assuming the HAF 922 was tested in a different batch of cases.
 
Luckily, Cooler Master only sent its Storm Enforcer. I say luckily because it's tough to fit more than five cases in a table, though a 4-part 4-way would have been OK.

But I don't think the HAF 922 qualified for this roundup. Does it have an internal 20-pin USB 3.0 connector? I'm fairly certain the original case was USB 2.0, and the updated version uses rear-panel pass-through cables, both of which would make it...irrelevant. See, I can be nice :)
 
[citation][nom]Article[/nom]The lack of any intake fan combines with an extra-tight fit to exacerbate our ventilation concerns.[/citation]

Not to mention that the Graphics card is slightly warped to fit under the drive cage
 
[citation][nom]Article[/nom]However, a raised lip on its motherboard tray blocks half of our SATA ports.[/citation]

That's a deal-breaker for me. And I'm sure may people will agree with me. I can't believe that a case with that flaw made it past the design stage.
 
[citation][nom]youssef 2010[/nom]That's a deal-breaker for me. And I'm sure may people will agree with me. I can't believe that a case with that flaw made it past the design stage.[/citation]It fits ATX boards. This board is wider than ATX, as explained in the article. Since most boards aren't wider than full ATX, the issue shouldn't matter to most builders.
 
"A drop to $81 at Mwave puts NZXT’s Phantom 410 into its current high-value position"
Except Mwave wants $34 for shipping - so that puts Mwave in the rip off position.
 
[citation][nom]mike205992[/nom]The price of the NZXT Phantom 410 has shot up to $99 after winning...[/citation]Yeh, but you can get that price with free shipping at Directron. So it's still a great bargain.
 
COOLER MASTER HAF XM RC-922XM-KKN1 is my new favorite candidate for this category. Best feature is the 4x 200mm mounting places in a mid-atx tower. Also looks very spacious and is currently listed at $109.99 on Newegg (after rebate)
 
Why does NZXT cases look so damn gimmicky? That's the only thing I don't like about the phantom and why I refuse to buy it.
 
I absolutely love my Corsair Carbide 300R, it is silent with my Xigmatek Gaia, 2 stock case fans, and XFX HD 5770. It is a subtly awesome case, will not catch your eye, but if you look at it you know how awesome it is.
 
Frankly, I feel that Cooler Master's HAF XM is superior to the Phantom 410 at a similar price point, rather disappointed that it was left out of this review.
 
[citation][nom]Firedrops[/nom]Frankly, I feel that Cooler Master's HAF XM is superior to the Phantom 410 at a similar price point, rather disappointed that it was left out of this review.[/citation]Left out? And you complain here? When Cooler Master picked the case? Why don't you go to their forums and ask why they chose to exclude it?

Lots of blame to go around but not much fault.
 
Okay, everyone, take it easy on me. I haven't built a PC in about 10-15 years, and the technologies have evolved a bit.

I bought the Corsair 400 case because I wanted something with room inside. I knew that I was going to need it. Anyway, my question for you guys that have assembled a computer using this case: how do the front fans get their power, and is it being supplied by that Molex feed-through connector that is just sitting on the bottom of the case? Does that mean the two front fans are on full blast all of the time?

I'm putting in a Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD7 mobo, and GV-R785OC-2GD video board with 32GB of system memory, since the primary use of the computer will be 3D renders using Daz Studio and Lux Render, so I actually expect to tax the system quite a bit, but I'm not sure I need those two fans running at full speed all of the time. (Oh...CPU cooling to be handled by Antec 620 closed liquid system)

 
[citation][nom]capn-gary[/nom]how do the front fans get their power, and is it being supplied by that Molex feed-through connector that is just sitting on the bottom of the case? Does that mean the two front fans are on full blast all of the time? [/citation]The connector style depends on the case you buy, some use motherboard fan headers and others use 4-pin drive connectors. The ones that use motherboard fan headers can be controlled by the motherboard, the ones that have big 4-pin connectors are full-blast all-the-time. Some cases have three-pin motherboard connectors AND 4-pin adapters, because some motherboards don't have enough fan headers.
 
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