Three Gaming Cases, With Power, Under $100

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A 400W power supply running a GTX 285 ... teaches u something about real power requirements. I guess the moral of the story is: don't believe everything nvidia and ati are advertising.
 
I'm not fond of these cases where the hard drives are mounted sideways. Sometimes they are not wide enough for beefier power supplies that group the wires in a tube orientation.
 
[citation][nom]warezme[/nom]...never buy a case with a PSU. This review outlines why...[/citation]
Unfortunately, I'm not sure it did. Though sprinkled with caveats, none of these PSUs immediately failed. If these boxes were run continuously (as in a typical weekend gaming marathon), I'd bet on the TR2 croaking first, but in this brief look, they all appeared to do ok. Or, over time, poor ripple, regulation, and/or turn-on spikes might kill something, or at the least cause instability. I can see this article being cited by someone wanting to go cheap on the PSU, thinking it must be okay because Tom's pulled it off.
 
After crowing about Tom's new P/S test facility, I was disappointed to find that the power supplies themselves were not reviewed- no test of OCP/OPP, no test of ripple at various power levels, no hot box testing, no overshoot transient testing. Almost nothing is known about these power supplies beyond efficiency, noise and what is printed on the side label. I wouldn't trust my system to any of these P/S without a reputable review, and this isn't it.
 
[citation][nom]Metallifux[/nom]Why would you put the PSU at the bottom of a case when hot air rises?[/citation]

Because I don't enjoy cooking my power supplies with system heat.
Because I have a 120mm fan, or two, to take care of the convection heat.
Because a bottom mount P/S can more easily have its own bottom intake vent and its own stream of fresh cool air, leaving more airflow for other components from the front vents/fans.
Because I don't have to route the 24 pin connector snake around the big CPU cooler.
Because I have shorter runs to the Video Card(s).
Because a bottom mount P/S gives me a more stable, less top-heavy case.

That's why.

Convection assisted cooling with a single P/S fan made sense in the days of 250W P/S and passively cooled CPU's, and still make sense for low power systems like HTPC's. For a gaming system, they just trying to cool a hot component with hot air. Not a good idea for a marginal quality component not verified by hot box testing.
 
I'd have to pass on those power supplies.
I have an Antec 300 (5 case fans) Bought for about $45.
I also have a PC Power and Cooling 610 Watt power supply. That was a bit more though.
I'm not sure how well you'd be able to run a gaming computer using 400 watts and NO WAY on the SLI or Crossfire. Plus I love the fact that my PSU has 1 MASSIVE rail. Instead of 14A and 15A on different parts of the PSU mine has 49A shared. If you have a video card that needs 16Amps your screwed. With mine, my video card can gobble up all it needs and they rest of the amps can all be used as well. This way there is no waisted Amps and all the devices can get what they need. You may have to do some reading to understand why this is such a good thing. But, it is my personal belief that single rail power supplies are the best and PC Power and Cooling is TOPS.

[citation][nom]Crashman[/nom]Groupthink. Someone said it was cool and everyone else jumped aboard. It happened around three years ago, and now you're not one of the cool kids if you don't agree.[/citation]

Wrong! It is done for better and more efficient cooling. Hot air rises. meaning that the hottest air inside a PC will go out through the power supply. This is not a good thing. In a typical PC design you power supply would ALWAYS be hot. With the power supply at the bottom it is not taking in hot air and the fans on the top are more efficiently getting rid of hot air. So in the end, it's a more effective design. Although I am temped, I won't say anything about your intelligence.
 
in general i think cool master makes much better "no bells and whistles" enthusist cases than otehr companies do. sure antec has awsome massive full tower cases taht are prestty to look at , but for a budget builder antec's offerings look behind to me , same witht eh toerh two companies , back in 08 i got a cool amster centurion 590 case , nice little budget build mid tower , case , holds up to 7 fans , 2 120x120's and 4 slots that take from a 80x80 up to a 140x140 , better yet i fit all my fans in it even with a massive hyper tx 2 cpu cooler in my case this case onlky costed me a nice and tidy 59 bucks and came with two of the fans i'm stil using in it (two 120's), so it's no suprise that coolmaster took this "competiton " , granted that model didn't come with many fans , but hell even us budget gamer/builders are gonna buy some fans to throw down in a new rig
 
Good review. Getting a good budget case with a decent PSU is always hard. I pretty much expected the iwin to preform as it did, but I was rather disappointed with the Cooler Master's results though I assume it would do a little better with more and better fans. Of course it didn't come with those fans and it wouldn't be a good comparison to the other cases. I'll certainly be looking at the M9 next time I do a budget build for someone. Too bad the 300 wasn't in this review though.
 
you couldn't find 3 cases any uglier than this.
I rarely look at cases with included power supply simply because in my experience
this budget power supply units do not meet my minimum requirements.

with that said I recently use a Rosewill case with included 450watts power supply for
a built for a friend, giving that he is not going to play games or push the system too hard is ok.

but for anyone who play games, or use any kind of graphic intense software you just can't deal with anything under 600watts power supply to power a decent video card.
 
I'm really disappointed they didn't include the NZXT m59 in this review.
I got mine for 49.99 with a 20 dollar MIRB which makes it cheaper than all of these cases and it has all the features plus more than all of these cases.
 
[citation][nom]drwho1[/nom]...but for anyone who play games, or use any kind of graphic intense software you just can't deal with anything under 600watts power supply to power a decent video card.[/citation]
Nonsense. You could build a quite competent gamer with a 73W core-i3/i5 and a HD5770 and run it on a QUALITY 300W PSU. No, you wouldn't have much overclocking headroom; make it a 400W PSU for that, and you're still well short of 600W. HD5770 not good enough? Well then, that 400W PSU will handle a HD5850, or get 450W if you want to overclock a build using a HD5870. http://www.extreme.outervision.com/PSUEngine
 
I really don't understand the why you would want to save money on a case. The case is one of the few components that does not become obsolete in future builds. Isn't it worth it to invest the extra $50 to $100 on a premium case that is quieter, cooler and has a better layout that you can use over and over. When I bought my Silverstone Raven II, it was replacing a Thermaltake Xaser that worked very well for 6 years and four builds, but I now needed something better and quieter and the unique and the much smarter airflow design of the Raven II with the 90 degree motherboard rotation caught my attention right away. I studied it, read all the reviews, found a few flaws, but ultimately realized that this was the right way to design a case and that saving money on all the other cases out there would just be a rehash of what I already had. I am sure other manufacturers could come up with something even better than the Raven II, but it seems as though the short sighted cost savings are still too attractive to the buying public. Sometimes the "deal" of saving money is really wasting money in the long run!
 
uh for the inwin powerman psu isnt it 18 + 16 amps making it 34 not 25 or am i missing something
 
[citation][nom]stuffex[/nom]uh for the inwin powerman psu isnt it 18 + 16 amps making it 34 not 25 or am i missing something[/citation]Yeh, the components for both rails go back to a single source that itself has 25A capacity. You could put out 18A on one side and 7A on the other, or 9A on one side and 16A on the other, etc.
 
Is a 'tepid recommendation' really a recommendation at all?
Some smart research could turn up other options like a current NewEgg combo deal of the Antec 300 & Antec Basiq 500W PSU. $95 before $15 rebate http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.410722
http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/Antec-Basiq-BP500U-Power-Supply-Review/792/1

I know the article focus was in a different direction. And it's been useful in pointing out it's always a good idea take a good look before jumping in at something that looks like a 'real' bargain.
 
Back in Feb. I managed to get an Antec Sonata III which includes an EarthWatts 500 PS for 99.99 from Newegg, just squeaking under the $100 mark. That has to be one of the best budget Case/PS combos going. It is currently $120 unfortunately but I imagine it will hit the $100 mark again.
 
[citation][nom]WR2[/nom]Is a 'tepid recommendation' really a recommendation at all?[/citation]It means that the author doesn't believe the three cases that participated represent the best three products of the sub-$100 field. A good example is In Win's inclusion of a case that's "gamer-themed" in appearance only...when its traditional products are better able to hold performance hardware.
 
[citation][nom]Crashman[/nom]Groupthink. Someone said it was cool and everyone else jumped aboard. It happened around three years ago, and now you're not one of the cool kids if you don't agree.[/citation]

I actually think its a horrid idea. I always picture water cooling coming loose and slopping liquid into your PSU, perhaps not shocking it because of the liquids non-conducive properties, but likely ruining it nonetheless. Moreover, a screw could come loose and drop into it. I prefer cases with the PSU at the top, especially in the event a house floods...but that's just me. I still love the Cooler Master case.
 
Out of all the cases I think that thermaltake M9 caught my eye the most. Simple, clean, and has a nice plexi-glass side. I also like the Cooler Master but the RED is too flashy for me.
 
I went for a very inexpensive CPU+Motherboard+ 2GB RAM+Case and Power Supply combo on newegg a few months back.
Here was the case and power supply about $50 with free shipping
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811156239
The Raidmax RX-450K 450W Power Supply that came with it was only 75% efficient,the case was pretty cheap (somewhat thinner flimsy aluminum).
The only problem with the case was the bay covers could come off easily so I glued them.Other than that it has good airflow and it works for me for a very low budget PC.Usually I never choose such a inexpensive Power Supply or case but I made an exception.I wouldn't mind buying another one.
 
[citation][nom]jj463rd[/nom]I went for a very inexpensive CPU+Motherboard+ 2GB RAM+Case and Power Supply combo on newegg a few months back.Here was the case and power supply about $50 with free shippinghttp://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6811156239The Raidmax RX-450K 450W Power Supply that came with it was only 75% efficient,the case was pretty cheap (somewhat thinner flimsy aluminum).[/citation]Your case is made of STEEL because aluminum is far too expensive to use on anything that cheap. If you don't believe me, stick a magnet to it.
 
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