What PC cases do ya'll use? Plastic? Steel? Aluminum?

[Burt Gummer]

I am slowly but surely building my first built system,(I have a DELL PIII already).

I am going with a P4 with an ASUS mobo. What PC cases do ya'll have and why? Any help would be appreciated as always. I am having a tough time deciding.

Also, I have seen some Pentium 4's with the letter "A" behind their frequency. What does that imply?

I would also maybe like to do some overclocking in the future when I get more experienced.


Thanks,

Burt

[setfree]

The "A" means its the Northwood version meaning it has an L2 Cache size of 512 compared to the others which have 256

[Burt Gummer]

Originally posted by setfree The "A" means its the Northwood version meaning it has an L2 Cache size of 512 compared to the others which have 256

Ah good. I would take it the "A" is good then...

I

[Cwilde65]

Yes the northwood is better. And i would reccomend if you get a p4 to get a northwood.

[setfree]

Yes the Northwood version is faster. And if you plan on overclocking the 1.6a can run at 2.0ghz with no problems depending on your mobo. The standard that I have seen is about 2.6ghz when overclocked on a good board.

[morriswindgate]

As for your subject header,
I have used Steel and Alumnum and really do not see that much of a difference. My current favorite case to build with is the Enermax cases at the links below. Great layout for drive mounting and cooling, plus a premium power supply.

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduc...ry=1400&DEPA=1

[HAL9000]

My main machine is a full tower steel case from Yeong Yang. It's a good, solid case that doesn't rattle.

My other two machines, again, good solid steel cases are Enlight 7237's.

I'm not convinced on aluminum yet. Aluminum is very soft and easily bent or scratched. My machines get dragged out for upgrades quite often and I use one of them to put my feet up on

[Mr N8]

Those enermax cases are nice! I currently use a steel Chieftec case, and it is really nice. It is the equivalent of an Antec, but doesn't have as many of the ease of use features. It does, however, come with the drive rails (very nice) and removeable hard drive cages. It has nice rounded corners to save the knuckles, and a lot of room to work in. I would get one without a power supply, and put an Enermax or Sparkle PSU in it. HTH

nate

[Cricket]

Originally posted by Burt Gummer I am going with a P4 with an ASUS mobo. What PC cases do ya'll have and why? Any help would be appreciated as always. I am having a tough time deciding.

All my cases are made of steel (except for my DELL case which is plastic over a metal frame). I like to use Antec cases.

Cricket

[GaryRouth]

I like Antec cases, mostly because of their highly rated power supplies (and they look nice, too). I usually worry more about the power supply and the boxes layout rather than the material its made of. I'm usually on a budget, too: which rules out the aluminum cases.

Top of the line power supplies are Enermax, Sparkle, Antec, and perhaps Enlight.
. . . Gary

[Mr N8]

Hey Cricket...
Aren't Lian-Li's Aluminum? I also thought that Enermax made some aluminum cases. Or, do they use an Aluminum Alloy to make these cases? Just wondering...I'm not a chemist!

[ryanatalie]

I'm using the Lian-Li PC-61

[Cricket]

Originally posted by Mr N8 Hey Cricket... Aren't Lian-Li's Aluminum?

Yes, I think most of them (if not all) are made of aluminum.

Originally posted by Mr N8 I also thought that Enermax made some aluminum cases.

Yes, Enermax does have a few aluminum cases as well. Their CS-5190AL Series is aluminum (I think these are actually made by a Japanese company). Their other cases are mostly steel but have face plates that make them appear to be made of aluminum.

Cricket

[Mr N8]

Thanks, Cricket. I was just wondering if the aluminum cases weren't really all aluminum. I've never like the look of the Lian-Li cases, so I've never really checked them out.

[AzCoastie]

I'm going with the good ol' Enlight 7237... IMHO, you can't beat it for the price!

[TEEB]

I have the Lian Li PC60U. Yes it's all aluminum. Has all thumb screws and an enermax PS(purchased seperatley).
The other two are steel. The Lian Li is very expensive and serves no practical use other that aluminim cools better than steel.
Other than that, all you get for your money is bragging rights!!

[wireant]

I have an aluminum Cheiftec. It works well. There are no exceptional features about it that I would recomend it over others. It is just another choice. But, like mentioned earlier - either buy it without a psu or get a new one because many of them are shipping with Deer's. When I bought mine it shipped with a Turblink, which I guess is suposed to be from the same factory as the antec's.

[edrod13]

I have had good luck using the In-win case line. These cases are very sturdy and come with quality power supplies.

Edrod13

[mrjohnsonjr]

i am using the antec case also...heavy metal. dropped the door on my toe and i almost lost my nail...

[imademyfirstcomputer]

http://www.compusa.com/products/prod...ct_code=292088

KICKASS case

[HAL9000]

Frick... I couldn't justify $200 for a case. The Antec cases are nice, my only beef with those is I hate doors on the front of cases... I have no use for them. Sure, you can probably take it off, but then it looks butt ugly.

[rdlaing]

I'm also putting together a new build, and considering cases.

Doesn't steel help quiet things a little more than aluminum (or plastic)?
Wondering, because I heard something to that effect.

[Cricket]

Originally posted by rdlaing I'm also putting together a new build, and considering cases. Doesn't steel help quiet things a little more than aluminum (or plastic)? Wondering, because I heard something to that effect.

Depends on how thick the sheet metal is. But if you have a lot of case fans installed it won't matter because the fan openings are open to the outside. If you have high speed, high volume fans you'll just have to deal with the noise. Using slow spinning fans really helps to reduce fan/wind noise.

Cricket

[imademyfirstcomputer]

Yeah i wouldn't spend too much on a case... i spent 200 bucks... yeah it was a waste.. i shoulda spend less and just upgraded my gf4 ti-4200 to something more... but hey now all my friends are super jealous when they check out the case so .

[Dyne]

My case on my old computer is plastic, but after buying an aluminum case for my new build, I am very impressed. You just can't beat the look of aluminum. Also, the fact that it is such a good heat absorber means that I only need the 2 stock fans to get good temps - so don't worry about noise. A different case for someone with different needs, however. I don't move my PC very often, and I doubt that aluminum could handle being banged around much. I'm also still not so sure about the price, after seeing the quality cases that Antec makes w/ PSU for such good prices. I still like my new case, though.

[glc]

I have been building with Enlight almost exclusively for the past 7 years - with the occasional AOpen when the Enlights are backordered. My customers don't really care about the features of "premium" cases - as long as it works and isn't butt ugly they are happy. Enlight seems to me to be the best combination of value and function but they ARE quite plain in appearance.

[tenkawa_akito]

I just recently built a system inside an Antec Performance II case. The nice thing about the performance II cases is that they dispense with the awkward front door. Also, the way antec cases slide and lock are very nice. The front bezel on mine has two push tabs that pop it right off (as opposed to the grunting and sweating I had to do to get the bezel off of my old case) so you can swap out drives easily. Also, the hard drive gondola has a locking mechanism that can be detatched so you can slide the gondola right out to swap out hard drives. My only beef is that I bought the workstation mid tower. It has the extra drive bays I wanted and good cooling features, but the thing is just so damned heavy. When looking for a case, look for something that has front USB, headphone jack, or IEEE 1394 ports. If you use digital cameras a lot or other USB or firewire products, these will make your life that much easier. If you get a case and power supply bundle, make sure it's a quality PS. Look for names like Antec or Enermax. If it does come with a PS, I wouldn't pay any more that $80 (I splurged on my case at $99), otherwise look for $30-$40. As for aluminum vs steel, aluminum is too expensive to implement properly, so I prefer to stick with the more common steel cases.

[HAL9000]

Originally posted by glc I have been building with Enlight almost exclusively for the past 7 years - with the occasional AOpen when the Enlights are backordered. My customers don't really care about the features of "premium" cases - as long as it works and isn't butt ugly they are happy. Enlight seems to me to be the best combination of value and function but they ARE quite plain in appearance.

Hasn't your supplier started getting the 7252.. they finally have a bit more style to them and an almost screwless design as well.

[glc]

I havent tried to get any yet - the 7237 is like a comfortable old friend.

[Nuclear Krusader]

Steel for now. Aluminium are still too pricey for me, but I'm considering one. Since my case is always open I don't care about temps.