I'm tired of using cheap cases and I want something "nice" (without spending $200+). Ideally I'll be running a SATA hot swap bay in one of the external drive bays, and up to four SSDs inside (plus another HD). Recommendations? ATX preferred, mATX possible.

Having just built a computer with one, I'd say a Corsair 600t. Plenty of room on the inside, side-mounted drive bays, tons of holes for cable management, not too terribly crazy priced.

(What are you going to be doing with 4 SSDs, BTW?)

I'm a huge fan of the Coolermaster HAF 922

Its big, spacious, the red led isn't overwhelming, and I find cable management absolutely fabulous. Its got a bigger brother, the 932 if you have a bigger budget, but IMO its overkill.

I think Newegg also offers a blue-led version with a side panel plexiglass window instead of a grill. I personally chose the grill over the plexiglass because I intend to add another 20mm fan to it.

Okay, so less than $200.

But what do you prefer: cool or quiet?

If you want quiet, I would STRONGLY recommend the Corsair 550D, which is one of the quietest cases in its price range.

Things I like about the 550D after buying it:

1. Like almost all Corsair cases, it's an absolute dream to build with. It has 6 HDD drive bays that just snap in. SSDs can be screwed into the middle of the sleds.
2. Air filtering for all intake fan ports, even the side.
3. No stupid window (this was great when I was in high school, but I've grown out of it).
4. It looks like the monolith from 2001: A Space Odyssey. Nondescript, but just enough style to not be a simple black box.
5. Side and top fan ports have press-to-remove sound-dampened covers. Thus, if you don't want to use those, it cuts down on the sound.

It'll fit your ATX motherboard, and comes with the mounts installed for ATX. Side panels come off with just a button, no screws needed. External drive bays are snap in slots with no rails. Power supply is mounted on the bottom. No silly LED fans. Most fan ports are 120 and 140mm compatible.

Basically I love the case, if quiet is your thing (and after my ancient noisemaker, it was).

The 600T mentioned above isn't a bad choice either, but it exchanges quiet for cooling. Also, I don't like the styling quite as much, but it's still a lot simpler than the ridiculous gaming cases you'll see around (like almost every NZXT case).

Another option is the Antec Eleven Hundred. I'm not a fan of the window (nor am I of most windowed cases), but it is rated by Anandtech as the coolest case they've reviewed this year, by a significant margin. If I remember correctly, building in them isn't as pleasant as Corsair's cases, but it's not a nightmare either. Pretty much the result of it being $40 cheaper.

Anandtech has reviews up for all these cases and I recommend reading through them. They go over the details of the build, cooling, and loudness, so they cover all the bases.

Yeah. If you want super super quiet, all of the vents on the 600t aren't the best for that. It's awesome for heavy cooling though.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/5090/antec-p280-when-enthusiasts-are-engineers

This is what I use. Its excellent.

Thanks guys! I don't heavily OC anything, but that may change if I end up with an unlocked Ivy Bridge processor...still debating a major upgrade (mostly for SSD caching, SATA 3 and USB 3...I'm happy enough with my current processor speed). Right now I think I'd lean towards quiet over cool.

The P280 looks really nice, but I am not a fan of doors..on the other hand, I so rarely use optical media that it's probably a non-issue at this point. I like the Corsair 550D as well. I like the simplicity over something that looks like it fell off a Transformer.

I've been using Ultra and Rosewill cases for years...so any of these will probably be a huge step up in user-friendliness.



2x64gb RAID boot/OS, 240Gb programs, and I got a free 32Gb with the 240Gb and I dunno what I'm going to do with it...either sell/give it away or use it as HD cache when I upgrade to a Z-series chipset.

I have the older version of Greenboy's case.

so how long before tris posts with recommendations and an offer to send you a case he happens to have sitting around?

JLee: I actually like the doors because it makes the case quieter and it looks a lot better (applies to most cases). That said, on the 550D at least, you can actually remove the door entirely if you so choose. It opens in both directions, and due to that hinge system, it can just snap out entirely as well.

I'm also toying with going the complete opposite direction and just going with a Shuttle SZ77R5. It'll give me SATA3, USB3, and be very small and clean...hmm. I'd have to upgrade my processor, but I could keep my other stuff...hrm.

Ewwww. That's all I can say for that.

LOL. Other than personal taste, is there a huge downside (besides small size)?

I would say that's the only downside that matters, unless you're trying to cram it into a media center or something, in which case I'd rethink the whole build

Everything is accessible without opening the door. It only covers optical drives, and the fan filter. Makes it nice and easy to clean the filter that way.

I tend to go cheap on cases, I don't like spending more than $50. I only have two spare cases at-the-moment but I have longterm plans for them. I doubt either of them would interest JLee anyway-


An AMD themed Thermaltake V3 and the other one is some very plain looking Li Lian with side window. Cant remember the model number. Sorry no freebies in this thread.

Good job with the suggestions, some of those cases are huge. Personally I hate working in mATX or smaller cases tho.

I've always gone cheap on cases too..used to get the ones that were free after rebate, so I'd like to see what I'm missing. Once I figure out if I want small or large, I'll decide on something.. :p

Frankly I am very happy with what I got. I had an ancient Antec case prior, and I dreaded working in it every time. But this new case, it should last me many, may years. That's one of the benefits of getting a nice case, is it will last.

I have always had a good experience with Lian-Li cases, both in terms of material/build quality (haven't felt a "sturdier" case yet), and from a system-builder point-of-view. In fact, I'm probably going to be buying a Lian-Li case for an HTPC I'm building soon. However, if I didn't have my current case, I'd probably go with one of the Corsairs mentioned by Darth/CM. Lian-Li was a shining star back in the day, but a lot of manufacturers (like Corsair, Coolermaster, etc.) seem to have caught up at least in terms of case features and, in some cases, aesthetics. Just remember, if you're going to be spending a lot on the case, you better use it for 2-3 future builds if you want to make it worth it (I'm on my second build using the same case). Otherwise, just get a new Coolermaster or something every build.

I saw this deal posted for a budget priced Lian-Li case today-

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811112337

~$65 FS with promo code