Nice, Inexpensive case

[Mercutio]

This is the case I bought for my kid class builds..

It's $52, has a fair PSU but is extraordinarily well constructed for a case at that price. The important part is that right now Newegg is selling it with free shipping.

Since shipping on a case is usually $15 or so, I thought I'd point this little guy out for anyone who is interested. It's not an Antec, but it's a good container for leftover parts.

 

[timwhit]

The Antec Three Hundred is $60 with free shipping too. Which would you choose?

 

[Mercutio]

Honestly, the one I linked.

1. It comes with a power supply. Not a good one, but not a POS, either.

2. The power supply is correctly positioned at the top of the case. There are two big issues with the PSU at the bottom. One is that it makes the bottom part of the motherboard a cabling mess, right where all your disk drives, USB cables, lights, buttons, SATA, audio cables et al. go.

... As opposed to the top of your case which maybe has a DVD burner and a screw or two for the motherboard.

The other reason is that there's nothing special about that design. They drilled some holes in the front of a generic mid-tower case. At least with the NSK series there's removable drive bays and things.

 

[timwhit]

I just posted the cheapest Antec case I could find on Newegg, I didn't notice it didn't have a power supply. I didn't think it was particularly nice looking either.

 

[Fushigi]

I used a couple of these Cooler Master cases, although I picked up the version w/o a PSU. Works well & comes with a 120mm fan.

 

[Mercutio]

That's a much better inexpensive choice, but the styling is a bit too gaudy for my taste. The interior sure does look nice, though.

 

[Bozo]

I have been looking at HEC cases. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...07&Description=HEC&bop=And&Order=PRICE&Page=1

Some look like rebadged Antec cases without a power supply.

Bozo :joker:

 

[Mercutio]

HEC cases are really nice, too. Very well built, and HEC power supplies are very high quality for an "unknown" brand. One of the Chicago-area distributors I deal with put HEC PSUs in the Foxconn cases it sells, so I see quite a few of them.

I'm almost 100% positive that HEC is the OEM for the Antec NSK-series cases I like. I've been raving about that design since I started raving about cases on SR.