[geeks] Good quality ATX case with side access HDD bays?

[nate at portents.com]

On Fri, 28 May 2010 00:54:48 -0500, Bill Bradford <mrbill at mrbill.net>
wrote:
> I know, "you get what you pay for" - but for $22, these have worked just
> fine so far.

With all due respect, Bill, that's not good advice... the one component I
recommend no one ever skimp on in any way is the power supply, for the
simple reason that cheap/bad power supplies not only cost you more in the
long run due to their low efficiency (converting power from your wall into
more waste heat), but can damage or destroy the equipment you have hooked
up to it!

I've seen cheap power supplies:

- destroy themselves and destroy motherboard south bridges
- destroy themselves and destroy video cards
- destroy themselves and destroy hard drives
- destroy themselves and destroy CPUs
- appear to work fine but ruin a motherboards on/off circuitry so it's
always on

Also, I think people should stop recommending brands of power supply... a
lot of the companies source their power supply designs and components from
other makers, which means you can't blindly buy a brand and always know
what you're getting.  I really think everyone should read reviews of
specific power supplies from places like hardwaresecrets.com and
jonnyguru.com.

And let me close with a quote from The Bargain Basement Power Supply
Roundup Review
<http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story5&reid=71> -
"So, there you have it folks. It just doesn't pay to try and save that
extra $50 on your build budget by buying cheaper power supplies. "

- Nate