[rescue] PC Cases

[Charles Shannon Hendrix]

Wed, 25 Feb 2004 @ 09:57 -0500, Phil Stracchino said:

> Antec makes (or resells) excellent power supplies that are bright enough
> to detect a short on the load side and shut off power before magic smoke
> escapes.

I like their power supplies.  Very nice, and quiet too.  Some of them
can sense temperature and set fan speeds automatically too, though I
don't really care about that myself.

> Personally, I've been avoiding aluminum cases; most of the ones I've
> looked at don't bother to use steel thread inserts for things like case
> screws, and threads in sheet aluminum strip out horrifyingly easily.  

I've got a couple of friends who've had theirs for years and have not
had that problem.  They are Lian-Li cases, and they are very nice.  Very
tight build quality, no vibrations, and very easy to work with.  Of
course, they are careful people and I have no idea if the cases have
reinforced threads or not.

I don't like the picture window crap that is so popular.

I've also gotten to where I really like the removable drive bays in
the Lian-Li cases.  You can easily pull it out without intefering with
the motherboard or cabling.  Quite a few antec cases, while nice,
have non-removable drive bays.  I also find the Antec cases a bit too
plastic-y and bulky.

Of course, the selection around here sucks, and I like to see a case
before I get it.

I'm still looking for a good case.  I want it to be really deep so
motherboards are free and clear of cables and drives, and wide
so that I can work in it easily.  I want removable hard drive bays.

Ideally, I'd have an SCA backplane that could handle a few drives too,
but so far the SCA add-ins I have found cost as much as the case.

> In that context, one of the features I like about the big
> Antec/Chieftain case is that once the machine's assembled, you
> virtually never need touch it with a screwdriver again.  Drive bays
> are removable and latch into place, fans and drive rails snap in, the
> side door has a locking latch and a pinless hinge....

That is very nice.  I hate how most cases are made.  

-- 
shannon "AT" widomaker.com -- [4649 5920 4320 204e 4452 5420 5348 5920 4820
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