Value Case Roundup: A Look at the Affordable
by Purav Sanghani on February 1, 2005 12:35 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
AsiaPro 8654BL
Like Linkworld Electronics Co., AsiaPro also takes reference cases and gives it that AsiaPro touch.
External Design
The bezel of the 8654BL is what will attract spectators. On either side of the bezel, there are two clear tubes that extend from top to bottom. Each looks like it has thousands of tiny bubbles in it, but they are really fibers that emit light when the system is turned on. It cycles through various colors and gives the bezel a flashy, yet not overdone look.
The rest of the bezel is silver in color. There are four 5-1/4"; drive bays, the top one taken by an included optical drive bezel, which has the phrase "Digital Multimedia Computer System"; printed in black on it. There are also two 3-1/2"; drive bays under those.
At the bottom, we see the power and reset buttons with the power and HDD activity LEDs between the buttons in the same vertical placement as the 268WSP. This whole scene is framed by a molded inset border.
Under the buttons and LEDs, we see a fold-up door that hides the auxiliary ports. This time, the door easily swivels up and inside the case to avoid accidental breakage unlike the 268WSP and 3131G. The ports, though, are limited to dual USB ports with optional punch out openings for audio and FireWire as on the 268WSP.
The side panels feature a pressed-in globe logo as well as ventilation holes at the front corners. To remove these, we need to remove two screws and pull the panels back.
Internal Design
The internal structure, like the 268WSP, is made of 0.7mm steel, which proves to be slightly stronger than the steel used in the 3131G, but the quality of this steel was not as high as that used in the 268WSP. We will see later, however, that the steel still may not be as strong as it should be to hold certain parts of our test bed.
We begin at the front where we see the four 5-1/4" drive bays. Each has a platform on which to rest the drives as well as two sets of four holes and two sets of long cut-outs to help mount drives.
The lower bays are of the 3-1/2" type and are plentiful at 6 for HDD and 2 more at the top for floppy drives.
The motherboard tray, like the 3131G, features raised stand-offs at the main motherboard contact points as well as many other holes to install standard stand-offs for a wider range of boards. AsiaPro also includes insulators similar to those that come with the 3131G for those raised stand-offs that will not be used.
The expansion slots also feature something interesting. The bottom four slot covers have holes for ventilation and the option to mount an 80mm fan there. We'll talk more about cooling a bit later.
As we move up to the back plate of the motherboard, we notice some bending of the steel in that area. It seems as though the included power supply is much too heavy for this steel to hold up. We are afraid that our bigger and heavier OCZ PowerStream may certainly take the bent steel to another level.
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Phantronius - Wednesday, February 2, 2005 - link
All these cases reak of over the top design and piss ass quality standards. I've worked on a wide variety of cases and I gotta tell you, the cheap as cases look and feel like they were put together with monkeys.There something definently wrong when a steel case starts to bend from the weight of a PSU.
TheInvincibleMustard - Wednesday, February 2, 2005 - link
Agreed with others (#13, #46) about the PowMax ... the words "PowMax" and "high quality power supplies" do not belong in the same sentence unless there's the words "does not make" inserted between them. ;)All in all, though, I've got to echo what others are saying here. There is very little mention about the PSUs that come with these units (including that one that has 12A (!!!) on the +12V line). Your "average" system is way out of whack for these machines, too ... explain how someone is going to spend $100 on a high-quality PSU like that OCZ and then spend $25 on a case? Try again, Purav ... this time maybe with a system that would better fit the budget ideas behind a case of this price range? Sempron, s754, 6200, etc etc.
Agentbolt - Wednesday, February 2, 2005 - link
PowMax PSUs are extremely high quality, huh? Tell that to my old Abit NF7 that got fried by a ridiculously out of whack PowMax 400W PSU. Oh, and the 8,000 or so ohter people complaining the same thing happened to them on NewEgg.comPowMax PSU are absolutely and utter garbage that are too light to even use a paper weight. Anyone trusting an entire computer's worth of components to one needs to be shot.
hoppa - Tuesday, February 1, 2005 - link
#44 i couldnt agree with you more. among many fellow comp sci majors here at school ive got one of, if not the, fastest system, and im only sitting on a barton 3000+ / 9800 pro. i do have the zalman though =PAvalon - Tuesday, February 1, 2005 - link
We have hand-picked a full system that we believe is the current system setup for the average user.PC Mid-Tower Test Bed
Chaintech VNF3-250
AMD Athlon64 3200+
OCZ PC3200 DDR x 2
Zalman CNPS7000 Copper
Seagate Barracuda 120GB SATA
ATI 9800XT
OCZ 520W PowerStream
What the hell is that? Since when do average, everyday Joe's use 520w OCZ PSUs and Athlon 64 processors? Most users who would consider cases like these are using sempron, athlon, celeron, and duron systems.
If you want a decent budget case, my favorite is this one:
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?desc...
$24 with shipping. Comes with no fans, but the PSU is sturdy and will support Athlon XPs, Durons, Semprons, and Celerons just fine, sans overclocking. The case itself is sturdy, and there are no sharp edges in it. Aesthetically speaking, it doesn't look beautiful, but it looks far from bad. I've used this case on quite a few occassions. However, I too would recommend ponying up the extra $20-$30 for an Antec case.
Cygni - Tuesday, February 1, 2005 - link
Dude, give it a rest... anandtech isnt a goverment body, and they dont have to retract anything, haha. EVERYONE has comments about how this or that detail is just BARELY off, or because AT "Shouldnt" be publishing an article because its aimed at the low end, or the high end, or the IT sector, or the Mac world, or whatever. The comments on most AT articles these days are just forums for people to bitch meaninglessly.sirmixmasta - Tuesday, February 1, 2005 - link
The Codegen 6209 has USB 1.1 front USB ports instead of USB 2.0 ports like every other new case. This case should CLEARLY NOT BE THE EDITORS CHOICE. The front USB ports will be useless for anyone with a new motherboard. I personally own other Codegen cases with the same USB 1.1 front USB ports and they will not work with any newer motherboard that is USB 2.0 compliant. The cases front usb cabling/connector will not correctly fit a USB 2.0 motherboard pin-out. Even when altered to fit, you will find that use of the front USB ports with a 2.0 complaint USB device will lock up all your USB ports or worse, freeze your entire system.This article should be retracted for the time being until this fact is confirmed or explained in some way by the author. I find it hard to believe that AnandTech would recommend such a case with this obvious shortcoming. Additionally, some of the other comments by readers need to be addressed as well.
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproductdesc.asp?desc...
http://www.codegengroup.com/03_products/index.asp?...
sdfg - Tuesday, February 1, 2005 - link
Kristopher,Yeah, I think I do, too...
dgkulzer - Tuesday, February 1, 2005 - link
I bought a evercase 4252 for 45 bucks without a PSU. It had all the features that I needed like space for a 120 fan in the rear, 2 front USB, non-flashy design, and good airflow. I bought this case to replace a more expensive case (Antec Sonota) which I didnt like because it was the first case I ever had with a door over the optical drives and it annoyed me.My computer now has a Seasonic SS450 PSU, AMD64 3200 (S754), 1 gig of ram etc and I don't think I will ever buy a 'expensive' case again. If you look around you can find some very nice low-cost cases. I would generally replace the PS though
IceWindius - Tuesday, February 1, 2005 - link
I love my Chieftec Aluminum Dragon. Until Antec switches to aluminum, I will continue to turn plain jane cases into works of art using chieftecs