Value Case Roundup: A Look at the Affordable
by Purav Sanghani on February 1, 2005 12:35 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
Linkworld 3131G
A quick search for Linkworld Electronic Co. on Google will show an extremely long list of products from which to choose that both look like they are high end, yet carry the price of a budget PC case. Linkworld looks to be one of many case re-branders in the industry, which means that they take a reference OEM design and modify the external look to give it their own flavor.
External Design
Like the 268WSP, Linkworld's 3131G gives the impression from its external look that it is far from cheap. The front bezel is a combination of a beige and gray plastic molding, which keeps the look simple, but not cheap as we would expect from a product of this price.
The top half of the bezel consists of four 5-1/4" and two 3-1/2" drive bay covers. They are all secured in place unlike those we have seen in some higher priced chassis, which can be punched out easily.
Continuing downwards, we see the power and reset buttons in a similar vertical arrangement as the 268WSP, but the power and HDD activity LEDs are on either side of the button arrangement to give it a symmetrical look. Each button is easy to press, the power button being the larger one, and the reset button does not require anything less than an average-sized finger.
At the bottom of the case, we see a fold-down door that hides the auxiliary ports. The door itself seems a bit flimsy at the snap-in points. The auxiliary connections consist of just two USB ports. We felt the door to be unnecessary for this reason and the manufacturer could have pulled it off if they could implement the USB ports seemingly on the bezel.
The left and right side panels are completely identical. Neither features a mounted fan, but they do have arrays of holes for ventilation at the top and bottom of each panel. This should help in passive cooling of the entire case. To remove the panels, we again need to remove two screws at the back. Unlike the 268WSP, though, the panels have indentations to allow a better grip on each panel in order to slide them off.
Internal Design
The 3131G has a total of four 5-1/4" and eight 3-1/2" drive bays. With the extra HDD bays, we can even use this case as a small server. One thing we noticed with the bays was that while the 5-1/2" bays had platforms to support the drives, the 3-1/2" bays did not. We have to hold the drive straight to mount it properly, which can sometimes be a hassle when installing multiple drives. Each set of drive bays has slots cut out on the sides for more flexibility in mounting drives (they can slide back and forth).
We were very interested in the motherboard tray for a couple of reasons. First, there are raised stand-offs punched into the steel tray at the most common points of a motherboard. Besides that, though, the manufacturer has implemented removable plastic stand-offs to allow installation of a variety of motherboards. Linkworld has also included plastic insulators for the raised stand-offs, which will not be used to keep from shorting circuits on the motherboard. How's that for preventative technology!
Again, with the 3131G, the expansion slot covers need to be punched out to use them. Right above the slots are a few cutouts for additional serial and parallel ports from a motherboard that features them.
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KristopherKubicki - Tuesday, February 1, 2005 - link
sdfg: I think you mean the Antec Lanboy looks like the Chenming cases...Kristopher
aeternitas - Tuesday, February 1, 2005 - link
Yes #24, we are all spoiled. Spoiled with _quality_. Some of us like to have nice things. I for one dont want to see cheap plastic houseing my loveingly put together equiptment. This is a hobby for most, and with a hobby means quality is the standard.If you are just building PCs for people that dont care, then by all means, but this isnt really a site for people that dont care.
sprockkets - Tuesday, February 1, 2005 - link
Err, no In-Win cases?miketheidiot - Tuesday, February 1, 2005 - link
these cases are all trash. Drop the extra $20 and get a decent antec PSU/case combo.And why wasn't the Sonata or something lke that included?
Cygni - Tuesday, February 1, 2005 - link
God you guys are ridiculous! I personally use Antec cases for my own personal builds, but when building for my business, i use the cheapest non-ugly case I can find. Of course, PSU is a concern, but im not slapping FX's in with a 250wt. PSU does change reliability, this is fact, but it is FAR overhyped. Bad RAM can make 10 times the impact.Honestly, who gives a crap if the case isnt amazing? Its a CASE! As long as its not ugly, and as long as its fairly well put together (almost all of them are these days), who cares? 99% of the people i build computers for never open the case, so who cares if it has sharp edges? I dont know. You guys all sound really really spoiled, haha. I personally thought alot of the cases reviewed are FAR less ugly then so called "Gamer cases" that are out there with friggen dragons with LED eyes that readout useless voltage information...
MarkM - Tuesday, February 1, 2005 - link
I'm with #4 too -- a the point you are getting this level case, you are probably looking at a no-frills basic PC with cheaper components, at which point it doesn't make much sense for you to be building anyway, you should just get a Dell & get that conveniecne/security of waranty.Not to mention if you are building so basic a PC, you probably are not reading anandtech :)
Anywya, I'm not sure I see great value. I got my Sonata with the 350w quiet PSU for $70 total AR, some of these cases would cost about as much with even an inferior PSU. So why bother at all?
digit - Tuesday, February 1, 2005 - link
ive got that raidmax (windowless version) and i really like it. it came with the 4 fans already installed in front and its definitely the coolest running case ive ever had. recently ive started having problems with power stability from the psu, but it worked just fine for over a year.fatdog6 - Tuesday, February 1, 2005 - link
Im pretty dissapointed with this review,first off of the 150 or so systems that i have built my first consideration is reliablity/stability expecially in a budget build. I I can i imagine getting a call and then seeing the power supply fell down knocked the cpu off into the gpu trashing the memory on the way.!!
As stated by Spacecomber #15
"So far, I haven't found a case and power supply (bought seperately or together) that is as good as and less expensive than the Antec 1650, which is my choice for entry level and basic systems. $55 for a case that includes 120mm fan, Antec SL-350 power supply, and side CPU air guide."
As stated by Lonewolf #13
"The power supplies of these review units are horrible, and do not in any way represent good additional value"
DaveA - Tuesday, February 1, 2005 - link
http://images.anandtech.com/reviews/cases/roundups...yeah whats up with that?
Desslok - Tuesday, February 1, 2005 - link
In the review for the Codegen 6209 is the motherboard tilted in the install pic??