Price-Point Comparing Three-Way Case Shootout
by Joshua Buss on January 13, 2006 12:05 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
Introduction
Like all other pieces of equipment that go into a personal home-built machine (and many other goods for that matter), there is a great deal of price points from which one must choose. Should a user splurge and go all out or does it make more sense to simply match one’s needs to a specific model which appears to have the most desirable features for a more reasonable cost?
Given this particular consideration in the decision to buy a new computer case, we decided to match up three rather new mid-tower models from three different price brackets in a close examination to determine just how much bang for the buck that a consumer can get from a chassis.
With Antec’s long history of quality hardware, it’s no wonder that the P150 is an excellent case, but Raidmax is no slouch in this arena either, and their attractive X1 is available for less than half the price of the Antec case. Finally, the Dynamax E68, the last case that we’ll review, is even less yet, but perhaps it will still perform just as well as the other ones.
To get things started, we’ll look at the newest small tower from Antec, the P150.
Like all other pieces of equipment that go into a personal home-built machine (and many other goods for that matter), there is a great deal of price points from which one must choose. Should a user splurge and go all out or does it make more sense to simply match one’s needs to a specific model which appears to have the most desirable features for a more reasonable cost?
Given this particular consideration in the decision to buy a new computer case, we decided to match up three rather new mid-tower models from three different price brackets in a close examination to determine just how much bang for the buck that a consumer can get from a chassis.
With Antec’s long history of quality hardware, it’s no wonder that the P150 is an excellent case, but Raidmax is no slouch in this arena either, and their attractive X1 is available for less than half the price of the Antec case. Finally, the Dynamax E68, the last case that we’ll review, is even less yet, but perhaps it will still perform just as well as the other ones.
To get things started, we’ll look at the newest small tower from Antec, the P150.
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yacoub - Friday, January 13, 2006 - link
Yes, the Antec P150 is the best case EVER. No really, it's awesome. I wish they'd offer it without the included PSU though, since that PSU has issues with some Asus boards. I ended up buying a different PSU ahead of time since I knew that and was getting an A8N-SLI Premium.I highly recommend the P150. No reason for any other case unless you simply need MORE room than it offers.
The best part about the P150 is you can build a silent PC system in it very easily. I have the included 120mm fan on the lowest setting and insulated from the case itself with rubber grommets so it's totally silent, a TruePowerII 480w PSU (has a 120mm fan inside it) which is totally silent, the harddrive isolated with the included grommets, the CPU fan throttled down dynamically with CPUSpeed, and the GPU fan throttled with ATITool.
It's also high quality part and construction-wise.
Live - Friday, January 13, 2006 - link
The optional front fans in the P150 are for 92mm.Tamale - Friday, January 13, 2006 - link
fixed.xsilver - Friday, January 13, 2006 - link
anybody here from Australia? know where I can get the raidmax X1? not sure if there are any australian distributers -- (cant find anybody on staticice.com.au)Cygni - Friday, January 13, 2006 - link
My only comment is with the title of the article. Probably should be a bit more descriptive... like "Cases - 3 Way Price Point Shootout" or something,.balilu - Friday, January 13, 2006 - link
Is the P150 available in black or any chance of being in the near future?Tamale - Friday, January 13, 2006 - link
I haven't seen any indication that antec is going to release other models of the P150.. that being said, you might want to check out their Sonata II reviewed several months back.Avalon - Friday, January 13, 2006 - link
Raidmax getting an editor's gold choice award makes me giggle inside.Googer - Friday, January 13, 2006 - link
Why does the title of the page sayate: January 13th, 2006
Topic: Cases & Cooling
Manufacturer: 3Com/U.S. Robotics
Author: Joshua Buss
Why is 3Com and US Robotics listed? 3COM Spun them off and they are no longer part of 3COM. Also 3COM and US Robotics do not make PC Cases and there were no other USR or 3COM Components reviewed in this article.
Tamale - Friday, January 13, 2006 - link
no idea. Thanks for point it out....