The Do-It-Yourself Computer Journey: A Newbie's Very First System Build- Page 2/6
November 6, 2007
By
Alex Goldman
On the Case
I'm a noob and fully expected to see a wide variety of products, but I found hundreds of similar tower cases in the Computer Cases category on Newegg. It is absolutely ridiculous that so many different models exist, and that a company is selling many different products distinguished only by quality of workmanship and corresponding price. Talk about daunting, and Newegg alone lists 2,102 products under "computer case".
After some trial and error with Newegg's excellent search engine (the engine offers to complete words as you type and its guesses are excellent), I realized that I should be looking for a "desktop case." While Newegg offers over two thousand entries under computer cases, it includes only 78 desktop cases. Soon I had a new term to learn: HTPC. Most of these desktop cases are designed for HTPCs, or Home Theater PCs, which are supposed to blend in with a home entertainment system and look just like any other shiny box.
It quickly became apparent that I had some new vocabulary to learn. I wanted a generic case, but I could choose between ATX, Micro ATX, and BTX. Consulting the book and my friends, I learned that an ATX-based model was the generic case I was looking for. Searching for "ATX" within the 78 desktop cases got me 44 ATX and MicroATX cases. As size was not that big a deal, ATX was the way to go.
Fans were the next logical step. The larger the fan, the less RPM it needs to move a given amount of air. As a result, larger fans move more slowly and make less noise. Noise per se is not a problem, but I wanted as little vibration as possible in order to get the longest possible life. Fans appear to range from 40 mm to 120 mm in size, so obviously I wanted 120 mm fans. I would have liked a full steel case for durability, but none was available.
I settled on the SilverStone LC-17 case, which is a full-sized ATX HTPC unit with a pair of 80 mm fans in the back. The case was not the most expensive, but the top end models appear to have an LCD screen to show what digital music is being played - a feature specifically for a home theater PC. As I was building a gaming PC, I did not need an LCD screen. Reading the comments on Newegg, I learned that some of the less expensive cases can be flimsy, and you do get what you pay for.
I wanted to stick with a premium manufacturer for no other reason than to avoid a case that might break. In a better market, I would not need to pay a premium price in order to get a product that fit minimum expectations. Overall, I felt let down by the case manufacturers.
Reviewer comments on Newegg can be a valuable resource, and many stated that you cannot load this case with extra fans for the hard drives and that you cannot fit six hard drives in the case, but since I did not intend to fill the case with six hard drives, I anticipated no problems with the case.
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