Value Case Roundup: A Look at the Affordable
by Purav Sanghani on February 1, 2005 12:35 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
Codegen 6209
Like Chenming, Codegen also has years of experience under its belt, over 10 years to be exact. They take care of all of the processes in-house from R&D to the final packaging of a product, which means that they keep in mind every little detail. It's no wonder why they are one of the biggest OEM companies in the world.
External Design
The bezel is a combination of silver plastic surrounded by a black frame. The top half is occupied by four 5-1/4"; drive bays, the first one being the included optical drive bezel to match the rest of the façade. Below this is a black section, which has a built-in floppy drive bezel and a second 3-1/2"; drive bay cover.
Below the drive bay covers are the power and reset button. The power button is large and easy to press unlike the reset button. The reset button is just as small as the one on Foxconn's TK-09, but can be pressed without going too deep. The HDD activity light makes up the strip of plastic under the buttons.
At the bottom of the case, there is a door that slides down to expose the auxiliary ports, which include FireWire, dual USB, and audio in/out. This slide-down door is the best design so far because it is sturdy and also does not take up more space than if it were closed.
Both side panels are filled with a large square array of ventilation holes. To remove the panels, we need to first remove a single thumbscrew on the back of the case, remove the top cover, and then pull each panel up instead of back. Something different! But is it such a necessary feature? It reduces the number of screws to remove, but then it also increases the number of panels to remove also.
Internal Design
The internal design is much like that of the 268WSP, especially the drive bays. There are four 5-1/2"; drive bays and a total of six 3-1/2"; bays, with two exposed.
The motherboard tray has plenty of holes to install stand-offs, which will help support a variety of boards from the small microATX to the largest of ATX boards.
We noticed when we first opened the case that there was a single tool-less feature apart from the thumbscrew that held on the panels. The expansion slots have sliding clips, similar to those used in Thermaltake's VM3000A case that we reviewed almost a year ago. We didn't expect any of these value-priced cases to carry such a feature, but we are glad that the 6209 does.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
58 Comments
View All Comments
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??