Value Case Roundup: A Look at the Affordable
by Purav Sanghani on February 1, 2005 12:35 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
Powmax CP769PL (cont'd)
Construction
The 769 is constructed of a very thin sheet metal we were accustomed to before the thicker steels started making their way into the value case market. The steel is so thin we are afraid it will bend at the back with our power supply as it did on the 8654BL.
Sharp edges are also one of our worries because of how thing the steel is. We felt around the case and found an extremely large amount by the drive bays.
Cooling
The 769 also comes without case fans but there are quite a few options when mounting our own. As we mentioned there is an area at the bottom four expansion slots where we can mount an 80mm.
Two more can be mounted above that behind the CPU area.
And another two 80mm fans can be mounted at the front as intakes directly in front of the HDD bays.
Powmax has also bundled a 400W power supply, model LP-9900D, with the 769.
Installation
The only aspect of our installation we were worried about was the sharp edges cutting something, a wire or a hand. We were extremely cautious when working with the chassis to not hurt ourselves or our hardware while testing the 769.
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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??