Price-Point Comparing Three-Way Case Shootout
by Joshua Buss on January 13, 2006 12:05 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
Final Words
This was a bit of a deviance from our normal article structure here at AnandTech, but we really do feel that it illustrates things in the case realm in a rather enlightening way. Typically, the P150 is available right around the $150 price point, with sales bringing it down to $115. With this premium comes an incredibly stylish, quiet, excellent-performing, easy to use, sturdy, and above all a practical product, including even one of Antec's nicest power supplies. The P150 is a delight to work in, and the rail system makes everything snug and simple.
However, available for as little as $50, or $70 with a 450 watt power supply, one can receive a case which, in our opinion, is so close in performance to the P150 that the choice for anyone who likes the styling of both units is simply a no-brainer. The X1 does have a bit more of a "gamer's" look to it, but at least it's not nearly as distasteful as so many gaming themed units.
Finally, at the lowest price point, the E68 actually fared quite well compared to these competing products. For a mere $30, one can have a solidly performing, simple-enough, and still rather tasteful case that, at least from the front, looks like it's worth a lot more than what you're really paying for it, in our opinion.
While the P150's look will definitely grab some people's attention enough to warrant them getting that case, we really find the price a little steep, considering the lack of a door, screen, window, or anything else that would truly add that much to the cost of the product. If a user really cares about simple, elegant aesthetics, then perhaps they'll feel otherwise though. And, with the additional goodies of the X1 - namely the window and sharp LCD display on the front - available for only $20 more than the E68, the X1 gets our nod as the recommended case in this little roundup, and in fact, delivers so much bang for the buck in our opinion that it is deserving of our silver editor's choice award. Simply put, it's been a long time since we've seen such a nice case available for so little dough. Congratulations deserve to be sent out to all three manufacturers, though, for all of these units are above-average performers and come highly recommended from AnandTech.
UPDATE: The problem not previously mentioned of not being able to access the X1's ports after the door was closed is severe enough to degrade our judgement of the X1 from Gold to Silver.
This was a bit of a deviance from our normal article structure here at AnandTech, but we really do feel that it illustrates things in the case realm in a rather enlightening way. Typically, the P150 is available right around the $150 price point, with sales bringing it down to $115. With this premium comes an incredibly stylish, quiet, excellent-performing, easy to use, sturdy, and above all a practical product, including even one of Antec's nicest power supplies. The P150 is a delight to work in, and the rail system makes everything snug and simple.
However, available for as little as $50, or $70 with a 450 watt power supply, one can receive a case which, in our opinion, is so close in performance to the P150 that the choice for anyone who likes the styling of both units is simply a no-brainer. The X1 does have a bit more of a "gamer's" look to it, but at least it's not nearly as distasteful as so many gaming themed units.
Finally, at the lowest price point, the E68 actually fared quite well compared to these competing products. For a mere $30, one can have a solidly performing, simple-enough, and still rather tasteful case that, at least from the front, looks like it's worth a lot more than what you're really paying for it, in our opinion.
While the P150's look will definitely grab some people's attention enough to warrant them getting that case, we really find the price a little steep, considering the lack of a door, screen, window, or anything else that would truly add that much to the cost of the product. If a user really cares about simple, elegant aesthetics, then perhaps they'll feel otherwise though. And, with the additional goodies of the X1 - namely the window and sharp LCD display on the front - available for only $20 more than the E68, the X1 gets our nod as the recommended case in this little roundup, and in fact, delivers so much bang for the buck in our opinion that it is deserving of our silver editor's choice award. Simply put, it's been a long time since we've seen such a nice case available for so little dough. Congratulations deserve to be sent out to all three manufacturers, though, for all of these units are above-average performers and come highly recommended from AnandTech.
| Raidmax X1 |
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UPDATE: The problem not previously mentioned of not being able to access the X1's ports after the door was closed is severe enough to degrade our judgement of the X1 from Gold to Silver.
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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....