Four Full Tower Cases From $150 To $600
Table of contents
I make it no secret that I’m a fan of small form factor systems…as business desktops. When it comes to gaming, I’m more of a realist. Processors that dissipate 140 W just don’t do well in the confines of a cramped little box, nor do multiple graphics cards. Falcon Northwest managed to fit an Intel Core 2 Quad Q9650 and a pair of Radeon HD 4870 X2s in its FragBox QuadFire, showcased in our 2008 Holiday Buyer’s Guide. We didn’t have any stability issues with that configuration, but there’s no doubt that it ran hot—really hot. And at $4,000, you’re most definitely paying a premium for big muscle in a compact chassis.
Right now, the hot ticket—no pun intended—is Intel’s Core i7 platform. Overclocked, an i7 920 is actually a reasonable proposition. And with most of the X58-based motherboards we’ve seen supporting CrossFire and SLI, your choice for budget-oriented multi-GPU setups is more diverse now than ever before. So, in the interest of testing out some of the full tower chassis that’ve landed in our lab during the past three months, we’ll be loading each up with a complete Core i7 setup, a couple of Radeon HD 4870s, and an assortment of hard drives. We’ll build up each enclosure, take note of any snags that hamper our progress, measure acoustics, measure thermals, and compare design philosophies.
Just who, exactly, is on our dance card? We have ABS’ Canyon 695, with its elegant looks and performance-oriented construction, Antec’s Twelve Hundred, with its 12 drive bays, seven expansion slots, and massive coolers, Cooler Master’s beefy HAF 932, able to accommodate eATX motherboards and up to seven expansion slots, and Thermaltake’s Spedo, armed with its optional Advanced Package, said to improve cooling and prevent hot air from being re-circulated.
prices range from $150 to $600, so there’s undoubtedly something for everyone. If you’re building a gaming box with hardware that really needs to breathe, you won’t want to miss this comparison.
Latest Cases News
Latest Cases reviews
- 18/11 – Four 10-Slot Cases For Four-Way SLI, Tested And Reviewed
- 15/11 – In Pictures: Four 10-Slot Cases For Your Super-Sized Build
- 08/08 – Five Eight-Slot Cases For SLI And CrossFire, Tested
- 01/08 – In Pictures: Five Eight-Slot Cases For CrossFire And SLI
- 06/06 – Six Low-Noise, Performance-Oriented Cases, Tested
WAOW, does britian use the Dollar now!!!!!
Come on Tom's Hardware get an f*ing grip! This has been going on too long.
although it wont be long before they are similar in worth
", I got my first peek at the ABS chassis—otherwise known as Lian Li’s PC-X2000" - The UK isn't in the USA so like the rest of the world we know the company as Lian Li.
You said yourself that it is actually a Lian li, so why call it by the retailers name anyway?
I always felt a bit proud, that one of the leading tech sites on the web was European, but since the "merger" with Best of Media this site has gone downhill at an alarming rate.
As Guardsmon says: USA = ~260 million people, Rest of the world ~6,5 billion people.
Furthermore, i visit the UK site to avoid thing like "aluminum". I always knew Americans were a bit careless, but to lose the "i" in Aluminium always ticks me off. The main reason being the fact there is no such thing like f*cking Aluminum!!
I can understand the whole metric/imperial thing. Put the one used least between brackets (i.e 25,4cm (10")) If you write an article solely intentioned for the US part of THG, use all sorts of none exiting materials and dimensions you like, but when you write for the International site: USE INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS FOR CRYIN' OUT LOUD!!!!
Get your act together again and return to being the leading international site tech you once were. Fire the American twats or get them to learn proper English and give them all al copy of both the Periodic Table and a metric - Imperial conversion book.
Lol - outrage.
I'm a latecomer, so I've always wondered why this site (although .co.uk) has $ not £.
As for conversion books, aren't there on-line programs that do that now too? There's really no excuse.