New Case Reviews At [H]ard|OCP

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As some of you may have noticed, we've recently added case reviews to our hardware evaluations here at [H]ard|OCP. The reason for this is simple, we felt that standard case reviews were not accurately reflecting the way you, the enthusiast, would be using them. To remedy the situation, we decided it was high time to evaluate cases the [H] way. You can find direct links to our case evaluations here and we invite you to give us your feedback on our testing methodology.
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Our case testing consists of two complete hardware configurations, one for the average user and one for the enthusiast. While the average user may use only a single graphics card, hard drive and large cooler, enthusiast more often than not push the limits of case design with multiple GPUs, a stack of hard drives and cooling solutions that vary from mild to wild.
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We also want to hear from you when it comes to which cases are reviewed at the [H]. Want to see a particular case reviewed? Let us know in this thread.
 
Watercool friendly cases, particularly those that work with the surprisingly affordable and easy install Corsair H80 or H100 and bonus points if its small form factor! :D

Nothing sweeter than a small system with an overclocked quadcore, 16geebeez of ram, a nice dual-GPU card, 6TB of storage, and an SSD which is very feasible with today's tech.
 
I like the reviewing process. I guess the only thing I am surprised in is that so many cases are getting gold ratings? Does not really help narrow down selection at all.
 
Using the stock cooler for the Standard test seems more realistic, but then again "large" cooler could be stock I suppose.

Guess I am not at [H] as I used to be, I haven't overclocked in years. Stock hardware has met my needs pretty much since the old slot Athlon days.
 
I like the reviews currently, but would like to add a suggestion on the enthusiast setup. I know you guys don't always have access to a lot of additional hardware and you might have to purchase your own; but if you could test multiple GPU configurations that use coolers that exhaust into the case it might show a different story regarding temps. A lot of the blower style coolers are loud and many people are going to buy GPUs with custom cooling, so it be nice to see how cases handle the extra heat.
 
I definitely like the temperature-zone evaluation, especially comparing low-end to enthusiast setups.

The smoke test is GREAT.

Love the evaluation of the watercooling setup mounting points, too - that's a great idea I don't think I've seen other sites doing.

Generally, they are pretty good reviews. However...

Well, your case photos could use some lens correction for the barrel distortion on the cameras. At the moment, it makes the side-on shots look...strangely 'bulgy'. Photoshop has a robust built-in capability to address that, might be worth looking at.

I also agree with SilverSliver, that getting 'gold' is a little too easy. In reading the Corsair Obsidion 550D review, a few things jumped out in the review that made me think 'oh, that kinda sucks, I don't want to have to deal with THAT...' and you even note them in the review:
- "When it comes to fan filters that are located in the bottom of a case, we prefer the type that are removable from the side so that you do not have to move your case to access it. With that said, you shouldn't have any issues whatsoever, as long as you make accommodations when selecting a location for your system."
- "Adding fans to the top of the case can make things pretty tight, depending on the size of the cooler but that is to be expected..."
- "...it seems like there is the possibility that the foam could also act as an insulator and trap heat"
- "We tried installing the H100 in the front of the case by removing the hard drive cages but the radiator is too tall to fit without modding the case"
- "If you plan on installing a DIY water cooling system, you will have to choose your components carefully"
- "As you might expect, higher temps were noted in the tighter areas of the system (center graphics card, middle hard drives, etc.). "

Indeed, even in the conclusion:
"The main issue we had with the 550D is the fact that we were unable to use some of the company's own cooling products with this case. The limited amount of mounting locations for the Corsair H80 and H100 is mildly irritating but, not a deal breaker by any means, but something you should be aware of.

PSU fan filters that can only be removed from the rear of the case are a pain, and we would like to see case manufacturers move away from using these altogether. The plastic hard drive caddies are a bit flimsy and we feel the aluminum door on the front of the case can be difficult to open at times. The limited space directly over the motherboard area seems to be common with Corsair mid-tower cases"

I get that this specific case is, on the whole, recommended...but it kinda seems like an awful lot of caveats to still get a "gold" award recommendation. I don't think I've seen a case review that didn't get a 'gold' or a 'silver'. No 'bronze'? No 'NOT recommended'?
 
JosiahBradley said:
I like the reviews currently, but would like to add a suggestion on the enthusiast setup. I know you guys don't always have access to a lot of additional hardware and you might have to purchase your own; but if you could test multiple GPU configurations that use coolers that exhaust into the case it might show a different story regarding temps. A lot of the blower style coolers are loud and many people are going to buy GPUs with custom cooling, so it be nice to see how cases handle the extra heat.
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YES this is a must for case reviews. often (and always in multi-gpu setups) for enthusiasts, the gpus put out the most heat. a comparison of the case's cooling capabilities on blower- and aftermarket cooler-type versions of the same card(s) is crucial for those of us deciding which gpu we should get. i would prefer to see direct comparisons with say 3 blower-style 7970s vs 3 aftermarket-style 7970s if its within the budget. thanks for reviewing cases [H]! :)
 
SilverSliver said:
I like the reviewing process. I guess the only thing I am surprised in is that so many cases are getting gold ratings? Does not really help narrow down selection at all.
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That is why we are asking for case recommendations from you guys. With only a handful of case reviews done we only have a narrow view of what is out there right now. With only "popular" cases in the bag right now, the majority of the cases reviews are positive (ie: probably why they are popular)

dandirk said:
Using the stock cooler for the Standard test seems more realistic, but then again "large" cooler could be stock I suppose.
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We figured the coolers we are currently using represent the "mild" end of the spectrum for you guys. The water cooling and such being the high end.

JosiahBradley said:
A lot of the blower style coolers are loud and many people are going to buy GPUs with custom cooling, so it be nice to see how cases handle the extra heat.
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This is something that can be done and I like your thinking. :cool:

dderidex said:
I get that this specific case is, on the whole, recommended...but it kinda seems like an awful lot of caveats to still get a "gold" award recommendation. I don't think I've seen a case review that didn't get a 'gold' or a 'silver'. No 'bronze'? No 'NOT recommended'?
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Sometimes, as in the case with the 550D, the issues we did find were SERIOUSLY outweighed by the amazing sound dampening ability of the case (watch the video) with fans running at 100% and the cooling ability of a completely insulated case. So, while the "caveats" might have drug it into silver territory, the aforementioned pluses catapulted it back into gold status. ;)

ekuest said:
i would prefer to see direct comparisons with say 3 blower-style 7970s vs 3 aftermarket-style 7970s if its within the budget. thanks for reviewing cases [H]! :)
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Again, this is doable. I really like the idea.
 
I don't agree with the enthusiast setup needing to be tested with a high number of storage drives. I would think by now enthusiast's would've discovered file servers/NAS boxes. Certainly an enthusiast user has more then one computer and having a NAS just makes sense.

So I think those people would use very much a setup like mine: One or two SSD's in RAID 0 for boot/games/apps and maybe one drive for temporary storage (before filing away on NAS). So 1-3 drives, TOPS.
 
I also agree with not much need for a ton of HD's on the enthusiast setups. I went to a NAS myself.

Also, I really like the idea of blower vs heat dump GPU coolers. However, an "enthusiast" with multi-GPU setups is going to be using blowers, while an enthusiast with single GPU will likely be using an aftermarket solution.

Then there is the fact that some cases may get a "gold star" for someone WCing, but are not very good air coolers and vice versa. Perhaps subrating, and then an overall rating?

IE

Build quality - Silver
Noise - Gold
Cable routing - Silver
Air cooling - Silver
Water cooling - Bronze
Overall - Silver

Case reviewing is so complicated with so many variables.
 
I like what I see so far.

I would love to see a review of the Antec 300, this is a very solid basic case that gets overlooked a lot.
 
Review samples...

Ya'll could go right up the line of corsair cases, I'd like to see how some NZXT cases do in your tests (Such as the Phantom 410 and Switch 810). Fractal Design needs a mention here, I'd love to see how [H] would rate the new Define R4 vs the 550D for example.

Down the road when it comes out The Raven RV04 / FT04 are musts because alot of people, myself included want to see how it fairs with such a change in design and structure.

Other than that, I'd like to ask that you guys keep your eyes open and if you see something a little off the beaten path or looks interesting heck review it! The worst that could happen is it might fail miserably... which could also be entertaining haha.
 
I would like to see reviews of some uATX cases.

Also some of the newer Lian-Li cases.

Thank you.
 
Any case that doesn't have Aluminium Should automatically be limited to Silver and no higher...



:p jk, thats just me being biased.
 
Awesome and I have a little list that I think would be great cases to review on if [H] has not done them already.

- BitFenix Prodigy http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811345017
- Corsair Carbide Series 300R http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811139016
- COOLER MASTER Elite 430 RC-430-KWN1 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119227

I look forward to reading on case reviews, I can't wait to build myself another computer and of course I would be looking at the reviews as well. I wonder if prices does play into the factor of cases getting awards.

Could you spell out what factors does not affect the ability to get awards? Such as materials used? Some cases may be Steel / Plastic but probably are top notch, some are not and aren't top notch or does the materials used plays no factor in it? I'm curious as how does [H] factors these things in, I'm sure price plays a factor at least.
 
Another addition I think we all would love to see but probably would be hard to find as it's old.

Antec SX-630 (I want to see how well this case is time-tested if you will)
 
Keep the case suggestions coming!



Honestly, it really bothered us that so many case reviews amounted to little more than someone pointing a camera at a case and reading the feature list off the box, not installing any hardware and then giving it a kick-ass rating. :eek:

When it comes time to spend your hard earned money, those reviews simply don't help at all. So, we set out to review a case in the same manner you would use it and that is why your input is so valuable. :)
 
Thank you for including noise testing. I've just looked at the Corsair and Raven and while the Raven was much the quieter of the two, those are noisy beasts! The Corsair with its side off was dreadful.
 
Jon855 said:
Another addition I think we all would love to see but probably would be hard to find as it's old.

Antec SX-630 (I want to see how well this case is time-tested if you will)
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Why would we all want to see a case most of us used to have in 2002?
 
SilverSliver said:
I like the reviewing process. I guess the only thing I am surprised in is that so many cases are getting gold ratings? Does not really help narrow down selection at all.
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It comes down to this, we would rather spend our time and money looking at cases we think are going to be "good" rather than bad. "Bad" reviews generally cost us more in terms of resources to produce as well because figuring out faults and why those are there are generally more time intensive reviews to complete. Also, we simply have not done a lot of case reviews and we started out with the ones we see our readers are interested in. Don't see you guys interested in shitty products too often, so we just have not had a lot of "bad" cases on our radar.

To your last point, if telling you what is good and explaining in-depth as to why we think so does not help you out, well so be it. Sorry to waste your time.
 
SilverSliver said:
I like the reviewing process. I guess the only thing I am surprised in is that so many cases are getting gold ratings? Does not really help narrow down selection at all.
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The problem with cases is that many are better suited for certain things(such as watercooling or air cooling) so you actually have to read the review to know which is best for you ;)
 
I think you should just focus on enthusiast hardware configurations as this is an enthusiast site!
 
Most people don't understand how much of a pain in the ass it is to review trash hardware. Good hardware is much easier to deal with. :D
 
It would be nice if instead of just the green squares, you guys could actually do some testing with mounted AIO units such as the H80/100 etc. Seeing them in the cases would be helpful imo. Thanks for these reviews so far as the Raven 2 is definitely going to be my next case!
 
Here are some [H]ard questions I'd like to see dealt with.

Hard drive mounting positions, type of, ease of access, cooling.
Power supply location, top/bottom; pro's and cons.
CPU cooling, does the case have 'bolt in' locations for standard water cooling hardware, radiators, fans and reservoirs. Is there enough room for large air coolers with possible entry, exhaust locations or venting chambers.
Video cooling, air venting/water tubing accommodations for single/multiple cards, spacing.
Case cooling, amount of fans, locations, sound levels and venting strategies.
Case wiring strategies and accommodations.
Overall case aesthetics; lighting, build quality and materials used.
 
Hey Kyle and Dan,
Any chance of you guys getting your hands on the Silverstone TJ-11. I'd love to see you guys prove if that case is really worth $700!! That's a sh*t ton of money to put on a case...
 
SilverSliver said:
Why would we all want to see a case most of us used to have in 2002?
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Just to see if it stands among the newer design and such. I don't see why it wouldn't be a bad thing. I know for a fact that this case was really the thing to have back then although does it holds water against some newer ones? This is why I made these suggestion and because I want to find one of these case and build a rig in it.
 
You guys should review the Coolermaster 690 II Advanced... I've been thinking about ordering the white version to replace my black version, I could possibly have the white version sent to one of the reviewers first. ;)
 
dandapice said:
Hey Kyle and Dan,
Any chance of you guys getting your hands on the Silverstone TJ-11. I'd love to see you guys prove if that case is really worth $700!! That's a sh*t ton of money to put on a case...
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I've got nothing to do with this, but I'd love to see the TJ-11 as well.
 
I'll second the Bitfenix Prodigy, and I would love to see some Lian Li reviews and future NZXT case reviews.

I'd also love to see some smaller-sized cases...something that you might not get the full enthusiast setup into graphics card wise. I'm thinking the likes of HTPC cases, mATX, mITX (SFF gaming), or even something that might make it as an office PC case
 
One thing that you almost never see in a case review, all the fan mounting places populated.
Fans cost money and it sure would add to the price of a case but you see a lot of the enthusiast casas have 6, 7, 8 plases to mount a case fan but usually you only get 1 or 2 intake fans at the front, 1 exhaust at the rear, and on some 1 exhaust on the roof.
It would be fun to see how much difference, if any, it would do to have all places populated.

In addition, it would be great to see a test from [H] about different fan configurations in a case.
Say one standard configuration with 1 intake at the front, 1 exhaust at the rear and one exhaust on the roof.
Second config could be something like 2 intake at the front, 1 exhaust at the rear, 2 exhaust on the roof.
Third config 2 intake at front, 1 intake side panel, 1 intake bottom, 1 exhaust rear, 2 or 3 exhaust on roof.

Maybe make a test were you use 200mm - 230mm intake in front and 200mm - 230mm exhaust on roof and then switch them for dual 120mm fans if there's a case with that option, just to see what option would give the best cooling.
 
I like the idea of testing the case with multiple hard drives: Quite a few people who have asked for help over in General Hardware still have multiple drives and cannot afford to build a NAS. Not to mention that for Photoshop users and such, they need multiple drives: one for the OS, one for the scratch disk, one for the data itself, etc etc. Plus some of the cases you review may end being used as cases for people's NASes and file servers.

As for lists of cases I would like to see reviewed:
NZXT Phantom 410 and 810 cases
Fractal Design Core 3000
Lian Li PC-9F ATX Case
Lian Li PC-60FN ATX Case
Lian Li PC-7FN ATX Case

If you guys ever do budget case reviews (i.e cases around $50 to $60), I would like to see these reviewed:
NZXT Source 210 Elite Case
NZXT Source 220 Case
Coolermaster HAF 912 Case
Coolermaster Elite 311 ATX Case
Rosewill Challenger Case

Anyway, keep up the good work. If it weren't for the HardOCP reviews, I never would have added the Antec 1100 and Thermaltake VN300M1W2N Chase MK-1 ATX Cases to my personal case list or have heard of the Raven 2 Evolution.
 
Silverstone Raven 2 2E and 3 with the temperature charts and smoke would be killer. I Love my raven 3 and in the next while($ warranted) will be getting another to do some serious modding to it, I would like to see the power supply at rear instead of front and use extra space to move one fan forward a touch while I also would be clearing out some extra space around the back of motherboard tray and making a couple extra wire runs, I also plan on adding in specialized airducting.

The only thing I do not like about alot of newer motherboards is, you have to use the gpu in specific slots, alot of the top end ones your ok, but as example, in this specific case, it would be nice to have the gpu on 1st or 2nd and 3 or 4th slot just to give a bit of an airgap between the gpus, heck be even greater if the connector was on a ribbon instead of hardmounted to the motherboard, place it where you want it that way :p

Either way, I love the case, it does take a bit of extra time to wire it, and could use a little more attention to the layout, but beyond that, everything fits where it needs to, it stays decently clean, and the temps with air alone even when its hot in my room are awesome.
 
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