I miss the old Coolermaster cases

[computerpro3]

I had the pleasure of owning a Coolermaster ATC 101-B for years, which I wound up selling to my father about five years ago. When I was home over Christmas break, I threw in a core i7 rig for him and installed a Corsair H50 cooler in the top with a custom cut blowhole.

Throughout the entire build, one thing kept standing out to me - there is just NOTHING that is comparable quality nowadays. I'm a bit of a case freak and I've owned nearly every high end case on the market, including the TJ07, Lian Li V2000B, Silverstone GD02B-MT, Silverstone LC17, Lian Li PC65, etc. Absolutely nothing has the same overall tolerances, build quality, materials quality, and intelligent design that the old (pre-wavemaster) coolermasters had. Cases like my 101-B and ATC-110 are timeless designs that still look absolutely stunning even today.

With a little isopropyl alcohol, the case (which is nearly 9 years old now) literally shines from the high quality aluminum that they used. The door panels dont rattle, the screw threads don't strip, there are no vibrations, and the tolerances are still as tight 9 years later as they were back when I first got it.

It's such a shame that nobody makes cases like this anymore. I'd pay $700 for one.

 

[Addy711]

Yeah they are classics, seeing my brother-in-law's atc-201 got me started on high end cases. I didn't get a coolermaster but ended up with a Lian-Li PC-60 (I think), which is still in service at my Mom's house 8 or 9 years later.

 

[coconutboy]

The case market as a whole has seen an improvement in features over the years, and the quality from a variety of mfgs has gone up (ditto PSUs), but it's definitely true that the build quality generally isn't as good as what Cooler Master used to make. =\

It's such a shame that nobody makes cases like this anymore. I'd pay $700 for one.

At $700, you'd be one of a very few. Most people in the USA won't pay over $100 for a case (or vid card for that matter), and $200 sticker shock tends to create a major barrier for all but the most splurge-happy case enthusiasts. It's easy to forget that kinda stuff when ya see people sporting quad-SLI in a $500 case, but those people are a very small minority, even amongst the already-niche hardware enthusiast segment.

 

[Icejon]

I used to sell the old Praetorian long ago. That thing was really solid and I loved it. It was very expensive back then at over $200, but definitely and image item.