• Some users have recently had their accounts hijacked. It seems that the now defunct EVGA forums might have compromised your password there and seems many are using the same PW here. We would suggest you UPDATE YOUR PASSWORD and TURN ON 2FA for your account here to further secure it. None of the compromised accounts had 2FA turned on.
    Once you have enabled 2FA, your account will be updated soon to show a badge, letting other members know that you use 2FA to protect your account. This should be beneficial for everyone that uses FSFT.

Suggestions for ~$40 case

S

spetsacdc

Weaksauce
Joined
Sep 15, 2006
Messages
72
I am building a budget gaming pc. I need to get the best case for my money for about $40 shipped.

Unless it comes with a GOOD PSU I would rather buy a quality one seperately to save money.

So I am looking for the best case alone for $40 shipped, or the best case that comes w/ a good power supply for about $90 shipped (because I can get a good PSU for that price).

Right now the only thing I can find is the

COOLER MASTER Centurion 5 CAC-T05-UW

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811119068

It was cheaper, but the sale ended.
 
I am about to buy the Thermaltake Mambo. It is $39.99 at Newegg. It has gotten some fairly good reviews. The downside that is in most of the reviews is that the front drive door is flimsy.

But I kinda like that better. I have a Antec Solution SLK2650BQE and the front door was so rigid that when i accidently bumped into it, the door broke off and it broke the hinge.

My suggestion would be the Thermaltake Mambo.

BTW, Good luck on building the Computer!

*edit* Ijust realized you said $40 shipped. This case is about $55 shipped. Sorry about that!
 
I have one but I'm in San Antonio. It isn't worth shipping on my end but I will let it go for this price if ur local.
 
I'd get it. I sort of regret getting the Lian Li case I have now cause I like that case a bit now :(
 
[Ao1]Powerkiller said:
I am about to buy the Thermaltake Mambo. It is $39.99 at Newegg. It has gotten some fairly good reviews. The downside that is in most of the reviews is that the front drive door is flimsy
Click to expand...

I was about to say that too. :p I'm totally picking one of those up next week. I can't wait to tear into it. lol
 
I have my server in the Thermaltake Mambo and it worked out great, the included 120mm is quiet even at full speed (although, i have the system on a fan controller) and the number of bays and sizes works great, tons of room for a big PS, nice mobo room, and 7 hard drives if you count the floppy bays, and room for a 120mm up front. One problem i did see as soon as i got this, was that i noticed there was not enough open on the front of the case to feed the front 120 fan, so i took an 1 1/4inch hole saw and from the bottom added 2 holes to allow air to get in and it looks great even from the bottom and i am very happy with it for the price. I was going to with a stacker, but i wanted to put more $$ into the PS, hard drives, and UPS, then the case. I also have a 80mm in the cpu side and all the case fans are turned way down, then i have a zalman 92mm on the prescott which at 1700rpm keeps it at 50c. hope this helps....
 
Thanks for the help everyone. I'm far from CA so I can't buy yours. I'll look into that case.
 
That Centurion is a very nice case. My main server runs in one of those I also like the Antec SLK3000B case. It's quieter but doesn't have quite as many external bays.
 
i dont think youll find anything better than the centurion 5 for $40
 
I have an older version of that Antec - one w/out the side vent, 80mm in back vs the newer 120mm, or rubber HD mounts, and came w/ a 300w PSU vs the updated 350w..Nice little case, esp. for the ~$30 or so I paid at the time (MIR from a BB circular).

Still, given the choice now, I'd go sans PSU and buy the Coolermaster, or the Mambo..I'd lean more towards the Mambo, due to the 120mm in front vs the CM's 80mm - provided you take care of the intake issue, like the previous poster mentioned. Yes, I reailize you could cut out a 120mm in front on the CM probably, but you'd need a Dremel (or other tool) that likely costs more than the case itself to do so.. I pretty much won't even consider *any* case these days if they don't have provisions for 120mm fans - HTPC or some other 'features' excepted maybe.
 
spetsacdc said:
Thanks for the help everyone. I'm far from CA so I can't buy yours. I'll look into that case.
Click to expand...


Pssssst, don't look now, but San Antonio is in Texas, not California.
 
San antonio~san deigo~same thing :p

I think I am going with the Thermaltake mamba. It looks nice. I'll get a 120mm fan for the front, should I get a fan for the side vent?

Thanks
 
The Centurion is a really nice case, especially for the money. I built a budget gaming rig for my brother's best friend inside one of those cases and he really likes it. I was impressed by how solid the case was, being a cheaper case I was expecting it to be a bit flimsy, but its built like a tank. The tool free drive mounting works really well also.
 
i have a cent 5, and it's really nice.
even though it doesn't have a front 120 fan, the mesh front panel makes up for it.
 
another vouch for the C5....built my gf's PC with one and it looks great next to my Stacker. :D
 
Yeah I love my Centurion 5 aswell. Has great airflow, solid, not one cut building, and no plastic in the front :). It is by far one of the best cheap cases I have ever used.
 
I'd go for the mambo. I hated the stupid drive mounting mechanism on the Cent5. The solid front on the mambo might not give as good airflow though, but also won't let as much dust in.
 
After seeing the title but before reading the 1st post, the Centurion popped into my head, so there's my vote.
 
I'd go with the Mambo as I'm not too fond of the drive locking mechanisms of the CM.
 
Another vote for the Cent. 5. I think the Aluminum Bezel looks really nice, the mesh front is good for cooling, and overall I like it lots. Just make sure you have plenty of dusting materials at the ready because the mesh collects dust like none other.
 
Does the C5 have plenty of room for big graphics cards and multiple pci cards, a big hsf, etc.?
 
I picked up a Mambo when they were on sale at the Egg for a build for the GF, although it is a nice quality case, I really didn't like the flimsy door and the "bill" that sticks out the top. It makes the top drive bay unusable and the bottom "bill" collects dust. The 120 rear fan is quiet and cools well.

I just ordered a Century 5 tonight, I'll let ya know what I think when it comes.
 
Another vote for a C5. I picked one up a few weeks back for myself, ended up committing myself to building a rig for my mother, to replace her Duron 1800. She's getting a DAMN nice case that's pretty easy to work with, and frankly, I'm a little jealous. ;)
 
CM Cent 5
Great case for someone who wants mid tower. I just wish it had more places to route cables.
 
the CM330's quality cant even compare, but it doesn't even matter. Someone bumped a 3 month old topic. :mad:
 
entropism said:
the CM330's quality cant even compare, but it doesn't even matter. Someone bumped a 3 month old topic. :mad:
Click to expand...

well i just ordered it, i'm sure ill like the 120mm front intake compared to cen 5's 80mm, but damn the person who bumped :mad:
 
To be honest, I ordered the Centurion with hard drive cooling in mind. I mounted the two drives I used in the 5" bays using tailoring elastic and mounted a 120mm Yate Loon inside the bays using zip ties. so they blow right over the drives. #1, the drives are now whisper quiet (no metal to rattle against) and they get nice and chilly, plus I was able to mount a third Yate Loon where the 3.5" bays were (tied to where the bay ends) to cool down my graphics card.

It's a VERY quiet, and pretty damn cool setup.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top