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- May 21, 2008
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It appears that my photo batch resizer has really screwed with the quality of these pics, making alot really dark. If you want a pic brightened up, I'll re-up the origional but I'll brighten it and resize it by hand. I promise next one of these will be on my nice camera!
OK, well, here we go! Sorry for the crappy pics, my camera is OOS and I don't feel like driving an hour to get the parents camera so I have to use my iphone 3Gs. That said, lets jump on in to the review! To keep the page from being HUGE I'm gonna have to use thumbnails. Anyways..
Case: 15.7" deep 4U Rackmount case / eBay variety
Price: 60$ (including shipping)
Score: [H][H][H][H][H] - 4.3 out of 5
The case I bought was the 15.7" 4U Rackmount case from eBay. LINK. I'm not the only [H]orde member to buy from him, Musky also has, and he bought the 17.7" case which I'll talk about later in closing. The goal was to find a nice price on a 4U rack case without losing much in the way of quality. Most people don't want to spend the average 100$ + price associated with getting a case online, so they turn to eBay. Obviously, you take a gamble when buying things on eBay, but in favor of the [H]orde I went ahead and ordered 2.
First thing I have to say is his page was laid out very nice for an eBay page, and had enough pictures to hold over most buyers. From an eBay point of view the sale was fantastic, he was quick to let me know when things were shipping, quick with tracking info, the boxes arrived in nice shape and everything was textbook A+ with this guy. But you didn't come here to read about an eBay store, you want to see a case, so let'sgo take a look at one!
Unboxing
Like I said before the cases arrived in good condition, you can see only 1 ding on the boxes but I have reason to believe that is my FedEx man. Both boxes were sealed tight and packed well. Upon opening the box you actually see that it is a box in a box.... in a box. While redundant this does provide for stability during shipping. The inner most box had plenty of shaped foam to abosrb any shock during shipping. Even the spare screws and what not were in their own box with a little air bag in it. The case itself was wrapped in plastic that was taped shut, it wasn't just tossed in a bag. Pulling the case out I didn't find any noticeable body wear, even the little plastic door had a scratch film on it. Not sure why, but it's a nice touch!
Overview
OK, so it came in just dandy, but that doesnt mean it's a good buy yet. Looking at the case in person the first thing you will notice is that it is SMALL. Well, that was to be expected, it was advertised as the smallest 4U case available, and I can't fault it because I had no idea what to expect. You can't tell from the pictures but the handles are actually hard plastic, but I don't get a "cheap" feeling from them. The case is made of a decent grade steel, nothing to write home about but structuraly it's sound. In the front of the case there is a fan on the left side (120mm) with a built in filter. I never thought to check if the filter comes out. Beside that you have the I/O door which is a sturdy plastic with a black plexi/lexan type material window. There is a cheap lock on the door, but you can open and close the door without the key which is a feature I like. Inside the door is 3 fullsize bays, one of which has a mount for the floppy. The covers for each slot are metal, not plastic, and they screw in, a nice touch compared to the typical plastic covers of most tower cases. Beside that we have LED status lights (bright) and two nice feeling rocker switches and a pair of USB2 slots. The rockers have NO play in them, they are very solid feeling, even if they look kind of tacky. On the top of the case (the panel) you can see holes for two 80mm fans (included). The top secures with 2 standard case screws which could easily be swapped out for thumb screws. At the back you see a typical ATX setup with room for 2 (I'm guessing) 40mm fans (not included). All in all, everything you'd expect, and while it may not be the best looking case, it does not feel cheap at all.
Insides
The inside of this case is what really separates it from other cheap cases. Upon opening the case you can see the whole case is painted, leaving no bare metal, the same can not be said for a lot of the lower end cases on Newegg. Again though, you will notice this case is small, but it was designed to be small. On the right there is room for two stacks of HDD's, 3 each. This cage (and the I/O cage to the left of it) are attached firmly and with small rubber washers to help control vibrations, a nice plus! Taking out the cage you can see the 120mm fan and the cables for the controls on the front. If you plan on running any longer card in this case (which I wouldn't recommend anything above a 8800 GT) then you'll have to take it out. I chose to remove mine even tho an 8400 GS powers this rig, I wanted unobstructed airflow from the front to where the HS/F pulls it's air, and it does so nicely. The other cage is the cage for the I/O devices (2 optical drives & 1 floppy drive). While I was going to leave it in there with 1 DVD drive and one HDD, I decided to take it out too (I'll cover this in the build section). Moving on, the tray is standard, but is lacking the holes for the farthest edge of the board. Not a big issue to me, but enough to knock off some points. The back of the case lines up with the mobo and I/O plate in typical fashion. Rounding out the inside area is the PSU mount which is too close to the I/O cage in my opinion, losing a few more points. I'll explain this more in the build section.
The Build
OK, I don't have to say it again, but I will anyways, this case is small. I didn't plan on running with the top on due to my choice of HS/F so I can't knock it for having to leave the top off. I will say however, that once I started to get pieces in, I ran out of room fast. It's close but there is enough room between the PSU and the HS/F. Mounting the board and HS/F had to be done in a specific order in order to make sure I could get everything in, but anyone reading this review should have no problem. The biggest thing that took up space was the extra cables from the power supply. I literally needed 3 cables to run this rig, the 24 pin, the 8 pin, and one line for the HDD (and DVD during install). My PSU had a lot of extra cables, which I can't fault the case for, but I will say the bottom of the I/O cage was so close to the PSU that the cable to the 24 pin couldn't fit. No amount of cable management or modular PSU's could adjust for that, so it loses points there. I ended up bunching up the spare wires (all sheathed so that helps) and tying them together into a figurative rat's nest and then I placed the HDD on top of that. If I would have had a modular PSU I could have used the cages but all those wires had to go somewhere. I know some people will cringe at that, but the fact is that it works, it's cheap, and I'm not trying to win a beauty contest with this rig. Other than that issue, every other part of the build went smoothly. I will say that this is a very quiet case, but I am only using 2 120mm fans right now so YMMV.
Conclusion
OK, so you've seen the case and heard my narrative of it, but is it worth it? If you don't mind a little adaptive thinking and some controlled clutter, then this case wouldn't be a bad idea for a small data hub. A modular PSU, a more simple ATX board, and enough room for a few RAID cards and a half dozen or more HDD's and you;d have a nice compact data center. As for folding? I would have to recommend going with the 17.7" version (What Musky uses) or even the 19" version (My next planned case review). While the case is a solid little case, it is just that, a little case, and nothing in folding these days is moving in that direction. As a case alone, I'd have to give it a 4.3 out of 5, but for a dedicated folding box, I'd be forced to give a 3.3 out of 5 due mostly to size alone. That being said, I have an i7 running fine in this case and plan on building another after tax season, so take my recommendations as just that.
(I'll tidy it up and post more info later, but make some requests on what else you want covered! Thanks!)
Score
(Product) [H][H][H][H][H] - 4.3/5
(Folding) [H][H][H][H][H] - 3.3/5
----------------------------------------------------------------------
OK, well, here we go! Sorry for the crappy pics, my camera is OOS and I don't feel like driving an hour to get the parents camera so I have to use my iphone 3Gs. That said, lets jump on in to the review! To keep the page from being HUGE I'm gonna have to use thumbnails. Anyways..
Case: 15.7" deep 4U Rackmount case / eBay variety
Price: 60$ (including shipping)
Score: [H][H][H][H][H] - 4.3 out of 5
The case I bought was the 15.7" 4U Rackmount case from eBay. LINK. I'm not the only [H]orde member to buy from him, Musky also has, and he bought the 17.7" case which I'll talk about later in closing. The goal was to find a nice price on a 4U rack case without losing much in the way of quality. Most people don't want to spend the average 100$ + price associated with getting a case online, so they turn to eBay. Obviously, you take a gamble when buying things on eBay, but in favor of the [H]orde I went ahead and ordered 2.
First thing I have to say is his page was laid out very nice for an eBay page, and had enough pictures to hold over most buyers. From an eBay point of view the sale was fantastic, he was quick to let me know when things were shipping, quick with tracking info, the boxes arrived in nice shape and everything was textbook A+ with this guy. But you didn't come here to read about an eBay store, you want to see a case, so let'sgo take a look at one!
Unboxing
Like I said before the cases arrived in good condition, you can see only 1 ding on the boxes but I have reason to believe that is my FedEx man. Both boxes were sealed tight and packed well. Upon opening the box you actually see that it is a box in a box.... in a box. While redundant this does provide for stability during shipping. The inner most box had plenty of shaped foam to abosrb any shock during shipping. Even the spare screws and what not were in their own box with a little air bag in it. The case itself was wrapped in plastic that was taped shut, it wasn't just tossed in a bag. Pulling the case out I didn't find any noticeable body wear, even the little plastic door had a scratch film on it. Not sure why, but it's a nice touch!
Overview
OK, so it came in just dandy, but that doesnt mean it's a good buy yet. Looking at the case in person the first thing you will notice is that it is SMALL. Well, that was to be expected, it was advertised as the smallest 4U case available, and I can't fault it because I had no idea what to expect. You can't tell from the pictures but the handles are actually hard plastic, but I don't get a "cheap" feeling from them. The case is made of a decent grade steel, nothing to write home about but structuraly it's sound. In the front of the case there is a fan on the left side (120mm) with a built in filter. I never thought to check if the filter comes out. Beside that you have the I/O door which is a sturdy plastic with a black plexi/lexan type material window. There is a cheap lock on the door, but you can open and close the door without the key which is a feature I like. Inside the door is 3 fullsize bays, one of which has a mount for the floppy. The covers for each slot are metal, not plastic, and they screw in, a nice touch compared to the typical plastic covers of most tower cases. Beside that we have LED status lights (bright) and two nice feeling rocker switches and a pair of USB2 slots. The rockers have NO play in them, they are very solid feeling, even if they look kind of tacky. On the top of the case (the panel) you can see holes for two 80mm fans (included). The top secures with 2 standard case screws which could easily be swapped out for thumb screws. At the back you see a typical ATX setup with room for 2 (I'm guessing) 40mm fans (not included). All in all, everything you'd expect, and while it may not be the best looking case, it does not feel cheap at all.
Insides
The inside of this case is what really separates it from other cheap cases. Upon opening the case you can see the whole case is painted, leaving no bare metal, the same can not be said for a lot of the lower end cases on Newegg. Again though, you will notice this case is small, but it was designed to be small. On the right there is room for two stacks of HDD's, 3 each. This cage (and the I/O cage to the left of it) are attached firmly and with small rubber washers to help control vibrations, a nice plus! Taking out the cage you can see the 120mm fan and the cables for the controls on the front. If you plan on running any longer card in this case (which I wouldn't recommend anything above a 8800 GT) then you'll have to take it out. I chose to remove mine even tho an 8400 GS powers this rig, I wanted unobstructed airflow from the front to where the HS/F pulls it's air, and it does so nicely. The other cage is the cage for the I/O devices (2 optical drives & 1 floppy drive). While I was going to leave it in there with 1 DVD drive and one HDD, I decided to take it out too (I'll cover this in the build section). Moving on, the tray is standard, but is lacking the holes for the farthest edge of the board. Not a big issue to me, but enough to knock off some points. The back of the case lines up with the mobo and I/O plate in typical fashion. Rounding out the inside area is the PSU mount which is too close to the I/O cage in my opinion, losing a few more points. I'll explain this more in the build section.
The Build
OK, I don't have to say it again, but I will anyways, this case is small. I didn't plan on running with the top on due to my choice of HS/F so I can't knock it for having to leave the top off. I will say however, that once I started to get pieces in, I ran out of room fast. It's close but there is enough room between the PSU and the HS/F. Mounting the board and HS/F had to be done in a specific order in order to make sure I could get everything in, but anyone reading this review should have no problem. The biggest thing that took up space was the extra cables from the power supply. I literally needed 3 cables to run this rig, the 24 pin, the 8 pin, and one line for the HDD (and DVD during install). My PSU had a lot of extra cables, which I can't fault the case for, but I will say the bottom of the I/O cage was so close to the PSU that the cable to the 24 pin couldn't fit. No amount of cable management or modular PSU's could adjust for that, so it loses points there. I ended up bunching up the spare wires (all sheathed so that helps) and tying them together into a figurative rat's nest and then I placed the HDD on top of that. If I would have had a modular PSU I could have used the cages but all those wires had to go somewhere. I know some people will cringe at that, but the fact is that it works, it's cheap, and I'm not trying to win a beauty contest with this rig. Other than that issue, every other part of the build went smoothly. I will say that this is a very quiet case, but I am only using 2 120mm fans right now so YMMV.
Conclusion
OK, so you've seen the case and heard my narrative of it, but is it worth it? If you don't mind a little adaptive thinking and some controlled clutter, then this case wouldn't be a bad idea for a small data hub. A modular PSU, a more simple ATX board, and enough room for a few RAID cards and a half dozen or more HDD's and you;d have a nice compact data center. As for folding? I would have to recommend going with the 17.7" version (What Musky uses) or even the 19" version (My next planned case review). While the case is a solid little case, it is just that, a little case, and nothing in folding these days is moving in that direction. As a case alone, I'd have to give it a 4.3 out of 5, but for a dedicated folding box, I'd be forced to give a 3.3 out of 5 due mostly to size alone. That being said, I have an i7 running fine in this case and plan on building another after tax season, so take my recommendations as just that.
(I'll tidy it up and post more info later, but make some requests on what else you want covered! Thanks!)
Score
(Product) [H][H][H][H][H] - 4.3/5
(Folding) [H][H][H][H][H] - 3.3/5
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