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What Case is better?

Thank you both. And yes Antec is top quality brand for sure. Also PSU for my case would be Antec brand also. I have Antec in my old build and it does not collect dust ether. :)
 
I have both, and much prefer the 912. I think 912 is the best case for the money. Very well laid out, spacious, amazing air flow, and QUIET. The antec is inferior in everyway but looks. They're taking advantage of their name here for the price.
 
Honestly, at this point I cannot recommend any of those three cases:

1) Two of those cases (the Cooler Master and the Antec) have no front USB 3.0 ports at all (their front USB ports are only USB 2.0 compliant).

2) The Cougar (and the Antec as well) use a particularly intrusive hard drive bay layout that allows an installed HDD to intrude into the expansion card space. This results in a seriously restricted length for graphics cards if an HDD is installed in one of the upper 3.5" bays (the maximum graphics card length will be reduced to only 8.75" for the Antec and 10" for the Cougar). The Cooler Master, of course, is restricted to a 12.5" graphics card length by the fixed, non-removable HDD cage.
 
I wouldn't buy any of those.

Personally, I'd look at a cheap Corsair 200R or something in that. No way I would buy either that Cougar or the Antec with that HDD layout. No point in getting a case that doesn't have USB 3.0 front panel connector.
 
USB 3.0 front port(s) is not an issue for me. What is the most important is system cooling. By the way what is better plastic case exterior or steel, or it doesn't matter much?.
 
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As some of the others have said, none of those three cases I would recommend. The Antec is a poor quality case with no cable management features whatsoever as well as a cramped interior. That Cougar has tear-off expansion slots. As such, there's a good chance that case is of low quality since tear-off expansion slots only show up in cheap cases as a cost-cutting measure. At $60, that HAF 912 is overpriced for the case quality you're getting as well as the lack of front panel USB 3.0. I have its bigger brother, the HAF X/HAF 932, and I find quality of that case a bit lacking for the price. So I can't imagine how much lower in quality the HAF 912 is.

For $10 more than the HAF 912, you can get the significantly better quality, more updated, and better cooling Corsair 230T case:
$70 - Corsair Graphite Series 230T Black ATX Case

However, my favorite cheap budget case is the Source 210 Elite:
$50 - NZXT Source 210 Elite White with Black Front Trim ATX Case

A major con with the Source 210 Elite is the inability to properly mount a SSD. But you can always just leave the SSD at the bottom of the case or the bottom of the 5.25" bay area.

As for case exterior, it depends on the case. There are plenty of good cooling cases with with plastic covers as well as utterly shitty cases with plastic covers. Same goes for steel/metal as well. So yeah, you have to judge it based on the case itself.

Side note: Don't buy a PSU based on brand alone. These days, nearly every PSU company has lineup of PSUs ranging from pieces of shit to high quality masterpieces. So before you buy a PSU, find a review of it on HardOCP or JonnyGuru.com.
 
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Oleg34 said:
USB 3.0 front port(s) is not an issue for me. What is the most important is system cooling.
Click to expand...

If the case that you end up selecting is for a CPU/motherboard platform that dates back prior to the year 2011 or so, then sure, the lack of USB 3.0 front port(s) may not be an issue. It's just that the three cases that you picked are not worth anywhere close to even their current street prices, let alone their original asking prices. Maybe if you can find any of those for no more than $40 USD...

At any rate, you will need to purchase at least one additional fan if you end up with the Cooler Master: It comes with only two 120mm fans (one front and one rear). And the cost of a decent top fan alone will bring the total cost of that case to more than $70 - higher than if you bought the Corsair 230T that Danny (Dangman) has recommended (which comes with three 120mm fans - two in front and one in the rear).

The Cougar case is even less well equipped (cooling-wise): You will definitely need to purchase two additional fans with that case because it comes with only a single 120mm fan (mounted in the rear).

As for the Antec, it may be discontinued and no longer available. So that rules it out.
 
Thanks everyone for you answers and suggestions. It's just i have decided to order budget Intel build from ComputerLX website. Thing is they do not have much options to choose from.
 
Oleg34 said:
Thanks everyone for you answers and suggestions. It's just i have decided to order budget Intel build from ComputerLX website. Thing is they do not have much options to choose from.
Click to expand...

Why buy from them? Is this a gaming PC, work PC, or general use PC? If the latter, just buy a Dell. Those would be cheaper and would be better quality wise than some of the prebuilt PCs you see from cheap PC boutiques.
 
I am going to use it for digital media. OEM PCs do not have many extension slots like PCI-E. no eSATA ports, crappy case etc...
 
Oleg34 said:
I am going to use it for digital media. OEM PCs do not have many extension slots like PCI-E. no eSATA ports, crappy case etc...
Click to expand...

Looking through many of the cases available at ComputerLX, those cases are crappier than some of the Dell cases I've worked with. In addition, newer OEM PCs do in fact have PCI-E slots available. As for eSATA, who actually uses that? Simpler and cheaper to use USB 3.0 which, again, many Dell PCs have nowadays. Not to mention, that again, looking through the list of PSUs available on ComputerLX, the majority of the stock/budget PSUs they have are pretty shitty. Even the PSUs that comes with a Dell is a far far better than the shitty Logisys PSU in this build:
http://www.computerlx.com/config.aspx?t=&product_ID=1645

What exactly do you mean "use it for digital media"? As in you're using it to watch movies, videos, and listening to music or actually creating videos and music?
 
Carl224 said:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811146190&ignorebbr=1

or

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811139018
Click to expand...

^^

I concur, I am USING a s340 right now. It's a superb budget option with plenty of airflow, AIO options, mostly all metal, and cable management is really surprising for a case it's size. (Like one of the easiest I have ever worked on, for me only the dual compartment Air 540 was easier)

If you must have a 5.25 bay, which I won't judge if you do (I got a USB one for 34 bucks years ago now and it rarely comes out of the drawer) then the corsair would be a decent option.

If Airflow is your primary concern, you want to look for cases that get everything out of the way of intake fans. That's what originally had me get the s340 and as I said it's been an outstanding purchase.

Looks the business too!! (Warning crappy cell phone pic)

 
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I do Digital Media and use a Cooler Master HAX-XB EVO and a HAF-932.

case%20front.jpg


Corsair-H80i.jpg



haf-932.jpg


3770k.jpg
 
Oleg34 said:
I am going to use it for digital media. OEM PCs do not have many extension slots like PCI-E. no eSATA ports, crappy case etc...
Click to expand...

I concur with Dangman.

Also, if the motherboard ComputerLX includes has any eSATA ports, they will be most likely powered by a JMicron (which has been known to corrupt data) or Marvell (which has been known to suffer from major performance issues) controller. A few motherboards have a single eSATA port that is run off of the native Intel SATA controller (and thus reduce the number of total internal SATA ports by that amount). And if a given case has any eSATA ports, they will be by default connected to one of the internal SATA ports on the motherboard, leaving fewer internal SATA ports available to add additional internal drives.
 
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to be exact I am going to use my build for Digital Media entertainment.
 
Oleg34 said:
to be exact I am going to use my build for Digital Media entertainment.
Click to expand...

You need to be even more specific than that, according to Climber.

If you're only going to use a PC system for digital media playback, then you don't need a custom build at all: You'd end up paying significantly more money for lesser overall quality (not performance) than a pre-built.

On the other hand, if you're going to use a PC to create digital media content, then you'll need to spend more money than these lower-end custom builds cost.
 
Yes. I would be using it for digital media playback and maybe some gaming.
 
Oleg34 said:
Yes. I would be using it for digital media playback and maybe some gaming.
Click to expand...
If that gaming comment is serious, build it yourself.

If you're basiically only watching videos all day long, buy a Dell

If you don't want to build but want to play games, up your budget to at least $1400 as that's the minimum you need to spend at a good PC boutique (not a questionable one like ComputerLX) for a good gaming PC.

Do not buy a cheap gaming PC (under $1000) from ComputerLX as I guarantee you that it's going to be crap.,
 
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