shawnat,
first of all, $68.95 for the sx1030 is nuts and I'd be interested to know where you got it. Rarely have I even seen it for under 100. I bought the sx830 a couple months ago and it's not any smaller than the 1030. It's more like the 1030's alterego than its little brother. They are identical except for the drive bay layout (the sx830's drives are higher up and it comes with one drive cage, exposing the top front fan). Both cases have room for 4 80mm fans, but they each come with 2 unless the reseller includes a couple. I intentionally bought the 830 over the 1030 because I have a LiveDrive that my headphones are always plugged into, plus I hate the idea of having a flimsy plastic door in my way. As for the quality of the case, I've never seen its equal. Putting my components was simply effortless, which is saying a lot becuase I have 6 ide devices in addition to the livedrive. I got a good deal on my case about 6 months ago, which was $112 shipped w/ a floppy drive from thetechstore.com. Although I should note that my 830 is definitely unusual becuase it has 2 drive cages just like the 1030. This came as quite a nice surprise when I popped it open for the first time.
Anyway, this is a
great deal and I would recommend it to anyone that needs a roomy midtower with great airflow (it's 4" taller than my old enlight 7233).
Icrontic (formerly apu's hardware) has glowing reviews of both cases, but I can't link them currently due to the site being down.
So instead, I'll link up The Tech Zone's review:
SX830 Review