Cheap aluminun cases

[Tsunami982]

hmm tempted to get this.... are does anyone know of any other cheap case deals? if so i would really appreciate a pm

 

[camman97]

Gotto ebuyer.com Click on US FLAG in upper right. Choose USA site. Then go here...

http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=124348
$15.99 Shipped.

Click on "More Ebuyer deals" for about 5 more cases under $25 Shipped.

 

[Kellyadmirer]

This deal is dead - shows sold out - but just as a follow-up, received the case I ordered. Very attractive (imho) thin aluminum case, easy to get into with the thumbscrews. Has the three fans mentioned in the first post, and the AMD-approved PSU is marked 300 watts on the shipping box but I calculate it from the label at 360 watts (5VDCx30A + 12VDCx12A + 3.3VDCx20A). That is sufficient for my needs.

Good deal for the money, case and PSU appear to be of higher quality than the "ultimate cheapies" you can get for $16 shipped at some other sites, so am happy with purchase.

 

[Salvador]

The Ebuyer cases aren't worth the $15.99. I bought 2 Ebuyer cases for $38 shipped and after seeing them, I'm thinking about pitching them both because they are so damn cheap. I didn't know that a case and power supply could be this cheap.

Their customer service sucks too. I got one case with paint missing from one panel. I called them back and after great effort, they sent me a replacement panel. When I received it, the corners were bent. The shipping box was not damaged, so the panel must've been like that when the customer service person put it in the box. Why did they waste their time and money even shipping it. I called back and they agreed to ship another panel. This was a month ago, so I guess I have to call them back. I'm so discusted with the cases though, that I'm thinking about pitching them. I don't trust doing a build with them.

Sal

 

[DaHan]

Just got mine. Well worth $20, A LOT of better than ebuyer's cheap one. I am even thinking to replace my antec 1080 with it.
Thanks, OP.

 

[dp004i]

They have some other cases as well. Just got myself a skyhawk MSR series case (much better than the cheapo stuff) for $30 plus shipping.

 

[Bookmage]

Straight from Dumping goods onto ebay...

anyone have any experience with teh rackmount cases they have?
I'm looking for a few...

 

[cheap]

I highly suggest you throw PSU that comes with it and spend $50 on a good 400-500 watt PS. I learned the hard way and my friend didn't buy such a cheap case. His case was $60 with 400watt PSU. Paired with 2200 AMD and Radeon 9500 his system would randomly restart or shut down when trying to start or already playing games or other cpu/gpu intensive applications. It drove me nuts, flashed bios, replaced memory, tweaked the hell out of bios and checked and double checked everything. WinXP got corrupted because of it. I had to spend another day reinstalling everything (my friend is computer illiterate). Finally I went out and bought a 500watt PSU for $60 or so and problem went away. Don't take chances, buy a good PSU.

 

[Jaxidian]

Originally posted by: cheap
I highly suggest you throw PSU that comes with it and spend $50 on a good 400-500 watt PS. I learned the hard way and my friend didn't buy such a cheap case. His case was $60 with 400watt PSU. Paired with 2200 AMD and Radeon 9500 his system would randomly restart or shut down when trying to start or already playing games or other cpu/gpu intensive applications. It drove me nuts, flashed bios, replaced memory, tweaked the hell out of bios and checked and double checked everything. WinXP got corrupted because of it. I had to spend another day reinstalling everything (my friend is computer illiterate). Finally I went out and bought a 500watt PSU for $60 or so and problem went away. Don't take chances, buy a good PSU.

I agree, I wouldn't use this PSU as your main PSU unless it's just a Celeron/Duron board, floppy, onboard video, and a cd rom. Otherwise, buy a good PSU and use this PSU only as a backup PSU, should you need it, until you can get another good one. (Talking from experience from an 8-year computer technician who has seen many people lose data and have perfectly good hardware fried due to PSU failures.)

 

[weirdichi]

Originally posted by: cheap
I highly suggest you throw PSU that comes with it and spend $50 on a good 400-500 watt PS. I learned the hard way and my friend didn't buy such a cheap case. His case was $60 with 400watt PSU. Paired with 2200 AMD and Radeon 9500 his system would randomly restart or shut down when trying to start or already playing games or other cpu/gpu intensive applications. It drove me nuts, flashed bios, replaced memory, tweaked the hell out of bios and checked and double checked everything. WinXP got corrupted because of it. I had to spend another day reinstalling everything (my friend is computer illiterate). Finally I went out and bought a 500watt PSU for $60 or so and problem went away. Don't take chances, buy a good PSU.

Wow.. 400w PSU wasn't enuff for his 2200 and Radeon? I'm gettin a 2600 and Radeon so what's the reccomended PSU to be safe? (no overclocking)

 

[dc]

high voltage on paper doesn't equal high quality.

there are plenty of high quality 300w power supples that are better than "500w" crap.

 

[weirdichi]

Originally posted by: dc
high voltage on paper doesn't equal high quality.

there are plenty of high quality 300w power supples that are better than "500w" crap.

I was gonna get a 300W Antec PSU. Is that adequate?

 

[Triggerhappy007]

I'm using a 300w Fortran/Sparkle 300w PSU with an XP2600+ Ti4200, 2 HDD, and 3 optical drives. Good reviews at newegg. Don't look at the wattage, look at the current on the 3.3v, 5v, and 12v rail, higher is better. I think the specs are better for the fortran/sparkle than the antec 300w. It's pretty quiet too, it uses a 120mm fan.

 

[cheap]

Like someone already said, it's not so much wattage as it is quality of PSU. It has to have minimul voltage fluctuation and be able to provide steady current under heavy load. Any good quality 400 watt PSU will do alright now. I don't think anybody needs any more watts right now unless you have big ass hard drive array or something.

 

[mbackof]

I've purchased two of the E-buyer cases.
The Kingcase 300W Metallic Grey Midtower is a good cheap case. The power supply is a bit light but the power voltages are stable and it runs the budget AMD 2000+, 160GB ID WD Hard Drive, CDRW, and GeForce 5200 AGP card without problems. I didn't cut myself on the case either and the rear metal is sturdy enough to work with. The motherboard tray does come out and the board mounts are metal. I think this is a pretty good deal for $25 shipped. Overclockers note that the airflow is poor on this case and if you are going to overclock you should add some more vents to the front or sides of the case.

The JNC 300W Midtower ATX was crap. The rear case metal bent too easily. The knockouts for card slots did not come out easily and bent the case. It came with plastic motherboard mounts that made it difficult to install the motherboard. Stay away from this one and go with the Kingcase if you are going to buy from them.

Personally if given a choice I prefer Antec units but sometimes you have to purchase a case on a budget.

Mike

 

[weirdichi]

Originally posted by: cheap
Like someone already said, it's not so much wattage as it is quality of PSU. It has to have minimul voltage fluctuation and be able to provide steady current under heavy load. Any good quality 400 watt PSU will do alright now. I don't think anybody needs any more watts right now unless you have big ass hard drive array or something.

I'm going to have 2 optical drives running and a video card. The sound/lan stuff is onboard. I figure 300W Antec should be ok, right?

 

[huesmann]

No hard drives?

 

[weirdichi]

Originally posted by: huesmann
No hard drives?

Er... and a 40GB 5400RPM HD.

 

[weirdichi]

Hmmm... I received my case and they sent me the wrong one. I ordered this one and they sent me this one instead. The case is VERY light, and I'm not sure if it's because it's made of aluminum (with no PSU) or if it's just cheap quality. You get what you pay for. Don't know if I wanna just keep it and avoid the hassle or call them up on Monday and bitch at them and wait a some more since they don't even have the case I want anymore. The shipping was average ($15 fedex to Midwest) I guess, taking about 5 days with fedex.

 

[Sbrowne]

Originally posted by: crowbait
Just recieved a case from dumpinggoods.com that I thought was worth the money. $16 !!!
It's not a Lan Lia or whatever but 16$ dollars for an aluminum case with a bunch of ports up front and an AMD approved 400 watt power supply isnt bad. It also came with 3- 80mm fans and another fan on the power supply. My grand total with $ 14.10 shipping to Ohio was $ 30.10 .

 

[Sbrowne]

Originally posted by: crowbait
Just recieved a case from dumpinggoods.com that I thought was worth the money. $16 !!!
It's not a Lan Lia or whatever but 16$ dollars for an aluminum case with a bunch of ports up front and an AMD approved 400 watt power supply isnt bad. It also came with 3- 80mm fans and another fan on the power supply. My grand total with $ 14.10 shipping to Ohio was $ 30.10 . Last time I checked they listed 35 left in stock. They have a couple other aliminum cases by Skyhawk for 15 bucks or so but they don't come with a power supply.
Skyhawk ALP4372D-SL w/power supply is how they list the model I recieved. They shipped quickly but Fedex ground
took 5+ days to get to Ohio.

Sorry about preceding blank space. The model you bought is sold out, but there are a few others left. They all appear to be discontinued Skyhawk cases. I bought an aluminum mid-tower (no PS) for $12!

Dumpinggoods.com is great! I also just bought a (refurbished) Abit AT7-MAX2 mobo for $45.

Tip: The shipping charge that appears by default is Fedex 2-day, but you can scroll down to Fedex Ground - MUCH cheaper.

Steve

 

[edplayer]

Looks like some good deals.

I am looking for a case that has 3 or preferably, 4 3.5" drive bays. I have an Antec case currently that has 3 (1 has a cutout for the floppy) and I have 2 HDs which sit atop each other. I would like to separate them. It seems like none of these cases offer that.

Since the title of this thread is generic, I think it would make a good thread for any cheap aluminum case special.

 

[LongCoolMother]

Originally posted by: cheap
Like someone already said, it's not so much wattage as it is quality of PSU. It has to have minimul voltage fluctuation and be able to provide steady current under heavy load. Any good quality 400 watt PSU will do alright now. I don't think anybody needs any more watts right now unless you have big ass hard drive array or something.

i agree. im on a 200w power supply. im running a 2.4GHz P4, radeon 9800xt, 2x40GB maxtor 7200RPM, 640MB PC2700, 16x DVD, 48X burner, audigy. yes, 200w is enough to run this system, and i dont experience any instability at all.

my old system which was a Tbird, then a XP1800+, got friend by the cheap PSU. 400w psu, killed both my memory and mobo. fortunately the cpu didnt die in the surge.

get a good PSU guys. its worth it.

 

[WDK]

I've learned my lesson from Skyhawk. Back in the day, paid $140 for a aluminum Skyhawk with removeable mobo tray... Had to mod it just to make it cool decently. They put 2 120mm fans on a swinging arm inside the case to circulate the air with no ventilation holes on the side =p I had to make those holes real. =p

 

[Sbrowne]

Originally posted by: WDK
I've learned my lesson from Skyhawk. Back in the day, paid $140 for a aluminum Skyhawk with removeable mobo tray... Had to mod it just to make it cool decently. They put 2 120mm fans on a swinging arm inside the case to circulate the air with no ventilation holes on the side =p I had to make those holes real. =p

For $12, I can drill a few holes. ;-)

Seriously, I usually look up a review on a case before I buy it. The Skyhawk AL-ATX4388 I bought from dumpinggoods.com has no front air vents, but my drill bits are sharp.

Steve