Originally posted by: Bozo Galora
Well, about a month ago I bought one of those "much better" $50 CM cases.
I needed a case real quick so I went to Fry's, saw the "Elite" 330 and bought one.
Talk about crap, and thin sheet metal.
I almost destroyed the rear of the case trying to remove the slot cover for the PCIe vidcard.
The metal twisted every way under virtually no force, so I had to use 2 needle nose pliers to get it out safely.
The tool less swingdoor "locker" for the PCI slot stuff was a joke. Super thin metal with a retainer bump on it to keep it in place was absurd.
The thumblock tabs to hold in HDD and opticals still allowed them to rattle in place.
Worst of all, the tension in the cases' front panel header tabs were too weak, and they would pull off at the slightest movement in the wire. I was so aggravated, I took out the mobo just to see if the mobo pins themselves were too small - but they miced O.K. @.025-.026. I wound up having to put a dab of super glue between each to make like a solid one piece plug.
And to quote from newegg comments:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16811119118
"Cons: Steel is THIN. PSU is not quiet. Tool-less design was a bit of a let down. I ended up having to remove the right side of the case (so much for tool-less) to get one of my drives properly seated. Power button feels cheap. PCI covers are knock-outs -- I had to be very careful when removing a couple due to their proximity to system board capacitors.
Other Thoughts: If the case as a whole didn't feel so cheap, I'd consider it for an entry level server case due to the internal layout, drive space, and airflow. The thin steel and cheap feel of this case is just not a message I'd want to send to a client."
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I'd take a $20 Ultra over a $50 CM anyday.