Where else to get a case?

[greigmg]

Hey, can anyone recommend another good place to find cases? I'm looking for a micro-atx minitower. So far these two are my favorites on newegg:

Cooler Master Centurion 541

Athenatech Z3603BB

Any big difference between these two (I realize one comes with PSU and one doesn't - can't decide if that's a plus or a minus)? Any others you'd recommend? Thanks.

 

[Satyrist]

Comparing the two, the Centurion will quite likely cool more efficiently...It can take a 120mm fan in front, and two 80mm fans in the back.

Yes, you'll sacrifice one drive bay the way it's set up, and quite possibly require a shorter optical drive (Liteons are one particular vendor that are a bit shorter, length-wise) to avoid possible clearance issues with the graphics card/psu, however.

The Coolermaster just looks better, quality wise as well. Both will take a normal ATX power supply.

Depending on what sort of build you're looking to make, you're probably better off getting a bare case. The cheapo power supply units that typically come with cheap cases, I usually remove them and replace with another brand. Fortron/Sparkle are good choices here, and not typically terribly expensive either.

 

[greigmg]

Yeah, I guess I should have been more specific. I'm using this purely as a storage box

The only thing that worried me about the cooler master was the smaller fans - I'm worried more about quiet than cooling power. I'll probably only put one 80mm in there at first and move up if I have to. I'm sticking a Slot 1 PIII 450mhz in there and using onboard video, so beside the drives there's not a lot to cool. What attracted me to the Athena was it's 4 internal drive bays - but I figure I can load up all the available spots in the Cooler (except for one 5.25 for cdrom drive), and in the future if I need more, one of those drive cages will fit nicely right where the 120mm fan is on the coolermaster.

 

[Satyrist]

You might even take a look at the matx towers made by InWin as well. They ought to offer a few extra bays if that's what you need.

 

[Zepper]

Directron, Dealsonic, Mwave, AxionTech, ZipZoomFly and eXcaliberPC (claims to offer 819 cases...) are the places I look to for cases.

.bh.

 

[sybille]

I like the AOpen H450B, because it has a 120mm fan in the back and a place for an 80mm fan in the front, USB/, Audio, and Firewire jacks in the front (at least on the model I plan to get), and one of those TAC side holes. It's steel.
I'm not sure about the included PSU and I haven't been able to find out much about it, other than the fact that it is regular ATX size and so can be easily replaced (for example, by a Seasonic S12, that's my plan).
A screwdriver is required for installing drives, etc., and I don't know if it's available in the US (I'm in Europe). Here's a review, w/pics but no PSU info:
AOpen H450B
Where I am, these cases include the 120mm fan in back and a 300W AOpen PSU standard.

If I were in the US, I'd probably get one of the In Win mATX towers mentioned earlier. Maybe this one.
The In Win Z720T was recommended in the Ars Technica "Ultimate Budget Box" guide last August, which suggests that it's PSU is probably fine. I think it's supposed to be a rebranded Fortron, but I don't remember where I read that.

Here's a review of the Cooler Master Centurion 541, if you haven't seen it: Text

I'm just waiting for more mATX boards with the NVIDIA 6150/430 chipset to be released... rumour has it that DFI will be releasing such a board in mid-December.