does anyone have some suggestions for a really nice pc case under 150$? i’m looking for something with a fan in front on the side and prefferably two in back. something roomy and sturdy (full tower) and with a pre-cut side panel would also be appreciated.
I have a raidmax Cobra822. It’s a nice case, and cheap too, I got it for under $50 (and it includes a 425 watt power supply!). It’s pretty sturdy and looks really nice. I got it in black. You really have to see it to believe it. It’s got 2 fans in the back, one in the side, and room for four more in the front. It’s not a full tower though. I would get a cheap case like this and spend the extra 100 dollars on better parts. You could get a considerably nicer graphics card or an extra gig of ram.
http://www.bigbruin.com/reviews/raidmaxcobra/
Personally, I find that full towers are a waste of space. I have lots of stuff in my computer, and it still has a lot of space inside. I had 3 hard drives, 2 optical drives, and 3 hard drives (reduced to one now) in it.
As for a full-tower, under 150, I would take a look at this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811133143
I don’t own it, but it’s supposed to be nice. I’d research it yourself.
I got a all aclyric case for only $40 though it is a mid size tower (If you look around online, you should be able to find several example of full size tower) the advantage to this kind of case would be that it would be easy to use a dremel or some tools to cut out some extra holes for fans or whatever else u may want to put into the case (like a small LCD for example). There are no PSU unfortunately but with this cheap one u might be able to afford a really good one afterward. See this site to see my computer picture.
here is the empty case picture.
I’ve seen some other ideas of how to customize this case that will create a cool glow effect with a few LED fam and whatnot.
This guy have a few more pictures of the computer here.
Buyer Beware: I’ve bought this case for only $40 from a local computer store (the kind that not only does repair but also mods) but when i was looking for pictures to posts here I saw a number of overpriced sale for exactly what I have for like $99 or so. Be careful with online sales.
I don’t think you’d have any trouble finding a case for $150
though i do question the need for a side window… or two fans in the back [most cases I’ve seen have more fans in front than the back]
my last case was $80, beige, and had 6 fans [and a 350W PSU with its own fan]
my current case [antec p150] has a single fan [on the back], and came with a 430W modular PSU for $130 [newegg has it for $140 before shipping]
… the antec is much better… decent drive rails [though the O Rings for mounting hard drives is weird and useless], the front opens [giving access to the drives and optional fans… this case doesn’t have a useless door in front just for room for more lights]
edit: heh, the people on newegg didn’t notice the other 3 optical drive rails were under the hard drive bays…