Value Case Roundup: A Look at the Affordable
by Purav Sanghani on February 1, 2005 12:35 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
Raidmax ATX-268WSP (cont'd)
We've taken a look at the features of the 268WSP including the internal design, but all of that can come to a halt when we see flimsy constructions and inefficient cooling systems. The 268WSP does not have much of a problem with that as other cases might.
Construction
The 268WSP is constructed of 0.7mm steel, which, in many cases, poses somewhat of a hazardous issue. The thinner we go with steel, the sharper and more dangerous those sharp edges become. Raidmax, on the other hand, has done a good job of folding over those sharp edges to prevent cut wires among other things.
The front bezel is, of course, a combination of acrylic and plastic, which gives the 268WSP a higher end look.
Cooling
The potential of the cooling system in the 268WSP is extraordinary! First off, even though the case comes with only two 80mm fans mounted on the left side panel, there is room for a total of four more 80mm fans and a 60mm fan. The four 80mm fans can be mounted in a 2x2 array at the front of the case, which will cover all four of the HDD bays.
The last 60mm fan can be mounted at the rear above the expansion card slots. Though the extra fans will definitely help cool the 268WSP extremely well, the noise produced by the extra fans will probably be intolerable.
We recommend using, at most, four fans to even out the noise produced and the temperature control.
The 268WSP is listed on New Egg as well as a few other retailers, which includes a 350W power supply. Our test model, however, did not include a PSU.
Installation
Since there were no special features in the 268WSP, the total installation time for our test bed consumed the standard 15 minutes for the motherboard, video card, HDD, and power supply.
We noticed that the motherboard connectors for the USB ports on the bezel were not the modular 7-pin type, but the 4-pin+GND type, which we have found in the past to be slightly confusing when using motherboards that do not have proper listings of certain pin headers. We'd like to see more of the 7-pin motherboard connectors to decrease this confusion as well as for added compatibility and standards.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
58 Comments
View All Comments
KristopherKubicki - Tuesday, February 1, 2005 - link
sdfg: I think you mean the Antec Lanboy looks like the Chenming cases...Kristopher
aeternitas - Tuesday, February 1, 2005 - link
Yes #24, we are all spoiled. Spoiled with _quality_. Some of us like to have nice things. I for one dont want to see cheap plastic houseing my loveingly put together equiptment. This is a hobby for most, and with a hobby means quality is the standard.If you are just building PCs for people that dont care, then by all means, but this isnt really a site for people that dont care.
sprockkets - Tuesday, February 1, 2005 - link
Err, no In-Win cases?miketheidiot - Tuesday, February 1, 2005 - link
these cases are all trash. Drop the extra $20 and get a decent antec PSU/case combo.And why wasn't the Sonata or something lke that included?
Cygni - Tuesday, February 1, 2005 - link
God you guys are ridiculous! I personally use Antec cases for my own personal builds, but when building for my business, i use the cheapest non-ugly case I can find. Of course, PSU is a concern, but im not slapping FX's in with a 250wt. PSU does change reliability, this is fact, but it is FAR overhyped. Bad RAM can make 10 times the impact.Honestly, who gives a crap if the case isnt amazing? Its a CASE! As long as its not ugly, and as long as its fairly well put together (almost all of them are these days), who cares? 99% of the people i build computers for never open the case, so who cares if it has sharp edges? I dont know. You guys all sound really really spoiled, haha. I personally thought alot of the cases reviewed are FAR less ugly then so called "Gamer cases" that are out there with friggen dragons with LED eyes that readout useless voltage information...
MarkM - Tuesday, February 1, 2005 - link
I'm with #4 too -- a the point you are getting this level case, you are probably looking at a no-frills basic PC with cheaper components, at which point it doesn't make much sense for you to be building anyway, you should just get a Dell & get that conveniecne/security of waranty.Not to mention if you are building so basic a PC, you probably are not reading anandtech :)
Anywya, I'm not sure I see great value. I got my Sonata with the 350w quiet PSU for $70 total AR, some of these cases would cost about as much with even an inferior PSU. So why bother at all?
digit - Tuesday, February 1, 2005 - link
ive got that raidmax (windowless version) and i really like it. it came with the 4 fans already installed in front and its definitely the coolest running case ive ever had. recently ive started having problems with power stability from the psu, but it worked just fine for over a year.fatdog6 - Tuesday, February 1, 2005 - link
Im pretty dissapointed with this review,first off of the 150 or so systems that i have built my first consideration is reliablity/stability expecially in a budget build. I I can i imagine getting a call and then seeing the power supply fell down knocked the cpu off into the gpu trashing the memory on the way.!!
As stated by Spacecomber #15
"So far, I haven't found a case and power supply (bought seperately or together) that is as good as and less expensive than the Antec 1650, which is my choice for entry level and basic systems. $55 for a case that includes 120mm fan, Antec SL-350 power supply, and side CPU air guide."
As stated by Lonewolf #13
"The power supplies of these review units are horrible, and do not in any way represent good additional value"
DaveA - Tuesday, February 1, 2005 - link
http://images.anandtech.com/reviews/cases/roundups...yeah whats up with that?
Desslok - Tuesday, February 1, 2005 - link
In the review for the Codegen 6209 is the motherboard tilted in the install pic??