Any Competing brands VS Lian Pc cases ?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Scott Backular
  • Start date Start date
I've looked at cases a lot because I have to support
so many users. There is only one decent case out there
.... the InWin mid-size. All the rest of them are garbage.
This case has been steadily upgradeable, and has
survived one of the most destructive user environments
you could imagine. It is plain, roomy, made of steel
that is neatly folded with no sharp edges anywhere,
has a sliding drawer so the mobo can be mounted
and handled outside the case, and the power supply
is P4 ready. Has 2 x 3 1/4 bays, and 3 x 5 1/4 bays
that are not cutsy located. Mounting drives is simple
and clean. There is no frappy kid-stuff like plastic
doors, or blinking lights. No roaring case fans that
are totally unnecessary and don't work. No stupid
fold-out feet. No front USB plugins so high-school
Harry can dangle wires across the desk ( they are
low on the side ). The mobo mounts cleanly on well
finished large case mounts so the bottom of the PC
board is never scratched and ruined. Front face is
easy to remove, and it is not cheaply held in place
with sheet-metal screws .. or weird as blazes to open
like DELL-cases .. or those *%%$*&^ Micron
cases use to be. Reset button is actually bigger than
the head of a pin, but recessed so you don't hit it
accidently. Drive mounting holes are accurate and
you don't have to stare at them to "figure out" how
to mount something. There are no hidden screws
you have to gouge out to remove the hard drives.
Case is wide so it won't "fall over" like the DELL
cases do. Since I switched to the InWin mid-size case,
I have worked on 1000s of computers and not
looked down to find myself BLEEDING. Buy one!
It is a real mans case.

johns
 
It is the A500 case at mwave.com ( 2nd on list ).
You can see the sliding drawer in "other views".
The rest of the In-Win cases are also crap because
they are trying to sell kid-stuff too. Look at how easy
the drive bay is to access on that model. When the
mobo drawer is out, the case is just a frame and
can be moved about a work bench easily without
getting cut. I can completely assemble a system in
that case in 15 minutes. I would like to see all the rest
of the cases on the market sent to Bagdad.

johns
 
I've built many Antec case machines, and have had good experiences
with all of the Antec cases, but they are not Lian Li type in terms of
aluminum, all were steel cases.

--
Best regards,
Kyle
| ... and it only costs $50. Beat that !
|
| johns
|
|
 
I've looked at cases a lot because I have to support
so many users. There is only one decent case out there
... the InWin mid-size. All the rest of them are garbage.
This case has been steadily upgradeable, and has
survived one of the most destructive user environments
you could imagine. It is plain, roomy, made of steel
that is neatly folded with no sharp edges anywhere,
has a sliding drawer so the mobo can be mounted
and handled outside the case, and the power supply
is P4 ready...
Click to expand...

I concur on Inwin having some nice cases, and agree on your points regarding the
sheet metal quality. However, I have had trouble with the power switch sticking on
2 out of 2 A500 cases. My personal preference was the Inwin J508 until they
switched to the J508G which has a hole on the side opposite the CPU, with a
plastic grill that protrudes from the surface. At least that is the only way that
I find them anymore. The S508 is similar to the J508 but omits the front panel USB
and may be free of the side vent. Both the S508 and J508 are heavier and more
rigid and potentially quieter than the A500. There is room for an 80mm fan in
front of the drives if really necessary. For some reason these cases don't have a
reset button! At first I missed that, but now I see that most PCs will reset if
the power button is depressed briefly, assuming that the BIOS is set to require
holding it down for 4 seconds to turn off. The 300W power supplies that come with
these cases are decent.

Many like the Antec cases. I find that they are punched with too many fan holes,
which makes them noisy. Even if the extra fans are not needed, the CPU fan is more
audible with all the case holes. Also, the Antec power supplies that I have tested
tend to be somewhat inefficient compared to the best, like the Seasonic models
with forward converters. Also, many Antec cases are highly stylized and you have
to like the design, which will not appeal to everyone. The Sonata is a good case
with meaningful design features to reduce noise and also good build quality, but
costs twice what the Inwin cases cost. (Watch out for the blinding blue LEDs on
the Sonata)

Peace.
 
I gave up on the once-great InWin because of their ever-changing power
supplies (from the very good Sparkle to ? to ??, with noise levels that were
OK to unacceptable), the defective design of their power-on buttons (after a
few months they stuck on), the ever-changing nature of their cases that
required that I read their semi-English manuals to figure out how to get the
damn front bezel off, and their pathetically miserly supply of screws. I
have built more systems with InWin cases than any other, but for the past
couple of years, it's been all Antec. Even my main personal computer, the
last thing that every gets updated, has had an Antec power supply for six
months, and an actual Antec case as of last week.

Lians are prettier than Antecs, I'll give them that.

TomC
 
TomC said:
I gave up on the once-great InWin because of their ever-changing power
supplies (from the very good Sparkle to ? to ??, with noise levels that
were OK to unacceptable), the defective design of their power-on buttons
(after a few months they stuck on), the ever-changing nature of their
cases that required that I read their semi-English manuals to figure out
how to get the damn front bezel off, and their pathetically miserly
supply of screws. I have built more systems with InWin cases than any
other, but for the past couple of years, it's been all Antec. Even my
main personal computer, the last thing that every gets updated, has had
an Antec power supply for six months, and an actual Antec case as of last
week.
Click to expand...
.....

They are all trash - take the time and build your own! I am just planing my
case made from polished timber maybe mahogany sheets. Best of all such a
case is truly silent...
It's not much work for even a semi talented person...
 
Why do you need a case?

Put the MB and all acessories on the desk, connect the equipment as you
would normally have done. Run.

The case don't add anything. So with this approach you save money, and your
PC will be more silent since you get rid of a number of fans.

Good luck!
 
Why do you need a case?

Put the MB and all acessories on the desk, connect the equipment as you
would normally have done. Run.

The case don't add anything. So with this approach you save money, and your
PC will be more silent since you get rid of a number of fans.

Good luck!
Click to expand...

Ever heard of RF interferance? And you CPU and Video fans will still
be there making a noise. Plus you can spill coffee on it!
 
Vic LeArndt said:
Why do you need a case?

Put the MB and all acessories on the desk, connect the equipment as you
would normally have done. Run.

The case don't add anything. So with this approach you save money, and
your PC will be more silent since you get rid of a number of fans.

Good luck!
Click to expand...

Sorry, pal, an eye catching and silent case makes an office look much more
professional than looking on a splattered geek's workbench, don't u think?

:-)

Steve
 
It's not much work for even a semi talented person...
Thanks for your vote of confidence. I'll drag out the old high school
woodshop manuals and give it a go.

TomC
 
| | > Why do you need a case?
| >
| > Put the MB and all acessories on the desk, connect the equipment
as you
| > would normally have done. Run.
| >
| > The case don't add anything. So with this approach you save money,
and
| > your PC will be more silent since you get rid of a number of fans.
| >
| > Good luck!
| >
|
| Sorry, pal, an eye catching and silent case makes an office look
much more
| professional than looking on a splattered geek's workbench, don't u
think?
|
| :-)
|
| Steve
|
|
|

Heh, reminds me of my first Linux "futz-around-with-it" system, a
cobbled together mess of cables, mobo, ps and drives on the kitchen
table that the wife cursed for a few weeks. The best part was it
worked solid as a rock, but was undeserving of any "appearance"
awards. In the end, the wife won, and the parts went back into the
basement.
 
TomC said:
Thanks for your vote of confidence. I'll drag out the old high school
woodshop manuals and give it a go.
Click to expand...

Ouch, my speak was more of general nature than of personal!
How comes u think I semi qualified you?
Never trust those wood-chop manuals if you really want the side panels slurp
in place.

:-)
 
Diskhead said:
Probably biege too.
Click to expand...

Uh, yeah. So? Not k3wl/1337/k-r4d enough for you? Some of us who use
computers are *adults*, you know. And FYI - having neon tubes and
chrome on your computer isn't going to get you laid.
 
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