Price-Point Comparing Three-Way Case Shootout
by Joshua Buss on January 13, 2006 12:05 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
Final Words
This was a bit of a deviance from our normal article structure here at AnandTech, but we really do feel that it illustrates things in the case realm in a rather enlightening way. Typically, the P150 is available right around the $150 price point, with sales bringing it down to $115. With this premium comes an incredibly stylish, quiet, excellent-performing, easy to use, sturdy, and above all a practical product, including even one of Antec's nicest power supplies. The P150 is a delight to work in, and the rail system makes everything snug and simple.
However, available for as little as $50, or $70 with a 450 watt power supply, one can receive a case which, in our opinion, is so close in performance to the P150 that the choice for anyone who likes the styling of both units is simply a no-brainer. The X1 does have a bit more of a "gamer's" look to it, but at least it's not nearly as distasteful as so many gaming themed units.
Finally, at the lowest price point, the E68 actually fared quite well compared to these competing products. For a mere $30, one can have a solidly performing, simple-enough, and still rather tasteful case that, at least from the front, looks like it's worth a lot more than what you're really paying for it, in our opinion.
While the P150's look will definitely grab some people's attention enough to warrant them getting that case, we really find the price a little steep, considering the lack of a door, screen, window, or anything else that would truly add that much to the cost of the product. If a user really cares about simple, elegant aesthetics, then perhaps they'll feel otherwise though. And, with the additional goodies of the X1 - namely the window and sharp LCD display on the front - available for only $20 more than the E68, the X1 gets our nod as the recommended case in this little roundup, and in fact, delivers so much bang for the buck in our opinion that it is deserving of our silver editor's choice award. Simply put, it's been a long time since we've seen such a nice case available for so little dough. Congratulations deserve to be sent out to all three manufacturers, though, for all of these units are above-average performers and come highly recommended from AnandTech.
UPDATE: The problem not previously mentioned of not being able to access the X1's ports after the door was closed is severe enough to degrade our judgement of the X1 from Gold to Silver.
This was a bit of a deviance from our normal article structure here at AnandTech, but we really do feel that it illustrates things in the case realm in a rather enlightening way. Typically, the P150 is available right around the $150 price point, with sales bringing it down to $115. With this premium comes an incredibly stylish, quiet, excellent-performing, easy to use, sturdy, and above all a practical product, including even one of Antec's nicest power supplies. The P150 is a delight to work in, and the rail system makes everything snug and simple.
However, available for as little as $50, or $70 with a 450 watt power supply, one can receive a case which, in our opinion, is so close in performance to the P150 that the choice for anyone who likes the styling of both units is simply a no-brainer. The X1 does have a bit more of a "gamer's" look to it, but at least it's not nearly as distasteful as so many gaming themed units.
Finally, at the lowest price point, the E68 actually fared quite well compared to these competing products. For a mere $30, one can have a solidly performing, simple-enough, and still rather tasteful case that, at least from the front, looks like it's worth a lot more than what you're really paying for it, in our opinion.
While the P150's look will definitely grab some people's attention enough to warrant them getting that case, we really find the price a little steep, considering the lack of a door, screen, window, or anything else that would truly add that much to the cost of the product. If a user really cares about simple, elegant aesthetics, then perhaps they'll feel otherwise though. And, with the additional goodies of the X1 - namely the window and sharp LCD display on the front - available for only $20 more than the E68, the X1 gets our nod as the recommended case in this little roundup, and in fact, delivers so much bang for the buck in our opinion that it is deserving of our silver editor's choice award. Simply put, it's been a long time since we've seen such a nice case available for so little dough. Congratulations deserve to be sent out to all three manufacturers, though, for all of these units are above-average performers and come highly recommended from AnandTech.
| Raidmax X1 |
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UPDATE: The problem not previously mentioned of not being able to access the X1's ports after the door was closed is severe enough to degrade our judgement of the X1 from Gold to Silver.
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yacoub - Friday, January 13, 2006 - link
You also complain about "extra effort" when people looking at cases in the first place are DoItYourself-ers/BuiltMyOwn-ers. I hardly think unscrewing a fan to put some soft grommets b/w it and the case frame is so much effort that it negates the benefit. Considering this case already does the vast amount of what-was-formerly 'hard work' in making a case quiet, this case is truly exceptional. It even offers drive suspension standard (or grommetted drive sleds), a quiet fan w/ 3-speed adjustment, excellent airflow arrangement, silencing panels on the sides and top of the case, everything locks down so nothing rattles, and a quiet PSU. Seriously you can't ask for much more than that when it comes to quieting a system and this case offers all that stock without having to mod anything). That's hardly "extra effort" especially for someone who's already going through the effort of building their own system.Tamale - Friday, January 13, 2006 - link
I must ask you then, why with all of these advanced quieting components did it still make just as much noise as the X1? Personally I blame the tri-speed fan, as even set to the low speed setting it moved enough air to make a noticeable "whooshing" sound... compared to the absolutely silent power supply included with the P150 I found this rather strange. It was the exact same reason the P180 wasn't as quiet as I was expecting it to be.. I wouldn't be surprised to see antec tune their 120mm fans a tad so that the low speed setting is really as quiet as it could be.yacoub - Friday, January 13, 2006 - link
Also it's a joke for any Anandtech writer to complain about the price of the case when you guys do all your tests using FX-55/7800GTX/RAID Raptor God boxes (slight exaggeration to make a point). Anyone buying any of those over-priced aspects of a system can certainly afford to spend the money on a good case. I built a budget gaming system and I bought a P150 because for me it is very important to have a silent, stylish (not gaudy/kiddy), cool-running rig. That's more than worth the extra $$, imo.Tamale - Friday, January 13, 2006 - link
It's not a joke to talk about price at all.. AT has always been a site about getting the best components for a particular user's needs, and unless your needs require you to have a more subtly styled case it's hard to recommend the P150 over the X1 based on factors such as noise, usability, and cooling performance. Just think back to our price guides or recommended gift items.. value-oriented products such as the 6800GS have historically gotten the highest recommendations - not the latest and greatest high-end uber-expensive stuff.Also, whether the people who are truly on the bleeding edge of style such as you and me choose to believe it or not, the cases that are a little more 'gimmicky' are still growing in popularity, not shrinking. Most people still haven't even heard of putting windows in computers, and think that kinda thing is "cool". It's no surprise at all that the elitist enthusiasts (including myself) who had a windowed case back in 2001 are going to look at those kinds of cases now and scoff at them, boasting "they're already out of style".. but a truly good reviewer has to take into account all these factors and write for the majority of all readers and even potential readers - not the majority of readers who are going to be vocal, or are forum regulars, and especially not for the majority of readers who have tons of money, time, and experience with working with cases... and I don't care how you try to slice it, the P150 does not fit in the category of "budget" when one could get a case like the E68 for $30... People seem to think that I don't even like the P150.. this is far from the truth.. I just feel that for that kind of a price premium it better offer the absolute best performance out-of-the-box, and this article is simply designed to open people's eyes a bit and be more careful with their money before automatically assuming that the more expensive a case is, the better it must be.
I was a little put-off by the manner in which the link to silentpcreview was posted because it immediately followed a comment implying that I didn't know what the P150 was designed for... if it wasn't meant as a passive attack on me then I apologize for my comment, but I have a hard time believing no one else read it that way.
Also, an excellent point was made about the X1's choice to put the USB ports behind the door and the implications of having a door covering the optical drives at all.. truly there are only certain users who will prefer to have a door, but for the ones who do the X1 is really a fine choice.
Lastly, the front fan mounting option in the X1 wasn't discussed at great length because the case performed quite well without it, but of course if one had more hard drives or hard drive temperatures were of utmost importance the option is there.
I hope I've cleared up some misconceptions, and helped at least a couple of you better understand where I'm coming from.
yacoub - Friday, January 13, 2006 - link
The P150 is much quieter than either of the other two cases when properly configured. The operative words in that sentence are the closing phrase "when properly configured". A site like SilentPCReview is an excellent place to get more info about how to build and configure a truly silent system. It is not an advertisement, it is additional reading reference support for helping those interested in learning why it's the best of these three cases and how to use it to its full potential.photoguy99 - Friday, January 13, 2006 - link
Tamale you have made a bad point.The link posted was not any sort of advertisement or exploitation.
It was simply relevant to the discussion and I believe actually adds value to AnandTech because the discussion becomes richer and more complete.
Please "show a little common courtesy" and not feel threatened by something that only enriches the forums more.
Thank you.
noxipoo - Friday, January 13, 2006 - link
most users here at anandtech have been around for years, and we have always talked about other sites besides anandtech. I don't see a problem linking to another review on the site. In fact Brandon used to do it on the news part on the homepage. It is not advertising in anyway for another review link. As for getting the p150 quieter, I'd rather do that than have the Raidmax because of the looks.gplracer - Friday, January 13, 2006 - link
I like the P-150 but where can you get white drives to match it? I would not want to put beige drives in it.yacoub - Friday, January 13, 2006 - link
The covers over the bays actually rotate down out of the way when the drive opens. You never see your actual drives when they are closed. Hard to explain.ceefka - Saturday, January 14, 2006 - link
I put in a silver DVD burner and a silver 3,5" internal card reader. That doesn't look too bad either IMHO.