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Computex case round-up

by on11 June 2008

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Computex 08: From humongous to minuscule


Rather
than doing separate posts about every single case manufacturer we figured we'd give you a small round-up of what we saw on the show, some from well-known brands and other from slightly smaller companies.


We didn't have time to check out all the case manufacturers at the show, as there are a lot of unknown companies at Computex that make cases, but we've tried to cover a few of the more well-known and popular brands.


Let's start with Akasa, who was showing off a couple of new additions. First up, we have the Infiniti, which is Akasa's take on the old Cooler Master Stacker case. This should be quite an affordable case, although this doesn't mean that Akasa has skimped on quality or features.


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The Infiniti has 11 5.25-inch drive bays, of which six are taken up by 3.5-inch hard drive cages. Each cage fits three hard drives and a 120mm cooling fan. It also accommodates a further five 120mm fans and it can be fitted with dual radiators for watercooling setups, one at the top and one on the side panel.


Next up, we have the Omega, which is an improved version of Akasa's Eclipse and Mirage cases. This time around the front door has been made out of aluminum with a cut-out for fan controllers. Other improvements include eSATA supports and better support for radiators for those that like watercooling.


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Finally, we have the Enigma, which is a mini-ITX case and Akasa has upgraded it to work with the latest Atom-based motherboards and a new PSU is part of the package. It doesn't allow for any expansion cards to be added, but it's a really diminutive case and it should be quite affordable.


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Cooler Master only had one new case to show off, the HAF, which is an upper mid-range case which should compete against the Akasa Infiniti. We can't say that we're overly keen about the blocky design of the HAF, but everyone has different taste, so it might appeal to some.

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The HAF has space for Cooler Master's watercooling kit and it has a refill opening at the top underneath a rubber mat. It's also got a pair of 200mm cooling fans, one at the top and one at the side; and there's space for a second PSU at the top of the case.


Cooler Master was also showing off one of its CSX painted cases with a very nice Far Cry motif, but we find that these cases are, in general, a bit too expensive to justify the custom paint work.

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In-Win is a company that had all but disappeared from our radar, but the company was showing a strong line-up of new cases at Computex. However, that doesn't mean that they're all great products, but the company was showing off some concept models, as well.

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First up, we have a couple of mini-ITX cases. Actually, they're DTX cases as far as we could tell, but they will, of course, accommodate mini-ITX motherboards, as well. Both models are a bit plain, but both models can have an internal PSU or an external PSU and an internal Voltage conversion board.

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The concept cases look rather interesting, but we're not sure how many people would actually buy them. The first model is actually red and not pink as it appears on the picture. It a has a spring-loaded door and four outlets around the back for watercooling pipes.

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The second concept case is a bit more traditional at first look, but it has space for two bottom mounted PSUs, which is something  you don't see a lot. Both PSUs have to stand on their sides to fit and this might cause some installation issues. The case also features several large fans and a top-mounted 120mm fan. There's also a wide array of top-mounted ports, including dual eSATA.

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Lian-Li has been a long time favorite with many users when it comes to aluminium cases and the company had some new products on display. First up is the PC-X500, which is a smaller version of the PC-X2000. Lian-Li recommends these cases as suitable for HTPC usage, but we're not sure we'd be too keen on having a huge tower like this in our front room.

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On the subject of HTPC cases, the PC-C36 and PC-C37 are a lot more to our taste and both cases has some unique features. The PC-C36 comes with a TFX PSU pre-installed and it has a nifty PCIe riser card which allows you to use two full size PCIe cards in this low-profile case.

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It's been designed to work with the latest mATX motherboards, as the riser fits into the second slot instead of the first, and the second slot seems to be x16 PCIe slot on most new mATX motherboards. The second slot is for a x1 PCIe card and Lian-Li will provide different riser cards, depending on the slot location in the case, but the one in the picture will work with motherboards that have the x1 slot above the x16 slot.

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Although we don't have a picture of the PC-C37 it's much the same as the PC-C36, although it takes a standard ATX PSU. It's limited to half-height add-on cards, but you can fit up to four cards.

Lian-Li was also showing off its Xbox 360 replacement case, which makes the console a fair bit larger, but the case looks quite stylish and should help improve the overall cooling performance of the console. It would, of course, also void your warranty.

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Finally, Lian-Li was showing off a new brand of products that will be sold as the Lancool Metal Boned cases. They're still made in Taiwan, just like all of Lian-Li's products, and use a steel frame with aluminum panels on the outside. Lian-Li is looking at launching five new models in the very near future and all of them differ slightly from each other. One of the models had three hot swappable SATA drive bays. You can find out more about Lancool products here.










SilverStone is another big name in the aluminum case market and they had a rather interesting mATX case on display. The SUGO SG04B-H seemed to be really solidly built and had a massive aluminum handle on the top, which should make this a suitable LAN party case for those that are into that.

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SilverStone managed to squeeze in a pair of 120mm fans and support for a pair of 266mm graphics cards, and it works with PSUs rated up to 1000W. This might be the ideal companion for DFI's new mATX Lanparty motherboards.


Finally, we have a case from Xclio, maybe not a big player, but we found it slightly amusing considering how many fans Xclio had managed to squeeze into it. The case itself will be known as the 1000 or 2000, depending on some of the internal mechanics, and it has no less than eight 180mm fans, three at the front, three on the side and two on top, as well as space for one rear 120 or 140mm fan.

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One interesting feature of this case is that the front fans are mounted on individual doors, which gives you easy access to whatever is behind the doors. The case also has modular hard drive bays and you can fit four drives in each module. At least the case comes with built-in fan controllers, so you don't have to lay out extra cash to quiet this beast down.

We also saw a bunch of cool stuff from Gigabyte, and the only reason we're mentioning them last is because we weren't allowed to take any pictures. They've renamed as the 3D Aurora series, as there was some brand name conflict, so expect to see a new brand name when this new range of cases launches later this year.


They had a lot of concept designs on display, and this was the reason why we weren't allowed to take any pictures. One of the cases had a very nice die-cast top with a rounded edge toward the front of the case and featured a curved door to go with it. Another model had leather inlays and something like a bat made out of leather on the side. Hopefully, a few of these models will appear at some stage and we'll try to get you some pictures at a later date.
Last modified on 11 June 2008
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