Luxury Towers: We Review 5 Of The Best Cases Money Can Buy
Luxury Towers: We Review 5 Of The Best Cases Money Can Buy
Posted 01/10/2011 at 4:16pm
| by Nathan Edwards
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Location, location, location! These high-end PC enclosures are stacked and feature-packed
Whether you're rocking a big videocard or a boatload of drives, these deluxe mid-towers are move-in ready.
Are mid-towers the future of PC chassis design? Used to be that a mid-tower case was a compromise—an admission that you were willing to sacrifice a few features for a rig that could fit under your desk (or on top of it) without making drastic changes to your decor or furniture. Based on the products we’ve seen in the Lab over the last few months, those days are all but over.
The five chassis you see here are all gorgeous on the outside—in red, white, black, and blue—and packed with luxurious amenities on the inside. From a half-dozen (or more) hard drive bays to room for the longest videocards on the market to multispeed fan controllers, USB 3.0, and fans aplenty, these mid-towers can accommodate a full gaming build with aplomb.
As always, we evaluate cases based on build quality, aesthetics, ease of installation, and features. In this roundup, we’re also introducing quantitative thermal testing to the mix in order to determine whether slapping a half-dozen fans into a chassis makes a difference compared to, say, two fans.
Read on to learn more about five of the hottest (or coolest) cases around.
Lian Li PC-8FI
This all-aluminum tower is more sensible than the last Lian Li case we tested
We don’t get Lian Li’s spider obsession, but the rest of the PC-8FI is quite handsome.
Lian Li’s chassis are renowned for their all-aluminum construction and superb build quality, but are also known equally well for costing a fortune and featuring questionable design choices. The mid-tower PC-8FI, thankfully, brings the legendary build quality, adds some nice new toolless touches, and for the most part eschews silly design elements—aside from a giant spider-shaped side window, that is.
Lian Li’s PCI expansion slot–retention mechanism—sometimes the first thing we remove from one of its cases—is better than ever.
The PC-8FI’s drive-bay complement includes three optical drive bays (one with a front flip-down bezel, and one with a 3.5-inch adapter preinstalled) and six toolless 3.5-inch drive bays, one of which can be transformed to hold two 2.5-inch drives with the use of an included adapter. The fan loadout isn’t the most comprehensive we’ve seen, but three 12cm red LED fans still manage to keep air moving through the case, and there’s room at the top of the case for a 14cm exhaust fan. Lian Li even includes an extra mesh fan-cover for that hole.
The PC-8FI ships with a mesh cover for an optional 14cm fan. We wish the fan came with it, too.
The case’s interior is generally well appointed: The motherboard tray includes the now-requisite CPU backplate cutout as well as several non-grommeted cable-routing holes. The PC-8FI also includes Lian Li’s toolless PCI expansion slot–securing mechanism, and it works better on this chassis than we remember it working on previous models. It only covers seven of the case’s eight expansion slots; the top one is used as a pass-through for the case’s front-panel USB 3.0 cable.
Unfortunately, the PC-8FI isn’t without its annoyances. If you plan on routing the 8-pin ATX power cable behind the motherboard tray, you need to do so before installing the motherboard, or it won’t fit through the routing hole. And you won’t be able to run a graphics card measuring over 11.2 inches long unless you can figure out a way to run a computer without a hard drive. In other words, oversize videocards will only fit if you remove the hard drive cage entirely. And what kind of life is that?
You know what else is red and black? A Radeon 5970, which won’t fit in this enclosure.
Finally, the PC-8FI doesn’t match the cooling prowess of some of the other cases in this roundup. Without side or top fans, CPU cooling is good but not great. And the GPU could definitely benefit from more airflow. The garish spider-shaped side window will not be to everyone’s taste; if it doesn’t suit you, you can save $40 or so by going for the black or silver versions of this case.
Lian Li PC-8FI
LEAN
Beautiful lines; no tools necessary; optional top fan.
MEAN
Can't fit extra-long cards; red version has garish window.
Antec LanBoy Air
This new modular, open-air chassis lightens our dark little hearts
The LanBoy Air is mesh’d up.
Despite its fairly standard mid-tower dimensions—8.7 inches wide, 20.4 inches high, and 19.3 inches deep—the LanBoy Air is like no other case on the market. It’s more like a cross between an Ikea end table and a Lego set, if a Lego set needed a screwdriver. Its motherboard tray is not only removable and separate from the back panel, but it can switch places with the PSU bracket, if you decide you want your PSU at the top of the case instead of the bottom. Feel like swapping the location of the two three-speed front fans with the three optical drive trays? Go for it—you can even alternate them if you want. The hard drive mounts are more like hammocks, complete with bungie cords, and can be oriented any way you like, though we’d recommend removing them before you move the machine for any reason. This flexibility enables the use of the longest graphics cards you can find. And the floor of the hard drive well includes mounts for two 2.5-inch drives.
A toolbox beneath the front fans holds the LanBoy Air’s miscellaneous hardware and tucks away when not in use.
The LanBoy Air’s five 12cm fans all direct air inward, creating positive air pressure that exits through the mesh wherever a fan is not located. Default fans include two three-speed front fans, two two-speed side-panel fans in front of the graphics cards, and one two-speed rear fan, though you can add an additional 10 fans at your leisure.
If you prefer your PSU on top, you can swap its position with the motherboard’s.
There’s barely any room above the motherboard tray at all—no room to route the 8-pin ATX power cable, and none to add any fans to the inside top if you’re using a skyscraper-style cooler. Though Antec boasts 10 additional fan mounts, rolling with the full complement of fans is overkill, in our view.
Bungee cords? On my hard drives? It’s safer than it looks. But yikes.
Antec’s all-intake scheme leaves no obvious orientation for the skyscraper-style coolers that are today’s leaders, but—much to our surprise—the LanBoy Air in its default configuration actually performed the best in our highly scientific cooling challenge. The two side-fans blowing directly on the GPU certainly seemed to help, and the all-in positive air-pressure approach actually worked better than more traditional airflow schemes.
We’re not convinced this case won’t turn into a DustBoy Air after six months, but we appreciate the modularity and the novelty that Antec has brought to the table here. With plenty of default fans, no end to the customization, and a great industrial look, Antec’s got another winner here.
Antec LanBoy Air
AIR
Great modular design; "positive air pressure" works.
NAIR
Not all fan mounts useful; bit cramped at top; HDD mounts are somewhat scary.
BitFenix Survivor
Can you handle the newest mid-tower on the block?
With wraparound “SofTouch” coating, the Survivor is built to survive.
Cases with handles are nothing new. Cases billed as LAN-ready are nothing new, either. But BitFenix’s first mid-tower chassis, the Survivor, has a wraparound rubberized plastic bumper that’s kinda new. We love the so-called “SofTouch” coating on the case’s wraparound shell—many editors said it was the coolest case they’d ever felt. We won’t name names, but some Lab members wouldn’t stop touching it, which disturbed us a little. The shell protects every corner on the machine—you have to remove two rear bumpers in order to remove the side panels—a slight inconvenience when building, but another step between your components and a hard surface (or a grabby thief) at a LAN event.
The pop-out handle on top seems a little wobbly but never faltered, and BitFenix rates it for up to 88 pounds.
At 9 inches wide by 19.7 inches tall by 20.1 deep, the Survivor is around average size for a mid-tower. Its two three-slot hard drive bays have toolless trays for 3.5- and 2.5-inch drives, and the top one can be removed to accommodate the longest graphics cards. The mobo tray includes a large CPU backplate cutout and a few routing cutouts for power cables and its many front-panel connectors—two USB 3.0, two USB 2.0, eSATA, audio ports, and an on/off switch for the LEDs in the BitFenix logo and fans. There’s no cutout for the 8-pin ATX cable, alas, but plenty of tie-down points on the rear of the motherboard tray still allow you to keep those cables tidy.
The rubberized exterior extends to cradle the rear panel, and two pieces must be removed before the side panels can come off.
On the subject of fans: This is where the Survivor really falls short. Its two 20cm fans (front and top) just aren’t enough. BitFenix’s decision to ship the case with no side fans and no rear fan is mystifying, and the Survivor ran among the hottest of the cases we tested in this roundup. We’ve really seen the value of side intake fans during the course of this roundup, and the Survivor is absolutely begging for them.
This pinboard, behind the right-side panel, connects the front-panel LED switch with the LEDs in the Survivor’s case fans and front logo.
We like the rugged good looks of the Survivor, even though its LAN-specific accoutrements (besides the handle, it also includes a peripheral lock and graphics-card strap) are of questionable practicality. It could definitely use a few more fans and a little more room, and the side panels are a pain to remove and replace. But for a LAN-ready mid-tower that can take a few hits, the Survivor is pretty rad.
BitFenix Survivor
SURVIVORMAN
Case can take a few hits; handle sturdier than it looks; can support long graphics cards.
GRIZZLY MAN
No rear fan (?!); side panels are hard to remove; GPU strap nearly useless.
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aferrara50
April 18, 2011 at 9:13pm
How do you name this review: Luxury Towers: We Review 5 of the Best Cases Money Can Buy while leaving out Mountain Mods, Danger Den, Little Devil, and Case Labs. These are all mid-range towers and far from luxury.
yardGNOME
March 02, 2011 at 10:41pm
Hmmm , I still like my Danger Den Double wide Tower-21, hugely expensive, but it gets the job done.
ajfranquiz
February 28, 2011 at 12:15am
From my experience though I wonder if that softouch stuff is going to last. I love the look and feel of it. But I'm all too familiar with the quick wear of it having owned a Jetta in the past with the same stuff. But if it holds up it should be really interesting. Right now the only case I am considering is the Silverstone Fortress02 I think it's a mighty fine case. I was impressed from the get go when I bought one for my girlfriends dad, who would only have the best of the best in everything he owns. I just wish cases were a little more subtle and I wish they solds something like the one VoodooPC uses damn that's slick puts the apple style to shame IMO. Anyways enough of my rant. Cheers everyone hope you're all having a great one!
mifinne
February 07, 2011 at 12:30pm
I personally love my Cooler Master Stackers. Only downside is they are huge and heavy. But great airflow and they have filters on the mesh.
Happygolucky
January 29, 2011 at 8:23pm
Sorrreeeee, EMMmmmmm, The "LanBoy" lets in too much dust and insects.! nice concept idea, but thats as far as it goes, and Ive been using Computers from 1984, and building them from 1998. So I see this Lanboy case as a gimmick, (is there anyone out there who actually agrees with me on this?).
PS. and no signs of any dust filters Whatsoever...
cheers! :-)
wortwortwort
January 12, 2011 at 10:29pm
I get by just fine with my Antec 300. The only problem that I have with it: cable management (or the lack thereof).
rimael
January 11, 2011 at 7:05pm
I really like MaxPC. I like all the articles you guys do and the way that you are able to keep up with the massive amount of changes in the computer technology landscape. That being said, I find it surprising that Thermaltake and Silverstone were left out of this lineup. You have some great competitors, but the real high-dollar rigs are only represented by Lian Li and Corsair. The new Level 10 GT is going to be a contender in this arena, and it wasn't even mentioned (as it is not at market until mid-February, I of course would not expect to see it being reviewed yet). Hopefully, we can get some more reviews from these two great names in the industry as well as the ones that you did here.
HUZZAH to NZXT for the win, they are a great company with many innovations and price points!!
Rim
novatvstdios
January 11, 2011 at 1:11pm
i've been researching innovation for decades. i named my company novatv. there's no innovation in cases, these all look ridiculous, but i guess im just not skilled enough to diagnose a computer by looking at the internals and LED arrays
just sayin
Scootiep
January 11, 2011 at 12:38pm
The Antec Lanboy Air honestly isn't very good. Bit-Tech did a run through on it's thermals a little while back and it performed piss poorly compared with any other case less than half it's price. The problem with the all mesh siding design is that you can't generate any strong airflow currents. I actually had a buddy who was obsessed with getting one of these cases. Against my advice and having him literally read the bit-tech article in front of me, he got one. Now he has heat issues with his video card and processor and can't OC worth a damn. I hassle him about it ever time we get together and then he punches me...it's still worth the laugh I get.
michaelh
January 11, 2011 at 10:37am
I'd pick up your top choice if I were in the market for a case. However, although I'm sure you'd mention noise issues if they were a problem I'd like to see some sort of rating in the specs. I love my Lian-Li 2000bw but if I had to nit-pick, the open grating on the front does little to block fan noise.
praetor_alpha
January 11, 2011 at 6:10am
I recently got a NZXT Whisper for my server. Looks like the monolith from 2001. A very spacious full tower, with 9 HD mounts. Picked it up from Newegg for $120.
Because it's going to be housing a server, I will not be using it to house an uber graphics card :(. Definately one of the best cases I have ever gotten.
Marsel
January 10, 2011 at 9:55pm
I have a white NZXT Phantom and it looks totally badass. I love it. The only downfall for me is that some of the stuff isnt as good quality as lets say, a HAF 932. My old Pc had a haf932, and the tooless drive bays where sturdy, as was everything else. The toolless stuff in the Phantom kinda sucks, and after a while both 5.25 and 3.5 bays stared making noises. The paint peels off quiet easier too, but maybe thats bwcause its white and a different paint.
knexkid
January 10, 2011 at 8:33pm
I got a lanboy air over the holidays and I love it. Couple of little things is I wish it would have had 4 instead of 3 5inch bays (while keeping the 2 front fans in place). There could be 4 but that would require taking out one of the front fans. I wish the thumb screws for all the paneling wouldn't come out, i wish they would stay on the side panel when they were unscrewed. Top fan mounts are kind of worthless....can't fit a fan on the inside of the case (on the top) when the mobo is configured for the top. I love the color scheme, and I threw in my blue cathode lights and it looks very neat. Another complain is I wish you could take out the USB3 passthrough cable since I don't have USB3 (yet) and it just made cable organization a little more difficult.
someuid
January 11, 2011 at 8:38am
I picked up a LanBoy Air blue case over the holidays as well. Great case. I did run into two problems though. With a Cooler Master Hyper 212+, I had to pull out one of the side panel fans. There isn't enough clearance to have the fan in - it hits the top of the CM Hyper 212+.
The second issue I had: the mounting holes for the cpu heatsink on an MSI 890FXA-GD70 mobo don't line up perfectly with the cutout in the motherboard tray. Hence, I had had to mount the bracket on the motherboard first, then mount the motherboard on the tray, then put it in the case, and finish installing the cpu cooler.
Neither of these are major issues though (for me). I still love this case. Being able to move the fans around resolved one of my issues and the other was pretty minor. Being able to push the DVD drive down to the middle of the drive bay to position a fan in the top front of the case to dump fresh cool air on the RAM was great. Removing all the panels leaves you with the mounting skeleton, making it very easy to get around the case.
I am going to move the power supply to the top of the case though. The power supply cable runs are all over the place and I think it will be easier to clean things up with the powersupply at the top.
I don't care for the air mount thing for the 3.5 inch drives. My single drive is popping a wheeling in the case because the power and data cables weigh down the back just a bit. I'm going to pick up some 3.5 to 5.25 adapter rails and hard mount the drive to the rails. Hopefully I can find additional 5.25 mounting rails when the time comes for more drives.
Keith E. Whisman
January 10, 2011 at 7:37pm
You left out in your first paragraph about expense of a full tower compared to a mid tower. I bought mid towers not because they were of the perfect size, it was because I could afford better components if I skimped on the case and monitor a little, and in those days towers came with power supplies that I didn't think twice about using.
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