Portal was something different. It was compact, flawlessly designed, witty, and unexpected. There wasn’t an ounce of fat on it. Sure, it was a puzzle game, but in the process of ushering you gently through the puzzles it gradually transformed into a wickedly funny piece of sci-fi storytelling. The genius was in the thrill of this discovery, as a puzzle game flowered into something amazing and unpredictable.
So you want to be a video star? You’ll have to work on your gaming skills first—you wouldn’t want to disappoint your future legions of YouTube fans with a 0-64 record in StarCraft II.
Suddenly, like a plunging guillotine blade, Intel has severed any hope that competitors will match its chip-fabrication technology for years to come. Last month I observed that the rest of the industry was gaining a little ground on Intel by adopting high-k metal-gate (HKMG) transistors—only four years after Intel’s HKMG debut in 2007. But now comes Intel’s next big leap: tri-gate transistors.
When you're outfitting a new computer, it can be tempting to just buy the cheapest no-name case you can find, slap your new parts into it, and call it a day. While that might have been a valid choice in ye olde beige days—heck, early Dream Machine builds didn't even list the case—it's not one we'd recommend today. This month, we round up eight cases, from the budget to the extreme, to see how they measure up to the task of holding your precious modern components.
From the moment you first see it, it’s clear that the Temjin TJ11 is Silverstone’s balls-to-the-wall attempt to create the best chassis money can buy. Silverstone packs in virtually every trick in its arsenal—from the mid-chassis air-intake duct found in previous Temjin cases to the unibody aluminum frame of the Fortress FT02 to the rotated motherboard tray first seen in the Raven RV01. The result is massive, possibly overengineered, and awesome.
Thermaltake’s original Level 10 chassis was a remarkable collaboration with BMW DesignWorks in which the companies fundamentally restructured the PC chassis into a series of isolated compartments suspended from a central load-bearing wall. It was stunning, cost $800, and wasn’t actually that practical to use. With the Level 10 GT, Thermaltake has taken the basic look of the Level 10, slapped it onto a more standard full-tower frame, and slashed $500 from the asking price. The end result isn’t quite as sleek as its progenitor from an aesthetic perspective, but far outstrips the original in ease of use and practicality, and is not without a certain sci-fi flair of its own.
We don’t like to make recommendations right off the bat—part of the fun of reading these reviews (we’d imagine) comes from the buildup (ha!). But the Corsair 650D blew us away in pretty much every category.
The Fractal Arc Midi, part of Fractal’s gaming-oriented Arc series, is a mid-tower steel chassis lined with mesh on the front and top panel. This case might be simple, but simple can be good.
The Antec Six Hundred V2 retails for $80. At that price, it’s competing with Bit- Fenix’s Shinobi and CM’s Storm Enforcer—and losing.
The Silverstone Raven RV03 is a solid case, and gets points for ingenuity. It may look a little garish and feel a little plasticky, but it’s roomy, features a stunning amount of ports and slots, and offers a crazy-organized build and great cooling.
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