Posted 07/28/08 at 07:02:40 PM by The Maximum PC Staff

In the PDF archive of the July 2008 issue, you can find:

• 12 DIY Hardware Hacks
• Budget Case Roundup
• Midrange GPU Deathmatch
• How To: Organize and Tag Your Videos
• Awesome Product Reviews, including the excellent Thermaltake Duorb
• Ask the Doctor
• Rig of the Month
• The Watchdog
• And a whole lot more!

Click the big giant cover image to the right to download the PDF archive today!

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Posted 07/03/08 at 04:58:33 PM by David Murphy

Selecting the perfect computer case is like scouting the grocery store for a bottle of wine. And as oenophiles of all knowledge levels and palates know, you can’t judge a bottle by its price. In that sense, we’re scooping from the bargain bin in this month’s mega-roundup of computer cases: Only chassis priced at $100 or less are eligible.

Just because a case is cheap doesn’t mean it’s poor. So before you plunk down a pile of cash on your next case, see how these sub-$100 boxes stack up against their pricier brethren.

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Posted 07/02/08 at 03:36:00 PM by David Murphy

We find ourselves wondering how a company like NZXT can do a better job of creating a budget version of Antec’s gamer line than Antec itself. That’s not to say the Three Hundred is a bad case; it just has little that’s special.

Hit the jump to discover what, if anything, the Three Hundred has to offer.

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Posted 07/02/08 at 02:30:39 PM by David Murphy

Does something about this case look familiar? That’s the first thing we said when pulling NZXT’s Tempest out of the box. Save for a few minor modifications to the chassis, this case is a carbon copy of Antec’s Nine Hundred chassis. It’s built like the Nine Hundred, performs like the Nine Hundred, and even glows like the Nine Hundred, thanks to its front- and side-panel blue LED fans.

And yeah, that's a good thing. Hit the jump for deets.

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Posted 07/01/08 at 08:34:05 PM by David Murphy

Rosewill tackles the low, low end of the cheap case spectrum with its $65 R5604-TBK chassis. But save for a few minor oopsies, the case makes for a breezy installation of all your computer parts. There’s nothing fancy about the R5604-TBK, no lights or other arcane mechanical trappings. It’s just a no-frills, screwless enclosure—you get an interesting industrial-style locking mechanism for the side panel, but that’s its most daring attribute.

Hit the jump for the low-down on this small, simple, so-so case.

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Posted 07/01/08 at 07:48:43 PM by David Murphy

Vroom. Vroom vroom. The unholy sound of this case will haunt you in your nightmares.

We don’t just want to give a 1 verdict to the person responsible for the power-on mechanism in this Ferrari-themed case. We want to strap him to a jet engine. Harsh words, but you too will be driven to undertake such bold action once you hear the ear-splitting rev of a car engine after you hit the F430’s power button. You can disable this “feature” by pulling the plug on the front panel, but hearing this noise even once is too much.

Fortunately, that's by far the worst thing about it. Hit the jump to discover a few things we did like.

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Posted 07/01/08 at 06:21:25 PM by David Murphy

We never thought we’d see a sub-$100 case with tinted windows, but lo and behold, Sigma’s Unicorn has lived up to its name and shown us the impossible by “blinging up” the exterior of an otherwise stale case. Like spinning rims on a minivan, however, not all of Sigma’s design decisions are well thought out.

To see what hobbles this unicorn, hit the jump. And believe.

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Posted 06/30/08 at 08:25:07 PM by David Murphy

Goodbye, next-generation systems: Thermaltake’s M9 chassis is a step up from the bottom rung of simplicity, but it’s nowhere near a top-of-the-line design.

The case is structured as if Thermaltake took a plain-Jane chassis, improved a few features—like making the PCI and 5.25-inch bay holders screwless—stuck in a front-panel blue LED fan to appease gaming audiences, and called it a day. That might not sound so bad, but in actuality, the screwless PCI holders become this case’s Achilles’ heel. And the arrow?

Click through to find out.

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