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Price-Point Comparing Three-Way Case Shootout

 by Joshua Buss on January 13, 2006 12:05 AM EST
69 Comments | Add A Comment
69 Comments
Raidmax X1 (cont’d)

Turning the case more, we can see the relationship of the three main elements of the active cooling in the X1: the rear 120mm, the side-mounted 80mm, and the potential power supply fan(s).


Click to enlarge.

Like the P150, the X1 too has additional passive vents near the expansion slots. It’s also easier to tell now that at least in terms of 3½” drive bays, the X1 and P150 also basically tied, as they can both house 1 external and 4 internal drives. The X1’s drive bays are all tool-less, and we’ll explain the usage of the black units visible in the previous two pictures shortly. Before opening up the case though, let’s turn the case around and have a look at the bottom as well.


Click to enlarge.

While certainly not as nicely-finished as the underside of the P150, the X1 still does have feet, but they’re not going to do anything for the absorption of vibrations. More intake ventilation can be found here under the front bezel, and there is a space for an additional 80mm to be mounted in order to actively bring in cool air right onto the hard drives visible here on the right side panel.

Taking off the left side and peering into the chassis reveals a spacious interior delightfully void of any additional crossbars that could make installation difficult. Granted, bars like this are actually preferred by people more concerned with case stability and longevity, but in testing and handling, we still didn't get the impression that the X1 felt wobbly or weak by any means. One very minor strike against the X1, though, is that it doesn't support quite as many form factors as the P150, as one can tell by looking at the available holes for motherboard stand-offs, but the standard ATX sizes won't be any problem.


Click to enlarge.

Notice again how every bay incorporates the usage of tool-less locks. While it might be pretty obvious from the picture, it is still worthy of mention that the locks are all the same and are also equally simple to use. They simply push in and slide to both lock and unlock. In the following close-up, the pin that actually holds the drive into place is pretty visible, and in testing, these did a good job of holding the drives very securely.

Looking at the internals from the other side, one can see that, unfortunately, both sides need to be opened up to completely install 5¼” drives. Thankfully, unlike all too many cases, the side panels of the X1 aren't too difficult to work with, and the hard drives have extra plastic rail pieces, so only one side needs to be clipped for a snug fit. Notice also that if one wanted an even tighter fastening, normal bolts can still be used to augment the tool-less clips for all the forward-facing drives.


Click to enlarge.

Raidmax X1 Raidmax X1 (cont’d)
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  • Chuckles - Friday, January 13, 2006 - link

    I must say that as a computer geek, I prefer my computers to be able to work without space restrictions. Thus a side fan is really quite a pain. It means that I cannot set the computer against a wall on that side, which is where I typically put them. Its the one thing that really irks me about the Raidmax my PC is in. Apple and Antec (at least on the P150 and Sonata) have it right. Move airflow through areas that will always have clearance. The front and back of a computer will always have space to move air, likewise, if the case design is clever enough, the top and bottom can be made to always have air space. The sides are difficult to guarantee the airspace for without bulking up the width of the computer.

  • Tamale - Friday, January 13, 2006 - link

    You bring up a good point, but plenty of people put their computers on their desks too, and a side fan not only isn't an issue for them most likely, but can also provide for cool air to come in more directly on critical components

  • mindless1 - Saturday, January 14, 2006 - link

    Side fan almost always necessitates a front fan to keep hard drives cool enough. Some ignore this and use the side fan anyway... ever notice that some people have hard drive after hard drive fail then swear company "X" makes crap drives? Heck in our forums right now there's a thread about seagates overheating but when they point a fan at it, suddely it runs ok!

  • Rebel44 - Monday, July 31, 2006 - link

    Yeah they are going to fry at least dozen HDDs before they realize what they are doing wrong.

  • kilkennycat - Friday, January 13, 2006 - link

    Insufficient power for dual-graphics cards in combo with single/dual-core high-end processors.
    Extremely cramped. Difficult access for updates.
    Constrained or near non-existent front-panel intake ventilation.

    The failure of the P150 power-supply is not surprising. The power-supplies chosen to be bundled with many cases are not normally top-of-the-line.

    Consider the Antec P160 instead --- somewhat larger, but far superior in many practical ways. ~ $110 @ Fry's and on-line. Aluminum. Screwdriver-less assembly except for the side-accessible hard-disk-tray shock-mounting. Slotted thumbscrews throughout. Removable motherboard tray, excellent cable-access. ample front-ventilation with intake filter, no silly front-panel door, front-panel individual flip-open shutters for dual CD/DVD-drives, tilt "front-panel" with dual thermal-monitor (very accurate too...) and including Firewire, dual-USB, microphone and headphone-audio sockets. Comes without any power-supply - great ! Power-supply choice can be tailored correctly for the intended computer application.

    3 months ago I spent about 3 weeks of intermittent time looking at PC cases ( both on-line pictures and in-store physically disassembling/reassembling, much to the annoyance of sales-dweebs ) in price ranges from $250 to $50 before settling on the P160 for a very high-performance dual-SLI gaming PC. Just one externally obvious design defect - the huge on-off switch is far too easily accidentally pressed. I just left it disconnected and instead connected the far smaller and less-accessible reset-switch as the on-off switch. ( Pressing Reset is not recommended on a modern Windows PC anyway. A momentary press of the on/off switch normally triggers an orderly OS shut-down.) And I can just unplug the front-slot blue lights when/if I get tired of them. ( Sorry, I am just not into this "form-over-function" nonsense that has permeated the PC case industry. There are some pretty-looking but truly-awful case designs out there from even the stalwart case-manufacturers ).

    BTW, in any further comparative reviews of PC cases, please give a tabular summary of the salient features/Specs of all the cases before plunging into individual detailed reviews.

  • huges84 - Friday, January 13, 2006 - link

    I too bought the P160. After searching for three weeks I decided that it was the best for me. The only downside was the high price point. Fortunately, CompUSA had the case on sale for $100 plus there was a $50 mail-in-rebate. They only had one left and couldn't find the box, so I talked to the manager and got it for $50 out the door.

    I have had this case for a year now and I agree with everything the above poster said. Including the fact that the power button is too easy to hit. I think that I too will switch to the reset button. The only other downside to this case is that the Firewire connector is a bunch of individual wires that you have to match up to the correct pins. That is a pain in the butt.

    There are a few more good features to point out about the P160. The side and front panels are lockable (the front you have to lock from the inside with your own padlock or bolt). Also, the rear 120mm fan is mounted on silicon studs to reduce vibrations. And the front fan is a single 120mm instead of two 90mm fans. Also, if you want a side window, there is an optional one available.

    I too would like there to be a features table for each case like we get with motherboard reviews.

  • LoneWolf15 - Friday, January 13, 2006 - link

    Antec's later models of the P160 provide both methods for Firewire, single plug and breakout, on the same cable. I'm using the single plug on mine. They also included two 120mm fans standard on the later models, whereas they only provided one early on. I have the side window model.

    I too agree that the P160 is one of the better cases out there (I also agree that the P150 is the only case in the review that'd stand a chance of entering my home). The only thing the P160 didn't have, I fixed: I now have a custom 120mm blowhole in the top that I made myself (picture at http://home.comcast.net/~dterborg/blowhole02.jpg">this link)with a 120mm Panaflo L1A mounted with rubber grommets to reduce noise. So my case has three 120mm fans instead of two. I've also quieted mine with sound dampening adhesive-backed foam sheets, and mounted my fans with gel inserts to quiet them further. It's indeed the case for everyone who needs the best of everything, without tacky looks.

  • kilkennycat - Saturday, January 14, 2006 - link

    Where did you get the self-adhesive foam sheets ? I was looking at adding ~3/4-inch polystyrene to the 2 side-covers ( no window ), but your solution is simpler - no special polystyrene glue.

  • LoneWolf15 - Monday, January 16, 2006 - link

    It's called Pax-Mate. It's not the best noise-dampening stuff out there (and not nearly as thick as your polystyrene) but it's easy to measure, cut, and apply, and far less expensive (a kit of it can be had for $20 at FrozenCPU and some other places).

    I have totally different components now, but for a decent look at what I did, check out this forum thread on HardOCP (high bandwidth warning):

    http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=834825">http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=834825

  • Tamale - Friday, January 13, 2006 - link

    Opinion noted... and yes, these cases definitely are not for everyone, but many people are simply looking for a simple solution that's "good enough" for average components, and that's where the Raidmax really looks nice here.
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