We all know the big boys of the case market such as Lian-Li, Fractal, Cooler Master, Silverstone etc.
But what about those unknown brands or generic cases from OEMs? why don't we give them any love usually?
I taught I'd start this thread because there's so many of these types of cases on Amazon, eBay and even Newegg but very little can be found on them, no reliable reviews and not even an official website where you can get more details about said product making it near impossible to tell if the case sucks or is a really good bargain.
I take this gamble now and then for those who come to me to have a system built for them but are on a very tight budget, half the time the case is terrible and flimsy with next to no cable management but other times you'll find a gem of a case that matches the quality of the higher end brands but at lower price, my personal system being one of them.
Had next to no budget to build my current machine so I just bought everything bit by bit as I could afford it or when there was a really good deal going on (usually on used but good components) I was using a old CM Stacker 830 from my old server build which is a good case despite it's age but was way too big and completely overkill for my little mATX system so I decided to get a new case ASAP.
I only had a budget of €50 and I wanted something small that took very little desk space up and can support my 120mm Antec AIO cooler, after looking around on Amazon it came down to 2 cases, a Corsair Carbide 88R for €50 or an interesting case I never heard of called a CiT Marvel for about €40, while I like the 88R and it's simplistic looks I have have built a system in it before and noticed how thin the side panels are which is usually a deal breaker for me for my own preference but on the other hand I knew nothing about the Marvel case other than the pictures and description that Amazon provided and a some what unhelpful Amaon user review.
I decided to take the gamble and order the Marvel because of how it looks (reminds me of Batman) and the fact that even tho it's slightly taller than the Corsair it's actually a lot shorter in length which free a lot of desk space which was one of the key features I was looking for.
When it got here I was hugely surprised on how well the build quality is it has solid side panels and a very rigid chassis and another bonus the side windows is tinted and the top of that the front panel have a very similar rubber coating as some of the Bitfenix cases do also the cable management is also fairly decent.
There are some down sides to the case as well like building in it is very cramped which is no surprise giving how narrow it is, the fact it only has 1 SSD mount which turned out not to be as big of a deal since I could just screw my second SSD to the font grill under the front panel, the HDD/SSD rail mount is riveted in which makes the building process that bit more difficult in what is already a tight case and the included 120mm blue LED fan and the 200mm fan aren't very good, there fairly quiet but don't push a lot of air but I do plan on replacing them anyway so not a huge issue for me.
Despite the downsides I am extremely please with it, not only is the case much better than expected it is also fairly unique as I can't imagine too many other people having it.
To keep thus thread going is there any hidden gems of cases that you guys would like to share?
(Apologies for the horrible grammar and possible mistypes, I have dyslexia so I did as well as I could)
I'm currently using this case it's micro ATX and has a great small size perfect for traveling. Was previously using a define r4 but since I was moving around it proved to be a bit heavy and big. It needed a lot of additional fans and a front dust filter but for the price of £20 you can add good quality parts and still be on a budget.