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Mid-Tower Mega Roundup

 by Joshua Buss on September 8, 2005 12:05 AM EST
48 Comments | Add A Comment
48 Comments
DynaPower F3323 (cont'd)

With the ability to hold extended motherboards and full-size expansion cards, the interior of the F3323 is very spacious - especially for typical desktop components.

DynaPower has made a great effort to keep the system entirely tool-less, and most of the implementations of this goal actually turned out really well. The retention clip for the 5¼” drives, for instance, simply applies pressure to hold the drives until the user depresses the large, color-coded tab to release them. The single external 3½” bay has a similar system, but uses a coiled spring to apply pressure to the mounting pins.


Click to enlarge.

We were a bit shocked to find that the F3323 only has dedicated space for four hard disk drives. Being a server case this large, we feel that it really would've made more sense to make it slightly larger if that's what it took to allow the case to hold twice as many. As it is currently designed, there is actually quite a large portion of unused space in the front bottom of the chassis.


Click to enlarge.

Perhaps more annoying than the lack of more hard drive bays, however, are the rails themselves. Once in place, they hold the drive steadfast with no issues. Actually, getting the rails to stay in place on the drive while one loads them into the bay, however, is not all that easy. If they were simple push pins, this would not be much of an issue, but they're actually pieces of metal that run the length of the rail and are then bent at the tips into points meant for insertion into the drive's mounting threads.


Click to enlarge.

One also has to be careful that their IDE cables will be long enough - the case's extra depth made it just barely possible to use our standard ribbon cables.

Another possibly big gripe for a lot of users will be the omission of any case fans in this enclosure. While having a case ready to use out of the box is certainly important to many people, DynaPower must feel as if it makes more sense to let the user determine what kind of fan to use, if any is used at all.


Click to enlarge.

Since we wanted to make the case comparisons as close to "out of the box as we could, we were reluctant to add any fan at all - but this would be rather rare in our opinion, so we included a spare Panasonic Panaflo 120mm fan for testing. Known for its air-pushing prowess, we chose to include an in-line fan speed controller to keep the fan from creating overwhelming noise.


Click to enlarge.


DynaPower F3323 DynaPower F3323 (cont’d)
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  • RupertS - Thursday, September 8, 2005 - link

    The power supply is a good part of the total value of the case. Also, some of the cases may work better (cooling, sound) with the power supply they come with.

    Hard to compare prices like this.

  • johnsonx - Thursday, September 8, 2005 - link

    Ditto that... this complaint has been leveled before of course:

    Anandtech should at least mention what power supply is (or can be) included with the case, and give some sort of subjective rating of same. For example, the Aspire case is most often available with a 420W power supply (usually a mere $15 or so more than the PS-less version), but I've heard it's crap... but maybe it isn't; I'd like Anandtech to tell me.

    Likewise, the Sonata II ALWAYS (AFAIK) includes a SmartPower 2.0 450... doesn't that add significantly to the value equation? (granted, it'd be better if it were a TruePower 380 like the old Sonata, but a SmartPower 2.0 is nothing to scorn)

  • ElFenix - Thursday, September 8, 2005 - link

    everyone should read the reviews on SPCR before setting up a system on this case. the reviews are very thorough and tests it in multiple configurations, and it turns out there are things you can do to improve its thermal performance by quite a bit (such as duct taping over the holes next to the power supply)

  • flatblastard - Thursday, September 8, 2005 - link

    Duct tape on a brand new case? I don't think so..... Well, I personally wouldn't do it, but for modders/OCers I guess it might make sense.

  • fass mut - Thursday, September 8, 2005 - link

    what's the link to the article?

  • ElFenix - Thursday, September 8, 2005 - link

    all three articles, the first is over main features, the second is an absolutely silent computer, and the third is more mainstream rigs

    http://www.silentpcreview.com/article249-page1.htm...">http://www.silentpcreview.com/article249-page1.htm...
    http://www.silentpcreview.com/article254-page1.htm...">http://www.silentpcreview.com/article254-page1.htm...
    http://www.silentpcreview.com/article255-page1.htm...">http://www.silentpcreview.com/article255-page1.htm...

  • jonp - Thursday, September 8, 2005 - link

    Doesn't an ATX extension cable for $4 cover the power supply to motherboard distance concern? Granted, Antec could have included it with the case; but it's NO big deal to resolve. Shouldn't be an issued when deciding.

  • mjz - Thursday, September 8, 2005 - link

    i hate lian li cases. I spent probably 200 dollars on their case (2 years ago) and it vibrates too much, the sound is pissing me off. I guess it can't handle my raptor or something.

  • Tamale - Thursday, September 8, 2005 - link

    I too agree that way too many of these cases are kinda ridiculous looking, but someone said it best when they said "the Eclipse must look better in person"... it really does. I liken it to those fancy cd players from places like brookstone and the sharper image..

    It's flashy, sure, but at least it's kinda 'classy flashy', if you know what I mean. If that kinda look still doesn't please you at all, there's always cases like the P-180 ;)

  • mkruer - Thursday, September 8, 2005 - link

    Considering that I have a PC-V2000 Plus. I am in a unique position to voice my opinion for everyone reading this thread. I will say that yes the cases Lian Li cases are overly expensive, but considering that they are the only “all aluminum” case manufacture, and they have arguably the best design, they can get away with it. The main issues with an “all aluminum” case is that because aluminum is light then steal and yet does not have the absorbing capacity of plastic, aluminum as rule of thumb tends to be louder. However there are three things you can do o improve the noise ratio of the system. First is to install sound absorbing foam in the case. This will cut down on high pitched noise. Next is to install quieter fans. The Lian Li fans are good, but they are only about average in the noise to air ratio. Finally and this is the biggest thing. In order to cut down on the “wan wan” resonance sound coming form the case you need to suspend the drive is a sling and not it the mounting bays. This by far reduces the most noise.
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