Value Case Roundup: A Look at the Affordable
by Purav Sanghani on February 1, 2005 12:35 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
Powmax CP769PL
Powmax, like many other case manufacturers, has a short line of products but quality products at that. Besides PC cases, Powmax designs and manufactures high quality power supplies and other accessories such as UPSs. Today we will look at one of their traditional cases, their 769 series.
External Design
Being the seventh case we have looked at in this roundup we can surely say this is aesthetically the simplest looking case of them all. There is no special coloring on the bezel (though Powmax does have 3 different versions of the case), which is all black.
There are, of course, four 5-1/4" drive bays and two external 3-1/2" bays aligned at the vertical center of the bezel.
Under the bays we see the reset button, which is extremely small like many of the other cases. To the sides of the reset button we see the power and HDD activity LEDs and the large chrome power button directly under the reset button.
At the bottom of the bezel we see a fold up door which hides away into the case when opened to reveal the audio in/out ports on the left and dual USB ports on the right. Again we see no FireWire ports, which obviously seems to be a trend in budget cases.
The side panels have what looks like an hourglass design on them with small bumps punched out. To remove these panels we need to remove the screws on the back and slide back. The panels also do not have any indentations to get a good grip so do make sure to have moist hands when doing this.
Internal Design
With a total of four 5-1/4" drive bays and seven 3-1/2" drive bays, the 769 is ready for expandability. The 3-1/2" drive bays are lined with holes to mount HDD with screws as far back or up as desired. All of the bays also have platforms the drives can sit on while installing them.
The motherboard tray accepts microATX and full AT boards using screw-in stand-offs.
Similar to AsiaPro's 8654BL, the bottom four expansion slots feature a vent and screw holes to mount an extra 80mm fan. Of course, once those expansion slot covers are removed, a fan cannot be installed. This feature is great for those who use only a few expansion cards such as microATX board owners.
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KristopherKubicki - Tuesday, February 1, 2005 - link
sdfg: I think you mean the Antec Lanboy looks like the Chenming cases...Kristopher
aeternitas - Tuesday, February 1, 2005 - link
Yes #24, we are all spoiled. Spoiled with _quality_. Some of us like to have nice things. I for one dont want to see cheap plastic houseing my loveingly put together equiptment. This is a hobby for most, and with a hobby means quality is the standard.If you are just building PCs for people that dont care, then by all means, but this isnt really a site for people that dont care.
sprockkets - Tuesday, February 1, 2005 - link
Err, no In-Win cases?miketheidiot - Tuesday, February 1, 2005 - link
these cases are all trash. Drop the extra $20 and get a decent antec PSU/case combo.And why wasn't the Sonata or something lke that included?
Cygni - Tuesday, February 1, 2005 - link
God you guys are ridiculous! I personally use Antec cases for my own personal builds, but when building for my business, i use the cheapest non-ugly case I can find. Of course, PSU is a concern, but im not slapping FX's in with a 250wt. PSU does change reliability, this is fact, but it is FAR overhyped. Bad RAM can make 10 times the impact.Honestly, who gives a crap if the case isnt amazing? Its a CASE! As long as its not ugly, and as long as its fairly well put together (almost all of them are these days), who cares? 99% of the people i build computers for never open the case, so who cares if it has sharp edges? I dont know. You guys all sound really really spoiled, haha. I personally thought alot of the cases reviewed are FAR less ugly then so called "Gamer cases" that are out there with friggen dragons with LED eyes that readout useless voltage information...
MarkM - Tuesday, February 1, 2005 - link
I'm with #4 too -- a the point you are getting this level case, you are probably looking at a no-frills basic PC with cheaper components, at which point it doesn't make much sense for you to be building anyway, you should just get a Dell & get that conveniecne/security of waranty.Not to mention if you are building so basic a PC, you probably are not reading anandtech :)
Anywya, I'm not sure I see great value. I got my Sonata with the 350w quiet PSU for $70 total AR, some of these cases would cost about as much with even an inferior PSU. So why bother at all?
digit - Tuesday, February 1, 2005 - link
ive got that raidmax (windowless version) and i really like it. it came with the 4 fans already installed in front and its definitely the coolest running case ive ever had. recently ive started having problems with power stability from the psu, but it worked just fine for over a year.fatdog6 - Tuesday, February 1, 2005 - link
Im pretty dissapointed with this review,first off of the 150 or so systems that i have built my first consideration is reliablity/stability expecially in a budget build. I I can i imagine getting a call and then seeing the power supply fell down knocked the cpu off into the gpu trashing the memory on the way.!!
As stated by Spacecomber #15
"So far, I haven't found a case and power supply (bought seperately or together) that is as good as and less expensive than the Antec 1650, which is my choice for entry level and basic systems. $55 for a case that includes 120mm fan, Antec SL-350 power supply, and side CPU air guide."
As stated by Lonewolf #13
"The power supplies of these review units are horrible, and do not in any way represent good additional value"
DaveA - Tuesday, February 1, 2005 - link
http://images.anandtech.com/reviews/cases/roundups...yeah whats up with that?
Desslok - Tuesday, February 1, 2005 - link
In the review for the Codegen 6209 is the motherboard tilted in the install pic??