Value Case Roundup: A Look at the Affordable
by Purav Sanghani on February 1, 2005 12:35 AM EST- Posted in
- Cases/Cooling/PSUs
Foxconn CasEdge TK-09 (cont'd)
So far, we have seen four cases with only a few slightly varying features, but a great deal of difference in construction and cooling. Let's see how the TK-09 compares to the first 3 cases.
Construction
Like the 3131G, the TK-09 is made of the cheaper, thinner steel that can be easily bent out of shape. The panels are especially prone to bending if they are not taken care of. Though this is something to look out for, we did not run into any problems with the TK-09.
We did, however, cut ourselves when feeling around the TK-09. There are a horde of sharp edges that need attention and users should be very careful when handling hardware inside this case.
Cooling
Foxconn's TK-09 comes with a single 80mm fan mounted at the back of the case. We haven't seen a case thus far that comes with more than two fans installed, but the options are there nonetheless.
The TK-09 has room for two more 80mm fans in front of the drive bays. They can be mounted side by side, like those in the 8654BL, as intakes. Again, we thought mounting them vertically would be better for airflow around all of the hard drive bays.
The TK-09 also includes a Max Power 300W power supply, which increases the value of this package.
Installation
The only issue that we ran into during installation was with the sharp edges in the case. It is during this phase of our testing where we encountered most of the dangerous edges.
Besides that, all of our components installed without a hitch. Installation of the drives proved to be much easier and less time consuming due to the single-sided mounting design and we completed the system within 10 minutes.
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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??