DongTran,
Both cases are still in my top 10 of all cases (I must have bought 2 dozen different cases over the past 4 years). LianLi PC60/65 is still #1.
Chili Professional 1/4"
Chili Pro case at wahoocomptuers.com
PROS
+ 1/4" thick aluminum plate construction looks industrial
+ blue anodized color and nice 2-3mm blue and red LEDs and quality power button
+ matching blue, sliding metal door to cover drive bays
+ small footprint on desk
+ (no one else in the world has seen it before, and I get that ooh factor from other geeks)
CONS
- due to its construction, you have to take off 8 hex screws to get the cover off. Often you need to take both sides off to get to motherboard.
- its small form factor makes it a tight build.. kind of like working with mATX or flexATX case
- got really high temperatures with the lack of interior breathing space. I had to add a 2nd fan to the powersupply, add a PCI slot fan and install another 80mm fan on the bottom of the case to get reasonable temps on a Tbird 1Ghz (not overclocked)
- after a month of screwing and unscrewing the side aluminum plate, the side panel started to get scratched and you could see the aluminum through the blue.
- after a while, I would regret to have to work on the 'puter and would put off tinkering with the components once I got them set. Definitely a pain in the butt case and not worth $189
SUMMARY: It had clean industrial looks and a small footprint, but was not very functional... the kind of thing that you "set it and forget it"
YeongYang 0221
black cube case at caseoutlet.com
PROS
+ cube shape was unique
+ lots of space for HDs and optical drives
+ interior of the case is divided along the midline.. allowing you to mount the motherboard the left side and the drives on the right side in separate compartments. Very easy access to get in and out of
+ lots of potential for extra cooling and mods.. also, because it was a cube.. it was easier to transport in the backseat of the car (not top heavy, and it is a rugged case that can take a beating, unlike a aluminum case)
CONS
- build quality was less than I expected. It was better than the average Enlight or Inwin but a lower build quality than the Antec 1030 or Supermicro 760 I also have.
- front face is held on with metal clips. It's ok, but the connection is not as tight or well-engineered as the clip system of the Lian Li front panel.
- exterior is painted black, but there is alot of overspray paint marks on the interior of the case. The paintjob looks fine when everything is buttoned up.. but once you open the butterfly doors, you can see that the painter was lazy and didn't bother to tape.
SUMMARY: Cube case had unique looks, but if you don't really need 13 drive bays, this case is overkill. You would need to have alot of hardware (mine is filled with five SCSI hard drives and two SCSI Plextors, 50GB Onstream tape backup, two removable IDE HD trays) to make it worth having. If you are into watercooling or heavy overclocking, you could put ALOT of fans in this and get good results.
(In fact, you could probably mount the case outside and your neighbors would think it's just your air conditioning unit making all the noise) (j/k). But for $189, there are better cases
My top cases (that I've owned and built with)
1. Lian Li PC65 mid-tower
2. Antec SX1030 mid-tower
3. Supermicro 760 full-tower
4. Yeong Yang YY0221 cube case
5. clear plexiglass mid-tower from
www.clearviewtech.com
6. Chilli Professional 1/4" mini tower
7. Shuttle SV24 flexATX alumininum cube case
8. Directon's PIA mATX cube case
9. full tower case by Enermax (black tower with numeric LED) (was on the 1999 cover of Maximum PC rig of the year)
10. Antec SX600 mini-tower (good all-around starter case.. built a half-dozen 'puters for work/friends on this chassis) ($32.84 + shipping at
www.provantage.com)