"Big fan" ATX case follies

Felger Carbon · Post by **Felger Carbon** » Tue Mar 20, 2007 2:14 pm

My very first Xclio 3060 case, $35 from Newegg, was improperly modified. I removed the internal 3.5" cage (perfectly OK) and threw it away (the big mistake). That cage holds the floppy (sigh). I figured I'd mount the floppy in one of the 3 spare optical drive slots (the other big mistake). I made it run OK but it ain't pretty!

I finally decided to demote that case to "spare parts" and buy a replacement. That's when the follies started.

Newegg is sold out of the 3060 and (evidently) won't reorder. And they're the only US of A source for that part. So, buy another PSI Solo 604 from Directron! The PSI is the identical case with a bashful bezel. So I placed the order with Directron and yesterday morning they advised me they were sold out and the product was out of production. Strike 2!

It turns out the Xclio 3060 is also available under other names. In the EU & woad land it's not only the 3060, it's also the Aplus Xclio 2 (or II). Directron also carries the Dynapower Prestige case, which is the exact same thing as an Xclio 3060, except that the bezel LEDs are blue and this particular one comes with a PSU, all for $50. So I now have a Prestige on order with Directron, and it was reportedly shipped today.

The Dynapower Prestige is carried by other places such as CensusPC, as you can see using Froogle. Mwave.com calls it the "Mwave Prestige" case.

But for a reasonably-sized big fan case (200x430x445mm) in the USA, with no bezel cover and the 13-blade fan, we are down to just the Prestige. I'm getting to like the name already...

The Aplus/Xclio "188" case has a 7-blade big fan that isn't as quiet as the 13-blade, and the case is noticeably narrower than 200mm.

If you like plastic break-off bezel covers, the Broadway Com 9257 is at buypcdirect.com and on Froogle, and the nearly-identical PowerUp 2559 is at Tiger; see Froogle.

My heart is broken that the Xclio 6020 case never made it to the US of A. Log into Scythe-USA, read the News, and at the end of News, click on Feb 2006 and check Feb 17. Scythe sold, and sells (if it's still in production) the 6020 in Japan. Use Google and you can find the Xclio site that more clearly shows it; I think it has (had?) a great bezel!

Newegg carries a small, lightweight (.5mm steel?) Linkworld case for $39.95 but the listed dimensions are for the packing box and the case is pretty narrow, not the usual 200mm for a "big fan" case.

But these cases do come and go. They're almost all being bought by the gaming crowd that needs more CFM these days for their red-hot video cards - the upcoming ATI/AMD R600 dissipates 300W +/- 9%, so it can be at 327W - and that's without overclocking, which all gamers do. 327W is without SLI or Crossover, which is two video cards to do one card's workload - a marketer's dream and a cooling nightmare.

edit: update Mar 24; the Solo 604 case is still available from SWS-Electronics.com in AZ. The Mio 5601 Typhoon case is available from Coolerguys and PCToys; same case as the Xclio/Solo/Prestige with one more external optical drive and one less internal 3.5" drive and the big side fan is mounted ~1" higher, moving it closer to being directly over the CPU and any shelf-mounted HSF such as the Andy-Sam.

edit2: Solo 604 also available here, the 8th item on the list.

edit3: update Mar25; the Dynapower Prestige case Directron sold me instead of the sold-out PSI case? I bought the last one. That case is now listed under "so" (sold out) and the status is "discontinued"!

edit4: Newegg lists wrong dimensions on Linkworld "9.3" wide case: that's the packing box dimensions, so mention of this product is changed.

edit5: Axiontech also carries the Solo 604. Performance-PCs also carries the Mio 5601 Typhoon, but calls it the Cyclone.

psiu · Post by **psiu** » Tue Mar 20, 2007 4:27 pm

Made me chuckle

andyb · Post by **andyb** » Tue Mar 20, 2007 5:08 pm

I have just found the"APLUS Case X Clio 6020", and I would suggest googling "swamp donkey", this case deserves nothing more than either melting down or a specially allotted plot in a landfill site, its fucking ugly.

http://www.komplett.co.uk/k/ki.asp?sku=313601

Andy

Felger Carbon · Post by **Felger Carbon** » Tue Mar 20, 2007 7:07 pm

andyb wrote:I have just found the"APLUS Case X Clio 6020", and I would suggest googling "swamp donkey", this case deserves nothing more than either melting down or a specially allotted plot in a landfill site, its fucking ugly.

You're completely right. I somehow managed to double the part # of the case I intended, which you can see here as the second case from the top.

jaganath · Post by **jaganath** » Wed Mar 21, 2007 12:14 am

I have just found the"APLUS Case X Clio 6020", and I would suggest googling "swamp donkey", this case deserves nothing more than either melting down or a specially allotted plot in a landfill site, its fucking ugly.

I believe the correct "yoof" term is "fugly" for that kind of aesthetic impairment.

It seems like the Far Eastern manufacturers of these cases don't do very big production runs?

Bluefront · Post by **Bluefront** » Wed Mar 21, 2007 3:46 am

Well I suspect there will be more examples of "big Fan" cases in the near future.......probably from major case manufacturers. The "bling" factor of these things is just too big to ignore. Not to mention.....a big fan case has much potential, thus far only touched upon by the examples that have been available. As Felger Carbon has repeatedly stated.....they're the quietest method to push a high CFM of airflow. And if you don't need high airflow, they also start and run at low voltage. Re-designing a standard case to use one of these 220mm fans is no big deal, so a case maker would not have to do much re-tooling to start making a 220mm version. Hell....even a replacement side is all really necessary.

jhhoffma · Post by **jhhoffma** » Wed Mar 21, 2007 5:17 am

jaganath wrote:
I have just found the"APLUS Case X Clio 6020", and I would suggest googling "swamp donkey", this case deserves nothing more than either melting down or a specially allotted plot in a landfill site, its fucking ugly.

I believe the correct "yoof" term is "fugly" for that kind of aesthetic impairment.

It seems like the Far Eastern manufacturers of these cases don't do very big production runs?

I think it looks sexy...like a beer-helmet on a NASCAR fan...

Felger Carbon · Post by **Felger Carbon** » Wed Mar 21, 2007 12:35 pm

Bluefront wrote:Re-designing a standard case to use one of these 220mm fans is no big deal, so a case maker would not have to do much re-tooling to start making a 220mm version. Hell....even a replacement side is all really necessary.

Absolutely correct. In fact, the only modification to my cases is the left side panel and the included fan. I confirmed that on the Directron site by tracking down the manufacturer's site, which shows their standard cases - and one of the standards is identical to the 3060/Solo 604/Prestige case!

psiu · Post by **psiu** » Sun Apr 01, 2007 1:55 pm

LOL, that case doesn't look that bad at all! I thought it was going to look like of these X-Clio cases: http://www.xclio.com/htm/products-Case-Xclio.htm some big fool alien case or something.

Felger Carbon · Post by **Felger Carbon** » Sun Apr 01, 2007 4:03 pm

psiu wrote:LOL, that case doesn't look that bad at all! I thought it was going to look like of these X-Clio cases: http://www.xclio.com/htm/products-Case-Xclio.htm some big fool alien case or something.

Uh, the "good looking" case I was referring to was the second case at this link (the 3010):
http://www.xclio.com/htm/products-Case-M3.htm

christopher3393 · Post by **christopher3393** » Sun Apr 01, 2007 4:11 pm

No love for the Xclio 380 or Wind Tunnel?

psiu · Post by **psiu** » Sun Apr 01, 2007 4:31 pm

Okay the 3010 isn't great. But still better than some of the other ones. In fact, I would have thought it was pretty cool more than a few years ago. Of course, I thought getting one of those watches with a calculator would have been cool too

Felger Carbon · Post by **Felger Carbon** » Sun Apr 01, 2007 7:20 pm

psiu wrote:Okay the 3010 isn't great.

O.K., what do you think of this case? I just got one this last week, and I think it's neat looking - and available!

christopher3393 · Post by **christopher3393** » Sun Apr 01, 2007 7:23 pm

Not bad at all!