SPCR

I want a black case without a drive door. The 3000B would be my first choice but I am sure the door would drive me nuts. The Antec 1650B seems to be the best Antec case w/o a door. What are its disadvantages compared to the 3000B?

I live in Montreal, Canada and have not seen any of the popular alternatives from Evercase, Compucase or Chenbro in any of the local stores nor at any of the on line retailers. Antecs however are widely available.

Denis54 wrote:I want a black case without a drive door. The 3000B would be my first choice but I am sure the door would drive me nuts. The Antec 1650B seems to be the best Antec case w/o a door. What are its disadvantages compared to the 3000B?

The antec website shows their specs.

The SLK1650B has an 80mm front intake area, fewer drive bays, and comes with a PSU.

The SLK3000B has a 120mm front intake area, more drive bays, and comes without a PSU. Its internal 3.5" drive cage is "parallel" with the case (unlike the Sonata, where the drive cage is turned 90 degrees so that the drives face outwards). You'll have to look for SLK1650B pictures for its drive-cage configuration.

I already compared the specs but still have some questions:

How does the 1650B 120 mm fan compare to the 3000B fan?

Is the 80 front air intake opening large enough or will it need to be modified?

Is the side duct on the 1650B as efficient at cooling the CPU as it is on the 3000B?

Is the 1650B as quiet as the 3000B / Sonata? If not, why?

Is the general build quality of the 1650B as good as it is on the 3000B? If not, what are its weaknesses?

SLK16xx is a cheap POS.

Read Ed's and my posts here.

and here:

http://forums.silentpcreview.com/viewto ... 851#129851

and here:

http://forums.silentpcreview.com/viewtopic.php?t=16357

and here:

http://forums.silentpcreview.com/viewto ... 1596#91596

and here:

http://forums.silentpcreview.com/viewtopic.php?t=14165

Denis54 wrote:I already compared the specs but still have some questions:

How does the 1650B 120 mm fan compare to the 3000B fan?

Is the 80 front air intake opening large enough or will it need to be modified?

Is the side duct on the 1650B as efficient at cooling the CPU as it is on the 3000B?

Is the 1650B as quiet as the 3000B / Sonata? If not, why?

Is the general build quality of the 1650B as good as it is on the 3000B? If not, what are its weaknesses?

Check out if the fans that come with each case are the same; if so, they probably sound the same too. The 80 opening is not as efficient as a 120 because of the size, but depending on the components you put in your PC that may be OK. The duct is the same in both (I am 95% sure, someone correct me if I'm wrong though). There are no definitive answers for your other questions, and the only way to get answers for them would be to buy both cases and test it out for yourself and see which works better given your component choice. I'd strongly suggest doing some of your own research by reading the review of the 3000B case and searching the forums for both cases, these questions have been brought up numerous times in the past.

You could always just break off the door, as I did