Hardware Reference
In-Depth Information
Bundled power supply
Many mainstream cases include a power supply, which may or may not
be suitable for your purposes. Case quality and power supply quality
generally go hand-in-hand. We've never seen a cheap case that included
anything other than a junk power supply, and we've seldom seen a high-
quality case that included anything less than a midrange power supply.
Expensive and special-purpose cases—particularly server and gaming
cases—often do not include a power supply, on the assumption that
you'll want to choose a power supply to fit your particular needs. Media
center/home theater cases may or may not include a power supply. Un-
less you just happen to love a case that comes only with a bundled power
supply, we recommend that you buy the case and power supply sepa-
rately. You may pay a few bucks more than you would for a case with a
bundled power supply, but you'll also probably get a better power supply.
Be wary of very small cases and bare-bones systems like those sold by
Shuttle, Foxconn, MSI, and others that come with a bundled power supply.
Some of these cases use power supplies with proprietary physical form
factors, which means the only source for a replacement power supply is
the original vendor. These proprietary power supplies may be extremely
expensive or no longer available when your original power supply needs
to be replaced. If you buy such a case, either make sure that it accepts
industry-standard replacement power supplies or resign yourself to pay-
ing through the nose to replace the power supply when it inevitably fails.
Front-panel connectors
Most cases provide front-panel connectors for USB and audio. Some also
provide connectors for FireWire and/or eSATA, which are used to connect
external hard drives, camcorders, and similar devices. A few cases include
a built-in front-panel card reader, which is useful for transferring files from
a digital camera or camcorder. If a case you otherwise like lacks one or
more front-panel connectors that you want, you can purchase a port ex-
tender that fits in an open external drive bay and provides the connectors
you need.
Case material
Nearly all cases use some plastic, particularly for the front panel, but the
frame should be of stiff, heavy-gauge steel or aluminum, as should the
side and top panels. Steel is rigid but heavy. Aluminum frames can be
as rigid as steel, but are much lighter. In fact, the first time UPS showed
up with an aluminum case without a power supply installed, we picked
up the shipping box and thought they'd forgotten to put the case in the
box. All other things being equal, an aluminum case costs more than a
similar steel case but provides similar rigidity. Some sources claim that
aluminum cases provide superior cooling, but we've never been able to
confirm these claims. We suggest that you choose a steel case unless sys-
tem weight is a major concern, such as for a LAN party gaming system or
when building a stackable media center/home theater system.
