The poor cooling performance caught me by surprise. Shocking to see the charts =/. Perhaps it would perform better with at least a large top exhaust fan like my Antec 300. But sadly its not even included and cost more than the 300.
Damn Bit-Tech, you're so hard to please....every other review I've read on this have been full of praise for such a low cost (for Corsair) case.
I really don't think the cooling issues are as big a deal as you make out, the target audience for this price of case, are not serious overclockers, they are not going to be pushing CPU's to 5ghz or over volting GPU's.
Considering most cases in this price bracket are downright nasty in the looks department, this is a classy looking, low cost case, and with low-mild overclocks, it's better than you guys give it credit for.
Agreed, 90% of cases in the same price range are just dam nasty to look at and work on, at least there's some solid quality there and nice aesthetics. cooling mite not be the best but its perfectly fine for mild overclocking users.
I'd like to see a review of the Fractal Design Core 3000. In my opinion it is one of the best looking cases out there for a small, low budget case and Fractal Design has an excellent record for good quality and cooling. The only drawback is that the original doesn't have USB3 but that could easily be sorted and there may even be an updated version on it's way.
Originally Posted by Otis1337 Agreed, 90% of cases in the same price range are just dam nasty to look at and work on, at least there's some solid quality there and nice aesthetics. cooling mite not be the best but its perfectly fine for mild overclocking users.
Which is why the design and feature scores were very high, but as the graph shows the cooling isn't as particularly good, and so they have to lower the cooling score which lowers the overall score.
When will case makers realise they need to sell their cases with all fan mounts used or at least provide enough fans to cover most mounts? Yes, it will make cases a little more expensive but if I were forking out say £100 on an air cooled case I'd want to know that having to spend another £20-£30 just on fans alone isn't going to happen... In smaller cases like the R200, where everything is more cramped airflow is even more important. I have an Antec 300 with all fan mounts used, my fans are very quiet (the only time you hear them is when gaming) and keeps my heavily overclocked system very cool...
Originally Posted by ev1lm1nd666 When will case makers realise they need to sell their cases with all fan mounts used or at least provide enough fans to cover most mounts? Yes, it will make cases a little more expensive but if I were forking out say £100 on an air cooled case I'd want to know that having to spend another £20-£30 just on fans alone isn't going to happen... In smaller cases like the R200, where everything is more cramped airflow is even more important. I have an Antec 300 with all fan mounts used, my fans are very quiet (the only time you hear them is when gaming) and keeps my heavily overclocked system very cool...
I disagree. Adding case fans is an easy way to raise the overall price by more than the fans are worth themselves. I would rather a complete barebones version of my desired case for a much reduced price so that I can add whichever case fans I wanted and however many I wanted. That is the only way to get exactly what you want for the best price and would allow me to reuse any fans that I already had.
Over the years I have built up a collection of crappy case fans that came with my case upgrades but they have and never will be used while I know I paid extra for them to be included.
Originally Posted by Hustler Damn Bit-Tech, you're so hard to please....every other review I've read on this have been full of praise for such a low cost (for Corsair) case.
I really don't think the cooling issues are as big a deal as you make out, the target audience for this price of case, are not serious overclockers, they are not going to be pushing CPU's to 5ghz or over volting GPU's.
Considering most cases in this price bracket are downright nasty in the looks department, this is a classy looking, low cost case, and with low-mild overclocks, it's better than you guys give it credit for.
I think you'd be surprised at just how many people own sub £50 cases and dabble in overclocking. At the last LAN party I went to, half the rooms were filled with Antec 300's and pretty much everyone I spoke to had overclocked their system, or at the very least had high-end hardware in it. After all, if you're not bothered by looks, why spend more? If you're gaming on a budget, save money on the case and get better hardware. However it all boils down to the fact the 200R isn't good at cooling, whereas the similarly-priced Antec One far superior and not that much uglier.
Originally Posted by ev1lm1nd666 When will case makers realise they need to sell their cases with all fan mounts used or at least provide enough fans to cover most mounts? Yes, it will make cases a little more expensive but if I were forking out say £100 on an air cooled case I'd want to know that having to spend another £20-£30 just on fans alone isn't going to happen... In smaller cases like the R200, where everything is more cramped airflow is even more important. I have an Antec 300 with all fan mounts used, my fans are very quiet (the only time you hear them is when gaming) and keeps my heavily overclocked system very cool...
It makes the cases a LOT more expensive. If we filled every available slot on the 200R with fans, it'd cost you about $40 more, retail. For $99, you'd get a 200R with 8 fans in it, it'd be loud, you'd have to find a way to route every cable, and for 95% of users, it'd be complete overkill and have no positive benefit to them.
The point of all the fan mounts isn't to say that every customer will use all the fan mounts, it's to give you the flexibility to customize your cooling as you see fit. Some people want to add a second fan to the front, others want another top exhaust, or to install dual side panel fans. Very few people fully load their case up with fans.
I mean, the 500R can fit 10 fans total, I've never seen anybody actually do that, though.
Cannot believe Bittech pushes the Antec One that much, while its biggest drawback is the gpu's it cannot support: "However, there are a few potential obstacles to be wary of. Antec quotes a maximum graphics card size of 266mm - which isn't quite enough for top-end cards such as the Radeon HD 7970 - and, if you are eyeing up a gaming rig, the similarly-priced One Hundred might be a better fit.". So it is only good for sub 266mm videocards. Thank you, Bittech FOR not pointing that out, each time you say the Antec One is a better choice....omg.
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ReplyI really don't think the cooling issues are as big a deal as you make out, the target audience for this price of case, are not serious overclockers, they are not going to be pushing CPU's to 5ghz or over volting GPU's.
Considering most cases in this price bracket are downright nasty in the looks department, this is a classy looking, low cost case, and with low-mild overclocks, it's better than you guys give it credit for.
Which is why the design and feature scores were very high, but as the graph shows the cooling isn't as particularly good, and so they have to lower the cooling score which lowers the overall score.
I disagree. Adding case fans is an easy way to raise the overall price by more than the fans are worth themselves. I would rather a complete barebones version of my desired case for a much reduced price so that I can add whichever case fans I wanted and however many I wanted. That is the only way to get exactly what you want for the best price and would allow me to reuse any fans that I already had.
Over the years I have built up a collection of crappy case fans that came with my case upgrades but they have and never will be used while I know I paid extra for them to be included.
I think you'd be surprised at just how many people own sub £50 cases and dabble in overclocking. At the last LAN party I went to, half the rooms were filled with Antec 300's and pretty much everyone I spoke to had overclocked their system, or at the very least had high-end hardware in it. After all, if you're not bothered by looks, why spend more? If you're gaming on a budget, save money on the case and get better hardware. However it all boils down to the fact the 200R isn't good at cooling, whereas the similarly-priced Antec One far superior and not that much uglier.
It makes the cases a LOT more expensive. If we filled every available slot on the 200R with fans, it'd cost you about $40 more, retail. For $99, you'd get a 200R with 8 fans in it, it'd be loud, you'd have to find a way to route every cable, and for 95% of users, it'd be complete overkill and have no positive benefit to them.
The point of all the fan mounts isn't to say that every customer will use all the fan mounts, it's to give you the flexibility to customize your cooling as you see fit. Some people want to add a second fan to the front, others want another top exhaust, or to install dual side panel fans. Very few people fully load their case up with fans.
I mean, the 500R can fit 10 fans total, I've never seen anybody actually do that, though.
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