"George N. Weinisch" wrote:
> I would  be interested to hear any suggestions as to which cases you all have had good experiences with.

In my business, I lean toward the Enlight case for my builds.
http://www.enlightcorp.com/main_frame.html

I prefer the EN7237 which has a 250W power supply (47.00) or the
EN7237/3 which has a 300W power supply (62.00). Which case I choose is
dependent upon what the client is going to do with the system. I like
the flexibility of the case, but more importantly, I like the quality.
It has a lot of room for cards, has a second fan for cooling and it has
a decent reset button.

I have reviewed the recommendation from a fellow lister who recommended
the Fong Kai FK-320. While this case seems to be adequate, it does have
a few shortcomings that are of interest.
http://www1.anandtech.com/showdoc.html?i=1215&p=1

Most of the quality cases allow to remove the Motherboard platform, this
unit does not have this feature. This is like the cases of years gone
by. The reset button may require a pen or other blunt object to reboot.

I am presently putting together a system for a client who specified an
Inwin case. http://www.in-win.com/ Model # IW-A800
http://www.in-win.com/framecode/index.html

This is a nice case with many good features. I like the "Works in a
drawer" to use an old marketing ploy used by Motorola with some of their
television sets years ago. They touted that the service area was in a
drawer which made it less costly to service the set. Inwin has basically
the same setup for the Motherboard platform. You can install all of the
cards (less the cables) and plug the platform in. This is a nice feature
from a service standpoint. One draw back that I see and experience is
the reset button. Yes, I do get picky every now and then. <smile> I
build them as if I will be the next person to service them. I don't
scrimp on quality.

You have many choices in cases. I believe the case of choice from
CompUSA is made by Enlight. I could be wrong on this note.

There are several sites that have cases which are listed.

http://www.casedge.com/
http://www.a-top.com/main.html
http://www.addtronics.com/
http://www.u-net.com/mike/hardware/case.htm
http://www.logicalsrc.com/
http://direct.mwave.com/mwave/Deptcase.hmx?UID=&CID=165492%2DF%2ESUSZKA%40GTE%2ENET&Back=http://www.a-pro.com/

A mid-tower is adequate for my needs, though a full-tower is not out of
the question.

If a Mid-tower fits your needs and budget, stick with it unless you have
unlimited desk top real estate or want future expandibility. On the
other hand, a mid tower will give you this for less. A full tower for
most users is over kill in my opinion.


> I have been looking around at shows and such, but I am overwhelmed by the selection, and often the quality seems very poor.

You have hit upon a very important factor for those of us who want to
make a living selling computer systems. There is always someone out
there with a Computer chop shop that will build a wonderful machine for
little or nothing. What the unsuspecting buyer doesn't know, the upgrade
capabilities are little or none. I'm pleased that you are looking for
quality not price. Good luck in your search.

Sincerely,

Frank Suszka
netTek Computers
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