Full – tower cabinets
This section is for people who want to go
all out with their case purchase and have amazing drool-worthy hardware at
their disposal. It must be noted that these cases are huge and heavy – even
when empty. Some of them may require you to sell a kidney, but hey they’re
awesome. These cases support XL–ATX and E–ATX boards and have enough room to
house the most extensive liquid cooling components out there. Needless to say,
we didn’t run into any sort of trouble while installing components in any of
these cases during testing.
Circle Herculean
This case propels Circle to the next level
where other veteran case manufacturers tread. We received the white colored one
and it has an aggressive design element to it with sharp edges. Its front panel
has a white frame with small divided clefts at the sides. It has a large
side-panel window. The top of the case has hemmed vents which can be opened or
closed. The integrated fan-controller knobs lie on a brushed aluminum panel
along with the ports. It also has tool-less PCI slots. With all these great
design elements, its pin-holed reset button is some-thing we couldn’t fathom.
This case is actually a copy or re-branding of the Rosewill Thor v2 available
outside India.
Cooler Master Storm Trooper
No, this case has nothing to do with the
cloned Storm Trooper characters from Star Warsas its name might make you think.
Still, its design is what a stealthy case should be like. We emphasize stealth
because Cooler Master has actually included a hidden and lockable box at the
bottom of this case which can be used to securely keep your stuff when at LAN
parties. Other than its design, it has tons of space, 90 degree rotatable HDD
cages, a sturdy steel make, rubber-gripped carry handle for easy hauling at LAN
parties, and an extra vertical PCI Slot called the “Storm Guard” for routing
peripheral cables through it for security. Phew! It also has easy-to-remove
front panels, space for a 240 or 280 mm radiator at the top and bottom, and
lots of space behind the motherboard tray for cable routing. The built-in
fan-controller works very well. It also has a small removable bracket at the
bottom for installing 2.5-inch drives. Front has a 2.5inch hot-swap bay called
the X-Dock. There are dust filters everywhere in this case which makes it easy
to keep it clean. This is a good case indeed.
Cooler
Master Storm Trooper
NZXT Phantom 820
Being NZXT’s flagship case, it has a
futuristic design to it along with a host of amazing features. Its build
quality is great and it also has a raised-steel stand. It can accommodate a 360
mm radiator at the top, a 240 mm or 280 mm radiator at the bottom, and the rear
fan can be slid up or down to directly be in front of the CPU cooler. It has
lights on its back I/O shield and PCI slots to make it easy to see in the dark.
The included fan controller works like a charm. Its hue LED controller can be
used to change the color of lights inside and along the edges of the case to
your heart’s content. The bottom dust filters can be easily removed by pushing
them and they pop out.
Being
NZXT’s flagship case, it has a futuristic design to it along with a host of
amazing features.
Cooler Master Cosmos II
This case is like the sports-car of PC
cases. And the analogy extends to its price tag too. It is humongous, very
heavy, but very well built. The handles at the top help in carrying it
(pro-vided you can lift it) and the base of the case is also composed of the
same handle like rods but instead they’re stands. Sliding the front cover down
reveals the external drive bays. Forget thumbscrews, you just need to press
down a lever at the back and the side panels open up. Both the side panels open
like hinged doors. There is massive amount of space inside the case and there
are two fans hinged together on the drive bays too. The top portion can be
removed to install fans or liquid-cooling radiators. If you have an itch for
huge cases and $380 to burn then go for it.
Verdict
This bout goes to the underdog. Circle beat
out the biggies to win the Best Buyaward, but keeping its pricing in mind the
Hercule an edged past the next best contender - the Storm Trooper. The
Herculean does offer a great feature set with a lovely design. Having said that
the Cooler Master Storm Trooper was the only case in the test which man-aged to
keep the test GPU temperature lower than all the other cabinets and we are fans
of its stealthy design. So, if you can get the Trooper under $230, it’s a great
buy too.
Overall best performer
Every once in a while an un-likely upstage
happens in our performance tests. For instance you may be surprised to know
that a case from our lowest price bracket won the Best Performer award. But
numbers don’t lie. The Cooler Master HAF 912 won it for having the lowest
overall temperature spanning all categories of our test. A good case to go for
considering it’s not costly too.
The editors pick
NZXT Phantom 820 won the Editor’s Pick for
having a great overall score and being consistent in both its performance and
features. This case was the second biggest case in our test after the CM Cosmos
II. The Phantom 820 was followed closely by the Cooler Master Storm Trooper in
most of the parameters and is also a very good case to get considering its
cheaper than the Phantom 820 and also has similar features.
