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A+ CS-188AF
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Rating: 85%
Review Title: Very good value for money
Verdict: Better than average build, good cooling for the price. Consider where to get a 220mm side fan if this one breaks.
I got this case because of the 220mm side fan. I wanted a really cool solution even though I don't intend on being a games user.
The side fan certainly does it's job well. The difference when it is off and on are about 3-5 degress Celsius. There are plenty of cooling options - with the side fan, you don't really need any other intakes, only exhaust fans. There are mounts on the front (120, 92, 80), back (same sizes) and two 80mm mounts on the other side panel. These last two are not proper mounts and you will need to coerce the pins mounting the fans to fit properly - just don't tighten them too much as this pulls them too close to the grill and rubs on the fan blades.
My only concern was that it is quite a narrow case at 18.5cm. The norm is around 20cm. This caused a problem for me since the side fan protrudes 2.5cm and I didn't have room for my CPU heatsink/fan (Coolermaster Hyper TX2, which is 13cm tall).
I had to remove the fan and grill and fix it to the outside - not recommended if you have children or little prying fingers, as even though the fan spins relatively slowly, it will still take off some skin from your fingers since the grill will now not fit properly.
I'm happy with my homemade solution.
The rest of the case is quite good - well built for the money and easily above average. It's quite deep so that there is plenty of space for the hard drives, though it's still a tight fit using a non-modular PSU.
Recommended.
Rating: 95%
Review Title: Outstanding value for money
Verdict: They could charge double the price and I'd still be happy with it.
It's a fantstic case and despite the review by Dragon UK2, I have managed to get my Freezer 7 Pro into the case. The sidefan does intrude in further than I was expecting but not enough to affect the Freezer 7 Pro. The HDD would have caused issues with my 8800gt, but there are plenty of other slots where my HDD can sit perfectly. Cooling wise, my 2 x 120mm fans and 1 x 250mm sidefan work well as my case temp and CPU temps are nice and low. The looks and finish are a higher quality than I was expecting and the blue LED logo on the front is a nice touch.
Rating: 95%
Review Title: Value For Money
Verdict: Great Budget Case, easily worth more!
I don't know about the other reviewer on here, but I built a kickin PC in this little case with no space problems. I've got a Freezer 7 Pro on my Q6600 with no space problems, although I DID spend a lot of time routing cables to get it neat. There's plenty of drive bays, so a little fore thought means that theres no space problems, just don't rush in to it! Build quality is spot on and for the price, theres really no cause for complaint at all. BTW, I've got a 3870 in the case too.
Rating: 85%
Review Title: Cheap but still cheerful
Verdict: Good case, easily worth the money.
Not much different to what the mag said really.
No frills it certainly is, not even any sort of instructions or explanation slip for the mass of front cables so if you're a system building novice good luck.
Also, if you've a big cpu cooler forget this case, the big side fan dipping into the case cavity made it impossible to get the side on the case without replacing my Freezer 7 Pro with the stock cooler.
The review was right about being careful with the HDD placement too, my Raptor & 8800GT were so close the graphics card was nudging the sata lead out of the drive 'till I moved it, lucky there's plenty of spare bays.
For the money though you can't go wrong. It certainly looks cool when assembled and the airflow through the case is excellent.
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