looking for an atx case recommendation

[Axel]

I'm looking for an inexpensive mid-tower case with a 320 or 340 watt power supply - atx form factor -

I don't want to spend more than $140 if I can - plus postage -

Please post URL's -

I have no problem adding additional case fans myself - I actually prefer to do so -

[Axel]

leaning towards this one (http://www.pcmech.com/reviews/at900.htm)

This one looks pretty good - but I'd have to swap out the power supplies - as this will probably be a P-4 system and I'm going to need at least 350watts to run all the gear - plan to put a dvd-rom drive and a TEAC re-burner into this one - Probably run windows2k professional on it, but might slide back to windows98SE if I get lazy -

[NDC]

Call the manufacturer of the case and ask them if a Pentium 4 mainboard is going to fit in that case before ordering it. As I know, there is a specific length the case must be for a P4 mainboard to fit. Some cases will not work with P4 mainboards...

[Axel]

too late - bought the a-top t-900 ATX case and upgraded ps - we'll see what happens next -

[Mntsnow]

Looks like it should fit :) will keep our fingers crossed for you

[Axel]

Got an e-mail from the seller - case should come in tomorrow....

Time to find a bigger hole saw as I want to drill down into the top of the case and put in an out-ward blowing exhaust there.

A chimney so to speak -

I also plan to put in an expansion slot fan inbetween the video card and the rest of the PCI cards. I hope to catch most of the video heat and get it out of the case before it goes up and over the CPU.

[Mntsnow]

I borrowed a hole punch from my electrictian buddy that was a snap to use and made a perfectly smooth hole for my exhaust fan.

I do think you can rent these "punches" from your local "rent-a-tool" place very cheaply and I will say I'm glad I did it this way as the time I spent "drilling and filing" cost me more than what renting the punch would have.

[Axel]

the A-top 900 case appears to be a good case, but you shouldn't believe everything you read -

the case is not 100% tool-less, so don't leave home without your leatherman....

The floppy and hard drive bays still require screws on the open side - good point about this is you can take out the drive without dropping out the entire motherboard assembly to get at those typically annoying back-side drive screws -

For those of us that move peripherals around a bunch, I have concerns about the tool-less rails messing up the threads on the device - these things go in tight - and you have to use a bit of physical force to seat the drives into the 5.25 bays.

Ample places to attach additional fans to the front and rear and the case comes with the fan over the traditional processor area on the side of the case.

Got a 350Watt power supply mostly to feed the P4 processor - this was a seperate component upgrade that cost me and the manufacturer did the install.

One thing I don't care for on the power supply - there was no switched pass-through on the power supply to plug the monitor into.... I like to be able to turn off everything with the one button on the face of the CPU case. (not that I do this often) I've even gone so far as to plug in a mini power strip so that I can also switch the power supplies for the external modem as well as the speaker power supply. You'd have thought such a thing was standard by now.....

[Ritalin Kid]

Have you tried Directron.com?? they usually have some pretty nice cases at decent prices.. I think I paid $155 for my case 1 year ago for a black full tower hydraulic alienware case with a 300 watt PSU..