There are noticeable shipping delays going on right now.
My Amazon orders that I placed last week still have not shipped.
And shipped items are taking longer than usual to arrive because of delays in the carriers fleet.

buckeye wrote on 2020-05-14, 13:21:

An optical drive is not a necessity with GOG/Steam available, but I may get a weird "fetish" and decide to install Crysis off a disc or watch a dvd.
Guess I'm just "oldschool" at heart!

Yeah, I mean, that is case clearly aimed at retro system in brand new case. For my main modern rig, I have a case without even 5.25" bay, and I'm fine with that.

Yes, the much coveted 5.25 bay has been a vital requirement in my latest searches as well.

After randomly* buying quality cases cheaply on sale (*:when there were really large discounts to be had) over the past decade, and now wanted to try to build something with them, I discovered that many were not quite suited for what I wanted, albeit very cheap (relatively) when I bought them, so no big loss.

But having gained a more specific knowlegde of what I actually would want to see in a computer case, I now suddenly found that the much 'needed' 5.25 bay was almost nowhere to be found, at least not if I wanted a full spacious tower with minimum 3x such bays.

After some research, I found a few models I liked, and that were not too costly, but finding them for sale proved nigh impossible.

So currently there seems to be 3 candidates that still are somewhat available.
In no particular order;
- the Fractal R2 XL has had good reviews
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Fractal-Design-Cas … Y1c18p/23261992
($166, strangely cheaper than the black one)
- then there is the Phanteks Enthoo Pro
https://www.phanteksusa.com/collections/cases … =31733951529015 (available in the US! at $89)
- and Corsair Obsidian 750D

I also really like the Cooler Master Storm Trooper, or even better the white version, but of course these are long gone from any retail channels by now.
http://us.coolermaster.com/product/Detail/cas … se/stryker.html

Of course, these are my very personal choices, and heavily influenced by the high number of external bays I want, while still enjoying a modern array of space and cooling options, so....

- Regardless, trying to be OT, I have sadly no idea where there might be some less known shops(online or otherwise) that sell old stock of the apparantly obsolete /EOL models in the US... 😐

Myself being located in Europe, it is hard to find anything older even here.

Seems like there was a 'golden age' of the big bays, starting to decline some 5-6 years ago, at least that is from when all the ('good') models I've looked at reviews for seem to hail, 2011-2014 or so.
Hence I've resorted to scouring local 'craigslist' for boxed/semi-new older models, which occationally actully pop up there.

Yeah been checking Craiglist and Facebook marketplace, but so far the only cases I've seen are beat up and over priced.

Man, that Craigslist of yours is a sorry sight indeed.. heh.

Even combining the state of Alabama, we're talking a mere few hundreds items in the computer category (or I am not searching correctly?).

Here, in my country, which strangely happens to have almost exactly the same number of citizens as Alabama (!), I get almost 22.000 hits on our local/national version of 'craigslist'.

- In the computer/parts category ALONE. I might add... 😁
Hence it is somewhat easier to find stuff, even boxed & nearly unused cases of my preferred models occationally.

Weird.

5.25 bays still make a lot of since, Even today one can still put them to use for bay mounted pumps, fan controllers and front IO. I do find it odd so many cases delete them all to together.

This is why I have five Cooler Master Stackers (four STC-T01 and one RC-830). That's 57 5.25" bays.

I hope they get rid of all these cheap cases and just build good quality cases.
It’s just as easy to build something of good quality as it is to build a bad design.

Intel486dx33 wrote on 2020-05-19, 18:25:

It’s just as easy to build something of good quality as it is to build a bad design.

Now I've heard everything 🤨

Well, patience always seems to pay off in the end. Found a Corsair Spec-01 on Ebay for less than 70 bucks shipping included.

CMB75 wrote on 2020-05-14, 13:40:

Intel486dx33 wrote on 2020-05-14, 08:38:

I am done using cheap computer cases. They just aren’t worth it and they look cheap. Not satisfying to the mind. So I try to use […]
Show full quote

I am done using cheap computer cases. They just aren’t worth it and they look cheap. Not satisfying to the mind.
So I try to use only computer cases that will satisfy me. I really don’t care if it costs $200
For $200 you can get a nice quality case. ( Lian Li , or Fractal, or Cooler master ).
Define R5 R6, NZXT, Cooler Master Masterbox , etc ).
Personally, i like all black cases or aluminum. No RGB or glass side panels. I like it for business performance and not for show

What about the DUNE case ?
Standard edition is only $199 thru $299
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/dune-pro-pc-case#/

I agree - this looks like a legit computer case. I just ordered one and payed with ApplePay - didn't get a confirmation email though.
Kind of makes me nervous with this amount of money...

Sorry to resurrect this zombie, but I'd like to let you know that this Indigogo campaign seems to be fraud after all. It set me back 314 USD and two years of waiting. Fool me once, shame on me... lessons learned.

CMB75 wrote on 2022-05-20, 05:51:

Sorry to resurrect this zombie, but I'd like to let you know that this Indigogo campaign seems to be fraud after all. It set me back 314 USD and two years of waiting. Fool me once, shame on me... lessons learned.

that's a shame, whether intentional fraud or not it does look like a failed project and i hope people will get their money back - but even if so it'll be a long wait and probably involve some loss, i dont know what assurances if any apply for these kinds of projects

to be honest, i just wouldn't invest/buy anything via indigogo or similar sites - i know most of them do work out ok but if a business can't get their stuff made and sold via shops/amazon etc that means it's likely in a vulnerable financial position and might just collapse, there seems to be a greater gamble about it

I saw this problem coming some years ago and decided to stock up on a small number of brand new cases and have been scooping up any nice case I happen to come across locally or cheaply (it's how I got my HAF 932, 2 Chieftec Dragon cases and a couple Centurion 5 cases, just to name a few).
I already got a ton of cases but from experience I know it's better to start getting what I think I'll need before it becomes practically unavailable.

Keep in mind that something like a PC case is huge compared to other stuff that people tend to not throw away or sell for cheap, so I don't expect these to be as easy to find sometime down the road compared to smaller items like perhaps old optical or harddrives or especially very small things like memory and CPUs.

The PC case you may want 5 or 10 years from now might be as difficult to have shipped your way as CRTs are these days (and then you'd better hope it comes with its original drive rails and harddrive cages etc).

So I wanted to step in early and get what I want now...or so I told myself some years ago.