Sell GAMMA Classic Series ATX Mid Tower Interior Steel Chassis (Black) In Stock
January 28th, 2012
Best GAMMA Classic Series ATX Mid Tower Interior Steel Chassis (Black) – Review
- 6 fan capability ( one rear 120mm included )
- Black Interior
- Wire routing: motherboard punched holes allows for quick CPU bracket removable and optimal wire routing, turned HDD also helps with managing cables
- High end graphics card support, the Gamma features space that is especially designed to fit longer 10.5-Inch cards
The Gamma places a premium on effective airflow with 6 fan capability including dedicated VGA/CPU cooling and a unique front panel design that allows extra air to enter through the front. NZXT also includes pre-drilled watercooling holes on the backplate and mounting holes for a dual radiator at the top. Gamma gives you everything you need for a meticulously clean build with punched motherboard holes and a turned HDD cage which keeps cabling as discrete as possible
List Price: $ 54.99
Great case for the money,
UPDATE: See end of review for additional thoughts after a couple of years…
For a full analysis of this box, search benchmarkreviews and gamma. They like it very much and that’s what convinced me to give it a shot. I don’t disagree with them, but I have a slightly difference perspective:
Let me say that my plans for this case are to build a file server. I like that it will hold several hard drives comfortably, and that they are designed so that a front intake fan will cool them. Because this will be on all of the time, I am going to use a low-ish power AMD chip (65 watts), and the dedicated graphics of a Gigabyte motherboard. I like the openness of the case as the heat won’t be at all trapped inside the case and that will let me use few and slow fans, making minimal noise.
1) This is an inexpensive case, and the thickness of the metal reflects that: this is not a case that will take much physical abuse. To be fair, part of that is because it’s a hugely ‘open’ case – loads of mesh, including left side, top, front, etc. That’s either good or bad depending on your feelings on how to handle air/heat management.
2) This is a beautifully designed case, with features you’d never expect on an inexpensive mid-tower case, such as the all-black interior, eSata port on the front panel, mesh grills for the fans, etc. Also, since I’ll be putting it on the floor, and sort of tucked away, I like that the front ports (USB, eSata, power, etc) are on an angled plane such that they are easier to access from above. The PSU is on the bottom of the case, so this could possibly be an issue in terms of the power cable reaching the motherboard, but I don’t think it will be for any decent PSU. It’s a very handsome case with a blue led stripe of light on the front that’s both appealing and reserved.
All in all, this is a cleverly designed case that tries to use good design to compensate for the cheap-ish materials and it mostly does so. I’d like heavier metal, but you don’t get great metal at this price, and this should work. Features and looks-wise, this is a lot of case for the money. The one thing that they clearly cheaped-out on that bothers me is the power button: it feels very flimsy. I have no reason to think that it’ll break, but each time you press it you’re going to be aware of how cheap it is.
UPDATE: I never really wound up using this as the file server I’d planned, and last summer decided to upgrade it so that my younger brother could use it as a lightweight gaming machine. As I’d gone with a solid PSU and lots of RAM, this just meant upgrading the processor and adding a graphics card. I use an nVidia 6770 and upgraded to a 95-watt AMD processor. Oh, I also added two fans, one on the side panel and one on the top. This was probably unnecessary but I wanted to make sure he’d have no heat problems.
I made no other changes and this case works great for him. Everything stays quite cool without the fans working hard. What’s more, my brother is very particular about things and I was expecting him to find all kinds of faults with the case. To my surpise, even he thinks it’s a great case for the money.
Recently I built myself a new computer using one of the Corsair black 600T’s with a side panel. I love that case, and I’d use it again. However, it’s also 4 times the price of this. I mention this because I’d been waiting for the black 600T with the side mesh panel to become available and had been wondering about what case I might get as a stop-gap, should I not be able to wait.
After looking at reviews of many newer cases, this is still the one I’d buy for anything anywhere near the price, because it’s easy and pleasant to work in, looks nice, etc. I’d have missed having a USB 3 port on the front panel, but that’s awfully minor. THis would still be my ‘go to’ case for money-saving builds.
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|Great For Price,
This was a great buy for 29.99 + Free Ship from Amazon. The computer model
we installed in this case went fine. The Case is very sturdy, has no sharp edges,
and has gobs of room for 140mm fans and 120mm Fans – not to mention ample
room for any motherboard. We are not fond of black that much (too difficult
to see details) but we had it painted White (professionally done). The only
con is the the front bezel has be removed (and it is no easy task) to install
a Front Fan which is really needed to keep the hard drives cool.
The case does not come with a power supply so we installed a 550 Watt
Thermaltake. This case has great cable and wiring accessibility and
the overall design is good – especially with the Power Supply being
located on the bottom (once again – not supplied). The front panel
has USB connections with audio plug ins, and 2 dim accented LED lights.
Also – the 2 top 120 to 140mm Fan make it impossible (virtually) to
install a 5.25 Optical drive on the top bay. We compensated that by
installing the 3.5 memory card reader using an adapter (5.25 to 3.5)
on the top bay and the optical drives on Bay 1 and 2. This case
does not have an external 3.5 external bay (another con), but regarding
the price,sturdiness, and good quality of the case, it deserves 5
stars. The Shipping was double-boxed, was professionally done,
and arrived undamaged and in a timely manner.
Daniel James Tyler (Danxo) The WJ Group
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|Great case for 36 U$D,
PROS:
—> All black interior
—> Amazing cable management for the price
—> Up to 7 typical HDD Drive Bays, 5 tool less.
—> CPU cut out
—> Power Supply Removable and Washable Dust Filter at the bottom.
—> Amazing airflow POTENTIAL:
—– x1 120mm front fan
—– x1 80/90/120mm back fan (comes with the case)
—– x2 120mm/140mm top case fan
—– x2 80/90/120mm side panel fan (1 side only)
CON:
—> Build quality could be a little bit more sturdier specially the side panels. It is very hard to complain about it because of the 36 USD MSRP.
NOTES:
—>Fits a 5870 2GB Video Card (more or less 11 inches). You won’t be able to use the upper normal HDD drive bays BUT you still have complete access with
CONCLUSION:
—>For 36 U$D MSRP you it is an AMAZING case as far as features go.
It is one of the better, if not the best, cases out there if you simply and quickly want to throw in PC components at an affordable price.
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