Antec Three Hundred Budget Gaming Case

a good case, a good computer case is well worth the invesment. the computer case can last you quite alot of upgrades and live up the 200 price tag. i spent around 170 for my tt armor and i dont regret it at all, my previous case was a generic heap of junk that literally fell apart.

I was ready to critisize the lack of at least one front 120mm fan until I saw it was only $70 with free shipping on da Egg. For that price this looks like a pretty well rounded case for a game rig "on the cheap".

I don't know if I'd say $79 is considered budget for a case.  If you want budget you'll look for the deals on $79 cases to be 50 or you'll haggle.  Ah the memories of my first HH inspired budget pc.

mentaldisorder:

I don't know if I'd say $79 is considered budget for a case.  If you want budget you'll look for the deals on $79 cases to be 50 or you'll haggle.  Ah the memories of my first HH inspired budget pc.

Well... it has the cooling potential of higher-end cases but the price is not bad. Antec built it well with good materials and a nice design. So I think in terms of gaming cases, it can be called a budget gaming case. Note: When I say gaming, I am referring to the enthusasiast class pc case; ones that have a good build quality and cooling potential.

I don't think it has the cooling potential persay.  It is made of steel judging by its 18lb weight, which does not help lower temps.  I mean yeah it has a huge mesh front, but still you don't need all that air if you cant push it out the rear at a greater cfm.  You'll in turn increase temps.  And that side fan is a joke If you use it as exhaust, the cpu won't get the cool air from the front.  If you use it to take in air, then you have 3x the cfm into the case than out of the case.  Sure it looks nice but is it really worth the money?  I'm sure there are better cases out there for cooling.  But hey, maybe I'm wrong and this is actually a solid case.

[edit] Forgot to mention that the top fan would be more idealy placed in the center of the top.  Since it won't be blocked by your psu.  Nor would it help doing anything all the way back there.

I say it has potential because there are mounts to add two 120mm fans in the front. Which would give it the intake airflow to reach the processor and the other components. I'm pretty sure the case material will make little to no difference. Cooling should be sufficient enough that the hot air is exiting the case so the case doesn't need to act as a giant heatsink. I think the top fan is fine where it is because it should be positioned right over (at least near) the CPU to help the rear 120mm fan exhaust the hot air. Also, it isn't blockec by the psu because it is mounted on the bottom in this case.

Even if you don't add the front 2 fans, the negative pressure should mean that air is coming in from the front grills, if not elsewhere. Though I think adding 2 front fans would be better.

By the way, there is a pretty old article about the difference in cooling of a steel vs aluminum pc case. I think this was possible because this one company (Chieftech Dragon?) had two models that only differed in the metal material and weight of course. If I remember correctly, there was basically no difference in cooling.