Are there any boutiques left?

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Feb 6, 2013
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So Caselabs is closed and used ones are impossible to find. Are there any boutiques left that make full tower cases? I know Mountain Mods still exists but they havent changed in over a decade. I know there are a few small form factor startups out there but what about something big? I would actually be happy with a Lian Li pc 3000 but those are impossible to find as well.
 
How big are we talking? There are some ATX boutique builders, like Sliger. But nothing like caselabs that I can think of. SFF is the hot item now.
 
Not sure if this is what you are looking for but anyways
https://www.singularitycomputers.com/
You can also check inwin for some higher end computer cases
Thanks, I appreciate the thought. For what you get $1300 is pretty crazy to me for the spectre. It is a large flat res with some bars sticking out. I would go for this https://www.performance-pcs.com/cha...horizontal-mount-black-fbce-rhopilema-bk.html over the spectre. I would love to build in an Inwin H-frame but they go for $1200. I would be happy to pay $500 for an sma8 in good shape. I guess $500 is my limit.
 
Frankly building low volume metal parts like a computer Case, below $500 isnt very likely. At least before the foreclosure auction.
 

Corsair 900D if you can find it: https://www.corsair.com/us/en/Categ...Series™-900D-Super-Tower-Case/p/CC-9011022-WW
Better than the 1000D in my opinion, unless your goal is to run the dual system setup that the 1000D allows for.

Silverstone's TJ11 is a great, massive case. Been around forever but they are still making them: https://www.silverstonetek.com/product.php?pid=292&area=en

Mountain Mods is good, definitely not the polished feel of caselabs but similar quality - you just have to be into the retro / industrial look of them.

LD Cooling (Little Devil) - European company that makes some awesome, but pricey cases - also known for doing phase change setups. If you're interested, I would message them before placing an order... their site hasn't been updated in a while and I don't know if they're still operating: http://www.ldcooling.com/

You can pickup Origin Genesis cases on ebay from time to time - they briefly sold these to DIY market about 5 years ago. The Genesis is huge, expandable and completely held together with tiny screws in such a way that the entire thing can be dismantled and reconfigured to inverse, 90*, left side / right side, pedestal / no pedestal, water and air-cooling specific layouts. The internal build quality is excellent, the exterior pieces are plastic (sadly) and OK by comparison.

Digital Storm Aventum cases and very old builds sometimes show up on ebay too. It's a boutique case somewhere between a 900D and a few different caselabs models. You can only get one by buying a Digital Storm prebuilt. The folks who did that and who now have them up for sale on ebay often have no concept of the value of their used, older prebuilt. In other words, most Aventum cases are going to be listed by Luddites for $3500 with accompanying X99 build and GTX 980 :rolleyes:
 
A year or two ago I asked here about features for a specialty case because I was considering making one or ten if there was any interest and basically got little more than snark about how I couldn't possibly know what's involved with manufacturing (as a manufacturing engineer at a manufacturing company I found that a little interesting).
Very little interest in boutique stuff. People want cheap, features be damned.
 

I have a Thermaltake WP100. It's basically a copy of the Caselabs design. They can still be found if you look around hard enough. I love mine. It's well built, has good airflow and can house virtually any single system configuration you can think of.
 
Boutique builders seem to like Mini-ITX these days. Happy about this as I've grown out of giant cases.
 

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A year or two ago I asked here about features for a specialty case because I was considering making one or ten if there was any interest and basically got little more than snark about how I couldn't possibly know what's involved with manufacturing (as a manufacturing engineer at a manufacturing company I found that a little interesting).
Very little interest in boutique stuff. People want cheap, features be damned.
I dont have to have cheap, I will pay for quality, just 5-600 not 1000 plus.
 
I looked at the cases. They seem to be dated in design. Good quality but, like mountain mods, doesnt look to have been updated in a decade. Good suggestion though.
Yeah they are built really well, have my current 7980 rig in a V7 case. Only thing is I'd suggest going for 120 grilles over the 140s as the spacing for the fans in between the mounting mechanism means you can't fit a lot of 140 fan rads.
 
Yeah they are built really well, have my current 7980 rig in a V7 case. Only thing is I'd suggest going for 120 grilles over the 140s as the spacing for the fans in between the mounting mechanism means you can't fit a lot of 140 fan rads.
What did you pay for it in US dollars? Did they customize it for you? Is the glass panel tempered or acrylic? Can the front be modded to have just fan holes and airflow without the bays?
 
What did you pay for it in US dollars? Did they customize it for you? Is the glass panel tempered or acrylic? Can the front be modded to have just fan holes and airflow without the bays?
I got the ones frozencpu had from several years ago for a pretty sick deal. I imagine they should be able to cut out VAT if you buy from the US though.

Regarding the front and top of the case, they have 5 1/4" bays the whole length up the front and on the top and the fan grilles on there are just fillers that are screwed in to those bays which is why the spacing is strange.

 
I dont have to have cheap, I will pay for quality, just 5-600 not 1000 plus.
I think you missed my point. At that price point all you can get is "cheap stuff".
Need volume of production to get the cost down, which the market won't support. It's a chicken and egg scenario basically.
 
I've always wanted to build inside a large SGI chassis.
onyx00.jpg



I have this small one but it might still be functional so I don't really want to destroy it by making it into a PC,
IMG_8676.jpg
 
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I managed to find the last Lian Li pc v3000 in the U.S. It was listed on amazon for 350 as used like new in the box with all parts. Wish me luck.
 
You know, I understand the reason that SFF is all the rage with boutiques right now. It is much cheaper to make. I have no problem with SFF builds, I like them. For me, personally, I like a big blank canvas that I can fill. Then you have channels like Gamers Nexus that only want mesh covered boxes for as cheap as possible. I respect the heck out of GN and that is their thing. However, I don't think that is the trend. I think if, for example, Caselabs came back they would be immediately back ordered for years without updating design. Lian Li came out with the dynamic and literally every other custom loop build was a dynamic until the xl came out which outsold the dynamic(I have no hard numbers there, but I am pretty sure ;) ) I will admit to being a Lian Li fanboy but I really hope someone comes in and grabs that big blank aluminum case market. Dammit Mountain Mods, update your website and designs!
 
You know, I understand the reason that SFF is all the rage with boutiques right now. It is much cheaper to make. I have no problem with SFF builds, I like them. For me, personally, I like a big blank canvas that I can fill. Then you have channels like Gamers Nexus that only want mesh covered boxes for as cheap as possible. I respect the heck out of GN and that is their thing. However, I don't think that is the trend. I think if, for example, Caselabs came back they would be immediately back ordered for years without updating design. Lian Li came out with the dynamic and literally every other custom loop build was a dynamic until the xl came out which outsold the dynamic(I have no hard numbers there, but I am pretty sure ;) ) I will admit to being a Lian Li fanboy but I really hope someone comes in and grabs that big blank aluminum case market. Dammit Mountain Mods, update your website and designs!

I just wish Lian-Li would repro their old cases, I would like to get a few more PC-60's and PC-70's. I am sure the retro market would go crazy for them.
 
That V3000 looks amazing. I'm a Lian Li fan and currently have 3 Lian Li cases. A modified PC-767 is housing the rig in my sig. I have another being used for a retro rig and I have the RocketFish branded full tower NIB that I picked up off of Craigslist for $25 a few years ago. Actually had my sister in a different state pick it up and save it for me until we went out to visit. Plan to use it in a new build at some point.
 
Fractal 7 XL? It can fit 480 up top, I believe another 480 up front, 280 on the bottom... I just finished a build in it, and my EK 140 res looks tiny lol.

IMG_0390.jpg
 
That V3000 looks amazing. I'm a Lian Li fan and currently have 3 Lian Li cases. A modified PC-767 is housing the rig in my sig. I have another being used for a retro rig and I have the RocketFish branded full tower NIB that I picked up off of Craigslist for $25 a few years ago. Actually had my sister in a different state pick it up and save it for me until we went out to visit. Plan to use it in a new build at some point.

Big Lian-li fan here too. I considered the V3000 for my last build, it was perfect in every way except for lack of any 5.25 bay. It kills me to see an awesome case for watercooling that doesn’t have a even one optional 5.25 bay hidden somewhere. If I’m running multiple 360mm(+) rads I want the option of using a high end fan controller instead of motherboard control and the always janky vendor software. I guess they omit these bays since no one needs optical drives and probably for aesthetics, but it feels like an oversight on a case that checks all the other boxes for high-end watercooling.
 
I remembered another one - Murderbox (now called xforma). They seem to still be in business, though now selling via Titan Rig. I think they start with a TJ07 chassis and then modify extensively. Case Labs -level quality though very expensive. Case with no extras or modification pieces (it’s all modular) is $1300!

https://xforma.com/mbx_mkii/
https://www.titanrig.com/catalog/pr...-mkii-limited-edition-chassis-0110xf010101on/


The old Lian-Li's were great and built like tanks.

I'm still rocking a 15 year old PC-777b as my daily driver.
The shell case! Very cool that it’s still your daily driver, I’ve never seen one up close.
 
I've been pretty happy with my Anidees case - pretty well built and solid. I'd never heard of them before buying my Crystal XL 3 Lite. If I had it to do over I'd get the XL Pro Lite instead for more air flow. I'm really not a fan of all the tempered glass out there now, so damn heavy - just give me some plexi!

http://anidees.com/product-category/pc-case/
 
I've been pretty happy with my Anidees case - pretty well built and solid. I'd never heard of them before buying my Crystal XL 3 Lite. If I had it to do over I'd get the XL Pro Lite instead for more air flow. I'm really not a fan of all the tempered glass out there now, so damn heavy - just give me some plexi!

http://anidees.com/product-category/pc-case/
anidees is a jonsbo reseller though?
 
Maybe it's just me, but 1x month a TT case will pop up $100 or less.

Screenshot_20200826-221615.png


Sometimes you get the big guys like this with limited cooling options compared to a modern case:
Screenshot_20200826-221615.png


Unless I was trying to do something crazy, I'd just grab a used TT and call it good.
 
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