Quote:
Not a great selection. I'll have to leave the lid off for the time being.


As mentioned, my existing case isn't deep enough -- the 3ware drive cage fouls the motherboard if it's pushed in all the way. My existing case also doesn't quite fit the RAID cage and another 5.25" device properly.

I've spent a couple of hours casting around on the 'net (mainly at Overclockers.co.uk -- they've got a good selection of cases), and I even found a case that I liked in PC World on Tottenham Court Road (yeah, I know -- I was shocked, too).

The problem is that I have no way of knowing if they're large enough. To get the drive cage to fit, I need one of the following:

  • 250mm of depth between the drive bays and the edge of the motherboard. The 3ware cage is about 40-50mm deeper than most CD-ROM drives.
  • 3x 5.25" drive bays that are totally clear vertically above where the motherboard tray goes.
  • If the case is wider than average, about an inch of space between the edge of the drive cage and the motherboard tray (so that the components on the board don't collide with the cage).


The problem with Internet retailers (and case manufacturers) is that they don't actually have any information about clearances inside their cases -- in some instances, they don't even have any pictures of the insides of the cases. And when they do, they're completely empty, so you have no way of knowing where an ATX motherboard will come to on the motherboard cage.

So I have a question for those who've been recommending cases that they own:

How much room actually is in there?
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-- roger