A CASE OF CABINETS

It all started out as a great morning. The
day looked promising. I’d just taken a
sip of my morning coffee, when my
secret-agent communication device
sounded an SOS. Answering the device,
which is cleverly designed to look like a
cell phone, I learned that a friend’s
antique Celeron processor had just died.
He was inviting me to the funeral, which
involved a little newspaper wrapping and
a quick burial in the local dustbin, and
then a desperate trip to find a better
replacement. He had decided on an Intel
motherboard and a Pentium 4 CPU, but
had no clue about what cabinet to buy.
Not one to miss out on a tech-shopping
spree, I met him at the now infamous
Lamington Road, in south Mumbai.
A quick scan of my super-secret black
book told me that I was close to a dealer
I had bought from earlier. He didn’t
remember me though, but was polite
enough to lie, “Kaise hain aap? Haven’t
seen you for a long time”. My friend
quickly detailed his requirements—something
large and airy that would hold all of
his 7,65,23,476 peripherals. Off went the
vendor, and disappeared into a secret
crevice that only he knew existed—the
shop could hold three, four if you wanted
to be better acquainted with someone.
He returned, carrying a rather ordinary
looking beige and blue Frontech minitower
cabinet. Priced at Rs 1,250, it had a
300W power supply, which he claimed
was “Full 300W. Substandard nahi hai!”,
and also came with a 1 year warranty. It
had vents for fans, but we weren’t convinced.
After another quick disappearing
act, he came back with an Intex cabinet
that cost Rs 1,300. It had adequate drive
bays, a 300W SMPS and a year’s warranty.
Though it had everything that you’d need
such as air vents and fans, many colours
to choose from and a spacious
interior, we
weren’t convinced
just yet. We bid him
farewell and moved
on to find a little
more variety.
The next shop we
walked into had a better
feel to it. It was spacious,
had a look of professionalism
and had a well dressed vendor
behind the counter. As soon
as we mentioned cabinets, he
asked what CPU and motherboard
combination we had. “If you are
buying a Pentium 4 it’s fine, but
if you have an Athlon, you
have to be very careful,” he
warned us. “Athlons heat up a
lot more than Pentiums. If you
have other high-end equipment
such as a GeForce graphics
card, it’s going to be hot in
there and you’ll need additional
fans”. He showed us a Mercury
Oscar cabinet for Rs 1,400. It came
with a one year warranty, many cooling
vents at the back and a 300W SMPS. When
we asked to see something better, he
showed us an iBox and an unheard of VIP
brand of cabinets that cost Rs 1,500 each.
The VIP looked really good, and he said it
was a local brand, but had a rock-steady
power supply—good for over-clocking.
The VIP had easy-to-remove sliding panels
and air vents by the dozen. It had everything
we needed, but the unheard
of branding sent us shop-hopping
down the road.
The next store
looked swanky as well,
but the dealer started
pulling out all these
unheard of brands with
ugly tacky-looking cabinets.
They had lights galore,
and looked like they were
designed by the same person
who decorates the insides of
some of taxis. He could see
the look of disdain on our
faces, and asked, “Would
you prefer to see the top of
the line models?”
What he pulled out then
made us almost squeal with
delight. There are cabinets,
good cabinets and then there
are Antec cabinets. He pulled
out a jaw-dropping model
with thumb screws, removable
3.5-inch bays and screwless locking
for 5.25-inch devices—you can install
just about anything without ever using a
screwdriver. It had vents galore, a 350W
SMPS and a blowhole. Now here’s a real
solution to ventilation. Instead of normal
vents, blowholes on the top of the cabinet
blow air out from just above the CPU fan.
However, it cost Rs 6,500 and he wouldn’t
accept my undying gratitude—cash
and credit cards only please.
An hour later, when I finally ran out of
arguments and conceded that my friend
could not sell his mother’s jewellery, we
decided that something a lot cheaper was
best. We were left with two options: either
a Mercury or VIP cabinet. Though I was
more impressed with the features of VIP,
my friend preferred to spend his money of
a better known brand. The Mercury it
was. I went back home dreaming of owning
the best Antec there is.


SHOPPING TIPS
¦ Insist on cases with adequate
ventilation, with fixtures to help
you mount fans. Look for rear and
front vents.
¦ Get extra fans mounted on the case,
even if you don't intend to over-clock. It will
provide better airflow and make your hardware
run smoother and last longer.
¦ 300W power supplies are standard and
adequate for today's computers. Look for
steady power supplies, as fluctuations in
the power will cause lockups and damage
hardware.
¦ Choose a large cabinet: either a big
mini-tower, or tower cabinet. Make sure
that it will hold your motherboard—
MicroATX or ATX form factor. This
aids ventilation and allows easy access
to hardware.
¦ Screw mounted blanking plates in the
rear (that cover unused bays) are better
than those that have to be broken. You
can reattach these later when a bay is
unused, preventing unnecessary exposure
to dust.
¦ Look for cases with thumb-screws or
slide out access panels that let you open
your cabinet easily.