NZXT Source 210 Elite Midtower Case with 3.0 USB - Black

I've been meaning to buy a better case every since I had my first custom PC built as a teenager. Cases are expensive though, and a hassle to swap after you've already built a PC, so I've put it off for a very long time.In 2008 my mother bought me my current PC for a present (I was unemployed and my PC at the time was aging). It was a Gateway 5662, and it's served me very well since then. Over the years I've replaced the hard drive several times, replaced the graphics card several times, and replaced the power supply several times I've upgraded the ram, reinstalled the OS and upgraded it, and replaced the keyboard and mouse. And now, finally, 8 years after buying my PC I got around to replacing the irritating plastic case with something nicer.Some people like their PC to be outfitted like a low-rider with all kinds of crazy running lights and glowing spinning things. Me, I like my PC to be quiet and stealthy as a superhero ninja. I took all night and all morning on my weekend to pull my old motherboard out of the old case and hook it up to this beauty. It's got a lovely uniform paint job and once you have the screws that hold the back on off the sides almost slide off TOO easily.I've worked on cases and motherboards quite a few times over the years in my career as a lofty IT Guru, and I'm used to the difficulties of getting cases and components installed. In contrast to other cases I've worked on it, this was was absolutely a joy to work on. The brand new screws and holes fit snugly, but not so tight as to present any difficulty. Every screw tightened down fairly easily, and nice and tight with hand-tightening only.I discovered to my horror upon removing my old motherboard that it did not use stand-off screws (it used raised indentations in the steel for the screws instead), but I needn't have worried because this case comes with a giant assortment of screws including power supply screws, and stand-off screws. The manual isn't terribly informative but then again it doesn't need to be.The drive bays don't require screws and that's a nice feature (never owned a case where I didn't have to go through the pain of screwing in drives). The case is nice and roomy, and the paint job is high quality. The sharp edges have been smoothed out so you're not likely to cut yourself on a sharp edge (thank you!!!!), and the two installed fans are whisper quiet compared to my old case. The air coming out of said fans is also nice and cool instead of burning hot like in the old Micro ATX case I was using.When I get a PC the first thing I always do is disable the case light, hard drive light, and case sound (no annoying beeps and flashing lights thank you). With that setup this thing almost disappears on my black home theater table, and that's just the way I like it. Some people complain that this case has it's USB ports in the front upside down, but who remembers which way those go anyway?If you like a nice easy setup in a solid, spacious case that's built to last, and think your PC should be neither seen nor heard in the dark, and ESPECIALLY if you like to save money, this is a wonderful case. Highly recommended for the budget builder who wants a Full Tower Case with lots and lots of room to expand and add fans.

To set the groundwork: I've built 4 of the last 5 PCs I've owned, so I'm familiar with the process, but certainly not an expert. I also troubleshoot my PCs, but that's not the same as building one from a bare case up. This build consisted of the Source 210 Elite, Seasonic M12II 620W PS, ASRock MB-970EX4 mobo, AMD FX-4100 CPU w/stock cooler, 8GB (2x4GB) Kingston Hyper X 1600MHz RAM, Crucial 64GB M4 SSD, Gigabyte Radeon HD 6770 1GB video card, 2 additional NZXT 120mm fans, Lite-on Blu/DVD burner and a generic multi-card reader with a USB 3.0 port.The Source 210 Elite is sturdy, well built, both side panels are easily removed and there is a lot of interior space for most standard configurations. I did not have any trouble installing the motherboard or bottom mounted power supply and the stock CPU cooler I'm using fit perfectly fine. There is plenty of room for a larger cooler, if it is necessary and the Source 210 also has ports for a water cooler, if you want to go that route. The power cables from the Seasonic were long enough to route behind the motherboard mounting panel, although getting the 8-pin connector to the top port on the mobo was a little tight. The video card fit fine and there is room for a card several inches longer, if I upgrade in the future. Installation of the optical drive was quick and easy, no tools required. There are no sharp edges inside the case and lots of tie-down points, so cable routing was easy. I installed 1 of the extra fans as an intake on the front panel and the 2nd as an exhaust on top. FYI, some large CPU coolers may interfere with a second top mounted exhaust fan, so check your clearance before installing.The 210 Elite did not include the 2.5" or 3.5" adapters needed for the Crucial SSD and the card reader. I bought the SILVERSTONE SDP08 3.5 to 2 X 2.5-Inch Bay Converter and SilverStone Aluminum Front Panel 5.25-Inch to 3.5-Inch Bay Converter FP55B (Black), which worked fine. The card reader uses the mobo connector intended for the case mounted USB 2.0 & 3.0 ports, so those are not hooked up.The one feature that was not included and that I really missed was that the internal 3.5" drive bays are not rotated 90*, to make them more easily accessible from the side. Because of that, I recommend installing your drives and anything else that will live in a drive bay, before installing the motherboard. I did not do that, which made installing the SSD and an data drive from my old PC a little more difficult. If the 210 Elite had this feature I would have given it 5 stars. But it is still a very well built case and an excellent bargain, IMO.

This item arrived damaged. It looks like it was thrown around. The internals of the chasse were warped and unusable. In fact, the case itself was so warped that it cannot stand without wobbling. My bad for not inspecting it sooner as I missed the return date and am stuck with something I can't use.

This case is OK but way overpriced. Cons:The front plastic face shows defective design and poor quality, (mine looks like it was deformed during the molding process), the black color camouflages this so it's not visible until one tries to plug in a USB device. Upside down USB ports are obstructed by the cheesy design and the headphone and mike jack are about as cheap as one can possibly get, (the black icons are invisible and the jacks are not color coated so one can't tell which port is for what). The instructions are horrible which is pretty much standard now-a-days.Pros: Internally the case is very spacious. The two fans that come with it are huge and can be relocated to various other areas internally.My opinion is that this case is typical of cheap Chinese made products. You'll always find a flaw, but generally they are priced very low. Not this one. This case is way overpriced.