Comments Locked

26 Comments

Back to Article

  • fanofanand - Thursday, August 11, 2016 - link

    I understand that everything is designed to a price point, but how much more expensive could it have possibly been to go with all USB 3.0 instead of the 2 USB 2.0 ports? With backwards compatibility this makes no sense to me. USB 3.0 debuted at the end of 2009, we are talking almost 7 years here, I simply cannot understand this decision.
  • woggs - Thursday, August 11, 2016 - link

    All motherboards still have USB2.0 sockets and very few have more than one USB3.0 for the front panel. I was happy to see they put both because both is useful for the vast majority of folks. And, I wonder if they would sell you a USB3 replacement for those if you happen to have 2 USB3 sockets on your MB.
  • fanofanand - Thursday, August 11, 2016 - link

    I understand that all motherboards have 2.0 sockets but that is again, borne out of cost. With backwards compatibility there is literally zero reason for this. I understand why some legacy ports remain, like PS/2 (many cannot access the bios with a USB keyboard) but with USB it makes no sense. You say "I was happy to see they put both because both is (sic) useful" but there is literally no benefit to USB 2.0 over USB 3.0. I am unaware of a single device that works on USB 2.0 but not 3.0.
  • DanNeely - Thursday, August 11, 2016 - link

    I'd be happy if case makers would just offer double header cables with a USB3 and USB2 header on the end. If you've only got one 3.0 header on your mobo it's not that hard to remember which pair of ports are faster; and it gives full support if you've got two 3.x headers. For a forward looking setup today at least one C port would be nice; maybe 2 because actually filling up all 4 front ports isn't that common and it'd give better future proofing.

    Wider support from the mobo vendors is needed too. I was able to get 2x headers for my Haswell build; but that requirement severely limited my available mobo vendors (I ended up with an MSI board). (I also went with a Case Labs case that used a painted to match 3.5" bay device for its front panel support so that I can easily switch to a setup with C ports in the future; but realize that their cases are far to expensive for the average enthusiast.)
  • slyronit - Friday, September 2, 2016 - link

    On my desktop PC, WIndows device recovery tool cannot flash my Lumia 950XL if it is connected to a USB 3.0 port (either on the front panel or the rear motherboard port). This has happened across Windows 8, 8.1 and now Windows 10, chipset/USB drivers always updated (Tried both the drivers from Windows Update and the Asus drivers). But for such cases, I can make do with a rear USB port.
  • slyronit - Friday, September 2, 2016 - link

    And this is all the more surprising, because the phone itself supports USB 3.0 and when connected to my SP3 dock USB 3.0 port, there's a noticeable speed improvement, compared to USB 2.0.
  • RaichuPls - Thursday, August 11, 2016 - link

    Some wireless mice/headsets don't play well with USB3.0, such as the Logitech G930 and G602. In my case, interference from USB3.0 ports severely reduce the wireless range of both.
  • eek2121 - Thursday, August 11, 2016 - link

    I have 2 devices that don't work with USB 3.0. A headset as well as a high end microphone. The need for USB 2.0 still exists. Manufacturers are aware of this and that's why they haven't dropped USB 2.0. Believe me, if manufacturers could drop USB 2 they would. Going all USB 3.0 would actually LOWER costs.
  • fanofanand - Thursday, August 11, 2016 - link

    Thank you eek and Raichu, I was unaware of those issues. I do stand corrected. :) How's this, I wish motherboard makers would at least provide an option with no legacy ports. For those completing a new build, the less legacy the better.
  • kaidenshi - Sunday, August 14, 2016 - link

    USB 3.0 isn't 100% backwards compatible across all devices, though. There are some USB 2.0 devices out there that don't enumerate properly or tend to lose communication when plugged into a USB 3.0 socket. Usually the product's support site will have a KB entry about this, and they will suggest using a 2.0 port. I've personally had this issue with a couple of different USB flash drives and with an Android cellphone.

    In short, USB 2.0 on a case in 2016 is a positive, not a negative thing.
  • Byte - Friday, August 12, 2016 - link

    Cases with 5.25 you can always add a box, but this case you can't even do that. I just upgraded my case because it has only 2.0, got an InWin with USB 3.1 Type C in the front! Go future!
  • Bigryan - Thursday, August 11, 2016 - link

    Pretty case. I will be checking out the deals at bestbuy this weekend! The ad on the login page is the best.
  • redfirebird15 - Saturday, August 13, 2016 - link

    Literally every page... it is getting ridiculous.
  • Nightsd01 - Thursday, August 11, 2016 - link

    Can the LCD screen do anything that is actually useful? Showing a single logo....seems pretty useless to me. What about showing the stats/temps/fan speeds/etc of the computer?
  • Lord of the Bored - Friday, August 12, 2016 - link

    As I understand it, just displaying static images. You could probably rig something up that would put the desirable data into an image and then push the image to the LCD, but it's a step that ought to be unnecessary by all rights.
  • HomeworldFound - Friday, August 12, 2016 - link

    ThermalTake did the same thing about fifteen years ago. It was just as useful.
  • BrokenCrayons - Thursday, August 11, 2016 - link

    Ah yes, the Coke can makes it into yet another photo! :)

    It's a nice looking case, though too large for my tastes. I already have a gigantic Lian Li on wheels that has a MicroATX board, half-height capable GPU, and single hard drive inside of that looks almost laughably empty.
  • Samus - Thursday, August 11, 2016 - link

    Ugg, I can't believe after all these years Bitfenix still hasn't improved their drive sled design. Those things are complete crap. Most of mine are cracked or completely snapped in half while bending them around the drive mount holes.
  • althaz - Thursday, August 11, 2016 - link

    As soon as I saw it, the first thing I thought was "looks a lot like the Thermaltake Armor". Because it does (nicer though).
  • Death666Angel - Friday, August 12, 2016 - link

    That's a nice, clean build. But I am totally not interested in ATX size cases anymore. :D
    Only ATX case I bought in the last 7 years is for my file server which has 3x5.25" bay adapters for 5 x 3.5" HDDs (9 x 5.25" bays for 3 of those adapters for 15 3.5" bays in a normal sized ATX case). My PCs have been mATX for a while (Lian Li V351B, currently Silverstone Temjin TJ08-E with watercooling, thinking about going back to my V351B and modding the shit out of it). With me being fine with onboard sound and onboard NICs and one graphics card, there ain't no reason for ATX and the size and weight are a real negative. Only positive I see is the ample space and ease of use.
  • SimonJM - Friday, August 12, 2016 - link

    The display would've looked better if it was OLED. The non-black background of the screen doesn't blend so well with the black case.
  • Jackattak - Friday, August 12, 2016 - link

    A reset button? In 2016? Seriously?
  • HomeworldFound - Friday, August 12, 2016 - link

    Yes, Many cases still have one of those. If you've tried feature games from the Windows 10 Store you'll be so happy to own one.
  • pedjache - Saturday, August 13, 2016 - link

    You seriously need a reset.
  • pauliem30 - Sunday, August 14, 2016 - link

    I just got this case the other day to do a review on. I'm very excited to do the build in it!
  • ES_Revenge - Tuesday, August 16, 2016 - link

    I have an original [mATX] Pandora. While I like the case, I always wondered why the thing is so tall for an mATX case that doesn't really seem like it needs to be as tall as it is. It seems as though they could have just made it slightly taller and allowed an ODD somehow (which I know no one cares about anymore but at the time it still sort of made sense). Even if they could have incorporated a slot and allowed a vertical slim/slot ODD it would have been cool.

    Well now it seems they have just gone ahead and made the case even taller, but to fit a full ATX motherboard instead. I dunno I don't see the point. There's lots of competent mATX boards out there these days and have been for quite some time. Vast majority of ppl I see with full ATX boards these days have like one or two slots used and then 5-6 ones sitting there doing nothing. ATX just seems passe these days. There's even mATX cases that support SLI and mATX cases that have a "fifth slot" opening (which the original Pandora itself has), in case you have your second GPU slot at the end of the board. With all that the Pandora full ATX seems a bit pointless.

    Personally I didn't get the one with the display at the time because it was ~$50 more and it didn't seem worth it because the display is not capable of much. Fast forward a few years and it seems functionality hasn't improved at all. Basically just still a static display with little use. I know they released the source code or whatever so ppl could do whatever with it, but it seems like no one has. I always used to think a cool application would be to display album art, which would automatically change with whatever track you were listening to. Surely they could have a plug-in for programs like MediaMonkey, etc. which could accomplish this. Instead it seems the use of the display is still very limited and all they bothered to do was make the case bigger. The display has even made it on to cases like the Aegis but again other than it's appearance and $30-50 premium over the "core" case without it, it's not really something of that much use. Looks cool for a day and then you forget about it.

Log in

Don't have an account? Sign up now