LX-6A19 vrs SLK3700BQE @ same price which is better?

NetTechie · Post by **NetTechie** » Mon Jun 14, 2004 5:23 pm

I see that on Directron I can get either case without a power supply for almost the same price (antec $6 more). With this in mind... which case might be better? Which case has more mod optoins, better design, better paint, etc? I figure the LX has better cooling for the hard drives. But all-in-all... which case would you buy? I kinda dislike the grey grill on the front of the LX, but then.. it does have audio inputs. I kinda dislike the door on the BQE, but then... it does hide the drives colors, and possible hold in sound more. Only thing that really makes a difference to me is the power button being inside a door that does not lock on the BQE... what's the point? But all-in-all... which case do you like personally?

RLiu818 · Post by **RLiu818** » Mon Jun 14, 2004 5:42 pm

I have the BQE.. and al i can say is that this case is superior to the Sonata.

NetTechie · Post by **NetTechie** » Mon Jun 14, 2004 6:04 pm

I've gathered that...

I like how a HDD can be mounted with sorbathane in it too... trays in the LX don't mount from the botton so that mod does not work in the BQE. One thing about the BQE... doesn't it get anoying to open the door every time you turn it on? I dunno... that' part bothers me. I had a case w/door over the power... I removed it. Case kinda looked funny w/o it's door.

RLiu818 · Post by **RLiu818** » Mon Jun 14, 2004 6:25 pm

NetTechie wrote:I've gathered that... I like how a HDD can be mounted with sorbathane in it too... trays in the LX don't mount from the botton so that mod does not work in the BQE. One thing about the BQE... doesn't it get anoying to open the door every time you turn it on? I dunno... that' part bothers me. I had a case w/door over the power... I removed it. Case kinda looked funny w/o it's door.

i dunno.. my case is stil sitting on my table without anything installed in it. if i had to nitpick i would probably say that the front door is rather flimsy. however, the space behind the door would be perfect for a piece of acoustifoam to go into to block out drive noise.

Post by **Ralf Hutter** » Tue Jun 15, 2004 5:17 am

If you don't mind diong a tiny bit of modding, I'd get the 6A19 (or the Antec 3700AMB if you'd rather have a door) and cut out the fan grills. Slide the drive cage out and suspension mount your HDD(s) in front of the intake fan.

If you don't want to try any modding, go for the BQE and mount the drives on Sorbothane strips in the drive trays. Tape up the unused air holes on the front bezel (pics in my review of the BQE on the main SPCR site) and you're good to go.

As for door vs. no door, personally I like the door as it adds a bit of a noise barrier to the front of the case.

As for being a PITA to open the door to push the power switch, well maybe you should do some wrist curls or something to build up your arm strength. Personally, I just suck it up and open the door one time in the morning to turn it on, then leave it running during the day and shut it off through the OS itself at the end of the day. The next morning, I repat the process. That give my wrist 24 hours to repair itself.

Another alternative would be to enable the "power ON by Keyboard" option in your BIOS. That way you only need to press a key on your keyboard and the computer will start itself up.

NetTechie · Post by **NetTechie** » Tue Jun 15, 2004 5:43 am

Ralf Hutter wrote:Another alternative would be to enable the "power ON by Keyboard" option in your BIOS. That way you only need to press a key on your keyboard and the computer will start itself up.

What motherboard has this? Can you set it to a specific key, or does it respond to any keypress? (That'd be bad, it'll start up if I pump keyboard).

I don't like doors very well... for one, they can break off (the latch) and if you want to put in cd's or dvd's and keep switching them, you have to open the door wide, and then it gets in the way... etc. I just never have liked doors very much I guess.

Thanks for your input. I think I'll be doing all the mods you mentioned as soon as I get the case (I've got the modding bug now

).

Post by **Ralf Hutter** » Tue Jun 15, 2004 6:13 am

NetTechie wrote:
What motherboard has this? Can you set it to a specific key, or does it respond to any keypress? (That'd be bad, it'll start up if I pump keyboard).

Almost all mobos have this feature these days. If you're thinking about a particular mobo, go to the manufacturers site and download the pdf manual for the board. Look around in the BIOS section to see what features are available for that board.

Generally there's only a few key presses or combos that will work. <spacebar> is pretty common, as is <enter>. You'll also see things like <cntrl + shift>. It's hard-coded into the BIOS so you can't program your own combos. I usually use "Spacebar" because, no matter how drunk/hungover I am, I can usually fine the big spacebar key to turn on my 'puter.

prof99 · Post by **prof99** » Tue Jun 15, 2004 6:28 am

So I guess you're going with the LX-6A19? About the power-on through keyboard function, most motherboards should have this function. My ASUS P4S8X allows the system to be powered up by either pressing the spacebar, Ctrl+Esc, or the "power key", which I don't think I have on my keyboard. For the motherboard you are considering (the NF7-S, from what I see in another thread of yours), the manual says that it can power up by pressing Ctrl+F1, Ctrl+F2 (and so on through F12), the "Power" key, "Wake" key, and there is also an option for it to power up by pressing any key (so, a total of 15 options). Hope this helps!

NetTechie · Post by **NetTechie** » Tue Jun 15, 2004 1:38 pm

Thanks, that's awesome to know!

Wedge · Post by **Wedge** » Tue Jun 15, 2004 9:33 pm

Ralf Hutter wrote: As for being a PITA to open the door to push the power switch, well maybe you should do some wrist curls or something to build up your arm strength. Personally, I just suck it up and open the door one time in the morning to turn it on, then leave it running during the day and shut it off through the OS itself at the end of the day. The next morning, I repat the process. That give my wrist 24 hours to repair itself.

NetTechie, get the LX or AMB over the BQE. They are better cases, IMO, and I have never been wrong, ever.

NetTechie · Post by **NetTechie** » Tue Jun 15, 2004 11:06 pm

Ralf Hutter wrote:As for being a PITA to open the door to push the power switch, well maybe you should do some wrist curls or something to build up your arm strength. Personally, I just suck it up and open the door one time in the morning to turn it on, then leave it running during the day and shut it off through the OS itself at the end of the day. The next morning, I repat the process. That give my wrist 24 hours to repair itself.

I agree... that certainly heartily deserves a

(gotta save that link there... that's good

)

RaNDoMMAI · Post by **RaNDoMMAI** » Wed Jun 16, 2004 12:48 am

Wedge wrote:
NetTechie, get the LX or AMB over the BQE. They are better cases, IMO, and I have never been wrong, ever.

I really dont see how you can say the AMB is better then the BQE.

For one thing the AMB is not black.
my nec 930sb and MX duo would look kind of out of place with a brown case. Almost every LCD i have seen is black.

second, you have to cut the grills out of it so it doesnt cause turbluence noise.

third, other then the HDD rail and grills, they are the same case! The BQE is just a newer model that is black!

the only two simple things had to do with my BQE for silence was tape up the extra holes and use stretch magic for suspention.

my HDD temp right now is 33C. i think that is totally awesome!

For some reason i still had seak noise coming from my HDD with sorbothane.

~RaNDoM

nick705 · Post by **nick705** » Wed Jun 16, 2004 1:28 am

y nec 930sb and MX duo would look kind of out of place with a brown case

Nooo!....the AMB is not brown....

You just wait till Ralf hears about this...

Post by **Ralf Hutter** » Wed Jun 16, 2004 6:08 am

RaNDoMMAI wrote:
Wedge wrote:
NetTechie, get the LX or AMB over the BQE. They are better cases, IMO, and I have never been wrong, ever.
I really dont see how you can say the AMB is better then the BQE.

For one thing the AMB is not black.

Yes, this is an important point, because as everyone knows, Black Computers are faster!

RaNDoMMAI wrote:my nec 930sb and MX duo would look kind of out of place with a brown case. Almost every LCD i have seen is black.

ARRRGGGGHHH!!!!

One more time folks, repeat after me:

The 3700AMB is not "bronze" or "brown"

It's not,
It's not,
It's not,
It's not,
It's not,
It's not,
It's not,
not, not not, not!!

It's sort of a medium metallic gray color and actually goes quite well with black keyboards and monitors.

RaNDoMMAI wrote:second, you have to cut the grills out of it so it doesnt cause turbluence noise.

Quite true, but in the BQE you have to cut away the HDD drive cage to get better airflow and drive mounting.

RaNDoMMAI wrote:third, other then the HDD rail and grills, they are the same case! The BQE is just a newer model that is black!

Basically true, except the BQE has worse airflow than an AMD with the grills punched.

Man, are we geeks here or what!

Wedge · Post by **Wedge** » Wed Jun 16, 2004 7:22 am

I have an AMB case and also a case with the hard drive cage turned sideways like in the BQE. I like the AMB much better in that respect.

Cutting the grills away is fun. I did it and it made me feel like a true modder.

Ralf is right. The AMB is not brown. For some reason, the pictures I have seen do not do the color justice. Plus it has a glossy finish that is really nice. My only complaint about that case is the front bezel. It looks good, but I have a bit of trouble putting it back on. It seems like it might break easily.

I'm probably about to grab an LX because I'm going to build the fastest, quietest PC known to man (of course, it will have to be painted black).

NetTechie · Post by **NetTechie** » Wed Jun 16, 2004 12:32 pm

I haven't seen an AMB, but I have seen the Chieftec Dragon in the Antec version (I forget model #). It is dinfinitely GREY... as in like what the clouds look like during a storm. So... I assume the AMB is the same. I do not want grey, I want black... gloss black! No offence to the grey-loving fans.

Post by **Ralf Hutter** » Wed Jun 16, 2004 12:53 pm

NetTechie wrote:I want black... gloss black! No offence to the grey-loving fans.

Well then you're SOL with the BQE too. It's not gloss black, it's semi-gloss, at best.

Looks like there's a Sonata in your future young man.

Just a word from the wise though: Gloss painted cases are very hard to keep clean. Every fingerprint and smudge shows up real well. Semi-gloss is a lot less maintenance intensive.

NetTechie · Post by **NetTechie** » Wed Jun 16, 2004 1:00 pm

Ralf Hutter wrote:
NetTechie wrote:I want black... gloss black! No offence to the grey-loving fans.
Well then you're SOL with the BQE too. It's not gloss black, it's semi-gloss, at best.

Looks like there's a Sonata in your future young man.

Just a word from the wise though: Gloss painted cases are very hard to keep clean. Every fingerprint and smudge shows up real well. Semi-gloss is a lot less maintenance intensive.

I mean SEMI glosss!!

nick705 · Post by **nick705** » Wed Jun 16, 2004 3:01 pm

Darlings....black is just SOOO passe...

I have an ultra-high maintenance GF who is also a complete style nazi...even she liked the AMB I bought recently. In fact, with typical tact and sensitivity, she said it reminded her of her "ex-boyfriend's BMW 740" whilst looking pointedly at my four-year-old Ford Mondeo parked in the driveway...

NetTechie · Post by **NetTechie** » Wed Jun 16, 2004 3:41 pm

nick705 wrote:In fact, with typical tact and sensitivity, she said it reminded her of her "ex-boyfriend's BMW 740" whilst looking pointedly at my four-year-old Ford Mondeo parked in the driveway...

ROFL!!!

I guess in your case a good looking case has it's risks.

RaNDoMMAI · Post by **RaNDoMMAI** » Wed Jun 16, 2004 7:49 pm

My bad ralf

I just went over to my friends house who has a AMB and it is indead not brown, it is more silver acually.

anyway, I thought air coming into a case is not that important for airflow in the case, doesnt the manual of the antec 3700 recommend NOT using a front fan for MAXiMUM noise reduction?

I always thought the point of having a front fan was for active cooling of the HDD.

also, other then the HDD drive cage and fan grills, there is no difference in the BQE and AMB right?

~RaNDoM

NetTechie · Post by **NetTechie** » Wed Jun 16, 2004 9:31 pm

I have looked closely, and that seems the only difference between them. Maybe a bit more room in the front for a fan to fit in also, considering that the orientation of the drives might make the case deeper/longer. I don't know. After reading a lot about these cases, that is the main difference, and the grill on the back is more restrictive on the AMB (compared with the BQE) I think, requiring you to remove and replace it for better silent airflow. And the color ofcourse.

Post by **Ralf Hutter** » Thu Jun 17, 2004 6:39 am

RaNDoMMAI wrote:also, other then the HDD drive cage and fan grills, there is no difference in the BQE and AMB right?

~RaNDoM

One more thing. Due to the lack of space between the front wall and the HDD cage on the BQE, you'll need to mount any front fan on the outside of the case, directly under the plastic bezel. On the AMD the front fan mounts where you'd expect it too, behind the case wall/fan grill.

CoolRunnings · Post by **CoolRunnings** » Sat Jun 19, 2004 3:57 pm

Ok, I just replaced an LX-6A19 with a BQE because it is WAY quieter in my opinion. I have the exact same components in the system and I prefer the BQE by a landslide. I've also had an AMB and that wasn't too bad. The thing I absolutely despise with the LX-6A19 is that the front little door over the USB ports not only makes it a pain to access the ports but it it tends to fall right off! Additionally, though it is convenient for cleaning the grill, the silver portion on the front of the case is exceptionally loose. As far as fit and finish of the tower itself, the two cases are completely identical, color and all. The difference is in the bezel and the drive bays. One other thing that is REALLY nice with the BQE is the fact that they finally did away with the annoying fan mount system with the BQE so you can finally mount fans properly without having the annoying buzz of the fans rattling in the sockets or have to cut up the back of the case and drill new holes. Don't get me wrong, the LX-6A19 is not a bad case, per-se but I'll be sticking with the AMBs and the BQEs for future builds due to annoyance with the flimsy front bezel.