Casecom CL-86 Case Controller Review

Is bigger better or just this years fashion craze? I gave up following the trends and watched from afar as gadgets and technology shrunk and expanded with the seasons. Whilst choosing a full sized computer case may seem like the last vestige of spacial luxury (or a mid 30's gentleman residing in the basement of his parental abode), there is a time and a place when nothing but the largest will suffice.

The Controller has long been a fan of overclocking (and generally filling his section of the house with assorted 'necessary' objects), and any in a similar position will understand the requirements to house such an obtuse beast (the computer, not The Controller!). Whether you opt for a massive air cooler, water cooling or simply need extra space for cable tidying and multiple graphics cards, there always seems a complaint with standard cases. Believe me when I say I think I have heard all of them, and the search for a reasonably priced case with massive stature was long over due.


Enter the Casecom CL-86; an honest to god behemoth of a case, bought for the princely sum of £71.99 from Ebuyer and shipped in a cardboard box big enough to escape biblical floods in (and amuse 2-10 year old's for hours). If you're looking for a media centre case or something to fit neatly under an average desk look elsewhere! At my incessant pestering, the overjoyed Controller has resolved to elucidate his opinions into a guest post, though I have added images to detail certain aspects, the rest is entirely his work. Sorry.....

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Getting the case out I found myself just staring at the size for over 10 minutes, the build quality for the price I paid was much better than I had been led to believe from other  reviews, yes there is a fair amount of plastic, but its heavy duty and more than functional.

The first thing I would like to talk about it the top section, it houses a fan controller for 4 fans, two USB 2.0, two USB 3.0 and a sata dock fitting 3.5 inch hard drives and 2.5 inch hard drives or solid state if you happen to have one.

I for one am a massive fan of both fan controllers and hard drive docks having bought fan controllers for other builds in the past and lusting after a hard drive dock for some time.

The amount of hard drives you come across that you need access to the information and the only way is to open your PC and fit it, this takes all that hassle out of the picture, I will say one bad thing about the dock, it doesn't have a guide to put it in just a flap to cover the inner workings.

Now on to the cable tidying, on the website it gives you an approximation of the space, 16mm, this is only half the story, the panel covering the off side is made to give you even more space, coming out in a kind of step set-up, and with the panels fitting like doors instead of a slide fitting cable space is plentiful and very easy to implement.

The space to fit the cables through is also close on unparalleled, for each size of motherboard you will find rubber grommets close enough to the edge of the board so as not to have your cables running too long showing again, it’s a very good system and even on high end cases I have used much worse.

Talking about cable tidying I must warn everyone going to buy this case, the sheer size coupled with the bottom mount PSU means most PSU cables won’t be long enough, buy extensions for the 4/8 pin CPU power, the 20/24pin main power and the 6/8 pin PCI-e cables, and that's just a minimum that I had to buy, you can trail the cables straight to the sockets but your cables will be a hindrance to air flow.

That brings me quite neatly to airflow, and heat zones.

The PSU, apart from being bottom mounted, has a metal removable partition to keep it in its own heat zone, having bottom mount space for fans, two 140mm will fit but after putting in your PSU only one of said mounts are really usable, I'm sure I could find a way to mount both but it’s worth consideration if you were thinking otherwise.

Airflow could be better if you took all the sides off and stuck it in a wind tunnel, since we don’t all have a spare wind tunnel I am more than content with this case in that respect.

The CL-86 comes with:

·         Rear 140mm fan

·         Front 200mm fan

·         Top 2x140mm fan(s)

·         Side space for a 200mm fan (no fan included)

With the size of the fans they don't need to be spinning fast to get good airflow but since they are generic fans I can’t give you details on the CFM nor do I have a decibel meter so once again the poor reader is out of luck.

I find them adequate for generic fans but being an overclocker I have better fans on the "to buy" list. A quick mention goes to filters, the bottom and front both have filters for dust but the back, side and top go without, an oversight in my humble opinion but using positive air pressure coupled with a clean environment and keeping your PC off the floor is the way you should be using if you’re a clean PC type the filters are only another measure not a cure so no real biggy.

I use compressed air on a regular basis and negative pressure myself but I know dust bunnies and weekly cleaning annoy some.

Expansion space, as one would think for a case this size, is great, myself, I'm a water cooler so space is always welcome but the same can be said for any enthusiast from multi card set-ups to people that use high end air coolers and this case gives you what you need in all respects.

With 9 slots on the back for multi card set-ups to that extra width for high end coolers it has it all.

I can only really speak for water cooling right now, I will go multi card with this case but that’s another review for another day.

The water cooling space is great, I am using an AiO system right now but in the past have had many custom set-ups and I wish I had this case then.

Talking about the AiO set-ups I am using a Corsair H100i right now, I was hesitant to buy this case as I didn't know anyone that had married to two so never knew for a fact if this would fit, I took the chance as the top fan mounts said they would fit both 2x140mm fans and 2x120 fans, if the fans fit surely the 240mm radiator would fit, I took a chance, all be it a small chance on it not fitting and it paid off, let me take that chance away from others, any 240mm, 280mm AiO water cooler will fit, will even fit with push / pull set-ups it will have to be top mount but its super tidy.

If you are going for a custom water set-up then I have just a spot of bad news, I can’t see any space for a 360mm radiator inside the case, the case does have 5 grommets in the back for hoses but I don’t think a 360 radiator will fit inside, with its size it should have been possible but no.

The expansion slots for cards are a joy to use as well, I have used tool less in the past and on the whole a good tool less system is well worth an extra couple of quid, I will always prefer a screw design so the part of the case really appeals to me, the backing plate slots are of good quality metal and been made to be kept, each of the slots have thumb screws and space to use them, the HDD/SSD mounting is a tool less system made of plastic, not the way I have seen it done with the higher end systems but it’s a solid plastic and as long as you not very, very heavy handed it will last for the life of the case.

Each hard drive bay will also fit a 2.5 inch drive instead of the 3.5 inch advertised , giving plenty of options storage space wise.

The hard drive compartments have a funny tool less design, it’s nice and tight fitting wise but closing is not just a case of pushing in…just watch for it.

All in all its well worth the money, I would buy this again no question, the fittings that come with the case, stand-offs etc.  All come in a velvet feeling little bag, it comes with lots of bits and bobs and enough matching screws to make the OCD lot a happy lot, a great buy and an outstanding price point.

Also check out the previous post for the chance to Win Five Steam Games!