CFI Prime 211 CFI-A4896 Black ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

Pros: Held the components; price; USB ports; Front fan LED

Cons: non-existent cable management; no documentation;

Other Thoughts: Found this case on sale for $39.99 and was planning to do my first build so I jumped on it. It sat in the corner until this weekend when I finally did my build. The case did what it is supposed to do - held all the components. All front panel connections worked when connected to the mobo. Blue LED on front fan is a nice effect. We really did just stuff the cables into the open area that should hold additional disks when we set up RAID.

I really like that it has 6 front panel USB ports - 2 are USB 3; in my setup 2 are USB 1 and 2 are USB 2, though I assume that all four could be USB 2 if the mobo had 4 available USB 2 plugs. Also has front panel speaker & microphone ports.

It's not "cool", but it does the job.

Pros: Bought this because it came with a free Logisys PS480D power supply and a $15 mail in rebate. Out of pocket ended up being $20.00.

Cons: No way to mount a 2.5" Floppy or Media Card reader on to the front faceplate. There is a blank insert, but no mounting brackets on the inside of the case. Only way to mount a 3.5" hard drive is to push the power and sata connector out the right side panel. Hope you have a angled sata connector and power connector as this bend is bound to cause breaks in a straight connector. Only 3 mounting screws line up with the case on the Logisys PS480D power supply. My final complaint is that the front USB 3.0 Connectors do not work with SYBA PCIe 3.0 card. When plugging in a USB 3.0 flash drive or external hard drive windows locks up, don't even get a friendly blue screen, just locks up and you have to hold the power button to get windows to shutdown.

Other Thoughts: Design flaw, complete catastrophe.

Pros: This case has all the parts you want,bottom P/S placement,easy access hard drive cage ,quiet fans .Lots of USB ports

Cons: The POWER SWITCH DOESN'T WORK, how hard is to make

the power switch work . I used the reset button before I took the thing apart to see if it was something else . It is a pain in the end to get to the switch .I really hate stupid problems like this .

Other Thoughts: This is a nice case for a casual build except for that power switch ,it ruins the whole case you have to take the
entire case apart to get at the screws that hold the switch assembly in place ,really poor workmanship.

Pros: cheap with rebate, lots of fans

Cons: came damaged, box didn't show any damaged but when I opened top of unit was crack

Pros: Nice case, 3 fans, front USB3.0

Cons: maybe too large for some people

Pros: Good budget ATX mid-tower case, plenty of cooling with three fans, two extra USB ports on top. Easy to assemble and looks better in person than the photo. Have extra space in the back for cable routing.

Cons: Hard drive cage is kind of a pain in the neck to use, although it works just fine.

Other Thoughts: Case is well worth the money.

Pros: Mesh front
Three very quiet fans included
Bottom PSU mount
2x USB 3 front ports
4x USB 2 ports

Cons: Biggest con is what others have mentioned with the power button not working. I found out why after removing six screws to get to the button itself. The two wires are not soldered to the button prongs. They are wrapped in a thin black insulator that is not adequate to hold the wires to the metal prongs. I had to solder in place and now it works fine. REALLY, CFI?

Where are these so-called '2 hot swap 2.5” bays'?

The 3.5" hard drive cages are three plastic 'cages' have a pull handle made of very thin plastic. One broke when I first took the case out of the box due to me trying to pull the HDD cages out not realizing there were screws in the back of these cages holding them in. A simple instruction sheet/manual would have been nice if it had been included.

Speaking of these HDD cages, the side screw holes to hold a hard drive in them are not offset to allow for installing the HDD's farther back towards the opposite side of the case or bringing the HDD's closer to the front side. This would help with cables that do not bend easily.

The 2.5" mount that is built into the cage is designed in such a way that the only way to gain access to the power & data connector on the 2.5" HDD is through the back side (Same side the MB mounts) of the case.

I have a mix of 2.5 SSD drives and 3.5" spindle drives. With both installed using those red HDD cages, I have to have the power and data cables going to the back side of the case for the 2.5" drives and to the front side of the case for the 3.5" drives. The design is really bad and extremely inconvenient.

Other Thoughts: If I knew about the hard drive cages being designed the way they are, I would have passed on this case. Not to mention the bad assembly of the power button cable!

I would have returned this but did not spend the cost to ship it back. So, I'm stuck with this case.

CFI will not get any of my money in the future.

Yes, it was cheap and came with the free power supply but too much time and effort has been put into getting this case 'functional' out of the box.

Hope this review helps.

Pros: Cheap

Cons: The top case fan just under the red cover was broken on the side allowing the fan to slide left to right. That's right the top fan doesn't screw into position it is held in place by plastic arms. I'm using some super glue now to repair the damage.

Other Thoughts: I bought this with a free Logisys 480w power supply plus a $15.00 mail in rebate. So it was very affordable, and what can I say you get what you pay for.

Pros: thin, light but seems solid case. It has plenty of room to work with and three fans. It also has USB 3.0 ports on the front panel. It would be a good case for a budget build if the power switch works.

Cons: The power switch doesn't work. It sucks that after I put all the stuffs in and connect everything, the computer can't be turned on. Luckily I have another case so I connected the power SW from that case to the motherboard which is still in the Prime 211 case. The computer can be powered up without any problem.

So I got a defective case with a broken power switch. Anybody has the same problem?

Other Thoughts: This is my first DOA from newegg. Since I have to paid return shipment to ship the defective product back to newegg for a refund or replacement, I don't think I will send it back considering the price and hassle. I will try to open the front panel to see if I can fix it.

Pros: Price, looks, and front USB 3.0 that plugs into the mother board not a pass through. I bought this case on sale for $35 and it came with a free 480w power supply. I was looking for a decent cheap case to throw my old computer parts in and this is it!. It looks great, and i couldn't ask for more for the price. The tool less 5 1/4 drives is nice as well.

Cons: It is a little flimsy but are you expecting from a $35 case? I mean really $35! You cant expect fort knox here. As i stated in the pros the tool less drive bays is a nice touch but i wish it would have been implemented in with the hard drive bays as well. It is a midsize case and with a full size ATX board in it it barley fits. Also If your SATA connectors plug into the side of your mother board like the one i have, there is a good chance that the hard drive rack will BLOCK some of your connectors. Having some right angle sata cables will help this. "Screws? You don't need no stinking screws..." This is what they must have been thinking when giving you the case screws. I only had 9 motherboard standoffs and ceramic washers and my board uses 10. Luckily i had some spares. Last but not least wire management can be a little tricky. But again its a cheap case. Don't expect everything under the sun for $35.....

Other Thoughts: I took 1 egg off only because The SATA ports on my mother board are blocked if i have all the hard drive trays in. It save you a little time if you get this case. To remove the hard drive trays remove the black screws on the other side of the case. Also the hard drive trays have mounts for 3.5 and 2.5 drive. You can also remove unused trays. So if you have a really long video card there is a really good chance it will fit. I wouldn't count on having 2 video cards fit though. Unless you don't need a hard drive. If your thinking of water cooling with this case DONT! there is literally no room for it! If you are ponying up to water cool, pony up for a bigger better case. For the price i would recommend this case to anyone looking at getting a new cheap case.