Are 5.25" case apertures obsolete?

tinmar49 · Dec 10, 2021

I have been looking out for a new tower case on one of the largest sellers in the UK. It seems that there are very few that still have 5.25" front case mounts, and I would still like to fit a DVD drive and a combi for 2.5" and 3.5" drives, SSD and older spinners. My cases have a door at the front with 2 or 3 drive apertures, the new type seem to favour pretty lights and fans.

iko22 · Dec 10, 2021

Yes, I agree such cases are becoming less popular. However, after a short rumage around I found " Obsidian Series 750D full tower PC case", which has 2 x modular drive cages housing three 3.5¡¨ or 2.5¡¨ drives each. I believe the upper drive cage is externally accessible. Take a look yourself.

Scramjet · Dec 10, 2021

Hi there, I have the Phanteks Full tower which had 3 5.25 drive bay slots in front. Works great for me because I have a Blu-ray writer and a case box tray to store all my USB sticks in for quick access. You can get windowed or closed towers. Hope this helps

cheers

Ghot · Dec 10, 2021

tinmar49 said:
I have been looking out for a new tower case on one of the largest sellers in the UK. It seems that there are very few that still have 5.25" front case mounts, and I would still like to fit a DVD drive and a combi for 2.5" and 3.5" drives, SSD and older spinners. My cases have a door at the front with 2 or 3 drive apertures, the new type seem to favour pretty lights and fans.

Cases that have what you want... and that are sold in the UK.

Choose A Case - PCPartPicker

Choose A Case

uk.pcpartpicker.com

If I had to choose one, to recommend...

Fractal Design Define R6 ATX Mid Tower Case (FD-CA-DEF-R6-GY) - PCPartPicker

Fractal Design Define R6 ATX Mid Tower Case (FD-CA-DEF-R6-GY)

uk.pcpartpicker.com

iko22 · Dec 10, 2021

Ghot said:
Cases that have what you want... and that are sold in the UK.

Choose A Case - PCPartPicker

Choose A Case

uk.pcpartpicker.com

Cool !

That site has actually got a web filter for the external bays! Saves staring out product photos for ages.

tinmar49 · Dec 12, 2021

Thanks, I have added the pcpartpicker to my favourites for further study. I had never heard of them. I found that it can be very hard to actually tell by the photos or the descriptions whether the bays are present.
The case I am using now for my beta W11 is a Fractal Design Define R3, I rather like them and some of the Coolermaster ones.

Dru2 · Dec 12, 2021

My Phanteks Enthoo Luxe has three 5.25 bay drives, and I'm currently using one of the bays for a DVD writer.

Wynona · Dec 12, 2021

Oh, wow, how time marches on.

I just had a look at my tower, and other than the one DVD/CD drive, there are no spaces for anything else!

There are plenty of other types of ports, though. USB 2.0 and 3.0, USB C, and an SD card port. If I want to hook another type of drive to this machine, I can use my Sabrent Dual-Bay External Hard Drive Docking Station that also takes SSD drives. And/or my selection of external drives.

The Sabrent I have seems to already be heading for obsolescence, but will probably serve my purposes for the long run.

PerpetualCycle · Dec 12, 2021

Well there are always external USB DVD drives and even external USB enclosures, some that will even take a 5.25" bay dvd player (at least there were a year ago). But externals are not attractive and take up space.

I use a Sabrent external 5-bay dock for my hard drives Wynona. Built like a tank. If you go that way I give them a thumbs up.

Dru2 · Dec 12, 2021

Of course there is, and have one since my Cooler Master H500M doesn't support internal drives. However, I still prefer having an internal drive where possible. That's me. YMMV

tinmar49 · Dec 12, 2021

I have an Akasa AK-IEN Locstore M51 which holds 3.5" and 2.5" at the same time and also has space for a couple of the older USB3 sockets. I would like something with 2 x 2.5" drives plus an SD card slot, but that's just wishful thinking. There are 3.5" size with 2 x 2.5" drives but then I would need to reduce from 5.25" to 3.5".

Ghot · Dec 12, 2021

tinmar49 said:
I have an Akasa AK-IEN Locstore M51 which holds 3.5" and 2.5" at the same time and also has space for a couple of the older USB3 sockets. I would like something with 2 x 2.5" drives plus an SD card slot, but that's just wishful thinking. There are 3.5" size with 2 x 2.5" drives but then I would need to reduce from 5.25" to 3.5".

They sell things that fit into a 5.25" bay that have USB ports SD card slots etc.
On that PCPartpicker website I linked above, you can use the stuff on the left side to sort through all the cases, for exactly what you want.

When you sort through the cases, just choose (on the left side) cases that have 2x 5.25" bays.

Like this case...

Fractal Design Define R5 ATX Mid Tower Case (FD-CA-DEF-R5-BK) - PCPartPicker

Fractal Design Define R5 ATX Mid Tower Case (FD-CA-DEF-R5-BK)

uk.pcpartpicker.com

Has this...

Here's the main link for cases in the UK. Just go down the left side and choose what you want your case to have.
Like how many 5.25" bays and 2.5" and 3.5" drive holders internally... etc.
I'd recommend a mid tower case, that fits ATX motherboards as well.

Choose A Case - PCPartPicker

Choose A Case

uk.pcpartpicker.com

Here's a SD card reader (5.25" bay) at Amazon UK, with ALL the frills.

They have tons of different ones available, as well.

Eidoct 5.25 inch Multi-function USB 3.0 Hub CF TF M2 SD MS Card Reader Fan Controller with LCD Display PC Front Panel Media Dashboard eSATA Audio Headphone Mic: Amazon.co.uk: Computers & Accessories

Free delivery and returns on eligible orders. Buy Eidoct 5.25 inch Multi-function USB 3.0 Hub CF TF M2 SD MS Card Reader Fan Controller with LCD Display PC Front Panel Media Dashboard eSATA Audio Headphone Mic at Amazon UK.

www.amazon.co.uk

They also have card readers that work off of a USB dongle, or that fit in 3.5" bays, etc.

Here's a 7 in 1 card reader that works off of a USB 3.0 port....

USB 3.0 - 7 in 1 card reader

wordsworth · Dec 12, 2021

tinmar49 said:
I have been looking out for a new tower case on one of the largest sellers in the UK. It seems that there are very few that still have 5.25" front case mounts, and I would still like to fit a DVD drive and a combi for 2.5" and 3.5" drives, SSD and older spinners. My cases have a door at the front with 2 or 3 drive apertures, the new type seem to favour pretty lights and fans.

I know what you mean about wanting some bays for drives as I thought the same; but for the latest build I went with the Fractal Design Meshify 2 and although it offers a lot of potential bays for internal drives, I decided to take a different approach with it and eliminate all the internal cabling I could by using two M.2 drives in the motherboard only, then getting an external DVD drive and backup drive to complete the system. I really like how clean and simple the internals are in this system. My system 2 has all the internal drive bays utilized though (DVDs, card reader) so it was a little easier to take this different approach for the other system.

PerpetualCycle · Dec 12, 2021

wordsworth said:
I know what you mean about wanting some bays for drives as I thought the same; but for the latest build I went with the Fractal Design Meshify 2 and although it offers a lot of potential bays for internal drives, I decided to take a different approach with it and eliminate all the internal cabling I could by using two M.2 drives in the motherboard only, then getting an external DVD drive and backup drive to complete the system. I really like how clean and simple the internals are in this system. My system 2 has all the internal drive bays utilized though (DVDs, card reader) so it was a little easier to take this different approach for the other system.

Similar to me. I have a meshify 2 with only m.2 and a couple SSD on the back side. I had planned to get an external DVD or CD, but wouldn't use it any. (don't watch DVD). Just et everything streaming now. Meshify 2 are really nice and have good airflow.

wordsworth · Dec 12, 2021

geneo said:
Similar to me. I have a meshify 2 with only m.2 and a couple SSD on the back side. I had planned to get an external DVD or CD, but wouldn't use it any. (don't watch DVD). Just et everything streaming now. Meshify 2 are really nice and have good airflow.

I may need to utilize those back side options in the future if I fill out the second M.2 with video files. And I agree as I do like how cool this system runs with the good air flow through all the mesh in the case even with the fans in Silent mode.

A Guy · Dec 13, 2021

I specifically chose the Antec P10 Flux because it had a 5 1/2 inch bay among other things of course

A Guy

Ghot · Dec 13, 2021

This is my case, but I've never used more than one 5.25" bay...

Cooler Master ATCS 840

jimbo45 · Dec 13, 2021

Hi folks
For HDD's why not go for something like an external 4 / 5 HDD bay enclosure. These can connect to USB3/USB3.1/USBC or even to the esata port directly. Advantage as well is they can offer various types of RAID as well. I like the Icybox 4 bay enclosure :

External 4 Bay RAID System for 3.5" SATA HDD USB 3.0 from Icy Box IB-RD3640SU3

Buy from Scan - ICY BOX IB-RD3640SU3 External RAID System for 3.5" SATA HDD with USB 3.0 + eSATA Host

www.scan.co.uk

I've totally gone off large towers these days -- I find using "Micro PC's" like beelink SE18 far better, space wise, power wise etc and the external bays connect directly to the SE18

Beelink SEi8 Mini PC with Windows 10 - DROIX

Intel® Core™ i5-8279U 4.10GHz, cTDP: 20-28W Up to 16GB DDR4; up to 512GB NVMe Intel Iris Plus Graphics Dual monitor support; 4K@30Hz Wi-Fi 5 & Bluetooth 4.1; USB 3.0, Type-C

droix.co.uk

plenty of other options -- there are dozens of models available (Intel NUC etc) -- big towers are IMO now not required for 99% of users -- these mini ones can offer decent gaming etc etc and really occupy minimal space which is often at a premium -- especially with more and more remote working - and if several people at home are remote working / studying..

Cheers
jimbo

pparks1 · Dec 13, 2021

my last computer with an optical drive was from 2009.

I have a USB based DVD Writer that I can pull out of moth balls if I ever need to read or write a disk again.

And you are right, cases with 5.25 slots are becoming more and more rare.

tinmar49 · Dec 15, 2021

I settled on a Corsair Carbide 200R and found that Currys had them for free delivery or pickup at the local store. I have a big roll of sound deadening material which I can attach to various parts inside.

Are 5.25" case apertures obsolete?

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