Discuss: Open Air Cases

[wabniky]

Recently I have been going through the struggle of digging deep into a full tower extended ATX compatible case, and while struggling to keep sane while attempting to screw the top left of my motherboard down I came across the thought of 'Whatever happened to the test bench line of cases' and 'Would it be worth it to switch?' This inspired my late night search for an adequate bench case for my custom setup. The only bench that caught my eye was the Aerocool Strike-X Air ^{(Link below to review by Linus)} that seemed to have the 'mean yet versatile' look.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3y-SxqpdGKY

 

However digging deeper into this I found that the reviews of this were less than what I was willing to take to dish out this much money. ^{(When you look at my build specs currently and see the total you'll understand why it's crossed out)}

 

Many other bench cases look the part such as the D-Frame style cases, but lack the ability to hold an E-ATX motherboard like what I currently have and have come to love. My end goal is to find an open frame case capable of holding a E-ATX motherboard ^{(namely my ASUS Rampage Extreme V Black Edition)} and my 2 ASUS STRIX GTX980's. Not to mention the other drawback to this case is that I would need to find alternate means to attach my Corsair H100i cooler radiator system or rather find a new means of cooling. 

 

However if the cooling system I currently use is the cause of not being able to use a certian bench case such as the Aerocool Strike-X I would find converting to a custom liquid coolant system as a far better option as the H100i is functional but serves little purpose for aesthetics. ^{(in my opinion obviously)}

 

So community give me a hand, and fill the comments with links to all relevant information/items that would fill the need and be easily obtainable for an individual who lives on the East coast of the US.

 

<Link to parts list of current build>

http://pcpartpicker.com/user/wabniky/saved/CNhYcf

[ttam]

Not meant to be used as your permanent case.
 

These are considered test benches. To test parts with ease of removal & putting parts in.