Case recommendations

I currently need to have a fan blowing directly at my case or else my hdds and CPU overheat. I have no options of mounting hdd coolers in my current case without extensive modding.

I understand that p190 case has sound-proofing and actually the weight isn't really a problem. It is the included PSUs which I am not keen on. I have a Corsair HX620 which IMHO is of higher quality than the Antec NeoPower.
 
Don't buy a Thermaltake, please. They're so cliched. Heavy mo-fackies too. Have fun lugging one of those to a LAN party :p

Get a Silverstone Temjin 7/9/10 (take your pick) and never buy another case (until ATX is replaced).
 
I don't go to LAN parties anymore. The silver version of the ThermalTake Armor+ is 100% aluminium.

I will check out that Silverstone Temjin case, though. Thanks for the tip.
 
Antec P182, but you better don't want to move your computer, that case is heavy !
 
Akasa Eclipse 62 is fantastic, but you'll never find it. Great cooling, too; my temps are stupidly good.
 
Another vote for Akasa Eclipse 62, one of the best designed cases on the market.

Some of the Lian Li are nice to work with too.
 
The Antec Twelve Hundred is awesome, a very solid improvement over the Antec Nine Hundred. It doesn't meet all your criteria, though:

My needs:
  • maxi/full tower, preferably long/deep and not super-tall
  • possibility to add fans, or preferably a number of (3 or more) 120mm fans installed as standard
  • as light as possible, 100% aluminium is cool
  • no/as few as possible case LEDs, no flashing LEDs
  • thumb-screws as standard
  • good cooling for harddrives, side-mounted harddrive bay is cool and I would like that

The case comes with 6 installed Antec fans (3x 120mm front, 2x 120mm back, 1x 200mm top) with blue LEDs. The fan speed can be individually controlled from 1200 rpm to 2000 rpm (the 200mm top fan spins at 700 rpm at low settings). You can only switch off the LED of the top fan, which I did. The other LEDs don't bother me, though. You can also mount an additional 120mm in the side panel.

At 1200 rpm the 120mm fans are still too noise for my taste so I hooked them up to a fan controller and they're now spinning probably at like 800rpm - which is still plenty because the case is built like a sifter (with dust filters).

HDDs are mounted into drive cages that go into the 5.25" drive bays, of which there are 12, I think. I threw the drive cages out and mounted my 4 HDDs directly into the drive bays using HDD decouplers. There was a problem getting the mounting brackets for the decouplers to fit without getting rid of the front fan but that was resolved by mounting them backwards and inserting the drive from the front, which makes the HDDs stick out of the drive bays a bit but it's no biggie. I mounted all drives either at the very top or the very bottom so the mainboard is fully exposed to two of the three front-mounted 120mm fans.

The case is slightly smaller than my old Chieftec Big Tower but it should still qualify as a full tower. There's plenty of room for cable management, including holes and room between the mainboard tray and the right side panel. There should be no problem with full-length video cards. Even internal water cooling should be no problem at all. There's plenty of room and no cross beams to get into the way (I really hate when I have to remove the mainboard just to get to the PSU).

The case uses thumb-screws for the side panels and the drive cages, the individual drivers and PCI-cards still have to be fixed with conventional screws.

The case is made of steel (and plastic) and quite heavy, which is one of the reasons I bought it. Fuck aluminuim cases, they're far too succeptible to HDD and fan vibrations. The heavier, the better, I rarely have to haul the thing around anyway.

The only thing I don't like is the fact that there is no front panel door to dampen DVD-Drive noise but then again, that would have probably clashed with the ZOMG RETARDEDLY GOOD COOLING WITHOUT HAVING TO RESORT TO SIDE PANEL FANS!!1 concept of the case.

The case isn't for ultra-sensitive silent-PC fanatics but if you lower the fan speed and decouple the HDDs it's still a reasonably quiet case.

The price may seem a bit hefty at €130 but since it comes with 6 half-decent fans that would cost ~ €70 if bought in retail it's not that bad, actually. I have to say I quite like the case. I would have bought the CoolerMaster Cosmos S or the Stacker 830 but they're €200 here and that's too steep for me. Since all three cases seem to be priced similarly in the US, you might want to get the Cosmos S, assuming that's where you live.

Here are some pictures. Sorry for all the dust, but I'm a pig. Also, I did a rather sloppy job with cable management. The flash light overexposed the dustfilters. The front actually looks... black with some tacky LED blue.


 
Last edited by a moderator:
I am looking to buy a new computer case because the one I have has insufficient cooling.

My needs:
  • maxi/full tower, preferably long/deep and not super-tall
  • possibility to add fans, or preferably a number of (3 or more) 120mm fans installed as standard
  • as light as possible, 100% aluminium is cool
  • no/as few as possible case LEDs, no flashing LEDs
  • thumb-screws as standard
  • good cooling for harddrives, side-mounted harddrive bay is cool and I would like that
Any suggestions are welcomed. :)
Price is no barrier, unless it is super-expensive ($1000 or something)

The case I want to replace is a ThermalTake Eureka. It just doesn't have good enough cooling for high-end enthusiast parts.

I bought the CMStacker 830 last August. Great case.

Comes in Silver and Black. Has wheels too. Only LED is the front lower fan, but you can replace that. No screws required for 5 1/4" bays or much of anything else save the mobo.

http://www.trustedreviews.com/peripherals/review/2006/02/23/Cooler-Master-CM-Stacker-830/p1
 
Thanks for all the suggestions thus far, guys. I am still looking mostly at the aluminium version of the ThermalTake Armor+. It is similar to my old case wrt. interior design but it has much improved cooling, though it looks worse, but I don't really care about looks anyway so it is all good.
 
My dream case would be a Antec P180B with the chamber separator gone and a side panel that displays the motherboard only. I'd also place the bottom fan in front of the hard drive holder and mid intake fan (if you add one) in front of the upper hard drive holder. Of course these modification wouldn't be to hard to do but I really don't feel like butchering mine.

When I look at a case I usually go with:

Is it silent? Silence is key, I found the stock Antec fans in the P180B even at low way to loud.

Is there room to route cables? Being able to see cables is a big no no for me. All must be out of sight.

Room to fit components, but not ridiculous huge? I like larger mid tower cases. The P180B is the largest I'd go. Full Towers are just way to big and I don't see the point. Length is the key for video cards and any decently designed mid size will be fine. If you need that many hard drives you'd likely be better off creating a file server.

The single most important factor... no LED fans.
 
I got the Armor+ 100% aluminium case and I have to say I am very pleased. It is much better than the Eureka case, the cable routing scheme is dope and they way you install HDDs is great too. So far it's great and not very noisy; I feared it was going to be much louder than it is.
 
Ain't it, great choice dude!
thumbup.gif
 
I had a hell of a time getting it, though. Every webshop in Norway was out of stock for over a month and suddenly a single case popped up and I just had to order it straight away.
 
My dream case would be a Antec P180B with the chamber separator gone and a side panel that displays the motherboard only. I'd also place the bottom fan in front of the hard drive holder and mid intake fan (if you add one) in front of the upper hard drive holder. Of course these modification wouldn't be to hard to do but I really don't feel like butchering mine.
I bought a P182, but at the moment I would go for the Antec 300 ... it's dirt cheap and easier to work with because of the weight, with low RPM fans and good drive suspension the sound deadening panels from the P18x doesn't add much (of course still no transparant side panel ... but at least it would be easier to mod with the single layer panels).

PS. I don't really see the need for an intake fan.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
A single intake fan on the P180 design increases cooling massively, it's huge. You can also achieve better temperatures with a one intake/one exhaust combination than a two exhaust setup and have the same noise level. None of this really matters as I'm about to part out of my gaming system and stick to my laptop as I have absolutely no free time for games anymore nor desire to make free time for them.
 
Back
Top