# Help Me Find a Case



## Kornowski (Dec 31, 2007)

Ok, So I'm considering getting a new case...

Ideally, I want;

Good Cooling
A Side Window
And to be fairly cheap P)

I'm looking at the Antec 900, but I'm open to suggestions 

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-065-AN

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-023-OK

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-145-CM

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-034-TT&groupid=701&catid=7&subcat=

Ideas?

Suggestions? 

Thanks!


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## PC eye (Dec 31, 2007)

Besides the 900 the Thermaltake model comes close to the 900 in a variery of ways and looks a bit better appearance wise then the other two you linked to. The one thing about that however is that it is the Armor Jr. when compared to the Armor Super Tower model seeing twin 120mm case fans in front like the 900 does. For a look at that.  http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-046-TT&groupid=701&catid=7&subcat=715


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## Kornowski (Dec 31, 2007)

That Thermaltake case is very expensive, I also don't really like the look of it, but thanks


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## Shane (Dec 31, 2007)

This baby!

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/129985

or this but i nver heard of it 

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/134744/show_product_gallery

i personaly like this
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/85282


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## taylormsj (Dec 31, 2007)

Id stay away form large side fans, they dont move a lot of air, and they mess up internal air flow realy bad.


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## Shane (Dec 31, 2007)

Danny now this is a good case 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RbFcouij0a4


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## Interested (Dec 31, 2007)

Raidmax Smilodon


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## nffc10 (Dec 31, 2007)

Nevakonaza said:


> Danny now this is a good case
> 
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RbFcouij0a4



Agreed.


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## Ramodkk (Dec 31, 2007)

Get a NZXT Apollo case, they are awesome! Tool-less design, lots of space, looks nice! 



GET IT IN ORANGE  Then you can join Me and ThatGuy16! Lol


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## Eternal Rest (Dec 31, 2007)

The antec 900 is great for airflow. As annoying as it is to build inside of it, it's still a great case. Stays very cool even stock, and looks good too.


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## PabloTeK (Dec 31, 2007)

The CM690 is a great case for airflow if it's set-up correctly. The top vents also allow you to have a radiator conesealed up there.


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## PC eye (Jan 1, 2008)

Eternal Rest said:


> The antec 900 is great for airflow. As annoying as it is to build inside of it, it's still a great case. Stays very cool even stock, and looks good too.


 
 It can be a little annoying is correct due to the lack of space immediately behind the upper drive bays and the board itself seeing the suppy at the bottom rather then the top as in most cases custom or otherwise. For getting ide data cables plugged in that's where you have some fun. 

The twin 120s in front as opposed to seeing the usual single fan are good when planning extra hard drives. You can also take one or both out to see one single HD in order to expand the amount of 5.25" drive bays. Antec even has a video clip on that seen at  http://www.antec.com/us/productDetails.php?ProdID=15900


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## WhiteFireDragon (Jan 1, 2008)

from those links, i'm assuming that you're looking for mid towers only? are you considering full towers at all? generally, full towers offer "better" cooling since there is more room for airflow and volume. i just recently got the thermaltake armor full tower because it was FREE (after rebate of $150). all i had to pay was the shipping and tax . deals like that are hard to find, but even still, TT full towers been really cheap recently (under $100 after discounts). but i'm not sure if there are many TT discounts over there in the UK.



taylormsj said:


> Id stay away form large side fans, they dont move a lot of air, and they mess up internal air flow realy bad.



really? how is that so? if that's really true, then i'll probably take out the 250mm gigantic fan off my thermaltake and just leave the blank mesh.


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## PC eye (Jan 1, 2008)

Did someone sat 250mm side fan? Try the AeroCool model seen at  http://www.xoxide.com/aerocool-extremengine-3t-black.html However not having a 250mm onhand for their other model I simply added a pair of 120s on the side cover of the one seen at  http://www.aerocool.us/p-case/aeroengine2/aeroengine2.htm

 The black colored model was used for the last build here when temps soared when upgrading an old Socket A then. The case then saw only two 80mm fans on the rear and top without any front fan or vents period! With the 900 now in use for the latest build the video card never sees over 30C as well as the hard drives.


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## paratwa (Jan 1, 2008)

I have called the 900 crap in other posts. That is not %100 true. It is a good case for keeping things cool. I just hate the little things about it. Like the bottom PSU mount, drive cages, front panel mounts, lack of wire routing space, loud fans, and the 3.5 drive adapter. Otherwise it's a good case. I would rate the 900 as a 6 out of 10


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## mep916 (Jan 1, 2008)

Antec 900.


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## PC eye (Jan 1, 2008)

It does have it's moments for sure. Antec did place a pair of plastic retaining straps seen for the top harness and whatever you can fit there. The supply was simply inverted here to accomidate for location seeing that with the bottom fan facing upward. So far no problems.

That and the lack of space immediately behind the drive bays for seeing ide type cables plugged in was the main annoyance while the fans and cooling see the real gain over the previous case used here on the last build. But you can find pros and cons on any case if you look hard enough. You kind of have to live with the one you pick out often enough!


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## pc-tech (Jan 1, 2008)

900


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## taylormsj (Jan 1, 2008)

WhiteFireDragon said:


> from those links, i'm assuming that you're looking for mid towers only? are you considering full towers at all? generally, full towers offer "better" cooling since there is more room for airflow and volume. i just recently got the thermaltake armor full tower because it was FREE (after rebate of $150). all i had to pay was the shipping and tax . deals like that are hard to find, but even still, TT full towers been really cheap recently (under $100 after discounts). but i'm not sure if there are many TT discounts over there in the UK.
> 
> 
> 
> really? how is that so? if that's really true, then i'll probably take out the 250mm gigantic fan off my thermaltake and just leave the blank mesh.



Yup when i removed my 25 cm fan off my panel on the old case my motherboard temperatures dropped like 4 C.

The air it pushes in stops the front intake - back exhaust flow working efficiently


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## PabloTeK (Jan 1, 2008)

I think you need to decide for yourself because we're never going to all agree; however the Antec 900 is good for cooling the Coolermaster is better for your graphics card because the 8800GTS unlike the Ultra has the power connector on the back of the card and since the 900 is shorter you could take out several drive bays in the process; I remember with my old Jeantech case the X1950 and power connector took out 2 drive bays.


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## Kornowski (Jan 1, 2008)

WhiteFireDragon said:


> from those links, i'm assuming that you're looking for mid towers only? are you considering full towers at all? generally, full towers offer "better" cooling since there is more room for airflow and volume. i just recently got the thermaltake armor full tower because it was FREE (after rebate of $150). all i had to pay was the shipping and tax . deals like that are hard to find, but even still, TT full towers been really cheap recently (under $100 after discounts). but i'm not sure if there are many TT discounts over there in the UK.
> 
> 
> 
> really? how is that so? if that's really true, then i'll probably take out the 250mm gigantic fan off my thermaltake and just leave the blank mesh.



Nope, I'm open to looking at full towers too, but they tend to be a lot more expensive don't they...



mep916 said:


> Antec 900.



lol, Biased at all Mike? 



PabloTeK said:


> The CM690 is a great case for airflow if it's set-up correctly. The top vents also allow you to have a radiator conesealed up there.



I really like the CM690, the only thing that puts me off is the fact that it doesn't have a side window 



PabloTeK said:


> I think you need to decide for yourself because we're never going to all agree; however the Antec 900 is good for cooling the Coolermaster is better for your graphics card because the 8800GTS unlike the Ultra has the power connector on the back of the card and since the 900 is shorter you could take out several drive bays in the process; I remember with my old Jeantech case the X1950 and power connector took out 2 drive bays.



That is true... Hmmm


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## mep916 (Jan 1, 2008)

Kornowski said:


> lol, Biased at all Mike?



Yes, I guess so. 



Kornowski said:


> I really like the CM690, the only thing that puts me off is the fact that it doesn't have a side window



Yeah, that's too bad. Otherwise, it looks like an excellent case.


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## PabloTeK (Jan 1, 2008)

You *can* get one according to the side of the box the CM690 sits in, but it's harder to find.


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## taylormsj (Jan 1, 2008)

Yeh you can get them form the coolermaster europe shop once they get more in stock, or do it yourself or you can send it off to get cut from places like chilled pc and kustom pc


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## mep916 (Jan 1, 2008)

taylormsj said:


> or you can send it off to get cut from places like chilled pc and kustom pc



Wow! I didn't know you can do that. Looks like I'm gonna get the CM Cosmos after all.


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## Kornowski (Jan 1, 2008)

taylormsj said:


> Yeh you can get them form the coolermaster europe shop once they get more in stock, or do it yourself or you can send it off to get cut from places like chilled pc and kustom pc



Can you buy pre-cut sides from them?



mep916 said:


> Wow! I didn't know you can do that. Looks like I'm gonna get the CM Cosmos after all.



Then I'd buy your 900


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## Geoff (Jan 1, 2008)

You may want to have a look here if you're interested in the Cooler Master 690:

http://www.maximumpc.com/article/cooler_master_hands_on


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## paratwa (Jan 1, 2008)

Yeah, Maximumpc only gives the CM690 a rating of 4 out of 10. They hated it!

I qoute, "Sweet ideas combined with subpar execution: Welcome to the Cooler Master 690."


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## PabloTeK (Jan 1, 2008)

It's all down to personal taste, I become wary of reviews because people will become accustomed to higher-quality products so when a budget-mid range product they often slam it.


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## ThatGuy16 (Jan 1, 2008)

Get a black stacker evo 

I think that will be my next case..


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## SirKenin (Jan 1, 2008)

If you're looking at Antec, this is one of their best:

http://www.antec.com/us/productDetails.php?ProdID=90511

Once you build with it, you'll quickly see why.  Far superior to that 900 piece of crap.


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## Geoff (Jan 1, 2008)

SirKenin said:


> Once you build with it, you'll quickly see why.  Far superior to that 900 piece of crap.


I still fail to see why you think the 900 is "a piece of crap".

I was able to install my 4 hard drives, 2 DVD-RW drives, 2900XT, P35 Motherboard, Toughpower PSU, and I had enough room for cable management.  The drive cages are just ingenious, and having the PSU on the bottom allows for better cable management, and much more effective way of removing the hot air from the case.

The only con I can see is that you only have three external drive bays, and the conversion piece for the 3.5" drive bay.


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## PC eye (Jan 2, 2008)

taylormsj said:


> Yup when i removed my 25 cm fan off my panel on the old case my motherboard temperatures dropped like 4 C.
> 
> The air it pushes in stops the front intake - back exhaust flow working efficiently


 
What I did to counteract that was mount a 120 facing outward rather then inward like seen when using a pair of 120s there. That help pull air from the front in better. Temps for just the video card alone never see over 30C for the mid range model over the last seeing one of the enders.



			
				[-0MEGA-];858472 said:
			
		

> I still fail to see why you think the 900 is "a piece of crap".
> 
> I was able to install my 4 hard drives, 2 DVD-RW drives, 2900XT, P35 Motherboard, Toughpower PSU, and I had enough room for cable management. The drive cages are just ingenious, and having the PSU on the bottom allows for better cable management, and much more effective way of removing the hot air from the case.
> 
> The only con I can see is that you only have three external drive bays, and the conversion piece for the 3.5" drive bay.


 
I'm currently taking a serious look at replacing the one remaining ide drive and seeing an extra pair of WD Green Power 1tb drives go in once the prices come down for work with video. The 125w AM2 6000+ X2 here was initially seeing a 23C load temp when first breaking the new case in.

The main problem seems to be right behind the 5 1/4" bays if left with those on top for plugging any ide cable into the board being a little cramped in space there. Having the supply a distance away even while at the bottom of the case seems to prevent warm air from getting trapped around the optical drives. 

The slide forward instead of sideways type 3 1/2" drive cages are more of a plus for ease of swapping drives out plus see the immediate cooling. So it does have both pros and cons depending on how you look at it. But that can said about a server type case for who? a gamer or networker? No bay doors found in the front like the P180 and other cases.


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## paratwa (Jan 2, 2008)

[-0MEGA-];858472 said:
			
		

> I still fail to see why you think the 900 is "a piece of crap".
> 
> The drive cages are just ingenious, and having the PSU on the bottom allows for better cable management, and much more effective way of removing the hot air from the case.




Are you nuts? Those drive cages where insane! They sucked so bad it was disgusting. They were the worst designed cages I have ever seen!

The PSU on the bottom lead to many problems besides the fact that heat rises, so the added heat of the PSU could lead to more heat inside. The only good thing I saw about that case was the cooling. Otherwise it was just crap.


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## Geoff (Jan 2, 2008)

paratwa said:


> Are you nuts? Those drive cages where insane! They sucked so bad it was disgusting. They were the worst designed cages I have ever seen!
> 
> The PSU on the bottom lead to many problems besides the fact that heat rises, so the added heat of the PSU could lead to more heat inside. The only good thing I saw about that case was the cooling. Otherwise it was just crap.


I can see how the drive cages may be a pain if you are always adding/removing hard drive, but it's much easier to only remove the cage once, install the drives, screw them in, and then put the cages back in the case then it is to need to remove both side panels, and trying to work inside the case.

The PSU on the bottom shouldn't cause too much extra heat as the PSU fan should pull most of the hot air out, however I feel that the extra large fan on the top of the case helps out significantly.


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## paratwa (Jan 2, 2008)

[-0MEGA-];858569 said:
			
		

> The PSU on the bottom shouldn't cause too much extra heat as the PSU fan should pull most of the hot air out, however I feel that the extra large fan on the top of the case helps out significantly.



I agree with that, and they only thing that saves that case is that it does cool so well. If it did not cool so well, then I would have rated this case a 3 out of 10.


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## SirKenin (Jan 2, 2008)

Yeah, the cooling is good (although Omega's temps suck pretty bad)..  I've used hundreds of cases in the last decade.  I've seen them all, from rackmounts, mini towers, shuttles, desktops to pedestals and full towers.

To me, the build is the most important aspect of a case.  Who cares what it looks like if the build is crapola.  I find it amusing how some people praise those POS drive cages.  They're the worst garbage design I've ever seen.  Even the HPs have better cages.


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## PC eye (Jan 2, 2008)

[-0MEGA-];858569 said:
			
		

> I can see how the drive cages may be a pain if you are always adding/removing hard drive, but it's much easier to only remove the cage once, install the drives, screw them in, and then put the cages back in the case then it is to need to remove both side panels, and trying to work inside the case.
> 
> The PSU on the bottom shouldn't cause too much extra heat as the PSU fan should pull most of the hot air out, however I feel that the extra large fan on the top of the case helps out significantly.


 
The only awkward part about the drive cages themselves obviously is seeing the fan plugged in since that is 12v there and not one you can plug into the board to monitor directly. Drive temps however see the gain there.

The case there is meant to be flexible like the video clip demonstration brings up when viewed at their site. Those are meant to slide out forward for easy access when adding or removing any drives. That part of it is made easy by the simple thumb screws. 

You still have to see both side covers come off while seeing far more access when fastening drives inplace. That's the plus factor there. As for the supply at the bottom of the case I simply added a 120 on the side cover for additional exhaust.


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## Kornowski (Jan 2, 2008)

I'm torn between the Antec 900 and the CM 690...

CM 690;

I like the size of it, the pre-cut holes for the cables to go behing the MOBO tray and the two 120mm fans on the top, but I don't like the lack of a windowed side pannel.

Antec 900;

Looks fantastic! Lots of cooling, side window. Routing the cables is the only things worrying me...


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## PabloTeK (Jan 2, 2008)

I'd try and source a CM690 with a side panel, you could probably find one on one of the specialist case websites.


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## Kornowski (Jan 2, 2008)

I've looked but can't seem to find one any-where


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## Geoff (Jan 2, 2008)

SirKenin said:


> Yeah, the cooling is good (although Omega's temps suck pretty bad)..  I've used hundreds of cases in the last decade.  I've seen them all, from rackmounts, mini towers, shuttles, desktops to pedestals and full towers.
> 
> To me, the build is the most important aspect of a case.  Who cares what it looks like if the build is crapola.  I find it amusing how some people praise those POS drive cages.  They're the worst garbage design I've ever seen.  Even the HPs have better cages.


The temps are high because of the CPU cooler I am using.  I put my processor back on stock and it idles around 28C, with the cores being around 20C.  This case drastically reduced the temps of my system when I moved from a Lian-Li to the 900.


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## Kornowski (Jan 2, 2008)

Do you think it would benefit me in the same way, drop my temps? At the moment, I'm idling at 36c, Load temps are about 54c...

Geoff, Have you ever thought about cutting holes in it to route the cables behind the MOBO tray?


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## SirKenin (Jan 3, 2008)

I don't see why it wouldn't drop your temps a few degrees, sure.


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## PC eye (Jan 3, 2008)

[-0MEGA-];859208 said:
			
		

> The temps are high because of the CPU cooler I am using. I put my processor back on stock and it idles around 28C, with the cores being around 20C. This case drastically reduced the temps of my system when I moved from a Lian-Li to the 900.


 
Precisely! The Lian-Li lacked a good setup for the intake of cooler room air compared to the twin 120s seen in front on the 900 as well as a larger 200mm fan sitting on top plus location of supply being away from trapping heat at the top next to the board.



SirKenin said:


> I don't see why it wouldn't drop your temps a few degrees, sure.


 
Try a Zalman CNPS 9500 on a 939 model board in a case only seeing two 80mm rear and top fans seeing 44-46C idle for the XP3200 and 46-48C for the board then moving everything into a better case just prior to the first sight of the 900 with a new case seeing a 140mm front intake and rear 120. Then add two 120s on the side cover later. 

Board temps immediately dropped to 31C with the cpu then seeing only 33C! As Praetor owuld say "Ambient temps" meaning the temperature of the air inside the case overall having a direct effect when the board gets hot seeing higher cpu temps as well. Once you cool the board down better all attached hardwares like cpu, memory, video and sound cards, drives, etc. benefit as well.


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## Interested (Jan 3, 2008)

no one likes the smilodon?


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## Geoff (Jan 3, 2008)

Kornowski said:


> Do you think it would benefit me in the same way, drop my temps? At the moment, I'm idling at 36c, Load temps are about 54c...
> 
> Geoff, Have you ever thought about cutting holes in it to route the cables behind the MOBO tray?


It probably would, I just have it at stock now until I get a better cooling setup, then I will start overclocking again.  Or I may just overclock until it's not stable any more on the stock voltage.

I never thought about doing that with the motherboard tray, as it seems fine the way it is now.


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