Big debate...

T

TimKLL

Weaksauce
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Dec 12, 2005
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Big debate.

This: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811147047

or this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129042

The Antec is tried and true, besides the number of positive reviews the rig my son and I built for him is in one and we like it a lot.

The Rosewill looks pretty awesome for cooling though. I can ABSOLUTELY live without the red LED's, will most likely have the main switch for those in the OFF position 99% of the time, but it looks like it really could keep things cool.

Building a system for some gaming - an older FPS and potentially CoD Black Ops. Probably will have a Fermi 465, and an i5-760 Lynnfield. Big thing is it is in a desk in a den/formal living room with wide open passage to the family room. I want QUIET. I know the fans on the Antec have a switch that can be accessed from inside to bump the RPMs down. I don't see that option on the Rosewill. I'd also prefer to not have to add a separate fan controller.

Opinions?
 
Of those two, I would go for the Antec 300, If you have proper airflow and you aren't overclocking, I think it's 100% feasible to have a very quiet case without messing with a controller at all. It's all about the case and fan selection. The 300 is a solid choice in the $60 price range. Personally, I really like the Antec 690 II Advanced @ $80 shipped, though the Basic is about $20 cheaper and fine for most users. It's an understated design too and you can turn the LED's off :)

http://www.amazon.com/Cooler-Master-Advance-Mid-Tower-RC-692-KKN2/dp/B00336EM0W
 
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When you say probably will have, does that mean that you will soon be building a new system, or you are thinking about puting an existing system in there?

On other note, will you be overclocking?
and are you willing to consider other choices. There are many cases with will be better at noise isolation and with sufficient airflow for a small OC. And no need to mess too much with fan controlers.
 
I would go with the Antec 300. I've used one for a build for my wife.

You can always change out the fans if noise is truly a concern. I didn't have to as the noise wasn't bad and my wife didn't complain.
 
Thanks for the responses and opinions.

OKANG's description as "understated design" is a pretty good description of what I'm looking for. Really don't need the wild looks that some of the cases have now. I do like that CoolerMaster Advance also but one thing that I neglected to mention is that I'm trying to stay on the short side as far as tower height goes. I'm currently using an SFF rig, in an Apevia Q-Pack case. The space it will go in can hold a tower, just not a skyscraper. The Antec 300 is only about 18" high and the Rosewill is 17". It can be bigger for sure, but much taller than 20" or so means a little more rearranging.

hybry: Yes, new system, sorry, pretty much settled on the CPU & GPU I mentioned. Minor overclocking, nothing radical. Yes, absolutely willing to consider other cases, I have gone through multiple sites almost daily looking for the "perfect" case. I have given serious thought to the Lian Li PC-A05 NB http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...218&cm_re=lian_li_case-_-11-112-218-_-Product and then adding the aftermarket custom top http://www.performance-pcs.com/cata...=product_info&cPath=130_387&products_id=27186 but I haven't been able to find a source with that in stock for a long time. I'm a little bit hung up on having that top ventilation. A lot of the reviews on the Lian Li specifically mention a lot of heat build-up in that specific area. I'm probably opening a whole new area of discussion but it just seems like having top ventilation is a solid idea. Although I am very capable of cutting a blowhole and adding a fan myself I'd just as soon not go that route. On my son's Antec 300 the blowhole fan is set to the lowest setting, very quiet, and you can definitely feel some heat coming out when he's using some computer horsepower. The top fan and the rear fan both have 3-posit switches (no external control) and keep his rig cool with both on the lowest setting. I have a couple of old Zalman in-line controllers that I could hook the two front low fans to and keep them semi-permanently on a low RPM too.

The Antec 300 definitely has the edge at this point - I played around with my son's last night and it just has a lot of quality, moves the air very well while still being quiet and has the right size but wasn't overly tight when putting in the components. I had hoped for a little feedback from someone with the Rosewill as far as actual noise. The NE reviews range from "very quiet" to "fairly quiet" but aren't a whole lot more specific than that. I would like to have a little more option on the speed of those fans (without the aforementioned dedicated fan controller). I know a case can have very effective cooling without being all mesh and worry that all that openness of so much mesh might be noisier than desired.

Still VERY open to suggestons...
 
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Have you considered PWM (4-wire) fans? Your selection will be more limited, for sure, but that will eliminate the need for a separate controller. It's all automated and handled through the motherboard. Just an idea.
 
The last few Antec 300's I build have one issue with how the HDD's are mounted, and that is because it's metal on metal you hear the HDD's seeking everytime (especially with louder drives) because there's no sound isolation

Gets really annoying in my opinion... and for some reason the Antec 300 is one of the worst cases I've heard that has this problem (I have a $20 case for my main machine with metal on metal mounting and you can't hear the HDD's).
 
I know the Antec 300 gets good reviews but I'm not a fan. I have two of them and I find the metal really flimsy. It's not as good as other Antec cases I have used like the Sonata.
 
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