Can someone recommend a case for me please?

B

baldyguy

Limp Gawd
Joined
May 30, 2002
Messages
264
I am currently running a regular ATX case, with 10 fans, and I'm looking for someone that is less quiet and someone that will have good airflow and doesn't get too hot. I'm tired of having to clean it every two weeks! I want something that is like an oil change where you can do maintenance every three months or so! LOL

So here is what I have.... I have a DVD Drive, CD Burner, Three Hard drives and a floppy.

Can someone recommend a good solid case that is the best for the money? Oh yeah, I"m looking to spend no more than $125.00
 
Maybe you should give a look at an Antek SLK3700 or one of the less expensive Lian Li's. The Antek comes with power supply and has accomidations for 2 120mm fans. It comes with one exhaust 120mm and does a good job on it's own. It is moderately quiet and flows a good bit of air. I use a Lian Li and find it easy to clean the filters and with an Antec power supply it is moderately quiet as well.

About the only other case I have seen that seemed easy to maintain was the Coolermaster Praetorian.

I hope this helps a bit.
 
The SLK 3700 is around $80 before shipping. A lower price Lian Li can be had around the $100 mark. The Praetorian is around $125 prior to shipping so probably out of range.

I would highly recommend the SLK 3700. We have on here at the house and it runs nicely and has an Antec PS which is a plus. Should run less than $100 after shipping.

In fact, I just checked NewEgg and they are running one of their one day sales until the 30th for $65.99 plus $15 fed ex saver shipping. $81 total to your door! Might just pick up another one tonight myself. Going to bu upgrading my wife's machine in a couple of months.

Here's the link:


http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=11-129-122&depa=0
 
Just get dust filters. They are relatively inexpensive (just buy the ones used in laundy dryers), effectively trap dust, and decreace the air flow only a little.these should only be placed on intake fans, but you might wanna place them on the exhaust fan, so that dust doesn't get into those when your computers is off (like that ever happens :rolleyes: )
 
I have the antec 1080AMG with true 430 watt power supply.
It has one big filter on the front. If you use the fan power molex it keeps the fans running according to temp. I leave all thge fans exhausting but the the 2 in the front even the side door fan.
havnt cleaned the case for almost 2 years running amd 2400.
Very little dust and the case looks great
 
Whatever case you decide to get I'd recommend a fan controller to manage your speeds/noise. Sounds like that is an issue with you ... good luck.

btw. I think you'd be best with 120mm fans.. lower speeds, same amount of air.
 
Originally posted by theNoid
Whatever case you decide to get I'd recommend a fan controller to manage your speeds/noise. Sounds like that is an issue with you ... good luck.

btw. I think you'd be best with 120mm fans.. lower speeds, same amount of air.
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What do you guys think about the Aspire X-SuperAlien Aluminum Mid-Tower, Antec Sonata, and the Lanboy?

Are they all pretty good in terms of airflow and being quiet?
 
Also another question, what's the deal with aluminum? Does that somewhat influence the computers cooling?
 
QUOTE]yes aluminum runners a lot cooler[/QUOTE]


Actually, thats a very large misconception about aluminum and is largely untrue, here's why...

Lets back to basic physics...


Energy is never wasted, it it simply transfered. In our case, were dealing with heat energy, or the molecules which are excited from having energy. Our heat energy comes from our CPU's as a result of electrons moving at a very rapid rate, being switched through transistors on and off.

The by product of this is large amounts of heat. Normally, way back when, CPU' did not produce enough of this heat to warrant any kind of extra cooling. Therbye, the heat energy from molecules was transferred to the surround area via "radiation"

radiation.gif


As CPU's become faster, more heat was produced. This increased rate in heat was more then radiation was able to transfer away from the CPU away, thus HSF came into play.

With HSF, you are using a method called "Forced Convection" Therbye, you are using an alternative means to move air faster across a hot surface to transfer the heat energy from one source to another. In our case, we use fans to increase the movment of air across our heatsink to pick up the heat energy from the molecules on our heatsink

convection.gif


For this to work efficently, the CPU die has to be in direct contact with the HSF to increase "Conduction" or transfer the heat energy away from the CPU die to the heatsink.

5ec42b881a130c83a5f9d13a06d29361.jpg


To further increase this, we add thermal grease to fill in the very small air gaps which reduces the ability for the heat energy to transfer from the die to the heatsink. Air is a very poor transfer of heat energy, so removing these pockets of air from the small gaps in the metal increases the ability of conduction

2c5338d9ff25b26d945cb6288ba8431e.jpg



That being said, the air inside an computer case is *usually* being moved a somewhat decent rate, it vary greatly depending on the case size, wiring, fans, ect...ect.. As we established, air a poor conductor of heat energy and therebye having an aluminum case vs a steel case in the same enviroment, the operating tempatures of both cases would be nearly identical.

The reason being is that air itself after being heated from the heatsink, is being moved continually throughout the case as a result of fans constantly replacing air and exhausting it. The short span of time that this warm air actually makes contact with the metal of the case being it aluminum or steel, little or no heat energy is actually transfered from the air to the metal of the case.

Due to the fact that, since the heat from the CPU is not being directly conducted to the case itself, but rather by the HSF using "forced Convection" and by the fact that we want to remove this warm air from our cases as quickly as possible, the type of metal that case is made of has no relavence to the operating tempatures of the computer itself.

You basically get aluminum for its much lighter weight and looks, and thats it, so don't buy this "Aluminum makes my case run 10c cooler" bullshit


That being said, i've been a fan of Antecs cases for awhile. Expecially their 1000 series cases. With 4 80mm mounts, the move alot of air in and out. Granted, with more fans, you will produce more noise which you CAN control with a bay or rheobus which is what I do.

120mm fans are becoming much more popular due to the simple fact that the move much more air at a lower RPM, producing less noise and much mor airflow in comparison to a couple of 80 fans.
 
Originally posted by IceWind

That being said, the air inside an computer case is *usually* being moved a somewhat decent rate, it vary greatly depending on the case size, wiring, fans, ect...ect.. As we established, air a poor conductor of heat energy and therebye having an aluminum case vs a steel case in the same enviroment, the operating tempatures of both cases would be nearly identical.
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when u feel the outside of a metal case and then the outside of a aluminum case you can feel that it is cooler. when you look at the same setup of a metal case and a aluminum case the aluminum is cooler. the aluminum case alows heat to escape but with the metal case the heat is traped. an aluminum case alows the computer to run atleast 3 degrees cooler. aluminum acts like a heat sink.
its also better to have an aluminum case when lanning because its lighter and easier to carry around.
 
the aluminum case alows heat to escape but with the metal case the heat is traped
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That absolutely makes no sense. Are you talking about the ability for the air to me intaked and exhausted? In which case, that all depends on the DESIGN of the case, not what metal its made out of.

What Im talking about is in regards to the ability of the metal itself to transfer the heat energy from the air inside the case, to the metal itself either steel or aluminum, the having it being radiated to the outside air.

Aluminum being a less denser metal in comparison to the steel, heat energy will be transferred much quicker, hence why most HSF are made out of aluminum.

This sounds like a good theory to put into practice for the case itself being a heatsink, but with the air inside most computer cases being replaced fairly quickly, the process never has much of a chance to take place, thus air temps are effected from little to none.
 
my friend has almost the same setup as i do but he has aluminum and a plastic case (old pentium) was just talking to him and where going to do and experiment. we are going to play on our computers for 1 hour straight in the same environment with the same amount of fan speeds and same cpu everything. my other friend will be on the plastic case (we already know that runs alot cooler because in the environment it runs at 70F and the aluminum at 78F.

when we get the result i will post them here. should be this weekend.

i slightly agree with you on how they are about the same. but i still say aluminum is cooler by about 3 or 5 degrees and 3 or 5 degrees can make a big difference in the case.
 
How is Aluminum versus the 0.8mm SECC Steel? What's the difference between the two?
 
Hmmm .08 steel is gonna be a bit lighter in comparison to mosts cases 1.2mm thickness, like Antecs.

But seriously, if you wanna shell out the extra bucks for a much ligher case that 95% chance it won't decrease your case temps *for reasons I posted ealier* then get the aluminum.

If you need a big momma case or something your gonna wanna sit out without crushing it like pop can or just like big and heavy, go with steel.

The Sonata is a very popular case. Looks good and runs very quiet. The 630's are like the 1000's only smaller. All these cases are steel excep the Lan Boys and the P160.

Im partial to Antecs performance line. I use the 1000AMG for "Blue Fantasy"
They have tons of room, excellent stock cooling, and moddable as hell.


1000AMG
1040B
630BII
Sonata
P160

Like I said, "Blue Fantasy" is based upon the 1000AMG. It weighs an outstanding 50 pounds, so its a real bitch to move for any reason, the byproduct of steel.

newfront.jpg

newfantasy.jpg

newfrontopen.jpg

newside.jpg
 
when u feel the outside of a metal case and then the outside of a aluminum case you can feel that it is cooler
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If you take a thermometer and measure the temperatures, I guarantee that they'll be the same if you're using two identical cases (except for the metal type), but the aluminum will feel cooler. Here's why: aluminum has a higher heat capacity than steel ( 900 J/(kg.K) for aluminum vs 449 J/(kg.K) for Iron which is close to steel). That means for a given temperature, aluminum will feel "cooler" but is actually exactly the same temperature.

Aluminum cases tend to run "cooler" because they're more expensive and thus better designed. Almost no radiative heating is done through the case (nothing that produces heat is directly touching the case), so the material is largely irrelevant.

my friend has almost the same setup as i do but he has aluminum and a plastic case (old pentium) was just talking to him and where going to do and experiment. we are going to play on our computers for 1 hour straight in the same environment with the same amount of fan speeds and same cpu everything. my other friend will be on the plastic case (we already know that runs alot cooler because in the environment it runs at 70F and the aluminum at 78F.

when we get the result i will post them here. should be this weekend.
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Your little experiment is so flawed that it's meaningless. Unless you have EXACTLY the same setup with the EXACT same airflow, it means nothing. You'd have to have the same fan placement with the same fans, the same obstructions, the same hardware, the exact same case size, etc. One piece of hardware, even an IDE cable blocking air flow can easily produce the 3-5C change you're talking about. Odds are that the plastic case simply has worse airflow and is thus hotter.
 
Originally posted by Gibo
If you take a thermometer and measure the temperatures, I guarantee that they'll be the same if you're using two identical cases (except for the metal type), but the aluminum will feel cooler. Here's why: aluminum has a higher heat capacity than steel ( 900 J/(kg.K) for aluminum vs 449 J/(kg.K) for Iron which is close to steel). That means for a given temperature, aluminum will feel "cooler" but is actually exactly the same temperature.

Aluminum cases tend to run "cooler" because they're more expensive and thus better designed. Almost no radiative heating is done through the case (nothing that produces heat is directly touching the case), so the material is largely irrelevant.



Your little experiment is so flawed that it's meaningless. Unless you have EXACTLY the same setup with the EXACT same airflow, it means nothing. You'd have to have the same fan placement with the same fans, the same obstructions, the same hardware, the exact same case size, etc. One piece of hardware, even an IDE cable blocking air flow can easily produce the 3-5C change you're talking about. Odds are that the plastic case simply has worse airflow and is thus hotter.
Click to expand...

my friend has almost the same setup as i do but he has aluminum and a plastic case (old pentium) was just talking to him and where going to do and experiment. we are going to play on our computers for 1 hour straight in the same environment with the same amount of fan speeds and same cpu everything . my other friend will be on the plastic case (we already know that runs alot cooler because in the environment it runs at 70F and the aluminum at 78F.


read what i said
 
Are the alu case and the plastic one identical in design? otherwise, what he said is totally true.
 
same size it has the same fans in it (we bought them together) same fan position same cpu same window measurments same hard drive and where not doing the plastic one thats just for fun its the aluminum and metal
 
If *anything* is different about the two cases, then the test cannot prove anything. I severely doubt the airflow patterns are exactly the same between the two cases, especially since older cases were never designed with great airflow in mind. Fan speed isn't everything, not by a long shot. Your trial really isn't scientifically valid and won't prove much of anything, much less override the vast amount of data that shows the material the case is made out of doesn't matter. I'm not an expert on cooling, but I know a valid experiment when I see one, and that is most assuredly not scientifically valid.

The only real way to do it would be to test one setup in a steel case, then use the same parts in an aluminum version of the same case. You'd also have to be really careful to do all the wiring exactly the same. Using a different model of case is throwing all sorts of extra variables in there that you have no way of accounting for.
 
BOTH OF THE CASES ARE BRAND NEW ONLY ABOUT 2 MONTHS OLD GEEEZ. DROP THE PENTIUM (PLASTIC CASE) BETTER YET JUST DROP THE WHOLE THING AND YES I DID FIND MY CAPS LOCK
 
I added something to the other post, copying it here.

The only real way to do it would be to test one setup in a steel case, then use the same parts in an aluminum version of the same case. You'd also have to be really careful to do all the wiring exactly the same. Using a different model of case is throwing all sorts of extra variables in there that you have no way of accounting for. Even using different fans that are the same model, different PSU even if they're the same model, etc, etc will compound the test too much to draw valid conclusions. It would have to be exactly the same case too, just having the same dimensions and same fan numbers/placement really isn't enough.

Unless the airflow is EXACTLY the same, you cannot prove anything. You'll have an amusing little test, but you cannot possibly draw any conclusions. All I'm saying is that it's a meaningless test unless you control far more variables than it seems you have.
 
What do you guys do to keep the dust out if you have so many fans in there? Is there a way to keep the dust out and to keep those bad boys quiet?
 
yes buy fan filters. they have rubber around the edges for noise and then theres a filter. u have to clean it often though
 
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