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Case decision help

A

Apdravya82

Limp Gawd
Joined
Oct 29, 2008
Messages
142
Hi guys,

Thanks in advance for offering up your opinions.

My current hardware

QX6700
Asus P5E Deluxe
4870x2
Syche Ninja Heatsink
8 gigs of ddr 800 corsair
Server08 64bit
3 ware 9690 with 2 seagate cheetah's 15.5 SAS
4 sata II drives various size

I'm currently using the p180 and I'm not enthused with it. Cramped, not digginng the airflow, the 4870x2 is too long for the case, cause the center drive bay only to allow one drive.

My problem now is it is running pretty warm. ( still need to install the screw kit for the Ninja)


I'm having a tough time decideding on my next case

Here is the three I have narrowed it down too.
CM - HAF
CM - Cosmos
Antec -1200

Problem with the HAF and the 1200 is they are a little too flashy for me. I like the look of the Cosmos.
HAF has no dust filters, but I could make some as others on the forum have.
The expansion bays on the 1200 is impressive, see through side is not my cup of tee. Not into flashy lights.

Does anyone have a thought on heat on these cases. Using air cooling?
Any advice thoughts is appreciated.

thanks
 
Apdravya82 said:
HAF has no dust filters, but I could make some as others on the forum have.
Click to expand...
Don't worry... it has that much hole that dust proofing of it will be really hard unless you wrap it to that plastic shrink wrap used in packaging some products. :p


For clean looking no-bling case with lot of space and sense making cooling my vote goes for Lian Li A70/71 (you can't get much more minimalistic look than door equipped A71) equipped with BS-03 or BS-06 cooler for expansion cards:
http://www.lian-li.com.tw/v2/en/product/product04.php?cl_index=2&sc_index=34&ss_index=83
I got BS-03 because of having other cards (X-Fi and 3ware 9650) in addition to graphic card... which itself also leaves heat inside case.


Holes and fans in everywhere doesn't necessarily do good:
One user of Cosmos reported 10C CPU temp drop after making airflow guide/tunnel which prevented top exhausts from immediately drawing out intook air; So those were only prematurely drawing out air which was just on its way to cooling important components.
Or how about heat problems in (bling/mini) Stacker 831 with four side fans blowing to graphic cards...
 
I second the Lian Li cases, check them out. Even the cheapest ones have most times removable HDD cages, which gives enough place even for the bigger cards than 4870x2.
 
I'd go with the Cosmos personally. The HAF will have better airflow, but the Cosmos is a bit better quality and I prefer the aesthetics. There are some minor cooling issues though, so you will probably want to make a duct like E.T mentioned.
 
Thanks for the suggestions. I'm going to look into the LianLi cases, however I've never been much for there cases. I think they look really basic but carry a High price tag. I'd rather not loos a drive cage in order to cool/mount the graphics cards.

I'm going to goto microcenter this weekend and take a look at the cases in person and try to make a better decision.

The twelve hundred is starting to look more appealing to me.
 
Apdravya82 said:
I think they look really basic but carry a High price tag.
Click to expand...

There are 2 reasons for higher price tag :
1) they are aluminum cases, not steel. If you want cheaper Lian Li, then go for Lancool.
2) they don't look basic, their visual is just minimalistic, oposed to bling-blang of cases from Thermaltake, Coolermaster HAF etc, which i consider ugly.
 
Lack of useless bling doesn't itself cost but making nearly everything from same aluminum alloy costs lot more.
Pretty much only plastic parts are in "electronic parts": wiring, switches and I/O-connectors.
 
faugusztin said:
There are 2 reasons for higher price tag :
1) they are aluminum cases, not steel. If you want cheaper Lian Li, then go for Lancool.
2) they don't look basic, their visual is just minimalistic, oposed to bling-blang of cases from Thermaltake, Coolermaster HAF etc, which i consider ugly.
Click to expand...

The cheapest Lian-Li I have seen is $75 until the end of today, then it bounces back up to the $100 mark, and I have seen a few Lian-Li cases which are just dumb founding logic for design, such as the board mounts upside down and on the wrong side so all the heat travels up past the Northbridge, and straight towards the GPU (which is just an insanely stupid design flaw, especially if your only using air cooling), you would need to make a custom airflow duct to get around the heat rising issue.

The only plus I can find from spending out on one of Lian-Li's is the lack of problems from dust. unlike the Stackers or Cosmo's, personally I like some of the Thermaltake cases over the other stuff on the market (cheaper than the Lian-Li equivalents, and some have a better design layout), I have built a few Antecs and the only thing I don't like about them is the plastic front bezel and the lack of any dust filters...and the super cheap ones with plastic side panels, the clips break off real easy.
 
Outamyhead said:
The cheapest Lian-Li I have seen is $75 until the end of today, then it bounces back up to the $100 mark, and I have seen a few Lian-Li cases which are just dumb founding logic for design, such as the board mounts upside down and on the wrong side so all the heat travels up past the Northbridge, and straight towards the GPU (which is just an insanely stupid design flaw, especially if your only using air cooling), you would need to make a custom airflow duct to get around the heat rising issue.
Click to expand...

You are talking about PC-A05, PC-Vxx00. That design is not dump, that design is actually working pretty well except that one case, the PC-A05. I can say on other side that in standard case the graphics card is heating up the CPU cooler, which is using your words "stupid design flaw". But you are not forced to buy this kind of design, there are PC-7, PC-Axx, PC-Vxx10 cases which are "normal"...

The difference between Lian Li and others is exactly the quallity and aluminum. That's why we pay more, not because of other stuff.

And a final note - you were asking about cases which can handle 4870x2 both in terms of heat and not crimping your drive options at same time. Lian Li is exactly matching your requirements - PC-7 is the starting point (yes, you must remove the drive bay in case of conflict, but you still have 5.25 drive bays), going through PC-A17, through PC-V1010 (in case you don't like the opposite layout) or biggies like PC-A71/PC-V2010.

Yes, there is extra cost for using this case - but it is same as extra cost Coolermaster Cosmos or HAF, or for example Silverstone. It is a extra cost for quallity product in this case, i didn't seen bad Lian Li (and i had/have 4 cases from them - PC-A09, PC-A17, PC-V1000B Plus II and PC-V350B).
 
Danny Bui said:
Another case to look at:
Cooler Master Stacker 810 RC-810-KWN1-GP Full Tower ATX Case - $120

Oh if only they could combine the look of the Stacker 810 with the internals of the HAF 932.....
Click to expand...

damn thats a good deal for that case....

i just bought a cosmos with a side window, they've got refurbished ones on cooler masters online store for $100 plus shipping. (had to buy the window panel from newegg seperately)

my case before was a lian-li v1000b.... its a fantastic case but i wanted something a bit more adventurous looking this time around.

im a side window lover so the HAF was a no-no for me, and the antec is just fugly lol.
 
I found the best deals on new cases at micro center.

140 for the HAF
140 for the 1200

cosmos is kinda pricey there 209 i think.

I'm ordering some fans to try to make my p180 work for me.
 
Try Enermax Magma fans, they are the best coolers i ever met. High airflow at 12V, good airflow with relatively silent run at 5V, absolutely silent at 4V.
 
faugusztin said:
I wonder from where these Stacker 810's pop out, as they were EOLed long time ago.
Click to expand...

Unless you have some proof of that, I doubt it's the case. They're still producing bundles of the 810 with PSUs, so either they're still making the case or they have a huge reserve stock of them.
 
My case supplier said me that when i was asking about them. Maybe they are EOLed just for Europe, who knows. But simply you can't buy new Stacker 810 in europe. You can buy Stacker 830, but not 810.
 
That's a bit odd. You can definitely buy new ones in North America, so it could just be a regional thing, or it may be a matter of residual stock.
 
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