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Help me pick an awesome full tower case...

A

AMDisSWEET

Limp Gawd
Joined
Sep 6, 2002
Messages
375
Hey, I want to buy a roomy, high quality case that I can use for future builds for years to come. My Antec 300 is great but I'm looking for something quieter and with much more space for future upgrades. I'd like to spend $150 ish and need:
-Good airflow
-Great cable management
-Quiet
-Bottom mounted PSU

I have mainly been considering the Cooler Master HAF 932 and Cosmos 1000.

Thanks!
 
The HAF definitely fits those four requirements, as for the Cosmos, there are some things that need some improvement.

The Cosmos is quiet and has a bottom mounted psu, but the cooling isn't so great...at first. The stock fans barely move any air. Also, the hard drive area receives no cooling at all. If you move the bottom mounted fan and mount it over the hard drive area (effectively taking away from drive bay slots) and replace all of the stock fans, cooling in the Cosmos will be fine.
 
Look at the Antec Twelve Hundred. It'll give you airflow over your hard drives, unlike the Cosmos 1000. I think it's better-looking than the HAF.
 
Cosmos :D

yes the fans that come with it are crap but who cares you can replace em... the case is great.... and you can get a side panel for like 30 bux too if you're into side windows.

there is a bracket that comes with the case you can put a fan into to put above the hard drive area.

yes there could be a couple of improvements with it but shit.... no case is perfect :D
 
Thanks for the input so far. I forgot that the interior of the Twelve Hundred is black which I love. Also, it comes with a window which I'll take if it's standard and don't have to pay extra for. I love the overall style of the Cosmos. I don't need massive cooling as long as the stock quiet fans are efficient enough. Keeping the noise level down is very important to me.

Keep the suggestions coming and post a pic if you have one. I'd love to see your wiring jobs. Much appreciated!

I found this YouTube video showcasing all the details of the 1200. I'm impressed with this case.
 
I've also been considering the cosmos, haf, 1200 and kind of looking at the 690. I have an 830 right now and Id like to move away from such a wide open and loud case which is why the cosmos looks more appealing than the 1200 or the haf. Is there no room at all in front of the HD cages on the cosmos?
 
Looks wise, I'm leaning towards the Cosmos 1000. The price is right on Newegg right now at $139 w/ FS. If I order tonight or very early in the morning I'll get it Friday. For those that have this case, have you had any issues with having only one intake fan at the bottom of the case?
 
AMDisSWEET said:
Looks wise, I'm leaning towards the Cosmos 1000. The price is right on Newegg right now at $139 w/ FS. If I order tonight or very early in the morning I'll get it Friday. For those that have this case, have you had any issues with having only one intake fan at the bottom of the case?
Click to expand...

i have the rear and bottom as intake then top 2 going out. works good for me
 
Thanks nightwalker. How is the noise level for you?

Also, temp wise, lets say you were going to pop in two 4870X2s. Would this case have adequate cooling?
 
AMDisSWEET said:
Thanks nightwalker. How is the noise level for you?

Also, temp wise, lets say you were going to pop in two 4870X2s. Would this case have adequate cooling?
Click to expand...

the noise level is fine for me.... and yes the case does have adequate cooling.... like i said i have the bottom and rear holes bringing air in and the 2 top pushing it out. and i also have a fan blowing into the hard drive area from the top of it. the fans that come with the case are quiet but dont move much air... but once you get some yate loons in there hooked up to a fan controller then you're sorted :D
 
Sounds like you have a good setup there nightwalker but I think I might fare better with the 1200 though. All the fans I'll need are pre-installed and have fan speed control. The black interior and the window really do it for me. I don't want to dish out more dough on a fan controller and the tri-cool 120 that came with my 300 is quite satisfactory on low speed and even medium is acceptable.
 
Usually I'm aware form Thermaltake cases and prefer Lian Li stuff, but have used some CM aswell! But judging from pics Thermaltake Spedo look quite good:

VI90001W2Z.jpg


Price @ egg 210$: http://thermaltakeusa.com/Product.aspx?C=1400&ID=1829
and 185$ for regular edition: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811133073
 
Thanks for the feedback. I like the Lian Li A70 but its too expensive. Same for the Thermaltake but they look like great cases. Given the price point, I bit on the Cosmos since I'll be fine with the stock cooling for my current components and I plan on having this case in my bedroom so I don't need LED fans keeping me up at night. I hope it'll be as quiet as everyone says. I will post pics once I have everything hooked up. Hopefully tomorrow evening.

I think this thread may help other so please keep posting.
 
The Twelve Hundred will be my next case. I'll replace all the fans with no-LED Yate Loons anyway. Can't beat $145 shipped with the inside already painted.
 
by the way those parts fell it sounds cheap. Not only that they "designed" it after the Reventon. Not trying to say the reventon looks like shit, but they made the case look like shit.
 
Also it seems that on the cosmos S the drive cages mount the drives horizontally instead of vertically on the cosmos 1000. Is it possible to change the orientation of the cages on the 1000 or at least use a different cage in there?

Edit: found this thread which shows a vent above the HD cage but is there also one below or only the little opening to the side there?
 
There isn't really an opening under the hard drives. There is the fan vent above the cage, and if you put a fan there it just basically pulls air in from the bottom area and moves it up. It does cool the hard drives alot compared to with the fan outside and next ot the drives, where you get 0 airflow, but my 4 drives still stayed pretty toasty. Its definitely a nice case, with alot of room to work in, nice slide out hard drives(although you have to plug them in from the opposite side), and plastic covering most of the sharp edges. It has sound dampening foam on each case side too, which really helps. The top by the power buttons has a eSATA, firewire, 4 usb ports, and headphones/mic ports which is awesome and just about all you could ask for. Plus it looks great.

I have the Cosmos 1000 and a Thermaltake Armor. I bought the Cosmos after the Armor so that I had a case with the power supply on bottom and stuff..when I recently redid my system, I went back to the Armor. Even putting a higher airflow fan on top of the hard drives in the Cosmos, it still didn't keep them cool enough for me. I've had one drive die and another seems to be going. 4 others were purchased the same time, same model, and they're working fine in the armor case. Maybe just luck of the draw on bad drives, who knows. Although I never really had a problem with keeping my CPU or video card cool, I'd definitely look into another solution for the hard drives if you plan on running a few of them in that case
 
The upcoming CM ATC-840 has my attention. It's a higher-end case that appears to be more expensive than a lot of the products we're talking about here, though it does undercut similiar cases by a significant margin.

-S
 
I also consdering the Antec 1200 I need a bigger case than my Thermaltake Soprano DX. It is a VERY tight space with my Geforce 9800 GTX. So it tends to get very warm inside.
 
semisonic9 said:
The upcoming CM ATC-840 has my attention. It's a higher-end case that appears to be more expensive than a lot of the products we're talking about here, though it does undercut similiar cases by a significant margin.

-S
Click to expand...

+1 for this That's what I'm waiting for
 
yea I may just wait for that, I miss the old cooler master's liek that, I didn't have the money back then to get one, and they are hard to fine these days. Wonder what the cost will be?
 
Tunnel Vision said:
The HAF definitely fits those four requirements
Click to expand...
Collection of holes isn't quiet unless components inside it are passively cooled and quiet.


iGamer said:
I also consdering the Antec 1200 I need a bigger case than my Thermaltake Soprano DX. It is a VERY tight space with my Geforce 9800 GTX. So it tends to get very warm inside.
Click to expand...
Look for case with E-ATX motherboard support, then you'll know there's enough space for longest graphic cards and some more.
 
HAF is easy to have a quiet machine with, running a Corsair HX620, passive 8800GT with S1 (side fan is impressive for this) and Zalman F3 on fan controller.

Stock fans are very quiet, I have them all on controller for near inaudible running when sleeping.
Even then for normal use, its far quieter than most people's machines.
 
It all depends on your ears - what is inaudible for you is like screaming for me. I have inaudible PC - durring day. Durring night they are the only source of noise, so they are damn noisy compared to zero background noise.
 
Cosmos is a very nice case. Brother has one and I can not tell its on compared to my Antec 900. Will be fine for your bedroom.
 
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