I *BLEEP!*ing HATE WINDOWS!

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Yeah yeah, and the OS too.
But I'm looking for a decent, featuresome case that doesn't have a ginormous piece of plastic or glass slapped onto the side and is lit up like Hooker Hill.

I want reasonable silence. I want unobtrusiveness. I want decent working space. (And NO! The Sonata series fails on the last one. HORRIBLY.)

I swear to Christ it's like pulling teeth. Through your ear. With a side-trip through your colon...
 
Any form factor requirements? I really like bitfenix's cases, they offer most their cases with or without windows but it seems like most their cases are micro atx at largest. They do have larger cases like the shinboi XL though. Lian-li has a lot of offerings also, and although they are usually more expensive they do have some cheaper offerings like this.
 
I agree with Budwise. I have an old Fractal Design R5. Has plenty of room for HDDs and everything. It is an older case though and I probably will be picking up the Meshify C soon even if it is on the small side.
 
mongoosenco said:
I agree with Budwise. I have an old Fractal Design R5. Has plenty of room for HDDs and everything. It is an older case though and I probably will be picking up the Meshify C soon even if it is on the small side.
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How's room behind the motherboard tray for cable management? I bought a Fractal 1500 (budgest-ish) and it was terrible in that department.
 
Private_Ops said:
How's room behind the motherboard tray for cable management? I bought a Fractal 1500 (budgest-ish) and it was terrible in that department.
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On the R4 and R5, plenty, they made the chassis fractionally wider to address that issue from the R3.

My R3 is a little tight, sometimes needs some knee work to get it closed ;)


[but the R3 still works, and I don't need an extra case, so it stays... at least until I decide to stand up a dedicated Linux box!]
 
Lian Li - quirky, aluminum or steel/plastic, and depending on the model, can be pricey as heck. PC-K6SX, Q34KMP, PC-9N, A05FN, A75, Q25, D8000, TU200B are some w/out windows. Gotta say, they are not really user friendly, barely any space behind the mobo tray on quite a few models, no ties, no filters or difficult to remove sometimes. Be sure to read up on the model you are interested in before buying.

Fractal Design - cheaper, user friendly, quite a few models focused on silence, some focused on airflow and nearly all of them have windowed/non-windowed versions. The Meshify comes to mind when I think about airflow, but if you want lots of HDDs, you'll have to get one of the slightly older models.

Corsair has a few models that don't have windows, such as 270, 300, 600, 400 and 230

NZXT has H440, H630, Manta, Source 210.

Phanteks Enthoo Pro, Eclipse -- they've typically got user-friendly things like space and ties behind the tray, easily removable HDD trays, fan filters, but no optical drive support.. 3 5.25 bays on Enthoo Pro.

Cooler Master and several others have, but yeah, that's all I can list at the moment from experience and a little Goo search.
 
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sonsonate said:
Phanteks Enthoo Pro, Eclipse -- they've typically got user-friendly things like space and ties behind the tray, easily removable HDD trays, fan filters, but no optical drive support.
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The Enthoo Pro M has an optical drive cage (technically an externally accessible 5.25" drive bay) but if you want to keep it you can't have a top-mounted radiator over 240. It was generally not listed on the spec sheet but if you looked at the pictures you could see it.
 
Algrim said:
The Enthoo Pro M has an optical drive cage (technically an externally accessible 5.25" drive bay) but if you want to keep it you can't have a top-mounted radiator over 240. It was generally not listed on the spec sheet but if you looked at the pictures you could see it.
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Ah, right, how could I miss that one. The first Evolv (mATX) also has optical bay support, lol, in the back and I own it! Alas, it is windowed. Herp Derp Moment saying they don't have optical bay support.
 
sonsonate said:
Ah, right, how could I miss that one. The first Evolv (mATX) also has optical bay support, lol, in the back and I own it! Alas, it is windowed. Herp Derp Moment saying they don't have optical bay support.
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When I was searching for a new case with external bay support on NewEgg, the Enthoo Pro M didn't come up as a viable choice. It was only when I was drooling over the pictures that I noticed it had a removable cage and verified it when I bought it.
 
The CaseLabs MAGNUM STH10.

Lots of room, lots of room behind mobo tray, mobo tray slides out, all metal, window or no window are all options as are vented or solid fronts etc etc.
 
Corsair 600Q
Plenty of room for wiring, AIO W/C, still has a pair of 5 1/2 drive bays and comes with sound deadening material!
 
Chas said:
Yeah yeah, and the OS too.
But I'm looking for a decent, featuresome case that doesn't have a ginormous piece of plastic or glass slapped onto the side and is lit up like Hooker Hill.

I want reasonable silence. I want unobtrusiveness. I want decent working space. (And NO! The Sonata series fails on the last one. HORRIBLY.)

I swear to Christ it's like pulling teeth. Through your ear. With a side-trip through your colon...
Click to expand...

Get a Coolermaster Master Case 5. They make one without the Acrylic side panel. Or a Fractal Design.
 
another vote for the R5, well insulated, well ventilated, lots of room, and built like a tank.
 
I have a NZXT H630 and it is great and NZXT support was very very nice.. sent me a replacement side panel for free when I dented one of them after knocking something over ..

I have had the case for 4~ yrs now and it has been quite good... heavy pretty heavy however.. plenty of room for just about anything..

fanAfter.jpg
 
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Krenum said:
Get a Coolermaster Master Case 5. They make one without the Acrylic side panel. Or a Fractal Design.
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I can't seem to find them without a side window stock. Is this side panel an additional accessory?

btw, I am going to make this my next case if I can find it without a damn window to replace an old R3 (I want more usb 3.0 headers)
 
Phanteks P400S is pretty good, comes in a windowless version and whatever LEDs it has - they can be disabled. I have one, it was pretty easy to build in, as a lot of external parts can be quite easily removed leaving you with a "roofless" frame to work in. No 5.25" bays, though, if you need one.
 
A bit old school but the Silverstone FT02 was rated by Silent PC Review highly on the silent front. I still have one for a 2600k rig. With Nexus 120mm fan exhaust and on the CPU, it's near dead silent.
 
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Koween said:
Phanteks P400S is pretty good, comes in a windowless version and whatever LEDs it has - they can be disabled. I have one, it was pretty easy to build in, as a lot of external parts can be quite easily removed leaving you with a "roofless" frame to work in. No 5.25" bays, though, if you need one.
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I went with the TG version for my build but have nothing but good things to say about the simple looks and easy of install/working room.
 
Count me in for the Fractal Define R5. I have two and they are great.
 
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