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Looking for a new case.

S

Slartibartfast

Supreme [H]ardness
Joined
Sep 25, 2004
Messages
7,280
Hey all, I'm looking for a new case to replace my TJ07 because of the craptacular airflow, and I was hoping to get a few recommendations. Price isn't much of an issue, I would say $350 max. The things I'm looking for in a case are:

1.) It must support EATX motherboards (12"x13")
2.) Airflow airflow airflow. My system puts out a fair amount of heat so I really need good airflow.
3.) Lots of PSU room. My psu is 22cm deep, so it either needs a tray if it will be mounted up top, or lots of space on the bottom. The Lian Li V1000, V2000, V1100 and V2100 won't work because the HD racks get in the way.

Right now I'm leaning towards the Lian-Li PC-626. It takes EATX, has the psu tray and uses 4 120mm fans for airflow (two intakes over the hd's, one exhaust in back and one on top).

I'm definitely open to suggestions/recommendations, so if anybody knows of anything that will fit the bill, let me know.
 
Well thanks for the reply, but my psu won't fit in there ;)

Well, it could with a fair bit of hacking but I'm trying to avoid that.
 
you sir are running into the same problem as I..... i have yet to find a case other than the TJ07 that fits all my stuff.... but yes... the airflow on that case is the worst design i have ever seen...... let me guess... your HDs are frying to a crisp? :)
 
CoolerMaster Stacker, either the 810 or 830. I have the very first one, the ST01. Unfortunately mine does not have dual 120mm on the rear, only one.
 
enelson125 said:
CoolerMaster Stacker, either the 810 or 830. I have the very first one, the ST01. Unfortunately mine does not have dual 120mm on the rear, only one.
Click to expand...

I'll second the 830 if the specs meet your criteria. I have the original silver and black one, but would love the all black version of the case. Great airflow and lots of room... :cool:
 
Slartibartfast - the PC-626 looks to be a total beast of a case. While having 'double wide' apply to your home may be pretty ghetto, somehow it seems cool applied to a PC case.
 
KarmaPoliceSTL said:
you sir are running into the same problem as I..... i have yet to find a case other than the TJ07 that fits all my stuff.... but yes... the airflow on that case is the worst design i have ever seen...... let me guess... your HDs are frying to a crisp? :)
Click to expand...

Finally somebody who agrees with me. Everybody seems to love this thing but I think it was a total waste of $.

For me, it's not my hd's that are melting, it's my cpu's. They both idle around 50c, and that's with a thermalright ultra 90 on each. I even put a tunnel from an empty hd rack's fan so it blows up and added a scythe kama to the front. On mine there are several screw holes that do not line up at all, too.

NulloModo said:
Slartibartfast - the PC-626 looks to be a total beast of a case. While having 'double wide' apply to your home may be pretty ghetto, somehow it seems cool applied to a PC case.
Click to expand...

lol I totally agree.
 
The original Stacker (STC-T01) will fit your requirements but I also think you're giving up on the TJ07 too easily.
I always intended on watercooling in mine so I paid little attention to the airflow in the upper chamber but I can see how it would be um, less than ideal, shall we say.
Wouldn't meshing the sidepanel do the trick?
How are your temps with the sidepanel removed?
 
sprocket said:
The original Stacker (STC-T01) will fit your requirements but I also think you're giving up on the TJ07 too easily.
I always intended on watercooling in mine so I paid little attention to the airflow in the upper chamber but I can see how it would be um, less than ideal, shall we say.
Wouldn't meshing the sidepanel do the trick?
How are your temps with the sidepanel removed?
Click to expand...

With or without the side panel doesn't make a difference. Right now I have the three top drive bays completely open and that brings temps down about 1 degree.

The problem with the TJ07's layout is that on my motherboard, one cpu is completely out of the airflow. When I first put the system together I was using the stock cooling, had the rear two fans as intake and the top as exhaust - my idle temps were in the high 50's. Right now they're in the high 40's/low 50's.
 
Slartibartfast said:
3.) Lots of PSU room. My psu is 22cm deep, so it either needs a tray if it will be mounted up top, or lots of space on the bottom. The Lian Li V1000, V2000, V1100 and V2100 won't work because the HD racks get in the way.
.
Click to expand...


just take one of the HDD racks out and the wall, all the newer v1000s remove with screws
 
Here is my dream case! Google them and you will get some great reviews too! I can't believe that no one has suggested these.
U2-UFO
Oh yeah and I forgot to mention Airfolw won't be any issue here!
 
Renswic said:
just take one of the HDD racks out and the wall, all the newer v1000s remove with screws
Click to expand...
+1.. but it depends on how many hard drives hes running. If he's running more than 3, you can always put the hdd rack above in the bottom of the 5.25'' bays. (at least 3 will still fit in the bottom though since still 1 hdd rack remains) I just got my LL V1000b and I unscrewed the hdd cage and psu divider thing to fit my watercooling stuff in the bottom. There's definetly enough room in the bottom of the v1000 to fit a PCP&C 1000w if you unscrew and remove the first hdd rack and psu divider.
 
shmitty said:
Here is my dream case! Google them and you will get some great reviews too! I can't believe that no one has suggested these.
U2-UFO
Oh yeah and I forgot to mention Airfolw won't be any issue here!
Click to expand...

I second a UFO. But if you're going to order, give them a call and talk to Ben. It's really cheap to have them do custom work ($20 per panel and i think $40 for the main chasis). They also have 2 new cases coming out, the Duality (which will hold 2 computers) and the Horizon (which has the mobo tray horozontal across the top of the case). I'm getting a custom Duality, and I'm really excited about it.
 
Thanks for all the input guys :cool:

A few thoughts: one of my concerns with the LiLi V1000 series is that my chipsets would be completely out of the airflow. I could probably remedy this by sticking the kama up front and a slot blower in the back. I'll have to look at them more closely. Right now I only have 2 HD's but have long-term plans for more (my mobo has 8 sata connectors ;) ).

As far as the mountain mods cases, I have seen those before, but honestly my biggest hang-up with them is that they're so fraggin' ugly.
 
holli4pirating said:
I second a UFO. But if you're going to order, give them a call and talk to Ben. It's really cheap to have them do custom work ($20 per panel and i think $40 for the main chasis). They also have 2 new cases coming out, the Duality (which will hold 2 computers) and the Horizon (which has the mobo tray horozontal across the top of the case). I'm getting a custom Duality, and I'm really excited about it.
Click to expand...

wow these guys have some nice cases, really like the design and the air flow... wow :eek:
 
Slartibartfast said:
As far as the mountain mods cases, I have seen those before, but honestly my biggest hang-up with them is that they're so fraggin' ugly.
Click to expand...

Good god yes, my first thought when I saw that was 'So this is what a computer case would look like if Elton John designed it'.
 
I'd probably give them a six on a scale of one to ten and a ten on performance. To me that makes it all worth it. I had two of those Tornado fans in my old case that sound like vacumes until I got a new case. Together they were putting out 58 db but the extra ten degrees that it lowered my temp was well worth it!
 
Well I've been looking around quite a bit, and these are some of my options:

Lian Li PC-626
This one is still the front runner, but I am worried about how wide it is. I don't have a lot of space to work with.

Lian Li PC-76
I just discovered this monster. It's like a beefier 626. Not sure what sort of airflow difference there would be between 4x 80mm's and 2x 120's. I know that the 120's in the 626 are 80cfm, but I don't know about the 80mm's.

Lian Li PC-7077B
This one is nice in that it's a lot cheaper, but that's really all it's got going for it.

Yeong Yang YY-0430
This is a pretty cool design, but I worry about airflow on the mobo side of things - it would only have a single 92mm exhaust. I could probably balance it out and have 2 silent 30cfm 120's for intake, and a ~55cfm 92 on the exhaust, but I'm not totally confident that would be moving enough air.

So of these 4, which would you guys pick?

edit: I also like this chenbro:
http://www.rackmountpro.com/productpage.php?prodid=1924
But am waiting on an email from the vendor about a few questions I have on it.
 
shmitty said:
Here is my dream case! Google them and you will get some great reviews too! I can't believe that no one has suggested these.
U2-UFO
Oh yeah and I forgot to mention Airfolw won't be any issue here!
Click to expand...

I love you, sorry to say that but I could never find any case for years now that was worth getting rid of my old one.(see sig)... I've built a couple new computers and kept my case and bought $50-$60 coolermaster cases for my old parts and sold them.

Now I might beable to actually have a totally new system when I switch to Intel.
;)
 
Fans1.JPG


Stock fans = 2 x Delta 120x25 mm + 1 x Delta 120x38 mm (rear)

These fans move a LOT of air. May want to consider a fan controller.
 
Maybe something like a Techbench open-topped thingy? You know...


Stacker.
 
calvin_q said:
Stock fans = 2 x Delta 120x25 mm + 1 x Delta 120x38 mm (rear)

These fans move a LOT of air. May want to consider a fan controller.
Click to expand...

Awesome, thanks man. Do you get yours from that eagepc place? I just ask cuz I'd never heard of it before.

Bbq: the tech bench is cool, but form is important to me too. This case is going to be wedged between my desk and the couch, so the bench would be somewhat impractical.
 
uzor said:
How about something like a Supermicro? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811152053 VERY well designed and thought out, IMO.

BTW, you can see their page on that case here: http://www.supermicro.com/products/chassis/4U/743/SC743T-645.cfm
Click to expand...

Actually I had looked into some of those systems before I built mine (supermicro h8dce mobo), but the two main problems are 1.) I don't want to pay for a psu, and 2.) they don't always accept ATX psu's. On some you can't even take out the psu.
 
Do you get yours from that eagepc place? I just ask cuz I'd never heard of it before.
Click to expand...

Suggested those guys since you are in America. Their banner is on a few sites. Got mine from a CDN site, FrontierPC.com, but they dont ship outside Canada.

The SR017 is a tank among cases, thick gauge steel throughout. Great for silent computing, not recommended for Lans. If case will be mostly stationary then its worthy.
 
calvin_q said:
Suggested those guys since you are in America. Their banner is on a few sites. Got mine from a CDN site, FrontierPC.com, but they dont ship outside Canada.

The SR017 is a tank among cases, thick gauge steel throughout. Great for silent computing, not recommended for Lans. If case will be mostly stationary then its worthy.
Click to expand...

Ok, thanks. Fortunately (unfortunately?) I only lan when people come here to hop on the wireless, so I'm good to go. Thanks for all the info, it's been most helpful.
 
If you do opt for the SR107 good luck with it. I certainly have no regrets. As noted recommend investing in a fan controller, rheostat type preferably (pwm based controllers are noisy IMO) and at least 1 extra 92 mm fan for mounting in the hdd cage where you will mount your discs. Or two 92's, according your preference which you did indicate was Airflow,Airflow,Airflow ;)
 
calvin_q said:
If you do opt for the SR107 good luck with it. I certainly have no regrets. As noted recommend investing in a fan controller, rheostat type preferably (pwm based controllers are noisy IMO) and at least 1 extra 92 mm fan for mounting in the hdd cage where you will mount your discs. Or two 92's, according your preference which you did indicate was Airflow,Airflow,Airflow ;)
Click to expand...

I will definitely look into getting a rheostat for it. Are the included fans 3 pin or 4 pin?
 
Ok so my SR107 arrived over the weekend. All in all a pretty nice case, a little tight on space but it's much cheaper than most EATX cases.

And yes, holy god is it loud. I didn't order a fan controller with it and I'm not running my pc until I get one. The three delta fans move a nice 115cfm, but at 45 dba each, plus a fair amount of noise from the Panaflos on my hsf's. The thing gives me a headache in minutes.

I've also noticed that the psu is starved for air, so in addition to a 5.25 bay fan controller, I've ordered one of those 3x 40mm fan 5.25 bay HD coolers. I'm not going to put an HD in it, but just use it to blow air into the back of the PSU. I also ordered a pair of Evercool fans that push about 80cfm but are only about 30 dba. I figure I can experiment with all the stuff and see if I can't get reasonable temps and reasonable noise levels.
 
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