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Mid-Tower or Full-Tower?

WhiteZero

WhiteZero

2[H]4U
Joined
Oct 21, 2004
Messages
3,638
I'm going to have a new build going soon, and I'm pondering weather or not I'm going to need a Full-Tower case.

I'm going to probably need room to fit the Thermalright Ultra Extreme 120 heatsink and a long video card, such as the 8800GTS G92 or maybe even the Radeon 3870X2.

I only intend to have one hard drive and maybe 2 optical drives.

It would seem to me I would have alot of wasted space with a Full Tower case, but I don't think Mid-Towers will be roomy enough for what components I do have.

Also, I want a case with good fan cooling. I especially like the large side fan on the Thermaltake Armor series, which would be a big fan blowing directly on the motherboard (thisly adding some cooling to the NB and SB).

Recommendations?
 
I'd go with midtower. i think those components will fit just fine in most mid-towers. or "super mids." One geek I talked to is convinced that a smaller case needs less fans to cool just as well as a larger case. it's because of the 'turbulence" that you can create in a smaller case..

The reason to get a full-tower is that you have a crap load of disk drives...for like media center PC or something..

Pete
 
WhiteZero said:
I'm going to have a new build going soon, and I'm pondering weather or not I'm going to need a Full-Tower case.

I'm going to probably need room to fit the Thermalright Ultra Extreme 120 heatsink and a long video card, such as the 8800GTS G92 or maybe even the Radeon 3870X2.

I only intend to have one hard drive and maybe 2 optical drives.

It would seem to me I would have alot of wasted space with a Full Tower case, but I don't think Mid-Towers will be roomy enough for what components I do have.

Also, I want a case with good fan cooling. I especially like the large side fan on the Thermaltake Armor series, which would be a big fan blowing directly on the motherboard (thisly adding some cooling to the NB and SB).

Recommendations?
Click to expand...

always go big... give u options late one...easier to keep a clean appearance and hid wires...easier work inside of...and if u wanna add like water cooling u have that option

full tower is the only way to fly
 
POPEGOLD said:
always go big... give u options late one...easier to keep a clean appearance and hid wires...easier work inside of...and if u wanna add like water cooling u have that option

full tower is the only way to fly
Click to expand...

Yeah, thats another reason I liked the Full Towers, they have alot more working room.
But I never really intend on adding more than maybe 1 more hard drive way down the road.
So I guess I'll just have some wasted space if I cant find a good Mid or "Super Mid".
 
If you do intend to get a larger chasis (Full-Tower), make sure it's of good quality. Aluminum, has good spots for hiding wires, sufficient 3.25"/5.25" drive bays, good airflow, etc.
 
Another vote for the full tower. I almost went with a lanbox or mid-tower, but wanted the best cooling + expansion options in the future. I chose the Thermaltake Armor w/25cm fan. It's worked flawlessly.
 
If you don't have plan to go SLI, I would go with Mid Tower. It will fit all those components just fine, it may be a little tight, but it will work. Full Tower are really big, you have to get adapt to it if you decide to get it.
 
I went from a large Silverstone TJ05 full tower, using only 2 harddisks and a single video card.

It was really nice to work in, really good to hide wires.

Currently using a Lian Li A05B (15 inches tall, small mid tower) and it's harder to hide wires, but since I'm going to only be using 1-3 drives in this machine at any time it's fine for me. I plan on making a small file server in the future. I wanted the sleek, small look of the smaller mid-tower because I am space challenged in my apartment, especially my desk area.

If you cant see yourself using the space, then you can consider a mid tower once you think you wont expand past it. Full towers are generally much more expensive as well, with slight exceptions which are a great deal (IE: P182 for $50, etc).

The CM-690 is hailed as a really great mid-tower with lots of room to work in and features to throw a stick at, but you may have noticed.
 
While I can't disagree with everyone who says you can't go wrong with a full tower, because you can't, keep in mind that some "mid-towers" are pretty big and can accommodate all your components. For example my Tj09 is considered mid tower and IMO its huge, and I have even water cooled mine. I would suggest finding a case you like, then checking out the dimensions. There is also a thread in here "8800gtx will it fit thread" which is a great resource. I wouldn't let the designation of weather or not its a full or mid tower sway your decision , rather what you like and if it will fit your components in it.
 
My P182 is a large mid-tower, and has a TRUE 120 and an 8800GTS 512 (which isn't especially long). The 3870X2 is pretty big and would probably require removing the upper drive bay, though that still leaves you with 4 lower bays to work with. I wouldn't necessarily say that it's a good idea to buy a full tower for the sake of it - while you could use lots of drives with them, if you can't see that you'd ever do that then a large mid tower would be sufficient. The P182 is rather cramped to work in, though, especially due to the chamber architecture, though it's not bad for hiding cables except those that go to the front panel and drives in the top chamber.
 
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