Need good LAN case

[Robogamer]

I am one of the moderators for my universities local LAN club and I go to 5-15 LAN's a year as well as hauling my PC back and forth between friends houses on a regular basis. I want to find a case that will stand up to the constant movement better than my LANcool K-58W. The plastic parts keep getting knocked out of place when I move it and I also need more than four hard drive bays. All the cases I see have 5 5.25" drive bays and only 4 or 5 HDD bays. I am looking for something similar to a NZXT Phantom 410. (a friend of mine loves hers) I loved all the features that the Lancool had but it is not sturdy enough and lacks the HDD space. If possible I would like a smaller case but if not I am OK with the current size. Around 20 lbs or less would be good too, same as the LANcool and the NZXT. ( I am strong but lazy )

My budget is $150. I would like to keep it around $100 if possible though.

I have an ATX mobo so no micro cases please.

My Video card is a gtx 670 windforce, 10.5 inches long.

Any suggestions + reasoning would be helpful.

Thanks

 

[Dangman]

$90 - Corsair Carbide Series 400R ATX Case
$100 - Antec 1100 ATX Case
$115 - Corsair Carbide Series 500R ATX Case
$140 - Corsair Obsidian Series 550D ATX Case
$150 - Silverstone TJ04B-EW ATX Case

 

[Robogamer]

Hey thanks for the help Danny. I narrowed it down to the 500R White and the 550D Obsidian.

I did not know if anyone had any experience with these cases and their airflow as well as their noise. If not what is a good case review site to use? ie: Will the 550D have the airflow and how noisy will the 500R be?

Also I noticed that both of these cases only have USB 3.0 on the front and my motherboard has no internal headers. Is there a way around this via a PCI card or other cables to covert them back to the 2.0 header?

Thanks for any comments.

 

[Jaxon_s]

I have a 550D and I can tell you that the case comes with a dongle that will allow you to plug the USB 3.0 front panel into a USB 2.0 header on your motherboard. The amount of airflow is configurable -- if you want the maximum, you can expose the side and top intakes and attach some fans to them.

Even though there's a refreshing lack of protuberances on the case I honestly think it might be a little too big for your needs. It takes up a respectable amount of real-estate on my desk and probably weighs close to 40lbs loaded. If you have to pack it up and head out every month or so, maybe it would be better to look into getting a padded suitcase with wheels that will hold and protect your current case and also maybe upgrading to fewer, higher capacity HDDs(that will cut down on the weight as well).

 

[Dangman]

I did not know if anyone had any experience with these cases and their airflow as well as their noise. If not what is a good case review site to use?

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/cases/2012/02/20/corsair-graphite-500r-review/1
http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2012/04/27/corsair-obsidian-550d-review/1

Also I noticed that both of these cases only have USB 3.0 on the front and my motherboard has no internal headers. Is there a way around this via a PCI card or other cables to covert them back to the 2.0 header?

IIRC, those cases already come with a cable that lets them to be used with USB 2.0 headers.

 

[Robogamer]

It takes up a respectable amount of real-estate on my desk and probably weighs close to 40lbs loaded. If you have to pack it up and head out every month or so, maybe it would be better to look into getting a padded suitcase with wheels that will hold and protect your current case and also maybe upgrading to fewer, higher capacity HDDs(that will cut down on the weight as well).

I don't care so much about the weight and a friend of mine wants to buy my old case off of me within the next week so I decided to upgrade. Also all my HDD's are at least 1TB and I plan to buy a solid state soon which I currently have no mounting for.

Thanks for your input guys it helped me narrow it down I am gonna go with the 500R (I have never liked doors on cases much). Those reviews helped a lot, I was worried about the noise level of the 500R but they seemed to think it was fine.