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Need some advice on new Case

F

Fangman

Weaksauce
Joined
Dec 2, 2006
Messages
66
Hey all,

Been researching this to death for the past week and getting no where definitive. Was really hoping to order a case ready for the weekend for a project.

Anyway. Old case is a Thermaltake VA9003BWS Kandalf Full Tower
http://thermaltakeusa.com/product/ch.../va9003bws.asp

Was a decent enough case, but no cable management, very heavy, some watercooling support and parts are getting really warm. Also NO idea what they mean by water cooling options. My case doesn't have those holes :S

In short, a good modern case can do a better job than it.


So, what I'm after is:
Quiet (I am quiet happy to replace the stock fans, already using some Noctua fans). One issue i've had is the hard drive causing vibrations that get really frustrating. I am happy to invest in a Fan controller at a later date.

Water cooling options. Again for the quiet target. I have never done water cooling before but would like to get involved with it in the next year. Ultimatly would like to cool Graphics and CPU with it. No idea if i'll go SLI, highly doubt my current Card will support water cooling block (MSI 560ti Frozr 2gb) so would need to wait for another time to buy a new GC, which could be a while.

Size: - Not too worried about this. As long as it's not too massive, current case has mobility issues due to it's weight but it's rarely moved anyway. It did weight 18kg according to the website and I have yet to see a case that heavy. Plus I could do with the exercise.

Cost: - No concern here. Recently got a bonus through so Possibly £200 is the limit, although recommendations from above that are welcome if they are exceptional.

Other: Not willing to sacrifice the above for looks. If it looks decent, it's a bonus. I currently have 4 HDDs and 1 SSD. I use 1 DVD drive and have never needed more than that. I am ok with a small amount of modding but nothing insane/risky.

Cases I've looked at so far:

Corsair 600t seems great but poor response on the fan controller and reports it is noisy. Good size for the options though
Corsair 550D: Heard it has very low noise due to sound proofing but not as strong in the water coling department as 600t.
NZXT Switch 810: Seems perfect but maybe the size is overkill for my needs. Also one review stated it was one of their louder cases. I have glanced at the phantom 410 Enthusiast and while it looks good, cannot see it offering much over the 600T


Any other suggestions or comments on the above cases?
 
Check out the Corsair 800D. It is pretty large, and a bit heavy but it is hands down the best case I've owned. Wonderful cable management (to the point where not even I could fuck it up :/ ). Not to mention it looks great and is very water cooling friendly.
 
Fangman said:
...NZXT Switch 810: Seems perfect but maybe the size is overkill for my needs. Also one review stated it was one of their louder cases...
Any other suggestions or comments on the above cases?
Click to expand...

Remember that when cases are reviewed it is usually in the stock configuration. The NZXT Switch 810 comes with 4 fans.

That's at least 1 more fan than most any other case ships with, and the more fans you add the louder the case will be. So, if you purchased a different case and added one or more fans you may end up with your case being louder than the Switch.

One last point - you can always add a fan controller as you mentioned, the Switch does not come with one.

I do like the Corsair 550D as well, but if you are going SLI it may have more trouble cooling than the Switch would.
 
Corsair 400R or 500R.

I've got a 400R with 10 PWM 120mm fans total running of my Z77 Sabertooth. With the Asus Fan Xpert set to Silent mode, it really is silent.
 
I picked up a Fractal Define Mini this week that I'm actually pretty impressed with. It's a heavy beast, for a small case and is pretty solidly constructed. The side panels weigh a ton and come already covered with sound dampener. It took me forever to drill out the rivets to remove the drive cages - everytime I thought I had them all out, I'd find another one still holding everything together. I'm currently planning out how to shove 4 or 5x120mm worth of rads into it.

I think the Define Mini is probably a bit small for what you're looking for, but the Define R3 or XL or the Arc Midi might work out nicely.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...anufactory=14581&SpeTabStoreType=0&Submit=ENE
 
Thanks for the feedback so far. With noise it is down to if the case has an issue with vibrations or shaking. Fan noise can be fixed with fan controller or just good fans.

Looking at the 800D it seems a bit over kill for my needs. 400/500R are small and cannot see great water cooling support. Silverstone Revan seems pretty decent (website sells the RV03 model, i presume it's just a minor improvement?). Not sure I like the Motherboard layout of them though,I/O ports on the top?!?

Fractal Define mini is just too small.

Also started looking at the HAF 932 and Storm Trooper cases. The HAF seems to be a good size but limited Watercooling options. I am hearing more and more issues about the NZXT 810 having vibration issues. Anyone got any insights into if this is a common un-fixable issue?
 
Fangman said:
... I am hearing more and more issues about the NZXT 810 having vibration issues. Anyone got any insights into if this is a common un-fixable issue?
Click to expand...

Where are you hearing these reports?

I'd be curious to read more about them.

The SIlverstone Ravens having the rotated motherboard with the ports on top is doen for thermal reasons.

Heat rises and these cases are designed with multiple fans bringing air into the bottom of the case where it then gets accelerated up through the warm components and out the top.

It's a proven design - and there are covers over the I/O ports. The FT02 is a more sophisticated design using the same principle. Nice cases, as well.

The CM Storm Trooper is pretty sweet with some nifty features.
 
I've got a Corsair 700D, which is the 800D without hot swap bay. Had it for 2 years, very nice case, but I've bought a new Switch 810 case, and am going to sell the 700D.

The reason is the 700D / 800D will not accommodate the larger motherboards. By larger, I mean the E-ATX / XL-ATX that need more than 7 PCI slots. The 810 has 9 PCI slots.

I'm going to buy an Asus Rampage IV Extreme, and it won't fit in the 700D.

The 810 is a beautiful case, and if it had been out the same time as the 700D, I would have bought the 810, no question.

Both of them are very heavy, so weight isn't a consideration.
 
I just got a Rosewill Blackhawk. It is DEAD quiet with all the fans going. In fact the power-supply fan, which is pretty quiet itself, is louder than the case fans.

Plenty of room for cable-management, disks, etc. Oh, and set up with grommets for water-cooling. So far I'm happy with it. Not happy with newegg and it dropped in price a week after I ordered mine :( but so far, very happy with it. :D
 
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