Quick question

[nitrobass24]

I need a new case for my i7 build

Antec 1200
Cm haf
Lian li pc a70b

Or something else?

 

[Logan321]

There's no quick answers when it comes to cases... More information required.

Are you overclocking?
What videocard are you using?
How many HDs do you plan on having?
Are you air or watercooling?
Do you have any size limitations or preferences for looks?
Do you want front or top mounted ports and switches? (ie is the case going to be on a desk or on the floor)
Is your focus cooling, or quiet?
Are you "showing off" your computer? (windows, lights, etc).

 

[nitrobass24]

4 hdds
2x 9800 gx2
will do some light oc
Air cooling
Case will be on floor
full tower
Quiet
Price doesn't matter

 

[nitrobass24]

I chose those cases becuase I want to get something at my local frys, but if there is something better let me know

 

[E.T]

While cooling-wise surely "hard to screw up" HAF and 1200 and other such cases leak slightest component noises directly to all directions without any muffling, no matter what you do to. So their quietness depends on entirely from selecting quiet components... hardly something describing those graphics cards and many HDDs.

Lian Li A70 doesn't leak to all directions and is able to contain noise well after damping except part of HDD and intake fan noises leaking out (because of lack of door unlike A71) but distance with case on floor might decrease that.
With that hot graphics cards this PCI cooling kit would be sensible addition.

Considering position of case at floor A70's advantage is easy to clean intake air filters (effective because of controlled airflow without holes everywhere) which would keep inside cleaner and also greatly reduce rate of heatsinks getting clogged with dust retaining their cooling efficiency.

From Coolermaster ATCS 840 would have less noise leaking design than HAF.

 

[jterp7]

Since you need a full tower, want to have 4 HDs and have 2 fairly hot graphics cards, yet still want to have a quiet case, you will either need to spend 300+ for the higher end lian li's that have doors or if you are willing to do custom work add sound absorbing foam to the A71 (I'm sure ET can help you there). My bro has a A70 and you will definitely need to 7V or 5V the fans if you're after quietness. He noted a minimal increase in temps compared to a noticeable decrease in noise.

 

[nitrobass24]

What is some good sound Dampening material?

 

[absenceoftruth]

Lian Li would be the best IMHO.

 

[Logan321]

I think you'd do fine with a P182. My P180B has just about the same specs as your build, only I'm running a single GTX 260.

I plan on upgrading the motherboard soon. Here's my build, specs in sig.

 

[E.T]

What is some good sound Dampening material?

For basic mass damping (lowers resonant frequency and amplitude of any vibration, also absorpts some noise) common bitumen mat or some dense vinyl mat works. Important thing is that it's dense for giving additional mass, which along with some added rigidity from increase in panel's thickness helps lot especially with lighter aluminum.
There are few mats for computer use which have both dense bottom layer for mass damping and lower density foam layer for absorpting airborne sound. In Europe such mat is available from both BeQuiet and Nexus while in NA only Nexus (product name Damptek) seems to be available.
DIY version would be using both bitumen mat/some common mass damping suitable material and then adding foam on top of that but there might be quite a lot of cutting and gluing in that and end result might not be best looking.

Of course best would be always to avoid creating any noise in first place but with high end PC's that's not really possible so with quiet PC as goal I would now always recommend using damping mats... Only exceptions being Antec's P180-serie with their thick and heavy multilayered panels which resist vibration well and also blocks airborne noise much better than thin single layer panel. (otherwise excellent but simply small for high end PC with lot of components and drives)
Sure damping can't make noisy PC quiet but that about 5dB additional noise decrease available from damping decently designed case (every direct hole lowers effectiveness of damping) is better than nothing and might be enough for making PC quiet or very quiet depending on starting position.
Also because of its lighter weight aluminum is acoustically worser than steel so damping can balance that difference while keeping weight still lower than similar size steel case... which is really nice thing if you have 10kg worth of components.

Here's some pics of what I did to my A71.
http://www.hardforum.com/showpost.php?p=1033819967&postcount=7
http://www.hardforum.com/showpost.php?p=1033856865&postcount=26

That door muffles intake fan noises by something like couple hundred RPM... which is rather nice considering it can mean about 25% more airflow basing to SPCR's measurements of fans in questions.
Biggest minus compared to A70 is that because of door is heavy front face is attached by four screws so cleaning air filters (behind front face) takes few minutes longer than in A70.

either need to spend 300+ for the higher end lian li's that have doors or if you are willing to do custom work add sound absorbing foam to the A71

I wouldn't trust at all to those "sound dampings" of some expensive Lian Lis.
Such low density foam (can almost read Akasa in it) lacks any kind mass damping effect and layer is simply too thin to have good sound absorption capability at wider frequency range.