Replacement for Antec 1200

[Chaos744]

Hello my patience for this case has run its course. What do you recommend for a replacement? System is in the signature.

PS _ cooling, cable management, and mounting of hard drives has driven me over the edge. My SSD is literally sitting on top of my HDD because I became so frustrated with the mounting process.

 

[stratosrally]

Your signature only indicates that you have 1 mechanical hard drive & no SSD, yet you mention in your post that you have both of those. Exactly how many hard drives and SSDs do you have?

However, even at this point I'd say there are many of possible recommendations. The Corsair Carbide 400R/500R & Vengeance C70, CoolerMaster HAF Series, Fractal Design Arc Midi, BitFenix Raider, NZXT Phantom 410, etc.

Give us an idea of your price range, too.

 

[Chaos744]

Your signature only indicates that you have 1 mechanical hard drive & no SSD, yet you mention in your post that you have both of those. Exactly how many hard drives and SSDs do you have?

However, even at this point I'd say there are many of possible recommendations. The Corsair Carbide 400R/500R & Vengeance C70, CoolerMaster HAF Series, Fractal Design Arc Midi, BitFenix Raider, NZXT Phantom 410, etc.

Give us an idea of your price range, too.

OOPS! Sorry dude - I just got my SSD. I have 1x HDD and 1x SSD. I haven't updated my signature.

I figure no more than $200.

 

[stratosrally]

OOPS! Sorry dude - I just got my SSD. I have 1x HDD and 1x SSD. I haven't updated my signature.

I figure no more than $200.

No biggie...

If you're willing to go to $200 you have just added many more choices!

However I do have a couple more questions - I'm a bit confused by the graphics cards in your signature as well.

Do you have one or 2 GTX 680 videocards?

If you have 2, more cooling is needed - keep that in mind when looking at cases.

I'd say the cases mentioned so far should do fine with 2, though.

Also, are you wanting to stick with a full tower?

If so, the NZXT Switch 810 is one of the really popular cases right now. Tons of room, fan locations, and the ability to be "switched" to a great watercooled build later on, if you should choose to do so.

It runs around $160-$180 depending on color, available in gloss black, gloss white, matte black, and gunmetal.

Alternatively, the CoolerMaster Storm Trooper (black) or Stryker (white) is a very nice choice. A bit flashier, but also very full-featured and has a very solid handle up top. It's about $150 for the black Trooper, not sure yet on the white Stryker - it's coming soon.

Oh - don't let me forget about the BitFenix Shinobi XL, another nice tower for about $160.

Now - if you only have one GTX680, there's a really nice case by Corsair that is quieter than any of the ones I've mentioned, but I'm not sure I'd get it for an SLI rig - it might run a bit hotter inside than some of the others.

It's the Corsair Obsidian 550D and even though it's technically a mid-tower it has plenty of room inside for fans, cabling, and convenient HDD/SSD installation.

I think in your situation a major consideration should be made to removable and/or rotatable HDD cages - that should help a great deal with installing & swapping out drives. Most new cases have more room for cable management behind the motherboard as well as more holes cut on the tray than they used to, so you ought to be fine on cable routing as well.

Lastly, I believe every case mentioned here has the PSU mounted in the bottom of the case - and a meshed vent below the PSU location to allow nice cool air inside. You should install the PSU with the fan facing down in most modern cases to take advantage of that feature.

BTW - check out this thread for more discussion about new PC cases:

http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1698323