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Which Is Better?

J

JeffC

Weaksauce
Joined
Feb 7, 2011
Messages
76
I was wondering which of these cases is best for an air cooled mid/high level gaming system? I wanted to go with the Silverston Fortress FT02 but at close to $300 with shipping it was just out of my price range

$159.98 - IN WIN Dragon Rider Black
$119.98 - COOLER MASTER HAF 932
$179.99 - COOLER MASTER HAF X
$139.99 - NZXT Phantom

Thanks,
Jeff
 
No idea about that In Win and he Haf X is $40-60 more than the Phantom/Haf 932 which brings a lot of other case options into the mix. All of them (outside of the In Win since I dunno) are great cases, but do you need all the features/size?

Depending on your needs, for the best cooling/noise performance I'd probably go for the Silverstone rv02 (or rv02-e), especially if you catch one of those ~$129-150 sales that seem to pop up every 2-3 months. If cooling/noise isn't paramount, probably the Phantom or Corsair 600t. The Haf X would win if you just flat-out need a huge-ass tower to stuff gear in. Check out some of the posts in these two threads for more info. Using the youtube video "tours" I linked in those other threads can be very useful as well. Here's a link to the [H] Phantom thread, and there's also another IIRC for the Haf X.
 
Thanks for the info. Size is a big factor unfortunatly. I would have loved to been able to go with the Silverstone rv02, however, do to it only having 3 3.5" bays it just wont work for my system. I am a web designer and graphic artist so I tend to have tons of huge files and such and like to have at least 3 storage drives and will also be getting an SSD in the summer to run my OS. So need at least 4 drive bays.

Jeff
 
The FT02 is only $229 from amazon and free shipping if you are a prime member.
 
If you don't want to put down FT02 money, buy an RV02 which has the same innards for about $80 less (on average). :)
 
JeffC said:
Thanks for the info. Size is a big factor unfortunatly. I would have loved to been able to go with the Silverstone rv02, however, do to it only having 3 3.5" bays it just wont work for my system. I am a web designer and graphic artist so I tend to have tons of huge files and such and like to have at least 3 storage drives and will also be getting an SSD in the summer to run my OS. So need at least 4 drive bays.

Jeff
Click to expand...


The RV02 will hold 3 3.5-inch HDs and one 2.5-inch SSD. It has a special place for the SSD. Just FYI. Oh, the case is $139 at Amazon.com after MIR.
 
JeffC said:
Thanks for the info. Size is a big factor unfortunatly. I would have loved to been able to go with the Silverstone rv02, however, do to it only having 3 3.5" bays it just wont work for my system. I am a web designer and graphic artist so I tend to have tons of huge files and such and like to have at least 3 storage drives and will also be getting an SSD in the summer to run my OS. So need at least 4 drive bays.

Jeff
Click to expand...

There's also the rv02-E which has 5 hdd bays along with a separate mount for a 2.5" ssd. Basically, it's the interior of the ft02 w/ the plastic exterior of the original Raven 2. Amazon sells that version for $178+ f/s and plenty of other retailers carry it as well. As a bonus, both the ft02 and rv02/rv02-e come with a single hot swap header for the hdd bays. You can also buy more for ~$7 ea which would allow you to have 5 hot-swap bays in total.
 
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coconutboy said:
There's also the rv02-E which has 5 hdd bays along with a separate mount for a 2.5" ssd. Basically, it's the interior of the ft02 w/ the plastic exterior of the original Raven 2. Amazon sells that version for $178+ f/s and plenty of other retailers carry it as well. As a bonus, both the ft02 and rv02/rv02-e come with a single hot swap header for the hdd bays. You can also buy more for ~$7 ea which would allow you to have 5 hot-swap bays in total.
Click to expand...

I may be wrong, but I believe the rv02-E is slightly bigger than the ff02. The rv02-E is best viewed as an upgrade (to 5 hdd bays) on the rv02, not a downgrade from the ft02. The volume of the ft02 is smaller than either raven.
 
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AQ_OC said:
I may be wrong, but I believe the rv02-E is slightly bigger than the ff02. The rv02-E is best viewed as an upgrade (to 5 hdd bays) on the rv02, not a downgrade from the ft02. The volume of the ft02 is smaller than either raven.
Click to expand...

The point I was making was price-related. The OP already said an ft02 was over budget and that he needs a minimum of 4 hdd/ssd bays. Since I already mentioned the rv02 in the 2nd post and you clarified to the OP that it does, in fact, hold 3x3.5 + 1ssd, I was showing him another option in between the ft02 and rv02. Aesthetics aside, the functionality is almost identical among the 3 cases except for the 8 expansion slots and hdd cage of the rv02.

Hopefully with all of us putting our noggins together, Jeff can come up with a winner.:cool:
 
Thank you for pointing out that Silverstone RV02B-EW. I absolutely love it and it is with in budget. Looks like that is the case I will be going with.

Jeff
 
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