need a good air case for m/boards supporting 4way

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hi,

could someone advise me on cases please?

my current case is a resprayed HAF 932 which i got back in 2008 so ive had a lot of use out of it, but is now not so roomy inside.

ill be working on air only aside from a Corsair Hydro H100 4 fan push pull on the ceiling for the CPU.

basically ill be upgrading next year on the cpu/motherboard and need a case that will last for another long period say 4 years

what im looking for are :

**needs to have room for 4 Gpu with sufficient spacing on 4th gpu (3 gpus currently and its tight so need room to breath for 4)

**need 3 or 4 fan support in ceiling

**PSU can be partitioned if facility is there

**floor fans blowing up if available

**enough airflow for gpus**



ive looked around these what appear to tick some boxes

Cooler Master HAF X Gaming Tower Case 942 *not sure on roof for cpu radiator*

NZXT Switch 810 Big Tower Case - Black

Corsair Obsidian 800D (6GB/s) Full Tower Case - Black

BitFenix Shinobi XL Full Tower Gaming Windowed Case - Black

Xilence Interceptor Pro Full Tower Case - Black/Red (would the Corsair Hydro H100 tubing reach the cpu with this installed its seem too high from the ceiling to cpu anyone advise me on this? )


i know some say the corsair isnt for air cooling but wouldnt it be acceptabe with the cpu being cooled by the radiator in the roof?
by the way i dont need a fancy case as ive had my haf like a christmas tree since is was moded and i find it boring now so bland cases wont bother me. (im past all that now :D )


**added** sorry i forgot price range i think corsair is my max for price so £250 is the budget


many thanks


HR
 
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A large case and air cooling really works against each other as the larger the case the less effective air cooling becomes as the energy from the airflow is lost over the longer distances it has travel inside the case, the Corsair Obsidian is a prime example of this.

To be honest with 3 or 4 video cards and I presume an overclocked CPU a setup like this is screaming out for watercooling. I know you said air cooling but I can't imagine a 4 way SLI/Xfire and an overclocked CPU rig being very quite at all so you should seriously consider watercooling by which I mean proper watercooling not closed loops with skinny rads and poor pumps.
 
Newton's First Law of Motion:
Every object in a state of uniform motion tends to remain in that state of motion unless an external force is applied to it.
 
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A large case and air cooling really works against each other as the larger the case the less effective air cooling becomes as the energy from the airflow is lost over the longer distances it has travel inside the case, the Corsair Obsidian is a prime example of this.

To be honest with 3 or 4 video cards and I presume an overclocked CPU a setup like this is screaming out for watercooling. I know you said air cooling but I can't imagine a 4 way SLI/Xfire and an overclocked CPU rig being very quite at all so you should seriously consider watercooling by which I mean proper watercooling not closed loops with skinny rads and poor pumps.

fan noise is not really an issue for me ....currently using the 3 cards and noise is ok not too loud no whinning or anything

my haf 932 has
1x 230mm
9x 120mm akasa apache fans
1x 140mm
corsair water cooling for cpu does me great never gone over 62c on daily gaming and such only time its in lates 70s is when stress testing on all cores.
so averges out at mid 40s

corsair obsidian...why is it bad from what i see its got
3 roof fans
1 rear fan
1 bottom fan, middle fan, drive fan

maybe ill wait a while and then look again?.


p.s i just dont want water...not my thing...i took a lot of convincing to get the corsair self contained cpu cooler but thats the limit on water im going unfortuantly...sorry
 
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think at the end of the day it may be between the

NZXT Switch 810 Big Tower Case

Corsair Obsidian 800D (6GB/s) Full Tower Case


and from what i can see the NZXT Switch 810 Big Tower Case

has the better cooling option for air

dont suppose anyone has got either on air and would like to comment?
 
haf-x, best air cooling case if you can stand the looks.

The 800d really doesn't work well under air due to the lack of front intakes meaning that you really struggle to get a good thoughflow of air.
 
Have you thought about the RV03?
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-092-SV&groupid=701&catid=7&subcat=1092

It's got room for 4 dual slot GPUs (albeit with no gap between them) with a ventilation hole next to GPU4. It suits a large air cooler better than an H100 but the H100 can still be fitted either to the floor or in the front bays: http://www.overclock.net/t/1138236/can-you-fit-an-h100-into-a-silverstone-raven-rv03
The only downside to positioning the H100 here would be you won't be able to fit any optical drives, but HDDs/SSDs won't be an issue as they can be fitted behind the motherboard tray.
 
Have you thought about the RV03?
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-092-SV&groupid=701&catid=7&subcat=1092

It's got room for 4 dual slot GPUs (albeit with no gap between them) with a ventilation hole next to GPU4. It suits a large air cooler better than an H100 but the H100 can still be fitted either to the floor or in the front bays: http://www.overclock.net/t/1138236/can-you-fit-an-h100-into-a-silverstone-raven-rv03
The only downside to positioning the H100 here would be you won't be able to fit any optical drives, but HDDs/SSDs won't be an issue as they can be fitted behind the motherboard tray.

i was looking at the raven last year as i thought the gpu exhaust was a great idea straight out of the roof but then i thought well how are the cables managed? as ill have 2 thick dvi and lots of usb and sound etc... ill look on utube for examples but yes i like that especially with corsair radiator on the bottom and 120mm on from and rear for 4th gpu...

is that the newest model? ill have a look on there site too ...thnks everyone :D
 
i was looking at the raven last year as i thought the gpu exhaust was a great idea straight out of the roof but then i thought well how are the cables managed? as ill have 2 thick dvi and lots of usb and sound etc... ill look on utube for examples but yes i like that especially with corsair radiator on the bottom and 120mm on from and rear for 4th gpu...

is that the newest model? ill have a look on there site too ...thnks everyone :D

Cables aren't a problem (I'm running two thick DVI cables, a braided HDMI lead, 8 USBs, a network cable and 3x3.5mm jacks into it and there's no shortage of room). The only issue you have is you haven't got much clearance for display adapters, so this style of adapter http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CB-086-OK wouldn't fit but this style of adapter is fine http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-057-HS
 
Cables aren't a problem (I'm running two thick DVI cables, a braided HDMI lead, 8 USBs, a network cable and 3x3.5mm jacks into it and there's no shortage of room). The only issue you have is you haven't got much clearance for display adapters, so this style of adapter http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CB-086-OK wouldn't fit but this style of adapter is fine http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-057-HS

?? im just using 2 dvi dual link for my 2 large screen ...do you mean theres not much space between roof lid and dvi cable plug not sure how you mean?
only say as my dvi cables are thick and braided so bend slightly...so might be able to organize with some cable tie management.

59867040.jpg


:)
 
Sorry, didn't explain myself properly. With a normal PC case, you have unlimited space behind the connectors on the back of your PC. With the Raven, there is a finite gap between the connectors and the top cover of the PC, so the cables have a limited amount of room available before they have to make a 90 degree turn to exit from the rear of the PC. I have not experienced any problems fitting all my connectors in - I was concerned about that when I bought the case but as you can see from the picture in my original thread my fears were unfounded (http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18274849).

You should be fine fitting a DVI cable, even a thick braided one, into the space under the top cover. The only issue you'd have is if you tried to use a (for example) a DVI to VGA adapter and then use a VGA cable. Because you'd then have both the adapter and the VGA connector going straight up before you can bend the cable, you might find you cannot put the top cover back on. To get around this, either don't use adapters at all, or only use adapters with a cable in the middle so you can make the 90 degree turn in the adapter.

Simply - look at everything you currently have plugged into your PC at the back. Do you have any block style connectors? If no, you'll be fine. :) From your picture, the only one that MIGHT present a problem is the audio connector with the solid adapter - if this doesn't fit could you change it for a flexible connector?
 
just found out psu wont fit mines 200mm the case only fits upto 180mm max


ive decided on the NZXT Switch 810 after looking at utube vids...it has everything i needed box ticking...just got to choose colour :D


thanks again for the advice given by everyone including Confused Stu and whyscotty


most appreciated
 
Just got a Shinobi XL, very nice case apart from a couple of gripes, but overall the best case I've ever worked in!

The amount of room behind the motherboard tray is a big advantage.
 
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