What would the (your) perfect case be?

JonJ678

JonJ678

JonJ678

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I'm thinking self assembled rather than one of the off-the-shelf models, though if there's a normal one available that comes close to perfection/modded to perfection please do say which one.

A few things I'm thinking about:
atx vs m-atx vs mini-itx?
acoustics?
airflow/water?
how many 5.25/3.5/2.5" bays?
cost?
mass?
aesthetics?
materials?

Essentially I'm looking at my Omega and thinking it's pretty good, but wondering if I can do better. Currently gravitating towards a water cooled m-atx cube, with the inherent challenge of making it as small as possible. There are a few issues with this however. Hopefully your replies will inspire me.

Cheers

edit: on a related note, I believe there is a normally opaque plastic which becomes transparent when internally lit. I can't work out how to google for it though, what's the phrase I'm looking for?
 
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Jon are you sounding out making your own? I have been mulling this over the last week and was going to post a similiar thread.

Not sure on your plastic mate, can't see how it would become transparant with an ordinary lightsource behind it without it beong at least semi transparant all the time. I like the idea of that glass that cycles from opaque to transparant when a current is applied - probably bloody exppensive though.
 
JonJ678 said:
edit: on a related note, I believe there is a normally opaque plastic which becomes transparent when internally lit. I can't work out how to google for it though, what's the phrase I'm looking for?
Click to expand...

Like a two way mirror type thing? I've seen it done before, Looks very good but I can't really remember the proper term for it either.
 
Making the entire side panel out of liquid crystal would cost daft amounts :D

I think it works by actually being very dark green, which you can't really see through. However you then turn on some green lights inside the case, and this light can get out and so you see things. It'll make the case a bit lighter than the 3mm steel plate I'll otherwise inevitably end up with.

Just so capri, I spent today in a machining lab and now want to spend more time there. Looking at spending £150 on ram or on aluminium/copper and must say the latter appeals more. Chronos sell sheet in 12" square and bar in 12" lengths at relatively sane prices, best non-local guys I've found so far. What ideas have you been working with? I'm currently leaning towards compartments; hard drives in one sealed off area, board in a second, psu a third. Cube vs tower is difficult though, and I admit I'm dreading trying to cut the slots for pci cards.
 
atx vs m-atx vs mini-itx?
As big as it needs to be to fit components of choice easily, and no bigger. Room for excellent cable management.

acoustics?
Quiet as possible.

airflow/water?
I really like the FT02/RV02 idea of big, slow fans at the bottom of the case.

how many 5.25/3.5/2.5" bays?
I'd like an understated front - optical drive and fan controller if needed. In an ideal world, no spare 3.5" bays, and a nice way of flaunting any SSDs!

cost?
<£150 is the sweet spot.

mass?
Not really too fussed about this - As long as it isn't made out of concrete it should be OK - I wouldn't be moving it too often.

aesthetics?
Simple, no window. For example, the FT02 looks very good, but the Fractal cases surpass even that.

materials?
Aluminium ideally, steel is fine. No cheap plastics. Either all black in and out or all brushed silver.
 
silverstone tj07 would have to be my favourite - i have built in hundreds of cases

this has to be the best

also, the perfect case has to be able to accomodate at least £5000 worth of hardware :D
 
Jon, I can see your reasoning for wanting mATX, but if you're going to WC, then surely you're going to need a case big enough to accomodate the loop, which negates the beneifts of mATX?
 
Scratch build, but I'd base my own case on the Lian Li x2000

If you're going mATX measure up the components put together, put the pump and rads below the motherboard in a sort of layer setup (leave *just* enough room) and have the PSU at the top, shouldn't be much bigger than 1.5 ft cubed
 
JonJ678 said:
edit: on a related note, I believe there is a normally opaque plastic which becomes transparent when internally lit. I can't work out how to google for it though, what's the phrase I'm looking for?
Click to expand...

Try ' Mirror acrylic / perspex '

Good luck with the build :)
 
As far as cases for water cooling go I very much like the two tier approach with the motherboard horizontal on the top tier and the rads, pumps etc on the bottom tier. I think you can get a much neater looking mobo area when all the tubes and wires conveniently arc down into the compartment below. A bit like the skelington but actually useful. Can be open framed or with perpex side panels. I once toyed with the idea of using an old style cantilever TV stand as a frame for a custom 2 tier case, it was the ideal shape and size but it never got past the thinking about it phase unfortunately.
 
JonJ678 said:
and I admit I'm dreading trying to cut the slots for pci cards.
Click to expand...
You could get ready motherboard tray with slots or butcher some cheap case.

If you want show you could consider doing something like this:
http://metku.net/index.html?path=mods/multilayer-animation/index_eng


But if you're making case to yourself shouldn't you then be asking those questions from yourself and not others?
Josh Pencheon said:
acoustics?
Quiet as possible.
how many 5.25/3.5/2.5" bays?
I'd like an understated front-
Click to expand...
Door keeps both noise lower and hides 5.25" devices whose colour doesn't need to eaxactly match that of the case.
 
The eclipse but taller by about 10 inches room for a top fan and so the psu would be further away from the cpu heatsink.
And more space in the 5'25 to bungee mod more hard drives.
Cases come and go and none of them have tempted me to swap from my eclipse to them.
That fractal design case had promise until I saw how cramped it was and the sideways on irremovable hdd bay.

Imo all cases this side of £150 the eclipse/omega is the best.
 
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I've pretty much fell in love with the lian li pc-a10 in black. I'm just waiting until I have enough money to get one.
 
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this.
 
JonJ678 said:
Just so capri, I spent today in a machining lab and now want to spend more time there. Looking at spending £150 on ram or on aluminium/copper and must say the latter appeals more. Chronos sell sheet in 12" square and bar in 12" lengths at relatively sane prices, best non-local guys I've found so far. What ideas have you been working with? I'm currently leaning towards compartments; hard drives in one sealed off area, board in a second, psu a third. Cube vs tower is difficult though, and I admit I'm dreading trying to cut the slots for pci cards.
Click to expand...

just mulling atm whilst driving up and down the m1 at 50mph :) I'm thinking of an alu tower , also compartmentalised. I have easy access to free/cheap as chips cnc work so this is ideal. Also makes customisation fairly easy - i'm loving the anodised look again. The build qualtiy of my gt900 is amazing and simple, a lttlie more thought on the design wouldn't have gone amiss...

butchering an old case is a feasible idea for the first one....
 
atx vs m-atx vs mini-itx? E-ATX and the rest ;)
acoustics? quiet,but bling on show aint
airflow/water? water
how many 5.25/3.5/2.5" bays? how many rads ;D
cost? above Antec 300, below Thermaltake Level 10
mass? don't mind
aesthetics?
materials? any
Click to expand...

I had a TJ-07 and build quality is excellent (compared to my Lian Li V2000) but i just didnt find it accomodating enough for me, switched to my other dream case (V2000) and its perfect for water, stupid amount of space in there compared. Have got a psu, quad rad with fans and a double rad with fans in the bottom section :D

I think a hybrid between a TJ-07 and a V2000 would be perfect, call it a TJV-2007 :D
 
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