Best case for around 50 to £100?

[Adster3000]

When I manage to finally get some spare money together, I wish to upgrade my case from my Xigmatek Asgard. Everything used in the case is air cooled.

I'd also like to know how these cases compare to the 150-£200 cases as it is a huge jump in price.

The budget that i have stated isn't 100% strict. Though best bang for buck is always welcomed.

 

[Adster3000]

Thanks for your input, will look at all the cases in a second. One that caught my eye was the Cooler Master HAF 992. Has anybody had any personal experience with this case? Looks very good for air cooling. No idea about the quality or cable management though.

 

[Adster3000]

As far as I'm aware the Haf's are slightly older cases now a days however the quality should be absolutely fine! Not too sure about cable management, think it's ok, but Youtube's a great friend for googling reviews!

kd

Alright, thanks.

Any other suggestions/opinions?

 

[Adster3000]

Interesting thread. What do the really expensive (£100+) cases give you that you don't get with cases less than £100?
I have bought Antec cases in the past and they cost £60-80 and gave me everything I wanted such as seperate bay for PSU, good finish, well made, lots of drive bays, silent mounts for hard drives, hard drive cages that are easily removed and good looking.
The main things that are important to me is that they case keeps its contents quiet and doesnt add noise itself.

What I'm mainly after is the ability to tidy cables well and very good airflow. Gonna check some youtube videos on the CM HAF 922.

 

[Adster3000]

I have a CM 690 ii Advanced and tidying cables is pretty easy with this case + the build quality is pretty good and it has a bunch of little features which I realy like , for instance when you use a big heatsink and it sits high up you cant get fans mounted at the top of the case BUT with the cm 690 ii advanced you can, the top is removable with 6 little clips and you can install the fans on the underside of the top if you wish and still get that big heatsink in and of course this is the method you could use to fit an H100 if you wanted to.

That little thing alone is really neat feature and handy tbh

Thanks, I'll have a look into that one too.

Raven RV03 Black

Would appreciate if you could justify and elaborate on that.

As an "out of interest," my Xigmatek Asgard case is 408mm tall. This case has less than a centimeter of space above it from not fitting in my glass desk as there are two shelves. So what I'd like to know is, is there any cases that have better cable management, better airflow and are a fair amount wider than the Asgard?

 

[Adster3000]

Gonna bump. Was on next page.

 

[Adster3000]

Best aircooling and cable management under £100, comes with 2 x 180mm and 1x120mm fans and the Black version leaves out the silly looking gold bits.

Not mine but to give you an idea of how tidy you can get 'em with relative ease (this system has 3 HDDS, 2 optical drives and a fan controller in it):



Reviews:
http://www.chiphell.com/en/case/silverstone-rv03-review/12/
http://www.techspot.com/review/394-silverstone-rv03/
http://www.overclock3d.net/reviews/cases_cooling/silverstone_raven_rv03_review/1
http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/SilverStone-Raven-RV03-Case-Review/1267/10
http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2011/06/08/silverstone-raven-rv03-review/4

All I can say is that this will be your best buy. Very well built (steel). I believe it is the 2nd largest Mid tower case just behind CM Storm Sniper although both have same interior. It is huge for a mid tower case. Excellent cable management capability. Can easily place largest air coolers. I have IFX-14 air cooler. You can also comfortably place longest graphics cards in there

I used this for my first build. Here are some clicky pics.








Comes with two 200mm fans (front & top) and 120mm fan at the back for exhaust.

The only drawback is that it is a dust magnet. Although it has filter in the front.

Btw I am using Storm sniper window panel which perfectly fits Haf 922

Thanks for doing this. Though I have mixed feelings for the motherboard mounting on the Raven. What sort of advantages does doing that have? It's also a heap more expensive.

I own a 690ii it looks damn good with excellent cable management and features. I have built a HAF 922 system the features are very similar to 690ii but the HAF has got better stock cooling and the 690ii has extra features and the black interior.

Extra features?

 

[Adster3000]

Easier cable tidying, better cooling (heat rises) and a little more compact. It's also nowhere near as ugly as the HAF, but that's a matter of opinion

Alright, thanks for that. Gonna have to disagree with you on the looks though.

This case appeared in another thread and really caught my eye..
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-023-NX&tool=3

The reviews look very good. And seems if it would cool better than the 922. Maybe even handle cable tidying better? It also looks very nice.

Could anyone give me a rough estimate, based from previous experience how much my temps will drop when upgrading my case. this is from the Xigmatek Asgard with a 120mm intake fan at the front and a 120mm exhaust fan at the back.

 

[Adster3000]

Th rv03 has good cooling but a little butt ugly from the front.

I kinda agree. Looks of the case don't bother me that much though. Mainly because I'd rather be looking at my screen than at my case.