Buying a new case

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Soldato
Joined
10 May 2004
Posts
5,209
Location
Middlesex
Hey guys,

I need a new case as mine is pretty battered.
Basically I just want it to be as quiet as possible without spending silly amounts.

I was looking at this - Arctic Cooling T2 Silentium Silent Midi

Looking on the artic cooling website it doesn't look like there's a massive amount of room between where the cpu sits and the PSU. Will there be enough room for my zalman aero flower in that case?

My second question is about the supplied PSU.

Will it be enough to power my rig silently(ish):

athlon 64 3500+ (zalman aero flower)
ATI x800xt (arctic cooler)
2 dvd drives
1x 74gb raptor
1x 250gb maxtor

If not what psu would you guys recommend?

Thanks a lot!
 
Yes - there will be enough room.

Yes the PSU is a Seasonic and it'll handle that lot.

But buy yourself a Lian-li PC7 and a Seasonic 430W PSU, then upgrade the Lian Li fans to 120mm Akasa Ambers for total silence.

Those Silentium cases are full of 'features' that actually don't do a lot but contribute to the overall cost - so what looks like an inexpensive case with a good PSU is actually a very poorly finished plastic box that has a nasty tendency to snap unexpectedly if you put any pressure on it. And, because it all sort of 'fits where it touches', you have to apply pressure to get things to close properly and line up.

The Seasonic PSU is the best bit of it, but it's a custom job for Arctic Cooling and you cannot replace easily it if it breaks.

Lian-Li PC-7 PLUS Black Aluminium Midi-Tower Case (No PSU) (CA-054-LL) £58
FSP Sparkle ATX-400PNF 400W ATX2.0 PSU (CA-006-SK) - £31
or Akasa Ultra Quiet 400W Paxpower Active PFC ATX2.0 PSU - Black Nickel (CA-012-AK) - £40
2 x Akasa AK-183-L2B Ultra Quiet 120mm Fan - 3 pin (FG-024-AK) - £22

OK - I know that at £111 my cheapest option is almost double the cost of the Seasonic, but it will be silent, be a home to several rigs and you'll still be able to resell it for 70% of what you paid for it in 2 years time.

Oh no - I've turned into Yewen! I'm off to read my Akasa Eclipse catalogues again!
 
get an Antec P180. excellent case and the newer versions have fixed most of the niggles with the Panel/Door construction.

And it aint a Lian-Li, which is what everyone suggests in here :rolleyes:
 
gr1mey said:
And it aint a Lian-Li, which is what everyone suggests in here :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

There is reasoning to why they get recommended a lot, nobody finds fault with them, and a fair few members have them. Just a search pops up peoples opinions on them.

Why the :rolleyes:?
 
well simply because people constantly come in asking what case to buy and 9 times out of 10 the Lian-Li's are suggested to them.

Yes I know its for a reason.

Its just so zzzz.
 
The PC7 is like the one of best value for money cases on OcUK. All of the people that bought this case are very pleased with it and understand what all the raving is aobut.
 
Other cases are recommended, but when the PC7+ is such good value for money of course it will crop up a lot.

To your P180 recommendation, from the original case when a PSU is added it takes the price way to high over his original selection. Hence the PC7+ is a much better option, that or the Lanboy offer superb value for money at the moment.

If you do not like the PC7+ then provide a competative alternative. I do not get any pleasure out of recommending Lian Li's to people, I just recommend the PC7+ as it is the best in my eyes for the money. If the P150 was £40 I would probably be touting that, and the same convo would happen with why do you not recommend Lian Li cases.

If something is the best, and so many people think it through owning it, with no bad comments floating about, for almost 12 months of being around then it does speak for itself that the PC7+ is best in class.
 
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Well I had one for 5 minutes (just arrived) and the outside finish is nice except for the big scratch on mine. Not impressed with the inside though I know it is good value for money. The alum. around the psu is flimsyish and the mobo tray flexes.
 
PC7se has slightly more movement in it than the PC7+II, its got the same basic as the original. PC7+II still flex's a little mind.

Nothing to be concerned about, but the scratch, man you are unlucky. :eek:
 
Will stick with it...maybe the company sends me a side panel.

Good uniobstructed airflow in front unlike the gigabyte aurora I had. Just changed out the 2 120mm fans for nexus ones, and added an 80mm nexus on top. Used acoustifan gaskets allround with the mounting. Threw in the antec neohe psu, and my sata dvdrw. Now for the mobo and hard drives.
 
gr1mey said:
maybe there should be a sticky made:

IMPORTANT: STOP!!! DONT ASK WHAT CASE TO BUY AS YOU SHOULD GET A PC-7 ITS ALL THAT WILL BE RECCOMENDED TO YOU HERE!
Click to expand...

You could make that point about AMD processors in the CPU forum, or ASUS motherboards in the Motherboard Forum or the people giving out warnings about buying Maxtor HDD in the HDD forum.

Like it or not, we are a likeminded group of people. We tend to like quality stuff and, as we all have to earn our money, we want to help others making a similar mistake to one we did, or just making an idiot of themselves.

I'm the No.1 Akasa Eclipse Fanboy on the website. But not everyone wants a case so big you can fit the motherboard on a pallet inside it. Or sometimes their budget doesn't stretch to my personal favourite.

So I recommend the next best thing, or the thing that best suits their requirements in my opinion.

Other cases the OP should consider are the Jeantech Phong I, the Coolermaster Centurion, the Lanboy and the ASUS TA-210 or TA-250.

They're all great cases, with good cooling and lots of space inside to work in. But my recommendation would be the PC-7, for *** reasons I gave before - it's popularity guarantees it's resale value and for a piece of IT equipment, the residual values after 2 years are remarkable.
 
Only to people who I do not like, get it right.

Recommended someone buy a Vento on another forum I frequent, after they sent abuse at me for saying they were being silly in their decisions throughout the PC, x2 4400 with 512mb of ram anyone?
 
Yewen is only trying to help,

all he is saying is he would recommend a case for the right hardware used, with a good price in mind and the right cooling system setup

yes he likes Lian Li cases, thats only coz there 1 of the best cases on the market atm

and i would say the same thing
 
Tosk said:
Yewen is only trying to help,

all he is saying is he would recommend a case for the right hardware used, with a good price in mind and the right cooling system setup

yes he likes Lian Li cases, thats only coz there 1 of the best cases on the market atm

and i would say the same thing
Click to expand...

You just did. :p

Oh I am buzzing about the Xbox offer at a big store, just ask Haly. :D
 
Tosk said:
Yewen is only trying to help,

all he is saying is he would recommend a case for the right hardware used, with a good price in mind and the right cooling system setup

yes he likes Lian Li cases, thats only coz there 1 of the best cases on the market atm

and i would say the same thing
Click to expand...


Don't worry, I know Yewen is only giving out good advise, and a fine job he is doing to. Im just teasing him though, as I know his hatred for Thermaltake(And rightly so after he owned a Xaser3 Skull, lol) Not that I can talk, as I owned a Xaser3 as well :( Ive got a better taste in cases now though, as at the moment I have a p180, and im looking to pick up a G50 for my server.

What was the Xbox offer Yewen?
 
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