Case Reccomendation please

oweneades

oweneades

oweneades

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Joined
17 Jul 2005
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Hi all I am in the process of speccing up a new core i7 build and I am kind of stuck on the case choice. I have always been one who doesn't spend too much on the case as I have learnt from experience that a higher cost doesn't always equal better cooling / silent running. Obviously I want to get a decent case but at the same time I don't want to spend over the time for something that doesn't do anything better than a cheaper case would offer.

The main things I am looking for are:

- Must have good cooling (please see below)
- Must be reasonably quiet
- Not stupidly expensive <£100 although would prefer to spend less
- I don't want anything stupidly large (thermaltake armour for example) as I found the extra bulk didn't quite equate to extra room inside.

- The big point (and a stumbling block hence why I am asking for suggestions) is that it must be able to fit either 2 HD4870X2's or 3 GTX260 in Tri SLI (or at least two of the latter cards).

Annoyingly most pictures shown on OCUK don't show the inside of the case as I know the 4870X2 is a long card and having two may foul HD placement. Also given the Graphics card requirement (this pc will be both my folding pc and gaming pc so will run at least 12 hours a day) I need to make sure the case can take some of the larger power supplies.

My first choice is the Antec three hundred as it seems to be a cheap yet well built pc with a large interior (I also like how it looks) however given all I can go is a picture I am not 100% sure on this choice.

Would this be a good option, or are there better cases out given my points above?

Thanks in advance
 
antec 900, i've just baught 1 today, its bloody amazing, i've added the 2 extra fan options(side of case another 1 on the hard drive bay) and my cpu has drop from 42c idle to 21c, gpu from 52c to 38c, hard drives from 30c to 16c!!, mobo from 35c to 21c loving the fact that the psu is located near the bottem of the case. if you can justify speding 70-80quid i'd get the antec 900, only reason i baught this is becasue my local shop didnt have the antec 300, glad i took the plunge and got the 900 though.
 
chronic86 said:
antec 900, i've just baught 1 today, its bloody amazing, i've added the 2 extra fan options(side of case another 1 on the hard drive bay) and my cpu has drop from 42c idle to 21c, gpu from 52c to 38c, hard drives from 30c to 16c!!, mobo from 35c to 21c loving the fact that the psu is located near the bottem of the case. if you can justify speding 70-80quid i'd get the antec 900, only reason i baught this is becasue my local shop didnt have the antec 300, glad i took the plunge and got the 900 though.
Click to expand...

How big is the 900? I was swaying more towards the 300 simply due to exterior size. I want something big enough but not oversized (does that make sense?!)

I will take a look at it though.
 
yup that makes perfect sense mate.. and its the size your after.. its not a super tower like some thermaltakes. its just the standard atx size. its the same size as the 300 :)

i've just upgaded from a cheap Antec SLK1650B which was also the same size.. best thing i've baught for a while :D
 
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chronic86 said:
yup that makes perfect sense mate.. and its the size your after.. its not a super tower like some thermaltakes. its just the standard atx size. its the same size as the 300 :)

i've just upgaded from a cheap Antec SLK1650B which was also the same size.. best thing i've baught for a while :D
Click to expand...

Just been looking at the 900, it looks very similar to the 300 just with the Fan on top.

Could you possibly take a quick picture of the inside of your 900 so I can guage its interal space.

Cheers
 
the only case i can really recomend is the antec 300, fairly cheap, great cooling, doesn't have all the stupid lights on it that others do and it's pretty roomy inside it even though the pictures on ocuk don't really show its quality.
 
Ive just got the NZXT Temptest

the cable management is great psu at the bottom of the mobo as are the hdds so they dont get in the way of the gft theres about 2-3ins between the atx mobo and the hdd caddy/5.25" tower

ill get a pic of mine up later
 
oweneades said:
Just been looking at the 900, it looks very similar to the 300 just with the Fan on top.

Could you possibly take a quick picture of the inside of your 900 so I can guage its interal space.

Cheers
Click to expand...

lol whish you hadnt of asked mate, but yeah... dont take the micky out of my cable managment tho its pretty non-existent
 
and heres my idle temps with the antec 900.

a900temps.jpg
 
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