CoolerMaster VS Lian-Li (PC7, WM, Prtrin)

[Saberu]

I am looking for a cool case (in both senses of the word). The three I've been looking at are the Lian-Li PC7, Wavemaster and Praetorian.

Now first off I've been hearing high praise of the looks and quality of the PC7 and at £57 it seems like a bargain. Although I'm guessing it's a thinner casing than the CoolerMasters as it's advertised as low weight, I mean I've seen the Wavemaster and it's an impressive thickness especially at the front- almost like a giant heatsink. Obviously the CM's are bigger cases too, which makes them cooler by default.

I'll only want to spend the extra money on a Coolermaster if theres more than a 10% difference in temps.

I've suffered with high case temperatures/ noisy fans and an ugly Antec Sonata with acoustic padding which I was too lazy to remove after fitting for too many years, please advise me which of these three to get!

edit: Also is it worth holding out for the Lian-Li S80 and do you think it will be worth it's price tag?

 

[kidloco]

depends mate, you can get good cooling out of a smaller case. I got the PC7 the other week.

You just need to take extra care making the case tidy with cables etc and you can get good airflow. with just the 2 120mm fans and an artic freezer pro HSF my case temps are around 25 - 30 and CPU temps 30 - 35 which i think is pretty good for a small case and an overclocked 146

 

[Yewen]

Wavemaster is a LOT hotter on air than a PC7+II, the front vent is blocked off.

The side panel thickness is the same aswell. (I own both)

PC7+II as you no doubt have gets nothing but praise from everyone who gets them, 0 features on the case yes, but as a case and just that its the cheapest it could be at the level of quality it is. Able to cool a SLI rig, holds 5 Hdd's if you sacrifice the floppy bays, can upgrade the hard drive cage if you need to.

What Praetorian are you looking at? The PC7+ for value for money beats all of Coolermasters, Thermaltakes, Antecs, all the rest of Lian Li's range....

You get the idea, its a bargain of a case for the money.

The S80 i am waiting on, it won't be cheap and I have £220 set aside to grab me one when they come into reasonable stock, I am expecting a £180 price tag on release, if it is lower than that I will be jumping around like a madman! I was only £3 of my estimate of the price of the v600 so I hope I am wrong on this one.