Does a case like this exist???

shadowake

shadowake

shadowake

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I'm looking for a new case, but can't seem to find one with everything I'm after.

I would like (listed from most to least importance):

1. Good airflow with at least one fan at the top
2. Mesh front
3. Black (preferably with some silver)
4. Windowed (preferably with fan monts) or mesh side panel
5. Good inside layout and cable management
6. PSU at the bottom
7. Black painted interior
8. Seperate compartment for the PSU & HDD's
9. Room to fit watercooling (at a later date)

So does this case exist

:confused:
 
Silverstone Fortress makes 7/9.

HDD's are kind of in their own compartment.

Water cooling would be a squeeze though.
 
Nope.
Only extremely few cases come with inside painted so unless severely restricting choises you would have to get inside painted/powdercoated yourself. (some cases easy to strip down to frame)
Also very few cases have dual chamber design...
From plain "nonesthetic" cooling perspective full mesh front would be mostly needed as consequence of dual chamber design which leaves motherboard chamber (where huge majority of the heat is produced) with less intake and isn't that beneficial in case which doesn't "compartmentalise" intake airflow to areas with less need for it.
 
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shadowake said:
1. Good airflow with at least one fan at the top ->easily done with a dremel

2. Mesh front ->whatever for? And second most important?

3. Black (preferably with some silver) -> easily done with paint if not standard

4. Windowed (preferably with fan monts) or mesh side panel -> windowed + fan mounts unlikely. Can get windowed panel and cut out holes or do it all yourself. Intake fans on the side tend to badly disrupt airflow.

5. Good inside layout and cable management -> almost any count, cable management is the user as much as the case. no cases have ridiculous internal layout thanks to the atx spec

6. PSU at the bottom -> why not the top? Case airflow will have been designed around either location, so this is rather taken care of by 1.

7. Black painted interior -> paint it yourself if need be

8. Seperate compartment for the PSU & HDD's -> this I'll accept, it is nice. Few cases do it though.

9. Room to fit watercooling (at a later date) -> this I would have put second in importance, after good air cooling
Click to expand...

Basically you've written a very strange spec. 1/2/6 are 'good airflow', 3/7 can be painted, 5/8 are both internal layout. 4 is standalone, as is 9.

So I propose as a condensed spec, as a working specification is about themes rather than specifics. It should not restrict the available solutions.

1. Can be cooled well with air
2. Can be cooled well with water
3. Sensible internal layout, so is tidy and easy to build in
4. Is black inside and out, as I'd rather not paint it
5. Side window / side fan intake

If you're up for modding/building from scratch then clearly all of these can be catered for. Side window + fans is always going to be tricky. I therefore assume you don't want to mod any of it, and as is standard in these threads, I recommend the Akasa Omega.

1. 6 120mm fans, psu is at the top but equally is in it's own compartment. As long as you don't aim the fans directly at each other it's hard to go wrong.
2. Will hold two 120mm radiators and a 240mm radiator without any modding or mounting in the door. Large case, hardly a lack of room for fitting pumps and so forth.
3. The enormous thread on the akasa mirage/eclipse/omega demonstrates that the internal layout is phenomenal. It's wider than most cases which gives a lot of space behind the hard drives and optical bays, and space either side of the psu to put spare psu cables. No modular supply needed.
4. All black except the removable motherboard tray, which is chrome. Internally black as well.
5. Comes with mounts for two 120mm fans in the side panel. A nice windowed panel without fans is available for purchase. So without modding you can have one or the other.

So, with the revised spec, the omega hits 4.5/5. From your original, I think far too restrictive spec, it hits 6.5/9 as it even has a mesh front.

Thoughts?
 
Ucof said:
+1 for the Silverstone Fortress :)
Click to expand...

Pricy but nice.

Think I might go with the fortress. Do the innards come out easilly for painting? And would there be space if I drilled some fan holes, to mount a fan infront of the graphics card? Anyone done this???
 
The innards for painting?

Well, it either comes with black insides, or silver, depending on which version you get.

You could easily mount a fan on the side, though why you would want to start cutting holes in the plastic window is beyond me. The case has great airflow, and my 4870 maxes out at about 50 degrees or so.
 
Ucof said:
The case has great airflow, and my 4870 maxes out at about 50 degrees or so.
Click to expand...
You have case in freezer or what?
Even in open air test benches of reviews they get 60+ idle temperatures so I think you're looking at entirely wrong temperature reading.
 
when you say maxes out? you mean idles? surely
I have xfired 4870s which idle at 50ish in my 1200 and thats them fitted with arctic cooling accelro twin turbo coolers on 50%, however underload this goes upto 80 + depending on the game
 
the inside of my lian-li is red anodised aluminium. i would recomend a plating technique rather than painting or powder coating. kits are prety cheep and its easy to do. however you would need a fairly big vat... oh and lian li do almost everything you need bar the internal colouring which you have to do yourself.
 
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