Full tower case

mart1985

mart1985

mart1985

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Joined
27 Sep 2012
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371
Hi guys,

I am looking to buy a full tower case for my new build and I cannot decide what is best. I don't really want to spend more than £150 on the case and I am after a nice looking case with really good (and quiet) air cooling.

I really like the look of the NZXT Phantom Enthusiast USB3.0 White but I have read good reviews of the Antec 1200, CM Storm Stryker and Fractal Design XL.

Can anyone give me first hand reviews of these or pass on any advice?

Edit - just seen the BitFenix Colossus (£145.99 version) and love the look of it. This is now in the mix too!
 
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Thanks for the response.

I have seen a lot of people mentioning the HAF and it does look good. The problem I have is that I am a bit of a magpie. If it is shiny (preferably white) with led's, then I am all over it! Hence the Phantom and the Colossus.
 
I do like the look of that BitFenix Shinobi, it looks fantastic. Have you had any experience with it stulid?

I have been reading that it is a good idea to slightly raise your case off the ground to improve airflow to the bottom of the case. Is it possible to buy anything that will raise the cases? I have seen some which come with small struts to raise them but the majority just seem to have small pads to protect the floor.
 
Nice review and it looks amazing. As I plan to steer clear of watercooling, the temps on aircooling concern me. I don't know much about computers so presumably it is possible to bring those temps down with a better aircooling system?
 
mart1985 said:
Nice review and it looks amazing. As I plan to steer clear of watercooling, the temps on aircooling concern me. I don't know much about computers so presumably it is possible to bring those temps down with a better aircooling system?
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You need to remember that I compared it to a case which has an army of fans in it and is known to just be a monster cooler.

It was never going to match that DF85 case...ever.

But with high airflow you also get massive dust build up and that DF85 suffered quite badly from this and I was constantly cleaning the filters once a week and even full disassembled every single part of to give it a thorough and extensive clean out a few times.

This ShinobiXL is much more relaxing to use in that regard.
 
I am aiming to get an i5 3570k and overclock to 4.4/5ghz region. I will also have some form of 120GB SSD,1 TB HDD, 16GB RAM, 2/3GB graphics card and 750-850w power supply.

My original thought was the NZXT Phantom because of the looks and the cooling is supposed to be good. I do like the look of that Shinobi though (the white version I am afraid ;) )
 
With a bit of fan swapping, the cooling in the shinobi can be improved pretty nicely. Ive replaced the stock 230mm fans with dual 120mm's in each of those areas.
 
I have a 4.5Ghz profile and a 4.8Ghz profile for my 3570K saved in the BIOS, the antec Kuhler on silent mode easily keeps the temps down (only when using Prime95 do you need to use a faster fan speed on the Kuhler, but you never reach those sort of temps in everyday use).
 
Out of curiosity stulid, (and sorry to hijack mart1985). 4.8ghz is a pretty nice oc on the 3570k. What sort of temps are you reaching at that speed under p95. Im now on a 3570k, with a rather crude ai suite 4.2ghz 1.244 vcore oc, temps maxing at 62c under prime. Cooled with a k2. 13c lower temps than my old 920 at 4.0ghz in the xl.
 
setter said:
Out of curiosity stulid, (and sorry to hijack mart1985). 4.8ghz is a pretty nice oc on the 3570k. What sort of temps are you reaching at that speed under p95. Im now on a 3570k, with a rather crude ai suite 4.2ghz 1.244 vcore oc, temps maxing at 62c under prime. Cooled with a k2. 13c lower temps than my old 920 at 4.0ghz in the xl.
Click to expand...

Have you seen my latest review today? thats run at 4.8GHz.
 
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