general case questions

[FoxEye]

I'm buying a new case to build a PC from my old components (x2 3800+, 8800gt). This is then going to be given to someone else.

He's given me £30 for a new case, but I'm sure I can ask for another tenner, but beyond that it'll be my money I'm spending

I'm looking at http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CM-023-CM&groupid=701&catid=7&subcat=29 which looks decent and is well within the budget.

Couple general questions too:

a) Do you prefer your PSU mounted at the top or bottom of the case? Why?
b) Is it better to have the HDD mounts in-line with the case (not obstructing air intake fans), or better to have them turned 90 degrees for easier insertion/removal/cable management?
c) Are heavier steel cases normally quieter than lightweight alu ones?

Anyway, would like to hear what you think about cases in this price range. I've bought a CM 330 case for a cheap build before, and it seemed OK.

 

[FoxEye]

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/System-Builder-Marathon,1962-8.html

Although this article is two years old, it seems to confirm my initial suspicions about a bottom mounted PSU - that it would be much worse for air flow.

 

[FoxEye]

Having the PSU at the bottom is better, its away from the hot air (heat rises).

It's not so simple. Mounted correctly (fan underneath), the hot PSU components are at the top, next to the GFX cards. Heat from the PSU will therefore rise upwards into the case (although the PSU fan will exhaust some heat - not all).

If theres no vents in the bottom just have it facing upwards so its pulling air from within the case and out the back.

Although I agree with some of what you said, there is no reason to ever mount the PSU upside-down (fan on top). This seems to be the worst way to mount it, in all honesty. See diagram.

 

[FoxEye]

A lot of Antec gaming cases have the PSU fan facing up its even in the FAQ's at Antec..

Worried about carpets? put the case on a desk or on a wooden plinth.

If mounting a PSU at the top of a case is a optimal design then why do no high end cases do this.

The article I posted has one possible explanation:

When Intel designed the ATX form factor, the power supply fan was designated as the primary case fan. Being placed at the top of the case, a power supply could easily draw heat away from the hot CPU and VRM components, expelling it out the power supply’s rear panel. That’s also why ATX power supplies are mounted “upside-down”, with the circuit board on top and the lid on the bottom, so that a lid-mounted fan would also be on the bottom, drawing air out of the case and into the power supply.

<snip>

We excused the power supply location on our high-end build because the change was needed to put the radiator mount on top, accepting the sacrifices needed to achieve our liquid cooling aspirations. But the Centurion 590 doesn’t have enough space above the motherboard to mount a radiator in addition to fans, and our $1000 system uses air cooling anyway.

Unwilling to accept any information pointing to the inferiority of bottom-mounted power supplies, many readers have previously asked questions to invalidate this argument. The most common of these is “If there are so few advantages and so many disadvantages, why have so many companies made the change?” The answer is easy: Because buyers ask them to. Companies will produce whatever customers want, and the reason it took some so long to implement new designs applied long ago by competitors is that most manufacturers chose to wait out the trend, to see if it would stay around, not wanted to produce a design that would be rejected by a change in trends.

Another common question is “Well then, why does BTX have the power supply at the bottom”. The answer is that it doesn’t, at least not by Intel’s design. Some manufacturers have made the switch in their BTX cases for the same reason as above, that is, customer demand.

 

[FoxEye]

Hello? dust filters, my case has one dedicated for the PSU, any good case will also.

OK, I'm going to narrow my search down to bottom-mounted with pull-out dust filters, or top-mounted PSUs.

It doesn't appear that the CM 430 or the Silverstone you linked have dust filters... can you confirm that?

 

[FoxEye]

And you can buy dust filters that are magnetic to attach directly to the bottom of any case on the outside.

Anyone got a link for some cheap ones? Found some that cost £10 each...

 

[FoxEye]

instead of paying a lot of money for a magnetic filter, could you not get a thin filter that isnt magnetic and wedge it between the PSU and the case?

I'm also considering ease of removal for cleaning. It's got to be simple enough that it won't cause certain lazy people not to bother at all