I think it's time I changed my case

[Koalaboy]

Probably about 10 years ago, I bought my current monster tower - it's similar to the SuperMicro 750 series - a mammoth standing 27" tall and weighing what lots of steel weighs

Anyway, having never really tried to overclock my i7 920 (c0 stepping I think), but deciding I need some more power to run Dolphin properly, I took a look at my temperatures.

Now, I only have an exhaust fan, and most of the mounts are for 80mm fans, which is why I don't have any more - they're noisy. The cooler is a Noctua NH-U12P, and nice and quiet.

The temperatures - My i7 is idleing at... 65 degrees. *Ahem*.

Yes, this is stock speeds.

So, obviously something needs to be done. Let's not even mention the cabling and the fact that even though it's massive inside, I still struggle to fit things in.

I've been looking at the Corsairs (500R, 600T, 650D), the CM Haf-X and the Fractal Designs. I'm not keen on the Silverstone Ravens, though I'm not sure why.

I need basic space, although I do have a PCI audio card (Scope Pro) that's over 13" in length, so size *does* matter in that regard, but I only need 2x3.5" drive bays, so removable cages are okay.

I'm looking for quiet at Idle (mine is quiet - my HP N40L microserver positively blasts out over it), but able to allow me some decent (about 3.5 ?) overclocking to get some new life out of the i7.

Anyway, I've been reading through all the other posts to try and get a feel for things (and I'm dreading trying the overclock as I always seem to fall at the first hurdle) but I'm confident you chaps can help... I'm ready to order a case to crack on with the job.

Also, whilst I'm at it, would it make sense to switch my Noctua for one of them there Silver Arrow thingumajigs ? Or should I be okay with just the improved case flow ?

Oh, ideally budget for the case not more than £150.

Ta.

 

[pgi947]

500R fits the bill pretty well I'd say, unlimited PCI card clearance, very very impressive airflow and falls well under your budget. Also the HAF series cases, along with silverstone and bitfenix are all fantastic airflow cases, it just depends on personal preference.

Your noctua should be fine in a case with better airflow, the NH-U12P is still a very very good performer, also if your idle temps are that high it wouldn't hurt to re-seat the cooler before you transplant everything into a new case.

 

[Koalaboy]

500R fits the bill pretty well I'd say, unlimited PCI card clearance, very very impressive airflow and falls well under your budget. Also the HAF series cases, along with silverstone and bitfenix are all fantastic airflow cases, it just depends on personal preference.

Well, if it's mostly going to be down to which one looks nicest... that's tricky

I'm hoping that's the caseD) though.

Your noctua should be fine in a case with better airflow, the NH-U12P is still a very very good performer, also if your idle temps are that high it wouldn't hurt to re-seat the cooler before you transplant everything into a new case.

I did think about that, but that's what got me thinking that if I'm going to that much trouble, should I just upgrade the cooler at the same time.

 

[Raikiri]

All the ones you've listed are great cases, however you can pick up a Fractal Arc Midi for a fair bit less than any of the others (£65) and it'll perform very well. I'm running an i5 2500k at 4.5ghz and get sub 60c load temps with only a fairly small air cooler.

Of the higher budget ones I'd personally go for the 600T.

 

[Koalaboy]

All the ones you've listed are great cases, however you can pick up a Fractal Arc Midi for a fair bit less than any of the others (£65) and it'll perform very well. I'm running an i5 2500k at 4.5ghz and get sub 60c load temps with only a fairly small air cooler.

Of the higher budget ones I'd personally go for the 600T.

Your recent build is definitely one I've been watching - it looks great, and it's nice to know it keeps the temps down. I can only assume the noise is decent as well, with the reputation of the Fractals.

 

[Raikiri]

Yeah it's pretty quiet, I keep all the fans at around 800RPM and my CPU fan goes from 500-1000 depending on load.

Only issue I had was one of the stock fans made a clicking sound but they replaced it whithin a couple of days, no need to send the faulty one back. They also sent me the improved version that usually sells for about £10.

 

[Koalaboy]

Just to update, I went for the Corsair 650D in the end. They all seemed decent enough, so rather than keep changing my mind I just went for it.