Lian Li and Thermaltake

Hidden Hippo · 20 Jul 2006 at 17:19

I'm looking at my rig and deciding on the final bit - the case (E6600, Gigabyte GA_965P_DS3, 2GB G. Skill NR PC2-6400, Sapphire Radeon X1900XT, 250GB Seagate Barracuda 7200.10, Seasonic S12 430W PSU). I'm looking at the Thermaltake Armour Jr, which as far as I've seen has fantastic reviews and the Lian Li PC7 Plus, which also has many good reviews.

My question is this, what sort of cooling power do both of these cases provide? I would like to be overclocking at some point, but would like to be able to do it without lots of big aftermarket parts. I would also like to add a window to the Lian Li should I buy it, but don't know whether to get another case fan (which ones are included in the box by the way?) with LEDs or a cold cathode.

Thanks in advance.

Edit: Changed the mention of the rig in my sig, which is no longer there.

Yewen · 20 Jul 2006 at 18:29

The PC7 will cool the same as the Armour JR but it is built better.

The Lian Li will either come with some blue LED fans or some ADDA fans. They do the job for cooling but are not the queitest around, beats any stock Tt fans I have used though.

hp7909 · 20 Jul 2006 at 18:36

Slight side track... But the rig/spec in your sig - that PSU, I think you're leaving it a bit low considering the X1900XT

Another vote for the Lian-li

Hidden Hippo · 20 Jul 2006 at 20:27

Really? I was under the impression that a 430W PSU from a quality manufacturer would be enough for an X1900XT. Perhaps I should spend a bit more on the PSU and get the Lian Li (ableit, without the window/case mods I'd planned with the difference).

Edit: Spelling

setter · 21 Jul 2006 at 02:23

agree with yewen

i own a tt tsunami and like all thermaltake cases theyre about as strong as a coke can, i cant wait to replace my tsunami with a lian li

hp7909 · 21 Jul 2006 at 06:31

Hidden Hippo said:
Really? I was under the impression that a 430W PSU from a quality manufacturer would be enough for an X1900XT{snip}

You see PSUs are advertise & sold with peak wattage, which they can not sustain through-out (or in the case of some CAN NOT even do). The Seasonic S12 430W is a very impressive & good PSU, but even at a 250W load refused to boot up (see here). So I'd say that its more to do with load than quality. Minimum for your spec should be 500W :cool:

Hidden Hippo · 21 Jul 2006 at 10:48

Well, I've decided to go with the Lian LI (unless someone says something very convincing in favour of the Thermaltake). I've also changed to a Hiper 580W modular PSU (blue or black dependent on which colour case I order). Thanks for the views.

Slogan · 21 Jul 2006 at 10:54

I had the same decision to make and I've opted for the Armor Jnr.

I haven't bought it yet - so opinions of those who have used either/or case are a lot more important.

A decent part of my decision was on how the case looked - and I think the Armor wins that hands down - I don't plan on throwing my case down the stairs anytime soon so as long as it witholds reasonable punishment - I'm happy enough.

The latter is something I can only know by experiencing the case..

Hidden Hippo · 21 Jul 2006 at 11:24

I'm planning on getting the side window and a Red case fan to give it a nice dark side glow (with a black case naturally). The only thing that worries me about the Armour is that it may not be so nice in 4/5 years when I'm still looking at it, the novelty may have worn off.

Yewen · 21 Jul 2006 at 13:34

Hidden Hippo said:
I'm planning on getting the side window and a Red case fan to give it a nice dark side glow (with a black case naturally). The only thing that worries me about the Armour is that it may not be so nice in 4/5 years when I'm still looking at it, the novelty may have worn off.

Wow, you think the same as me on the PC7+!

The PC7+ has nothing gimmicy, you can't get bored about it as you are never excited about it. Been out for over half a decade, and still seems as fresh as it ever was!

Hidden Hippo · 21 Jul 2006 at 14:50

That is the thing that worries me. Will I get bored and regret choosing a more expensive case, when I can just mod this one? The addition of the window and the red case fans will be dependent on how much of my budget I have left. I should be able to just about stretch to it though.

Yewen · 21 Jul 2006 at 17:21

The PC7+ has a huge potential to grow as your system does. You can add a fan mounting to get another 120mm fan in the system, few holes in the side and your set.

Lots of potential in the case to update in the future.