Need a big case?

munge

munge

munge

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31 Dec 2005
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Always on the M1.....
Looking for a new case to fit:

Asus A8N Sli Deluxe
X-Fi
BFG 7800GT
4 SATA drives (2 with the heatsink attachments that OcUK sell turning them into 5 1/4 drives)
2 Optical Drives
Seasonic PSU

Ideally would like a couple of front USB/Firewire/Audio ports.

Was thinking about the Kandalf case, just not sure whether these would fit in allowing space for air circulation. And as intend to overclock the whole lot, don't want it too tight or restrictive regarding fans.

Any advice much appreciated.
 
Tt Armour/Kandalf will fit your needs, as will the Coolermaster Stacker.
Also look at the Antec P180 and Gigabyte Aurora, and don't rule out the Tt Shark.
 
I would not look at the p180 personally, but the rest are all worth consideration.

The Lian Li v2000's are also a good case for what you intend.

Depends on your budget; always worth considering the Akasa Eclipse and Lian Li pc7 as although they are not huge, they offer good/great cooling and reasonable noise levels.
 
The stacker has already been mentioned ;)

And it is a nice case just to beef this post up a bit.

Also worth noting on the Eclipse you can buy a side mounted blowhole panel.
 
Yewen said:
I would not look at the p180 personally, but the rest are all worth consideration.
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Interesting re the P180, so many seem to like it, got to be honest, I dont like it either but purely on looks - only mentioned due to the 120mm cooling and size.

As you say, the Eclipse + side panel upgrade is worth a look too - forgot about that one.

As you say some of the newer Lian-Li's are worth considering, although I didn't have much success with a V1000 I bought last year, found the cooling to be poor.

I'm just moving from a CM Stacker to Tt Tsunami Dream, as I don't really need the stacker for what I have running in it (X2 4800 system in sig) - the components look lost in there - even the 7800GTX512 :eek: ;)
 
munge said:
Thinking about the £100 mark, give or take.

Really looking for something that isn't as cramped as my current, 5 year old case!
Click to expand...

Well you've got a few to be looking at - I'll report back on the Tsunami and 7800GTX512 fitment at some point over the weekend - if that helps any.
 
You could easily fit that lot into a Midi Tower case. Lian Li PC60+ would suit you, space for 2 HDDs in the rack with plenty of circulation from the 120mm, then 4 5+1/4" bays for the the opticals and HDDs.

IMO you only need the larger cases (Stacker, V2000 etc) for watercooling or lots of drives. I know some people prefer the flexibility of a larger case, but you're not going to restrict yourself with a PC-60+ sized case.
 
mosfet said:
You could easily fit that lot into a Midi Tower case. Lian Li PC60+ would suit you, space for 2 HDDs in the rack with plenty of circulation from the 120mm, then 4 5+1/4" bays for the the opticals and HDDs.

IMO you only need the larger cases (Stacker, V2000 etc) for watercooling or lots of drives. I know some people prefer the flexibility of a larger case, but you're not going to restrict yourself with a PC-60+ sized case.
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Only issue I'd have with that is I want if possible to stick a memory card reader into the case to help with digital photos and such. I thought with a midi-tower I might be too restricted space wise to fit one into a 5 1/4" bay with the other drives?
 
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Why do you need a 5 1/4" bay for the card reader? Most fit in to 3 1/2" bays, Lian Li do a tasteful one that fits external floppy bays.

Your requirements don't really warrent spending more on a full tower case unless it's a matter of personal choice.
 
mosfet said:
Why do you need a 5 1/4" bay for the card reader? Most fit in to 3 1/2" bays, Lian Li do a tasteful one that fits external floppy bays.

Your requirements don't really warrent spending more on a full tower case unless it's a matter of personal choice.
Click to expand...

Fair enough, was only going from the experience of mine where it all looks a bit tight!
 
Go for the full tower. Lots more space to move and you don't have to be double jointed to fit something. I have a midi tower and full tower and FT miles easier for cable and drive fitting plus cooling. You can easily fill up a midi towers 5.25" drive bay.

DVD-ROM
DVD Writer
Card reader
Soundcard control
Fan control
Removeable HD
 
Munge, if you've got personal experience with it being a bit tight fitting those components into a midi then by all means get a full tower.

Badbob: Card readers and Fan controllers come mostly in 3 1/2" configs, and most Lian Lis and similar cases have 2 or 3 bays for them. Munge didn't state he needed a Soundcard breakout bay and has 2 5 1/4" HDDs to cater for.

A friend of mine has the same motherboard, (albeit without SLi) as you, 4 HDDs, 2 Optical drives and a massive Ti4600 card and it all fits very nicely into his PC60 Midi case. If you have a decent and/or modular PSU (not sure if your seasonic is :/) then you shouldn't have any trouble in a midi case and could save yourself a few bob.
 
Well, migrated my stuff from the Stacker to the Tsunami ... basically wish I'd bought another Tt Shark instead.

Tsunami Pros:
- nice looking case
- fairly easy to work on
- good build quality, weight saving by using thinner metal.
- ok cooling, the 120mms work ok.

Tsunami Cons:
- PSU fitment, put it in first, still a bit awkward due to the USB/firewire cables
- You will not be able to SLI two 7800 series cards AND put 5 HDs in, I could only get three HDs in the system, top two slots are unusable due to the 7800GTX512 and the fact they would over hang the motherboard if installed..
- Top 5.25" cover can only be removed by unscrewing the hinges
- tool-less PCI slot locking mechanism needs to be completely removed before fitting any PCI(E) cards - so not so tool less.
- noise levels from the fans are higher than that of the Shark too.

For a low end build I'm sure these will be fine, calling this case cramped just doesnt cover it.

Tt Shark however is all pros IMHO, had no probs with that one (X2 4400+ system).

As I said, wish I'd got another Shark, and will definitely buy a new case next time I upgrade the GPU.
 
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