Overdue HTPC/Gaming rig upgrade, case dilemma

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5 Aug 2004
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37
Location
North Wales
Sorry realised my post is a tad long,please bear with me

Right, I'm just about to undergo quite a large upgrade, as I'm making the jump to PCI-e (finally :rolleyes: ) I will effectively be building a new pc

My current PC :
  • Coolermaster ATC-201
  • AMD A64 3400+ (socket 754 :eek: )
  • Gigabyte mobo (can't remember the model)
  • 2Gb Corsair XMS3200
  • Asus X800 XTPE
  • X-Fi Fatal1ty FPS
  • Nebula DigiTV freeview PCI card
  • Zoom 5506 PCI ADSL Modem
  • Pioneer 106S DVD-ROM drive
  • Pioneer 108 DVD-R/RW drive
  • Various hard drives (3xIDE,2xSATA)
  • Enermax 430w PSU
  • 4x80mm case fans (came with the case)
  • Arctic Cooling ATI 4 (for the X800)
  • Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 CPU Cooler
  • Akasa sound dampening case mats

Proposed new PC (* denotes component from old pc)
  • Intel Core 2 DUO E6600
  • Motherboard undecided yet
  • 2Gb G.Skill DDR2 NR PC2-6400
  • Sapphire Radeon X1900XT
  • X-Fi Fatal1ty FPS *
  • Nebula DigiTV freeview PCI card *
  • Zoom 5506 PCI ADSL Modem *
  • Pioneer 108 DVD-R/RW drive *
  • Various hard drives (keeping the 2 SATAs from old pc maybe one IDE and adding another large SATA II)
  • Enermax Liberty ELT620AWT 620w PSU
  • Artic Cooling Accelero X2 Cooler (X1800/X1900 Series)
  • will be replacing any case fans with Akasa Ambers

The PC is used in my living room for general pc use,gaming and HTPC purposes (It drives my 2nd display (projector) for movie/freeview watching at the weekends).

I've had the coolermaster case years (I think I originally paid £230 for it :eek: :rolleyes: :D ) and it still looks great but its a bit full now and isn't cooling as well as I would like. As stated before I'm upgrading most components, so will be keeping the old case for the old pc.

So my case requirements come down to :
  • great airflow/cooling (will probably be clocking the cpu/gpu at some point)
  • quiet (especially important for HTPC needs)
  • Good looks (must look at least as good as the old ATC-201
  • space for multiple hard drives without restricting airflow
  • thinking of going for a black case this time

The two I've been pondering over are:

Thermaltake VA8000BWS Armour Super Tower

likes
  • front grille looks great for airflow/cooling, also allows for another 120mm fan
  • roomy, plenty of space for hard drives
  • black finish looks quite nice
dislikes
  • side window, not overly keen on these
  • large front grille, while probably great for cooling, I suspect this would not help dampen sound
  • Large/heavy , the pc isn't always in the living room so needs *some* portability

Akasa Mirage 62

likes
  • looks a nice and unassuming black box
  • meant to have great cooling
  • enough HD bays
dislikes
  • It does have a slight 'old fileserver' look to it

Any opinions, are there other cases I'm missing?
Can any owners of the above two recommend them?

Cheers
 
I really didn't want to spend much more than £100

But then you had to go and suggest the Silverstone Temjin TJ07 didn't you? :mad:

I must have the black version of that case, it looks fantastic :eek: :D

Ahh well, I was planning on getting the bits over a couple of months, I'm sure I could squeeze a bit more cash for the upgrade

Cheers Yewen, you know your stuff :D
 
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