Please help me choose a case!!!!!!!!!!!

geff_r · 9 Mar 2007 at 09:08

Well i have not owned one i'm sure it's decent lian li always is
but when i look at all the holes in it i cannot help but think that's gonna get dusty which depends on your house and how dusty it gets i guess and mine gets very dusty thus my dust magnet comment i very nearly bought one dont let my ramblings put you off.
also i didnt like the layout i had £140 to spend but plumped for the eclipse.
i just dont like the psu at bottom cases im sure you'll be more than happy with it.

gt_junkie · 9 Mar 2007 at 09:20

geff_r said:
Of course it does the v1000 is a dust magnet with poor cable management due to the psu being at the bottom and bad fan placement it blows warm hdd air over the psu.yea the mozart rocks but is a lot of moola.

In a normal case the psu generally expells most of the hot air from the top of the case (heat from HDD's, CPU, GPU, Mobo, etc) so just dealing with HDD heat won't matter at all. Plus, with regards to dust, why not just put fan filters on the intakes then there wouldn't be a problem!

With your £100 budget the Akasa Eclipse has to be the choice! Its thermal performance is legendary plus it's spacious and well laid out. Also, like the Lian Li's its resale value is also very good.

gt

techmob · 9 Mar 2007 at 09:23

to be honest i would have gone for the eclipse, even though i could stretch my budget further , but i had to go for a midi size case, as the depth on the eclipse is bigger.

so to the op, best case for the money it seems is the eclipse, aslong as you have enough space for it

hopefully my v1000 will be just the job for me

Gavin · 9 Mar 2007 at 10:43

Twas just just looking at the mozart and it looked nice and roomy but the reviews of it are not favourable in any way for some reason

Gavin · 9 Mar 2007 at 11:15

Just reading some reviews on the akasa eclipse and although they are all very good i cant work out how they can justify £100.....

Anyone with one comment on why its so good? and why its worth the money?

gt_junkie · 9 Mar 2007 at 11:32

Gavin said:
Just reading some reviews on the akasa eclipse and although they are all very good i cant work out how they can justify £100.....

Anyone with one comment on why its so good? and why its worth the money?

Although it's not as polished in appearance and engineering as cases like Lian Li's offerings it can be sold for around £100 because it's performance and space perfectly complement each other! That's the simple truth! In the same way that the Skyline GTR can be considered an ugly car it's been designed with function over form in mind and for that they can charge extra because they know people will pay!

At least that's my take on it!

gt

james.miller · 9 Mar 2007 at 11:32

Gavin said:
Blimey that must be noisy, although it does look like a hell of a case for £150!

its not really. ive only got 6 case fans running atm, but they are all on 7v. its nice and quiet

Gavin · 9 Mar 2007 at 12:59

gt_junkie said:
Although it's not as polished in appearance and engineering as cases like Lian Li's offerings it can be sold for around £100 because it's performance and space perfectly complement each other! That's the simple truth! In the same way that the Skyline GTR can be considered an ugly car it's been designed with function over form in mind and for that they can charge extra because they know people will pay!

At least that's my take on it!

gt

I will have to look into the Eclipse a lot more then I think......any got one tell me exactly how many drives and how they fit it can take.....pref with pics if possible.......from reading there site it would seem that one caddie takes 8 drives then another 2 over the cpu area???its a bif confusing.......cheers guys

gt_junkie · 9 Mar 2007 at 13:15

Gavin said:
I will have to look into the Eclipse a lot more then I think......any got one tell me exactly how many drives and how they fit it can take.....pref with pics if possible.......from reading there site it would seem that one caddie takes 8 drives then another 2 over the cpu area???its a bif confusing.......cheers guys

A few Eclipse owners set this thread up - linky

Has loads of nice pics and some interesting commentary on different aspects of the case! Think there are 1 or 2 watercooled examples in there too!

gt

marscay · 9 Mar 2007 at 17:10

geff_r said:
Of course it does the v1000 is a dust magnet with poor cable management due to the psu being at the bottom and bad fan placement it blows warm hdd air over the psu.yea the mozart rocks but is a lot of moola.

have to agree, i had a v2000 before i sold it and got my MountainMods UFO.

it's a heat and dust magnet, both of them have nowhere to go.....it also vibrated/rattled quite a bit even moreso with a pump inside.

they look nice but the split compartment idea doesn't work as well as they like to think it does, there's just no airflow.

Hxc · 9 Mar 2007 at 17:35

CM Stacker 810

techmob · 9 Mar 2007 at 18:06

bad cable managment?

doesnt look like it to me

geff_r · 9 Mar 2007 at 23:35

Yea but only because you have a psu or extension cable longer than rimmer
from red dwarfs yellow streak.+ wheres that warm hdd air going?
nope i dont like the case looks like u need a crowbar to fit in the larger
heatsinks like the tuniq too.Sorry dont like it theres no fan blowing into
board area either.Its a bad design heat always rises if it had a rear or top fan extraction + a fan blowing into mboard area then id say yea great case.

techmob · 10 Mar 2007 at 07:31

geff_r said:
Yea but only because you have a psu or extension cable longer than rimmer
from red dwarfs yellow streak.+ wheres that warm hdd air going?
nope i dont like the case looks like u need a crowbar to fit in the larger
heatsinks like the tuniq too.Sorry dont like it theres no fan blowing into
board area either.Its a bad design heat always rises if it had a rear or top fan extraction + a fan blowing into mboard area then id say yea great case.

well it has got the side blower, or the blower out of the back depending on the version either plus or plusII

if it becomes a problem i will get the synch karma bay and that will blow across the motherboard, and it will also look pretty similar to the front of the case, so wont look out of place

hopefully wont need it tho

geff_r · 10 Mar 2007 at 08:26

It's a good case with which you are more than happy with so only thing that matters it's just not for me.But then i don't like any case with the psu at the bottom and blocked off from the mainboard enclosure.believe me i very nearly
purchased the lian li.

jonsl1000 · 11 Mar 2007 at 13:09

Personally I think the Thermaltake is a decent case. It's roomy and so quite easy to work within. Plenty of fans as standard and room for more, plus plenty of extra bays if you want to add more drives. The airflow is decent and it's not too difficult to keep cables relatively tidy.
I also find the side fan is quite handy. I had to buy that separately as I had the original case without it. That and a new front 120mm fan have dropped my CPU temps down by about 5 degrees C.

The only downside to it is that it can get dusty. However, the front fans have a mesh covering and so it does stop a fair bit going through.

All in all I have honestly had no complaints with mine. I've had it for over a year now and can't see myself getting rid of it for quite a long while.

Jon

WJA96 · 11 Mar 2007 at 16:15

geff_r said:
Yea but only because you have a psu or extension cable longer than rimmer from red dwarfs yellow streak.

No - that's a standard length PSU cable. I'd say he has 75-100cm SATA cables though.

geff_r said:
wheres that warm hdd air going?

Out the PSU usually if my case is anything to go by.

geff_r said:
nope i dont like the case looks like u need a crowbar to fit in the larger
heatsinks like the tuniq too.

Tuniq fits fine.

geff_r said:
Sorry dont like it theres no fan blowing into
board area either.

The rear fan is an INLET.

The fan that is sitting on the floor is the extraction fan it's mounted at the top, side of the case and it's an EXTRACTION fan.

geff_r said:
Its a bad design heat always rises if it had a rear or top fan extraction + a fan blowing into mboard area then id say yea great case.

If you don't want to put the HDD down there (or maybe you want better HDD cooling) then you can buy a gimmick called a ModPer

and if you just want the fan then you can have that too - it all matches perfectly;

It's a great design, you just have to understand how it works. I have to say I'm staggered, as the first things you wrote were, "I've never had one of these, but this is why it's rubbish". I can understand your recommending the Eclipse as it's a first class case, and ignorance can be excused, but to give advice from a position of ignorance risks making oneself look foolish, no?

james.miller · 11 Mar 2007 at 16:45

he does that a lot.

geff_r said:
geff_r said:

wheres that warm hdd air going?

Click to expand...

Out the PSU usually if my case is anything to go by.

see thats another reason why i like my case. the psu draws air straight from outside the case, and then it goes straight back out the case. lovely and cold all the time

Gavin · 12 Mar 2007 at 12:55

god im still so unsure!"!!!!!!!!!!1urghhhhhhh

Gavin · 14 Mar 2007 at 15:12

techmob said:
bad cable managment?

doesnt look like it to me

Is that a eclipse?

GOD im pulling my hair out over this!"