Spec me - full tower case for air cooling

duc999

duc999

duc999

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With so much choice around and not really keeping up to speed with things can I call on your experience to spec me a full tower case that will stand by the side of my desk. ?

Therefore a windowed case isn't really necessary. I will need to access the external I/O panel though for USB connections and headphones etc

Inside the case will be a rampage 2, i7 940 (O/C to 4ghz) cooled by a TRUE or Megahelems , probably a ATI 5870 , 6gb RAM , and around 5 or 6 hard drives

Money isn't an issue but good airflow is ! Obsidian perhaps ?

Cheers guys
 
How about Lian Li A70F?
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-171-LL
http://www.lian-li.com.tw/v2/en/pro...337&cl_index=1&sc_index=25&ss_index=61&g=spec
Space for long graphics card and 10 HDDs. I/O ports are on top so should be easy to access with case on floor.
And if not needing last three HDD bays just use piece of cardboard (or something similar) for even stricter airflow control making also other exhaust fan draw air past CPU heatsink.


I don't think Corsair's air cooling performance is comparable to its size, intake to chamber with majority of heat production is rather limited, one fan with mesh (and through other chamber with another mesh) and there's not much airflow control.
Silverstone RV01 suffers lot from such too complex airflow design because of additionally being cramped.
http://www.hardforum.com/showpost.php?p=1034567466&postcount=1

95thrifles said:
The antec 1200 still has the best airflow afaik
Click to expand...
And is cramped for long graphic cards if you actually use device bays. (like is the case with many HDDs)
Also slightly wider than ATX motherboard would make it further cramped.
 
The Rampage 2 is a pretty wide board to start with so was concerned about it actually fitting properly.

Like that Lian Li A-70F , got a couple of PC-7's already ;)
 
:mad: 1200 is the best case for air cooling, you also have 9 HD bays split across 3 caddies so there is plenty of space for 5 or 6 HD's. Also the pci-e connections on the 5 series ati cards are top which sorts that space problem between the card and caddies right out (4870 I own right now is a tight fit though)

P6T is bigger and fits fine in my case

ASUS P6T SE 30.5cm (W) x 26.9cm (L)
Rampage II Extreme 30cm (W) x 26cm (L)

My gripe is tidying the sata cables as the ports are between the cable holes on MB tray so it took a lot of patience to get it right (and if I went out and bought another bag of cable ties I am not sure I could resist the urge to tweak the cable management)

:D feel much better now I have owned up to my addiction to cable management
 
Temps on 920 @ 3.4g with Noctua push/pull are around 41° idle and and max out at 70° load in ambient temp of 18° (fans set to low speed)

HDs run around 40°

Intake fans run on minimum and 2 rear & big boy on medium (cannot fit a side fan for GPU due to Noctua being so big)

Loudest component is 4870 stock cooler when gaming
 
I replaced all my 120mm fans on my 1200 with s12s, they run on full and make less noise than the stock fans did on low, best of both worlds
Click to expand...

Indeed although I think next time I will go to water. Would love to mod 1200 case to get a fan in the roof but done want to spoil it and already saving for the mountain mods case
 
antec 1200 for me best case i ever had air flow is simply amazing, you will never look back if you get one of these, the price might set you back but its a case for life you will never have to worry about upgrading for a long long time!!!
 
D1ngd0ng said:
:mad: 1200 is the best case for air cooling, you also have 9 HD bays split across 3 caddies so there is plenty of space for 5 or 6 HD's. Also the pci-e connections on the 5 series ati cards are top which sorts that space problem between the card and caddies right out (4870 I own right now is a tight fit though)

P6T is bigger and fits fine in my case

ASUS P6T SE 30.5cm (W) x 26.9cm (L)
Rampage II Extreme 30cm (W) x 26cm (L)

My gripe is tidying the sata cables as the ports are between the cable holes on MB tray so it took a lot of patience to get it right (and if I went out and bought another bag of cable ties I am not sure I could resist the urge to tweak the cable management)

:D feel much better now I have owned up to my addiction to cable management
Click to expand...

any pics? some of us have an addiction to feed you know.
 
EdGey - not yet, will eventually add it to the cases gallery but not yet for 2 reasons

1. daughter ate camera and phone camera doesn't do it justice
2. undecided as to what to do with sata cables, got bluray and dvd writer plus 2 HD's (Will replace an HD with SSD in the new year but noway am I forking out for Bluray/dvd writer + I never have to take out GTA4 and Fallout 3 disks)

*Deep Breath*

Anyway, I braided the sata cables which looks good but has added some substance to them so trying to figure out how best to tidy them. Right now 3 out of the 4 are tied together as the 2 drives are right above the HD and other sata cable is on its own as it is at the bottom of the top disk caddy. But I am not sure I like this, just not strong enought with the force yet to tidy them perfectly (like that 4k pc that was reviewed in cpc last month)
 
D1ngd0ng said:
EdGey - not yet, will eventually add it to the cases gallery but not yet for 2 reasons

1. daughter ate camera and phone camera doesn't do it justice
2. undecided as to what to do with sata cables, got bluray and dvd writer plus 2 HD's (Will replace an HD with SSD in the new year but noway am I forking out for Bluray/dvd writer + I never have to take out GTA4 and Fallout 3 disks)

*Deep Breath*

Anyway, I braided the sata cables which looks good but has added some substance to them so trying to figure out how best to tidy them. Right now 3 out of the 4 are tied together as the 2 drives are right above the HD and other sata cable is on its own as it is at the bottom of the top disk caddy. But I am not sure I like this, just not strong enought with the force yet to tidy them perfectly (like that 4k pc that was reviewed in cpc last month)
Click to expand...

ok cool :) i can wait. sounds good.

I have seen people turn the hard drives around, so the cables come out towards the front of the case. it looked very tight but it is possible, might be worth checking out.
 
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