The Three C's Computer Case Conundrum!??

Gavin

Gavin

Gavin

Soldato
Joined
20 Oct 2002
Posts
3,348
Location
Bromley
Ive managed to narrow it down to 2 cases now and they are both Antec that are in price range and fit the bill.

The main reason for these two cases is there hard drives chambers both cases have 2 which can hold 3 each so 2 in each and theres a nice gap in the middle for air flow if you running raid 10 using 4 drives.....

The 2 cases are....drumroll

Antec P180

Or the Antec 900

Both cases seem to do well in reviews with the Antec P180 still on the custom pc page of must haves after several months!

I like the extra size of the P180 but the fact the 900 doesnt have a drive bay door as i use my cd drive a lot the P180 might get annoying after a while.....

Anyone got either of the cases and care to comment? As i really need to sort out a new case
 
if you are planning on a RAID setup, you will really find the P180 a pain, Ive built a couple of systems inside these cases, and cable routing and generally the whole process is frustrating and complicated.

I'd go with one of the offerings from CM, Lian-Li or Silverstone if I were you.

HTH
 
gr1mey said:
if you are planning on a RAID setup, you will really find the P180 a pain, Ive built a couple of systems inside these cases, and cable routing and generally the whole process is frustrating and complicated.

I'd go with one of the offerings from CM, Lian-Li or Silverstone if I were you.

HTH
Click to expand...


Ive already got the raid system so yes gotta go that way......in the pictures it looks easy to route wires.

Can you elaborate a little more on your wiring troubles?
 
its mainly due to the compartmental system of the P180, the fact there are acess holes inbetween compartments rather than just good old fashoined open space, you have to thread wires through holes, and bend them round corners, its all quite annoying really.

If you leave the lower fan between the PSU and lower HDD cage in, its a complete pain because you have to route power cables up into the main compartment and then down into the HDD area, and connecting them is tricky because there is so little space between the rear of the drives and the fan that resides behind them.

If you were running a straight-forward gaming/browsing type rig with only 1 hdd, a couple of dvd/rw drives etc then its ideal, but for a powerful storage/raid type setup there are far more practical solutions out there for you...

I could go on, but really, the P180 is a great case for silence, and I like the clean looks of it a lot, but to be frank after using it a few times it just seems rather gimmicky and far too fiddly for the results you get.

You will find the quality of a CM, Lian-Li or Silverstone case far more satisfying, people are bound to say get the Akasa Eclipse, but for a big raid type system that you planning on, a larger, taller tower case is far more suited, they maybe more expensive, but they do the job better, and on the whole they look far better than the eclipse, IMO of course :)
 
I need to order tomorrow.

So what model numbers do you guys recommend then?

Ideally something which offers good cooling for the hard drives.....I have 4 installed now allready
 
Well im looking at the Silverstone TJ05S-t now as well as it looks to have a nice load of drive slots and cooling
 
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