Trying to find a case!

Addicted · 23 Dec 2012 at 21:13

So I'm looking at something like this:

YOUR BASKET
4 x Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache WD10EZEX - OEM ** Single Platter ** £59.99 (£239.96)
1 x Gigabyte F2A85XM-D3H AMD A85X Chipset (Socket FM2) DDR3 micro ATX Motherboard £58.99
1 x AMD A6-5400K Black Edition 3.60GHz (Socket FM2) APU Trinity Dual Core Processor (AD540KOKHJBOX) £49.99
1 x Corsair Builder Series CX 430w Modular '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply (CP-9020058-UK) £38.99
1 x TeamGroup Elite 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (TED38GM1600HC11DC01) £29.99
Total : £417.91 (includes shipping : FREE).

I already have a HDD to use for the Windows OS (others will be in a RAID 5 array).

Trying to find a small Micro-ITX case that supports 5 HDD's and is as cheap as possible - anyone have any suggestions?

I'd also like it to be as small as possible so I can fit it where needed (can get dimensions if required but it's a fairly good size).

I looked at the bitfenix, but it's a bit too tall/wide for what I was after

.

The only one that I've found that looks remotely ok so far is this:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-029-AE&groupid=2362&catid=2278&subcat=

But it's not brilliant (quite ugly but I guess does the job!).

Addicted · 23 Dec 2012 at 21:24

Or perhaps something like this:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showp...hopping/PUP_Cases/Xigmatek/CA-002-XG&pup_c=gs

Not too bad? Not sure how those "tool-less" mounts would be like for vibrations etc though?

Addicted · 24 Dec 2012 at 18:16

Or potentially this:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-257-LL

T345 · 25 Dec 2012 at 17:31

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-045-ZA&groupid=2362&catid=736&subcat=

Addicted · 25 Dec 2012 at 17:40

That is a weird shape, but only has 2 slots for HDD's!

I need at least 5 (4 for the RAID 5 setup and an OS drive), potentially expanding later on too!

T345 · 25 Dec 2012 at 17:43

I guess you can stick them somewhere, looks like plenty of room

Addicted · 25 Dec 2012 at 17:43

I'm actually tempted by the Fractal Design Arc Mini over the Lian-Li PC-A04B due to the fact it has cable management, is powercoated inside and looks a bit nicer!

SilverStone Rep · 26 Dec 2012 at 04:33

You should also take a look at the TJ08-E and PS07. Both fit 5 hard drives plus an SSD and are smaller than some of the cases you were looking at.

Below is a comparison of case sizes (based on overall exterior dimensions):

41.2 litres - Fractal Design Arc Mini
36.3 litres - BitFenix Prodigy
35.9 litres - Xigmatek Asgard Midi
35.5 litres - Aerocool Qs-202
33.4 litres - Lian-Li PC-A04B
31.4 litres - SilverStone PS07
30.2 litres - SilverStone TJ08-E

Addicted · 26 Dec 2012 at 10:10

Cheers for the list, I'm working out the space size I have for it now:

Width: 390mm
Height: 200mm
Length: 400+mm

So that means:

41.2 litres - Fractal Design Arc Mini
36.3 litres - BitFenix Prodigy
35.9 litres - Xigmatek Asgard Midi
35.5 litres - Aerocool Qs-202
33.4 litres - Lian-Li PC-A04B
31.4 litres - SilverStone PS07
30.2 litres - SilverStone TJ08-E

One of the bottom 3, now to decide

perfect list though thank you!

edit: Lian-Li without a doubt, judging by the amount of drive space, and the cooling, I think it's second to none compared to the Silverstone's, plus it fits my gap perfectly and I don't need to find a new place for it!