What Case?

Soldato
Joined
6 May 2009
Posts
20,213
I have never been big on cases. I think since 1996 ive only had 2 generic cases that came with a PSU, both for £30 and the one I have now, an Antec Sonata 2 in piano black.

When the side panel is off it drops about 25c so im guessing the ventilation isnt great!

What case is around the same size or only a bit bigger that I can get my stuff in? I do like the hard drive rack at the side in the Sonata 2

My stuff...

Gigabyte P45 DS3P
Corsair H50 cooler
2* Noctua P12 in push pull exhausting out the back
Hiper Type R 580W
Powercolor 5770
Xonar Essence ST
3 * SATA Hard drives
1 * IDE Hard drive
no cd/dvd rom (I unplug the hard drive when its needed)
 
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Maybe the Antec 902? Its only 2.65" taller...

Sonata 2 dimensions
16.75"(H) x 18.25"(D) x 8.13"(W)
42.5cm (H) x 46.3cm (D) x 20.6cm(W)

902 dimensions
19.4" (H) x 18.6" (D) x 8.6" (W)
49.3cm (H) x 47.2cm (D) 21.8cm (W)
 
When the side panel is off it drops about 25c...
While HDD temps shoot to the sky because of airflow stopping to zero and drives being mechanically decoupled from metal structures which could cool them through heat conduction.
Neighbour has that case.


What style case you want: Cheese grater or more solid?
And what kind budget you have?
 
Sorry, I meant my CPU temp drops about 25c. from mid to high 80s when loaded to 60-65

What is cheese grater? Id like a normal looking one thats pretty solid, dont care for neon or anything however if something like the antec 902 is good then ill look at getting that

budget no more than £100
 
Yeah, CPU and GPU get more cooling air but in Sonata HDDs rely entirely on negative pressure drawing air past them.

That 902 is good example of cheese grater bling bling.

There really aren't much stylish design cases in any size, also LED fans are being jammed to pretty much everywhere.
Lian Li PC-7FN is one of the few for those dimensions and four HDD bays.
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-182-LL

PSU on bottom is good especially for reliability of lower quality PSUs so that would other good requirement.
 
Yeh the 902 does look a bit ******!

Lian Li PC-7FN looks about right. Why has the 902 got a load of better reviews?

Heres the dimension of the Lian, it is a bit small in height but deeper
18.5" (H) x 19.29" (D) x 8.26" (W)

Just noticed the Lian Li 60FW. Why is that more expensive? Its not as big as the 7FN too
 
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For most people functionality comes last after muscle of makers marketing department, amount of hype&fancy buzzwords, wacky look, kitchen sink and toilet seat and everything else.
So looking reviews for pictures, not for text, is in general best way to find out about some case.

In gaming PC little extra depth instead of height is better because of graphic cards being often rather long.
http://www.lian-li.com.tw/v2/en/pro...359&cl_index=1&sc_index=25&ss_index=62&g=spec

Lian Li's pricing can be... well, plain wacky with even some midi tower being able to cost as much as their best balanced E-ATX full tower.
 
Thanks, yeh i dont care for wacky look or buzz words really!

Which of these would you go for if any? If not then what would you go for?

Lian Li PC-7FN
Lian Li 60FW

edit - I see you have the A71B, thats a right beast and has a beasty price tag to match! It wouldnt even fit under my desk anyway
 
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Any of the lian li series are good, the CM-690 II has shown some good numbers and this seems to be backed up by the lack of stock OCUK have
 
With curiously crossing content in URLs of pics in Lian Li's product pages these are probably best sure pictures of them:
http://www.pc-experience.de/wbb2/thread.php?threadid=28647
http://www.pc-experience.de/wbb2/thread.php?threadid=29820

60FW's HDD cage seems to use more complex securing but cables point to other way if you like hiding them. (actually rather required with window)
Cooling wise its rear has place for taking BS-03 PCI cooling kit which is good possibility especially if there are multiple expansion cards which leave their heat there.
As negative thing 60FW seems to really have slightly less space for long cards and 28cm vs. 29cm measurements of product page are probably correct (HD5870 is about 28cm) so that might be limitation in future.
But then again it should be still more space than in your current case so I would consider it as better of them because of that possibility for extra cooling.


CM690 II would be definitely good cooling wise if look is acceptable but again also size keeps increasing:
Dimensions: 214 x 511 x 528mm
 
The Antec P182 is a phenomenal case, got a ton of cable management options so you'll have excellent airflow. Trouble is, it's gonna be a ton bigger than what you got now.
 
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