(White) Case & Hardware Advice (s/h SB or new HW)?

[Roady]

Hi guys, I'm after several different things in this post...

I have an old Lian Li full tower Q6600 setup that I'm looking to replace.

First Choice - Case

I'm after a White case, midi-tower with bottom mounted PSU and a Window.

I like the internals of the NZXT Switch series, but not the looks of the outside very much (nor the size, they're full tower only I think?).

I'm a fairly minimalistic kinda guy (for the outside looks anyway), a smooth almost 'professional' look (then go crazy on the internals).

The Cooler Master Silencio 550 looks nice, although the pictures make it look very plasticy and almost tacky?!

Give me some ideas on professional looking White midi-towers please!

Budget is flexible, but really anything over £150 I'd really have to fall in love with!

Second Choice - Sandy or Haswell?!

My game of choice is BF3 (and obviously BF4) and I have an SSD and MSI 7950 OC BE already... Ideal system will have 8GB+ (16GB?) RAM as I do some work with VM's also.

As I'm not ruling out CrossFire (in the future) I wanted to go the i7 route to future-proof and avoid any bottlenecks... I have picked up an Asus ROG Maximus IV Extreme on the MM and have been looking for an i7 2600K or 2700K which I'll ideally clock to 4.2ghtz+ (£150at least, on a second hand chip!)

BUT... With the weekly offers now having the Haswell i5-4670K price similar to this... Am I stupid to buy into 'old' tech when my money would be much better spent on an i5 Haswell and say Asus Z87 MAXIMUS VI HERO? I could always then drop an i7 4770K into it at a later stage (ie when funds allow).

Thoughts?

 

[Roady]

As for the sb / hw choices if your looking at under 4.5ghz the haswell is the one to go for however have you considered 2011?

Haven't considered the 4820K as going IB-E really does restrict processor choice... Means it's not really suitable to get an 'affordable' processor and then upgrade into something big later on... SB and HW do give that option (ie buying a good i5, then an i7 later).

My budget would be around £500-£800 but I would really be doing things piecemeal- ie buying things when on specials, getting better components for my money and spreading the cost. ~£150 on mobo this month, ~£150 on CPU next month, memory month after etc etc

My current system does everything I want it to so I'll be taking my time and enjoying building the new system - my last (6 years ago) was a rush when my old (p4) PSU blew!

 

[Roady]

as far as the case goes what about the white Corsair C70? You can get a window for it made that doesnt have the fan mounting points if that your kind of thing. Otherwise you can send it to a company who will paint it for you, for perhaps £30 or near that, then that free's up your choice of case and it will be personal to you!

The C70 is nice, but doesn't appeal to me, front buttons really do look ugly (an afterthought!) and the side clips look like they'll mark the case/break. Although the layout looks great and it comes with loads of fans!

 

[Roady]

Found some old pics...

Spoiler

My old DD Maze 4 WC build... Never properly finished it! From back in 2003. Was quite lucky with the mobo PCB colour!

Spoiler

Current setup, pic from '09 so things have changed slightly... Built it in an emergency and always intended to 'finish it'... Never did!

 

[Roady]

how about this Corsair case http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-071-CS

Looks like too much plastic and not a huge fan of the huge mesh fronts (as i know how dusty they get very easily)!

 

[Roady]

Really liking the look of the Corsair 350D, but I would need to paint/powder-coat it white. Unless someone knows of white similar (Corsair?) cases?

Anyone on here offer a powder coating service? I'll ask in Case Central at some point...

Other news, I have a Corsair 1200W modular (almost) lined up, so I'll be looking at a cover/shroud to fit it in with the case colour scheme.

My hunt for an i7 2700K within budget continues... (If this takes me into next year I'll probably go Haswell i5 or an i5 2500K/i7 2600K until Skylake).

 

[Roady]

If you are using VM's then you'll need plenty of RAM (I would say minimum 16GB) but then it does vary based on the VM's you're powering.

Also for that reason I would go i7 over i5. A Haswell with an O/C will run BF3/4 absolutely fine and will allow you to use VM's

(I also use VM's too)

I'm looking at 16GB, although the prices on the Avexir at the moment probably mean I'm getting 8GB (need a red kit) while prices are low... Will just grab a 16GB kit when prices drop back down again (6 months?!).

^^ I have and like the 350d but in all honesty its not worth the money. BUT if you still want it i know i guy who does case painting, he is however in dundee lol so maybe no good to you?

stuies said what i would have said with regards the cpu too.

So even though I have the P67 Asus ROG Max IV E I should be looking at a i5 1150 (Haswell)? I really can't afford an i7 any time soon...! (typical as the haswell weekly special has ended lol )

Or did you mean go up to 2011?

 

[Roady]

I mean for the money the 2011 seems a better bet to me (wish i'd known before i got my 4670k) Wait p67 mobo? aint that 1155?

Yeah 1155 the Asus ROG Maximus IV Extreme is P67 (2nd gen intel).

Still need to decide on a case... Ideally a second hand 350D is what I should be looking for, then pay it to be powdercoated?!

 

[Roady]

So I have the Asus ROG Max IV E (P67) B3 Revision, but there is an Asus ROG Max IV E-Z (Z68) on the MM for a great price... Thoughts between Z68 and P67 with an i7 2700K?

Picked up a i7 2700K and i7 2600K from the bay this weekend within my budget, will be clocking and testing both, keeping the best and selling the other... May do the same with the boards?!

PSU on its way this week and ordered some new Avexir MPower Red 8GB so I can get some testing and benching done while still deciding on case...

 

[Roady]

maybe something like a fractal r4 in white if no longer going matx?
R4 really good value case, was tempted

Very very tempting... Heard some horror stories about Fractal QC though so I'd only be happy purchasing from OcUK! They currently don't stock any Fractal... I know they have been in and out of stock fairly frequently!

Silverstone

Not a huge fan of the designs, seem very overpriced.

bitfenix

Some ok designs, not a huge fan of their logo that always seems very prominent on them... Makes them look very plasticy!

 

[Roady]

lol i duno i think the PS07 is pretty good value, you cant get more white
i agree with you on the logos, i dont think fractal do it so much? or i dont notice them so much

its not like people wont ask "so whats that case" if there isnt a logo

i dont like big cases much so im not good help there
i think this nzxt looks good value atleast
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-126-NX&groupid=2362&catid=35

i think ur right not to go for the silencio, thats just a r4 but not as good (no offence to any1 that has 1)

That NZXT is a great find... Now if only there was a better ETA than 'Overdue...' lol

I like the Silencio, but the front does look rubbish! The R4 front, although plastic (and probably cheaper than the Silencio!) looks much better!

 

[Roady]

lol had to post this not seen rodney reynolds in forever
its the black version but wotever
think i still like the r4 more
but it does look like a nice simple case and nice to mod

After seeing this I'm definitely heading to the R4... Not a huge fan of 'shiny' fronts as they are dust/static magnets! The front there looks almost polished!

Unsure where to get the R4 from, the cheapest online is still £89, not a problem if it's a 'good' one, but I've seen many stories of problems with Fractal QC... £89 is an expensive box of smashed aluminium and plastic! But I guess that's why OcUK don't want to waste their time stocking Fractal...

I'll have to mod a HDD activity light into the front, probably replacing one of the headphone/mic ports.

I should put a build log together with the bits as I decide/build/mod

Spoiler:

 

[Roady]

why you thinking of modding the lights, u dont want anything shiney?

It only has a 'Red' power LED, no HDD activity LED. Ideally I want both (and probably both blue).

ive not heard much on the quality nightmares but i guess i not been looking, all i heard was the soundproofing sometimes look like stuck on by a drunk person

I've read on forums of peoples cases turning up with bits broken, huge dents, missing parts and Fractal happily replacing all of them, occasionally not with 100% ok replacements!

 

[Roady]

o i just assumed the 1 at the top changed color or something

okay yeh id be worried on ordering one too

looks like this guy just stuck a different color one inside

One thing about mods is someone's always done it before!

Exactly the same idea I originally had, then I considered that I wouldn't be using the front audio/mic ports so I'd just put the LED in one of those... It'd be nice to have 1 LED for SSD and 1 for my other (mechanical) Disks but nothing short of a server board or some separate bus/card will do that...