Stacker 830

[Achelon]

I consider buying the Stacker 830 case, but I don't really hear many people talking about it (on any forums), is it because it's a bad case? Or are people just waiting for some price cuts on it?

Other cases I have taken into consideration includes TT Tai Chi, Armor & Kandalf (the new ones with the side fan).

...Thoughts?

 

[pengwin]

o man thats hard u are gonna spend u money huh?

ok Stacker got a good review at many places (i read about ti a while back)

taichi VERY good case, ppl love it its heavy and if u get water cooling preinstalled even better (has wheels)

Armor/Kandalf - same case kandalfs have a pretty front piece <--would get this but im on a budget which wont allow but obviously u arnt

the Stacker is good for Air cooling 9 120mm fan slots
Taichi is good alaround
armor/kandalf - good all around liquid cooling cna be easily placed in these cases too

may wanna consider the Gigabyte 3d Aurora? got good reviews cheap, stong

 

[jokersgrin]

I consider buying the Stacker 830 case, but I don't really hear many people talking about it (on any forums), is it because it's a bad case? Or are people just waiting for some price cuts on it?

Other cases I have taken into consideration includes TT Tai Chi, Armor & Kandalf (the new ones with the side fan).

...Thoughts?

I had that case, but sold it to my friend for $100 bones and his stacker 810

my impression on the 830: Lots of room for most people ( not me ).Very well made. superior in airflow ( up to 9x120mm fans) 9x 5.25 bays ( I needed more bays for all my stuff 810 was better choice) Basicly its what most people would like the case to be. I liked it, just didn't fit my needs when I got all my stuff ( slight oversight ) If it had more 5.25 bays I would have never let it go.
Oh yea but for all the features that this case has the price is steep!

 

[bill_bright]

Hey Ach - good to see you again.

This is a great case - but the problem I have with it is I have been spoiled by the very effective dust filter that comes with some Antec cases, such as on the Sonata. Our home office has bare floors and a dog! My older Antec 1040 sucks in a great deal of dust, forcing me to take the PC outside and blast it with compressed air every couple months. The Sonata, on the other hand, just needs the washable filter cleaned - no disconnecting or even opening the case. My only complaint is I have to lift up the front of the case to slide the filter out from the bottom - but that's still easier than disconnecting all cables and lugging it outside.

The other problem is all the air vents - great for cooling but not for noise control. When you start adding up all the noise producing devices: 2 or more (up to 9 in the 830!) case fans, CPU fan, chipset fan, video card(s) fan(s), PS fan(s), and drive motors - noise becomes a concern.

You did not say what the intended purpose of this PC will be - server, 3D gaming, moderating forums, etc.

BTW - I am not a fan of fancy lights - they do nothing for performance, actually add some heat, consume power, and can introduce electrical noise. Since most computers end up on the floor, out of the way, or in a cubby hole, I feel the importance of the "looks" of a computer is determined by the video card and monitor (at least after the first couple days and the novelty of the pretty lights wears off). Also, if you plan on ever watching DVD movies, the case lighting can actually be distracting - JMHO.

 

[pengwin]

yah i would get a black kandalf or an armor case cheaper and just as good i mean Tt has dust filters and kandalf and armor has hefty space for fans

 

[Achelon]

Hey Ach - good to see you again.

This is a great case - but the problem I have with it is I have been spoiled by the very effective dust filter that comes with some Antec cases, such as on the Sonata. Our home office has bare floors and a dog! My older Antec 1040 sucks in a great deal of dust, forcing me to take the PC outside and blast it with compressed air every couple months. The Sonata, on the other hand, just needs the washable filter cleaned - no disconnecting or even opening the case. My only complaint is I have to lift up the front of the case to slide the filter out from the bottom - but that's still easier than disconnecting all cables and lugging it outside.

The other problem is all the air vents - great for cooling but not for noise control. When you start adding up all the noise producing devices: 2 or more (up to 9 in the 830!) case fans, CPU fan, chipset fan, video card(s) fan(s), PS fan(s), and drive motors - noise becomes a concern.

You did not say what the intended purpose of this PC will be - server, 3D gaming, moderating forums, etc.

BTW - I am not a fan of fancy lights - they do nothing for performance, actually add some heat, consume power, and can introduce electrical noise. Since most computers end up on the floor, out of the way, or in a cubby hole, I feel the importance of the "looks" of a computer is determined by the video card and monitor (at least after the first couple days and the novelty of the pretty lights wears off). Also, if you plan on ever watching DVD movies, the case lighting can actually be distracting - JMHO.

Ah, sorry, I should have mentioned the purpose. The purpose will be pretty all-around, but it won't be used as a server, it will be used for stuff like watching DVDs/Videos, playing games, making graphic content, etc. etc. etc.

Also, I would like it to be future-proof, and be compatible with a lot of motherboards.

yah i would get a black kandalf or an armor case cheaper and just as good i mean Tt has dust filters and kandalf and armor has hefty space for fans

...Yeah, I did consider the Kandalf, but then I saw it got some bad user reviews on newegg.com, then again, most cases I have considered buying have had some people dissing it completely. (Which kinda discourages me from buying it), but I have to say, the Kandalf looks like good quality (and good design) at a fair price, but I'm not sure, I don't know much about chassis.

 

[bill_bright]

The purpose will be pretty all-around, but it won't be used as a server, it will be used for stuff like watching DVDs/Videos, playing games, making graphic content, etc. etc. etc.

Also, I would like it to be future-proof, and be compatible with a lot of motherboards.

Then I think the 830 will certainly do, but it may be overkill.

Not too many people ever need a full tower case.

Nine exposed 5.25" drive bays!!! For what? How many 5.25" bays does one need. Access to two opticals is all most folks need. Add in an audio control panel and a fan/temp control panel and that's 4. Who needs 5 more?

Now that I look at the Stacker 830 even more, I'm not liking it. It only has 4 internal 3.5 inch bays - and you have to use their 4-in-3 Device Module to get them. I can easily use use those 4 3.5" bays with a RAID0+1 setup. I would rather have a lot of dedicated 3.5" space rather than having to mess with bay adapters.

I think for the price of the Stacker 830 (without a power supply), you can get an outstanding mid-tower case and a top of the line power supply with money left over. Add in what you previously budgeted for a PS and you have more than enough left over for a good AVR 1000VA (or more) UPS.

 

[Achelon]

The purpose will be pretty all-around, but it won't be used as a server, it will be used for stuff like watching DVDs/Videos, playing games, making graphic content, etc. etc. etc.

Also, I would like it to be future-proof, and be compatible with a lot of motherboards.

Then I think the 830 will certainly do, but it may be overkill.

Not too many people ever need a full tower case.

Nine exposed 5.25" drive bays!!! For what? How many 5.25" bays does one need. Access to two opticals is all most folks need. Add in an audio control panel and a fan/temp control panel and that's 4. Who needs 5 more?

Now that I look at the Stacker 830 even more, I'm not liking it. It only has 4 internal 3.5 inch bays - and you have to use their 4-in-3 Device Module to get them. I can easily use use those 4 3.5" bays with a RAID0+1 setup. I would rather have a lot of dedicated 3.5" space rather than having to mess with bay adapters.

I think for the price of the Stacker 830 (without a power supply), you can get an outstanding mid-tower case and a top of the line power supply with money left over. Add in what you previously budgeted for a PS and you have more than enough left over for a good AVR 1000VA (or more) UPS.

* ...I would rather it be a full tower, but I could try to look at some midtowers, could you recommend any good ones?
* In case of another alternative than the CM Stacker 830, would the Kandalf be a good choice?

 

[tetgill]

If I may ask what u have that wont fit in this case?? from all the specs I seen(give or take) this is by far the biggest case out there?? Correct me if Im wrong!!
size of case
(W) 250mm x (H) 536mm x (D) 638mm
OR
Width 9.8 in. Height 25.2 in. Depth 21.1 in.

 

[bill_bright]

* ...I would rather it be a full tower, but I could try to look at some midtowers, could you recommend any good ones?
* In case of another alternative than the CM Stacker 830, would the Kandalf be a good choice?

Nothing wrong with tower cases - but note they are normally used for file servers with MANY drives and not something the vast majority of home or small office users need.

Yes this is a HUGE case, but part of that is so you can flip the guts around and use it as a BTX case. That's nice and BTX is a great format, but ATX is not going away any time soon, and BTX has not taken off as expected and may never become the new "standard".

How many 5.25" drives do you expect to ever need? Most people only need a single DVD/RW optical drive - some will want two for faster copying but it is not really needed. Not much else comes in 5.25" size anymore, except some sound cards and some fan controllers use front panel 5.25 bays.

Hard drives are getting smaller - not bigger - as their capacities increase and need 3.5 inch bays - not 5.25".

I like the Antec Sonata II, and over the years, I have used, and they are still in use, several versions of the Antec 1050/1040 Performance Series.

 

[Achelon]

* ...I would rather it be a full tower, but I could try to look at some midtowers, could you recommend any good ones?
* In case of another alternative than the CM Stacker 830, would the Kandalf be a good choice?

Nothing wrong with tower cases - but note they are normally used for file servers with MANY drives and not something the vast majority of home or small office users need.

Yes this is a HUGE case, but part of that is so you can flip the guts around and use it as a BTX case. That's nice and BTX is a great format, but ATX is not going away any time soon, and BTX has not taken off as expected and may never become the new "standard".

How many 5.25" drives do you expect to ever need? Most people only need a single DVD/RW optical drive - some will want two for faster copying but it is not really needed. Not much else comes in 5.25" size anymore, except some sound cards and some fan controllers use front panel 5.25 bays.

Hard drives are getting smaller - not bigger - as their capacities increase and need 3.5 inch bays - not 5.25".

I like the Antec Sonata II, and over the years, I have used, and they are still in use, several versions of the Antec 1050/1040 Performance Series.

...I don't know much about chassis, but I thought part of the idea with many 5.25' was that they could be converted into 3.5' bays so they could be used for harddrives etc.

Also, another reason I do consider a full tower is, as you probably already guessed, the BTX (and E-Atx) compatibilities, but another reason is also that I want a case with superior airflow. Also, later I think I will experiment with some water-cooling, so I would also like a chassis that is good at 'handling' that.

Having heard about all those problems with the Stacker 830 (from many people), I think that one is off the list, so now the choice is Kandalf against some midtower case (that I have yet to choose)...

Thanks for the invaluable help btw.

 

[pengwin]

lquid cooling u say?

screw kandalf

if u want liquid cooling made easy

Gigabyte 3d Aurora

has holes already made for pipes and stuff and guess what? compatiable with gigabytes liquid cooling kit

then again kandalf can also support Tt's liquid cooling

its ur choice which way u wanna go