Which case with side panel?

perhaps a bit bigger but my case the armour is a good case and i think they now sell them with a 25cm fan on the side panel as well.

I would pick the Thermaltake since it has the side fan (to help cpu cooling) and "normal" hdd orientation. Not to mention it feels like it was machined out of a single piece of aluminum, very solid, sturdy feel.

Not that the antec is bad or anything, I have seen issues with side-saddle mount HDD bays and modular power supply connectors and depending on your choice of hdd data cabling it can look "squished" up when you shut the case lid...

If you've got the cash, a SilverStone TJ-06 is a great case. Got one myself, i have no complaints..

nooooooo!!!!!!! change your mind and take the armour. you can get the steel one or the aluminium. both are in you price range and it is great, trust me. it doesn't have a door, only a couple of guards which come in handy should your foot stray into you case front. its front fan is open to the air and the front bay covers have dust filters which work. i remove them and just blow the dust from the other side to clean them. ther bay covers themselves are easy to remove from the front and it has four fans already with it.

the armour and the kandalf are the exact same case except the kandalf has a door. the swing looks o.k but has no vetilation compared to the armour. it already comes with a front fan, a fan to cool hard drives at the back and a top fan. the front of the swing is blocked off which just means more trapped heat.

it is mainly just cause i have one but the other ones you suggested don't anything much to offer over the armour. lian li's are generally over priced and with the silverstone im not too sure if that windtunnel works that well or if it is a hindrance.

in the end it's your choice but remember once you've bought it your stuck with it and considering how improtant the case is with cooling, tak eyour time and choose carefully

May I recommend a Coolermaster?

Stacker 830

grille's at the side will allow you to see all your spinning flashing bits - they get annoying at night though

For a "case that provides good noise reduction, sturdy construction, and quality appearance" and is a great deal take a look at the Coolermaster RC-531. This review was done by our own Crashman. At $60-90USD, you would be hard-pressed to find a better deal.

GL on the build and I hope you enjoy the P160!

Thats good to know, as i will be using 3 sata hard drives
I have already bought it and it cost me £70.

If price is not too big an issue, you won't be sorry with the Silverstone TJ06. As I mentioned in another thread same subject, the cooling for ram and cpu is excellent due to the BTX style motherboard orientation in the case. I don't agree the Aerocool is in the same league as the Silverstone whatever it's cost.

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Athlon FX-55 (claw)
Water Cooled (Corsair COOL)
2x1024 Corsair XMS
X850XTPE
Creative Extreme Music
Sony P234

I think the most important factors are space and ventilation. After that its just a case of asthetics. The Antec P180 is meant to be a very good case and i would have gone for that one if it had a side panel.

Beware some caes you have to research into as i have heard, forgotten the case name, where you had to take the graphics card out in order to remove one of the hard disks, so some cases may look good but have problems like that.

Of the two choice the OP listed, the Antec P160 would be my choice.