Considering a new Case...

[Jie]

Heyas,

Just seeking some opinions on the following cases:

Antec Performance I P180 (Silver or Black)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811129154

Lian Li Lian Li PC-V1000A PLUSII
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811112117

Cool Master Stacker 830
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811119103

I currently own the orginal version of the Lian Li V1000 Plus that came with a MOST obnoxious blower fan. This case is close to the end of it's days. My first attempt at Water Cooling went well, but the poor case was butchered in the process. I like the new version of the V1000 Plus II, because it now has that side 120mm fan for the Vid Card/s.

I'm open to other suggestions as well. I'm also debating on how much "flare" I want to use and if I really need a side window. ANy idea which case above offers a decent semi-silent cooling solution?

I will not be water cooling my new rig when it's built. Well atleast not right away and if I do I'm going for a very compact and low maintnance system.

Thanks for the help!

 

[nikolokolus]

The quietest of the three you listed is probably going to be the antec p180, it was designed in partnership with one of the editors of SPCR (silent PC review). I own the P180B and it's great . . . with a few caveats. Cable routing is a chore, longer than standard PSU's (Mushikin 650, Some Tagan's, Some PCP&C PSU's) make the lower chamber fan unusable in its present position, which in turn means you will need to find some way to cool that lower chamber if you want to use the lower HD cage.

I haven't used that particular Lian-li before so I can't comment on it's specific attributes, except to say that I've read reviews on it and it is supposedly a very well laid out and well built case . . . big surprise; it's a Lian-li.

The cooler master stacker is roomy, runs cool, but the one I worked on seemed a little on the noisy side; fan selection becomes very important with this case if you are aiming for "quiet" operation. Yate loons, or a fan controller might be a good investment with this case.

Overall I'm very happy with my P180B (used with water cooling), but I definitely needed to break out the dremel tool and do some modifications to get it the way I wanted it. I'd say for 99% of all users such mods would be unnecessary (especially since my choice of the mushkin 650 watt PSU caused a "rolling" chain reaction of changes that needed to be made to accomodate my particular setup).

 

[Jie]

How's the Video Card cooling solution with the Antec p180. My only hesitation with the case is it's lack of a side window to vent heat off the Vid Card/s. Was a big problem with my Lian Li before I went water cooling.

 

[nikolokolus]

How's the Video Card cooling solution with the Antec p180. My only hesitation with the case is it's lack of a side window to vent heat off the Vid Card/s. Was a big problem with my Lian Li before I went water cooling.

I use a swiftech mcw60 vga cooler, but the airflow is actually quite good, the upper hd cage can house two 12cm fans (one mounted to the front of the case the other held in place with a pair of retention clips), this creates a "wind tunnel" that blows directly onto the vga slots, there is a perforated grill on the back of the case (next to the PCI slots) that allow heated air to be vented passively. So if you are going with air cooling only, it will still do a very good job of pushing heat generated by your vga card out the back of the case (the longer the card the better the "wind tunnel" effect too.

I use one of the antec tricool fans mounted to the front of the case and it cools my video RAM and mosfets very well.

EDIT:
One more thing. The P180B and P180 (silver) differ slightly . . . actually I've heard that antec is updating the P180 (silver), but buying through an online retailer makes which one you get a bit of a crapshoot. Anyway, the old P180 had a fan shroud that sat over the vga card and vented to the back of the case, in theory this should have been great, but in practice it yielded neglible difference in temps. the revised P180B uses the wind tunnel approach along with the perforated grill next to the PCI slots, the revised case also uses a standard thickness (25mm) tricool fan in the lower chamber versus a thick tricool used in the original design. So there's something else to think about.

 

[IQuerry81]

I love the considerations for your new case designes. I personally do not think you could go wrong with any of them. One thing I think you should consider though is Thermaltake. They have the Armor case http://thermaltakeusa.com/product/Chassis/fulltower/armor/va8003bws.asp that would work very well if you ever decide to do any size/type of water cooling. Also, taking price into consideration, go with either antec or thermaltake.

Now, since you have already owned a Lian Li, I do not think you'll enjoy the Antec P180 quite as much (Because it is what I would go for); However, There is a place that can make your P180 case with a window and sleeve all the wires, it will just cost you about $60 to $100 more - depending on what you want done. www.performance-pcs.com :twisted: Love the website!!

Hope this gives some sort of small insight. Enjoy your case!

 

[Jie]

It's funny you mentioned the Thermaltake Amor Case. That actually was another case I was looking at, but forgot to include it. The airflow does look seem very nice. The look is pretty cool...not something I would usually consider. I found an Armor case that has a side 250mm fan...is this really effective or just over kill? Is the power suppy at the top the case installed sideways?

Performance-pcs is a great website. I shopped there few times .

 

[kukito]

I've been looking at cases as well and seriously considering the aluminum Spire Pininfarina SP-ATX-PALU ATX Case reviewed by MADSHRIMPS and I just can't seem to find any faults. It has good ventilation, plenty of space inside. It's also pretty damn sexy. It includes three fans with room for one more and a nice front IO panel design. It comes in black, silver or "diamond cool" (whatever the hell that is).

 

[nikolokolus]

Looks like a fine case . . . probably would be a bitch to use a water cooling setup with it, but that's where my head is right now

 

[Silent_Bob]

I just bought an antec SOLO (the black/silver version of the P150). I love the case thus far. Its quiet, comes without a ps and has nice airflow. If you want something a little cheaper and a little smaller than the P180 with a standard layout (no bottom chamber psu) then I highly recommed it, as does SPCR. I'll put the review link below.

http://www.silentpcreview.com/article272-page1.html

Make sure you read the additions as the case was updated and the SOLO has all of the revisions.