Cooler Master Haf 922 or Lancool K62

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ckaz

ckaz

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I am having really big troubles deciding. At first, I was going to go with the HAF 922, because I much prefer the exterior look and I can get it for $30 cheaper. Then I decided to go with the Lancool because it has the black interior and the side panel. It also comes with all of the needed L.E.D. fans to make the case look sick, whereas with the HAF 922, it costs $20 for each red L.E.D. 200mm fan. I would want one on top, one on side, and one in front. So it would cost me an extra $40 to replace the top fan and get a new side one. The Lancool comes with 3 blue L.E.D. fans. I also am in love with a black interior. In fact, if I was to get the HAF 922, I might go as far as to paint it.
Then I decided to go ith Cooler Master again because the Lancool isn't really ideal for upgradability. Only 4, 3.5" bays, no e-sata ports, not very many 5.25" bays either.

To sum up
Problems with HAF 922
- no black interior
- no side panel
- would cost alot more to replace red led 200mm fans
- not sure if there is the option for a side panel
- no dust filters
Good things about HAF 922
- more 5.25 and 3.5" bays wich is important because upgradeability is imortant to me
- better airflow I think
- big enough to fit even the biggest of CPU coolers and the biggest of video cards
- much prefer the external looks
- an eigth expansion slot (more proof of its expandibility)
- option for watercooling
- bigger space in other side panel to accomodate any extra cables

Problems with Lancool K62
- not enough drive bays
- not sure if I will have room for a really big video card
- many people have been experiencing that their side windows comes cracked
- no e-sata ports
- apperantly there isn't sufficient room for water cooling if I ever decided to go that path
Good things about Lancool K62
- black interior
- 100% tool-less design (thumbscrews for the mobo, advanced system to tool-leesly secure the PSU)
- side window
- comes with 3 blue led fans that will really light up the case. This is not only good because of looks, but also because this way, I probably wouldn't have to do any expensive case aesthitcs upgrades


Any advice?
 
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JohnnyLucky

JohnnyLucky

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How many 5.25 external drive bays do you require?
How many 3.5 external drive bays do you require?
How many 3.5 internal drive bays do you require?
Which video card(s) are you going to install?
Which cpu heatsink are you going to install?
What are you going to do with your new computer?
 
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welshmousepk

welshmousepk

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i have the k62, i lvoe it, and chose it over the haf for a few reasons. to some up on your concerns though:

drive bays? you mean 3.5 or 5.25? im not sure how many youd need, but 5 disk drvies and 4 hard drives is plenty for me.
big video card isnt an issue. if needed, it can extend the entire length of the case into one of the disk drive bays, but you still have a goof 11 ro so inches clearenece before you get to the drive bays. its a big case.
my side window came fine, i really dont think its something that happenms alot, certainly no more than any other windowed case.
esata? isnt that a motherboard thing? not a case thing? but if you need it, and your mobo doesnt have it, iguess it could be an issue.
watercooling should be fine, it has loops. perhaps theresw no obvious place for an external rad, but if you wanted watercooling im sure there are solutuions.

so i dont really see how those things are issues, but they are a preferance thing of course.
i went for the k62 over the haf, because of the tooless desgin, (freaking awesome, especially for someone like me whos constantly upgrading) and i prefer the looks. all black (incl interior) and a side window, coupled with the LED fans just make it look brilliant IMO.
airflow is as good as i could possibly imagine a case could be. i love it.

oviously, im slighlty biased since i own the case. but ive not once thought that i shouhld have bought the haf instead. especially after seeing a mate at a LAN who has a HAF, and realising how much more awesome my rig looks :D
 
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ckaz

ckaz

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haha well I was simply thinking in anticipation, but since you asked.

I have a scythe mugen 2, and although it is possible I might eventually go to something different, it probably won't get much bigger than that.
As for the video cards, its either a 5870, or a 4890/4870 X2. not quite sure, but it will be something along that size.
For the 5.25 bays, I currently have one optical drives, and one fan controller. Now I like the extra space because there are many other things I might one day add (a second optical drive, one of those things were its like a drawer that slides out of the bay and is lockable, or possibly an LCD display that takes up two bays). In the Lancool, i think I might use two of the 5.25" drive bays to fit another blue 120mm led case fan.
Its impossible to say the amount of HDD's I might need. Right now, I am thinking 2 HDD's, and if I ever decided to go the route of the SSD's, I would probably have two also. So thats 4, with the possibilty of more. As for the external 3.5' devices, I'm not really sure what uses that, but I believe a floppy does, and i won't ever be needing one of those.
I have a dilemma in that I really appreciate quiteness, but I like to have lots of fans for cooling. It usually endds up as a trade off, because more of one equas less of the other.
 
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welshmousepk

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it seems to me that you wont ever need more drivebays than the k62 offers.


i know how it is to worry about futureproofing. but most people wont need more than 4 HDDs. since your smallest and oldest drive normally gets removed and used for another system (in my house it does anyway), so you dont have that many in at a time.
2 SSDs and 2 HDDs would be more than id ever have thats for sure.
a 5870 WILL fit, i know that. a 5970 will even fit, but may have to go into one of the drive bays. but im assuming these fan controllers and LCD displays dont extend as far back as a disk drive? so it could go into one of them if you ever had to get a humongous card and had your bays filled.

im pretty sure this is the last GPU card size increase we'll see for a while though. i think we will see steady decreses for the next few generations, as people want space and power saving features, just an informed guess though.

about adding another case fan to it though, i think that would be pointless. really, this thing has more airflow than i think it actually needs. i dont think adding more fans would help the temperature at all.

i might have to take a pic of my rig soon anyway, so you can see how cool my system looks in it ;)
 
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S

savage308

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Would like to say my first build ever and I used the HAF 922. Such a cool case. *litterally* I was actually just going to make a post asking why my red LED on my fan wouldn't turn on, little did I know I had to pay extra to get it, although not sure why newegg didnt offer it, maybe I'm blind, but either way, this case is amazing! built like a brick sh*t house, great cooling (so far) fan noise is so low i could care less at 1ft away from my face.

No experience with any other case, sorry :(. Personally though, I would go with this case again if given the option. the look, the quality, ease of installing EVERYTHING! wire management all a big thumbs up from me.
 
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ckaz

ckaz

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as for the extra fan, that would simply be for looks. I personally think two blue led's instead of the one would look way better.

Again, there's that thing with the LED fans. Looks is really big for me, so the fact that I would have to pay $40-$60 more just for some LED fans that should have come with the case seems a bit ridiculous.
The problem I can't get around is the price of the lancool. Although the price is nothing crazy, its the $30-$40 difference thats killing me. Anybody know of any cheap places to get it that ship to Canada?
 
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welshmousepk

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JohnnyLucky

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ckaz - You've been bouncing around the forum for a while and it's quite apparent you haven't done your homework. I'm going to make case selection very simple for you.

The Antec Twelve Hundred All Black steel case with 5 blue led fans and side window is the case that meets every single requirement you listed:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129043

It comes with 12 - yes count them - 12 external 5.25 drive bays. But wait! That's not all! There's more! The Coolermaster 4-in-3 drive bay devices can fit four 3.5 inch hard drive disks in three of those 5.25 external drive bays and they come with a 120mm fan. You can use three of those devices in nine of the twelve 5.25 external drive bays to fit a grand total of 12 hard disk drives. That still leaves three external drive bays for optical drives or whatever. Of course, other combinations of 5.25 and 3.5 devices are also possible. Just about any combination you can imagine.

On top of all that, the case is huge! Extra long video card? No problem! Extra large tower style heatsink? Piece of cake! Cable management? What cables? I don't see them! They're all hidden behind the motherboard tray! Want more fans? Go ahead and put them in. You won''t really need them because ventilation, airflow, and cooling with the stock fans are outstanding!

It's a classic case that you buy and keep for years to come. What are you waiting for? Just get the Antec Twelve Hundred and be happy! :)
 
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ckaz

ckaz

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yes I have considered that case a lot too. Most importantly I don;t have room for it under my desk, but if I did, I much prefer the exterior looks of the 922 as opposed to the 932.
 
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JohnnyLucky

JohnnyLucky

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What's wrong with a classic black tower case? It's sooooooo sexy! A true monolithic reflection of male masculinity! It towers over the 922 and the K62. Talk about bragging rights! Your friends will be envious! When you tell geeky nerds that you've got twelve hard drives and twelve 120mm fans in the beast they'll wet their pants. Girls will say "Gosh! It's sooooo big!!!" You might even get lucky and score!

What's $170.00 for a timeless classic! I'll tell you what it is. Divide $170.00 by 365 days and it comes to a mere $0.4657534 per day. In case you have problems with math that's less than 47 cents per day in just one short year! Are you going to let less than 47 cents per day stop you? After all, you can't take it with you!

If you're destitute and haven't got a dime, newegg has a buy now pay later plan available. It will cost you a little more but what the heck! It's only money.

BTW - Does anyone know the current exchange rate for US and Canadian dollars? Ten years ago I attended a webmasters conference at the casino hotel in Windsor Ontario - just across the river from Detroit. When I gave the cashier a crisp new US one hundred dollar bill she gave me one hundred twenty Canadian dollars. I thought that was great because it would take me longer to lose my shirt at the gaming tables! Well, actually it didn't take that much longer to give them all my money! :lol:
 
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LePhuronn

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Don't get me wrong I love my bling on a computer (you shuld see what I'm planning for my Raven build) but I get the feeling you'd be better off matching functionality of the case to your requirements first and then worry about the bling later.

If the Antec 1200 is too expensive then go for the Antec 902 - just as roomy, still has all the slots you'd need and is still a looker.

What about a Cooler Master Dominator? I have a few of the green-themed NVIDIA versions in the office and they're nice looking and nice functioning cases.

But to be honest, a case is just as important as a power supply - you need proper design and build with excellent airflow and cable management options in order to properly house and cool your system. Don't skimp on a case.

I'm not saying you should go Lian Li Tyr X-2000 or Silverstone Temjin TJ07 levels of expensive (however much we all may want to) but you do pay for what you get and sometimes when you look at your hardware you just have to accept that you'll do it a disservice (and therefore wasting money) but not putting it in a suitable case and you just have to swallow the cash.

Just like a PSU, if you can't afford then look at dropping something else so you CAN afford.
 
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ckaz

ckaz

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Johhny I'm starting to think you're some sort of Antec rep. Every thread I look that discusses cases, you're recommending the Antec.
To be honest, I probably would go with the Antec 1200, but the problem is that even though I have the money, I need to spend it on other things!

Right now my Antec Earthwatts 650W has failed on me twice and looks horrible, with no modular cables, so I'm manning up and getting the corsair hx-850W. That will set my back another $180.
 
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JohnnyLucky

JohnnyLucky

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My personal recommendation would be the new Lian Li Lancool Dragon Lord cases.

I ignored my inclination and recommended the Antec Twelve Hundred instead because it meets all of your component requirements. LePhuronn is correct - In this situation function takes precedence over form.
 
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Q

q_nanotubes

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I don't know if this helps...
I've always thought I will upgrade a lot of things but in the end, it will already be 3 years and I will buy a whole new system. But that's just me.

My roomie uses haf 922. It costs around 110 USD. It's big and fat. Lots of room. Looks nicer realife than in pictures. But it's "look at me" nice. The lancool is "cool..." nice.

Anyways choose the best case you like. I will end up selling my cooler master case this sunday because of its build quality and buy myself the lancool case =P (you know what I want you to buy)
 
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aford10

aford10

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I'll take your word for it. I've never owned that case. The dimensions are slightly smaller than the HAF 922, but similar. I was thinking more along the lines of expansion bays and internal color.

Though, the way the graphics cards are increasing in length, soon they won't fit in any of these cases. ;)
 
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rodney_ws

rodney_ws

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Might as well take my word for it... I own one... and I have a tape measure!
 
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