Question Concering Cases

[cynicallyenhance]

I ran in to a bit of a snag deciding which case I should go with.
First and foremost, I need help deciding whether or not the pros of a full tower case outweigh the pros of a mid tower case.

If background information helps, I plan on putting in a full ATX board with an i7 920, 1 graphics card (with the possiblity of xfiring/SLI), triple channel RAM, 2 hard drives (with the addition of a third later down the road), at least one cd drive, and maybe a multi-function card reader. Temperatures should be low enough to allow headroom for overclocking.

For full tower cases, I have narrowed down my search between an HAF 932 and an Antec Twelve Hundred (but i am open to other suggestions around the same price range). I would prefer low temperatures without an expensive water/air cooling system, but at the same time would keep noise to a minimum.

However, I haven't looked in to mid tower cases, and am not sure whether or not the smaller size would meet all of my needs. I may be moving the case around a bit which is why I was considering a mid tower in the first place.

TL;DR
Need help deciding on case (Full/Mid)
1 i7 920
ATX Board
1 (2 later on) Graphics Card
3 RAM sticks
2 HDs (1 SSD, 1 HDD, another HDD possible later on)
1 CD Drive
1 Card reader (maybe)
Overclocking possible

Thank you for your input!

 

[treefrog07]

These days it seems the CPU HSF and the new, longer GPUs are driving chassis selection, the larger the HSF, the wider case you need. With the longer GPUs, you need clearance between the GPUs and the HDDs. You may want to at least look at the new CM-690. There are others, but these have enough side clearance for big HSFs and for hiding cables behind the right-side panel, as well as removing the lower HDD cage, if you don't need it. Just one opinion.

 

[cynicallyenhance]

These days it seems the CPU HSF and the new, longer GPUs are driving chassis selection, the larger the HSF, the wider case you need. With the longer GPUs, you need clearance between the GPUs and the HDDs. You may want to at least look at the new CM-690. There are others, but these have enough side clearance for big HSFs and for hiding cables behind the right-side panel, as well as removing the lower HDD cage, if you don't need it. Just one opinion.

Ah ok thank you for the suggestion, it's greatly appreciated. Yeah I was planning on getting something along the lines of a Radeon 5870 or 5850, so I guess how wide the case is would greatly affect my decision.

 

[MadAdmiral]

Both of those cards will fit into an Antec 300/300 Illusion, thought the 5870 is a tight fit. You don't exactly need a huge case for those cards.

I would also check out the HAF 922. It's huge, one of the best and fairly cheap.