Case Choice?

[ares1214]

Hello everybody! So i want opinions on choosing a case. Here is what is necessary or perfered.

1. Black case w/ black inside (very picky on the inside part)
2. bottom mounted psu would be cool
3. would be very nice if it came pre-installed with red LED fans, but pre-installed with great cooling is basically a must.
4. BIG, full tower highly wanted.
5. good features, some sort of wire management or LC holes would be really good. obsidian is the perfect example, except the person im building for thinks its ugly :lol:
6. continuing with the features, removable mb tray would be cool, or atleast the backplate. needs a decent amount of hdd bays, but no external 3.5 are needed.
7. price is absolutely no factor.
8. dont want it to be loud, dust magnet, or cheap .00001 mm thick plastic :lol: cooling> noise, but low noise would really be good.
9. on newegg...
10. good company name would be good.

well as far as that goes, i have a few in mind, such as the HAF, but im just asking if anybody has any opinions, good cases, personal experience with a case that meets all this, or any advice....this is for an ultimate AMD build, no price limit, and the reason its red LEDS is cuz he likes red, and the asus mobo is red lol...first, and best answer gets a cookie!

 

[Crashman]

Hello everybody! So i want opinions on choosing a case. Here is what is necessary or perfered.

1. Black case w/ black inside (very picky on the inside part)

I certainly hope you DON'T find what you want, because you're looking for a high-quality case with a low-quality finish. Zinc or aluminum plating is more durable, paint is cheap and fragile. I'm all for NOT having companies add cheap gimmicks to expensive cases.

 

[ares1214]

while i dont dispute that, almost everybody does it, whether it be tan paint or black paint, the black paint just happens to look better. and if u can find one with the zinc or aluminum, and that meets most of the specs, then by all means, recommend it this is after all for recommendations and prior experiences...

 

[Crashman]

while i dont dispute that, almost everybody does it, whether it be tan paint or black paint, the black paint just happens to look better. and if u can find one with the zinc or aluminum, and that meets most of the specs, then by all means, recommend it this is after all for recommendations and prior experiences...

Basic high-end finish, paint on the outside and plating on the inside. The plating keeps the case from rusting under normal environmental conditions (ie, 60% relative humidity, etc.) It's not tan, it's silver-gray, it's not paint, and it applies to most cases.

There's lots of case options that became annoyingly popular...inside paint is the latest. The most annoying is "short" mid-towers with the "front panel" ports on the top panel instead, since any case that small should be sitting on a desk instead of a floor.

 

[ares1214]

once again, thank you for ur help, i know this, but im looking for recommendations

 

[Crashman]

once again, thank you for ur help, i know this, but im looking for recommendations

Silverstone Fortress 2. It's a huge mid-height tower with a bunch of features you might want to check out.

 

[ares1214]

hmmmmmmm, looks pretty good! new version of raven?? any others?

 

[Crashman]

hmmmmmmm, looks pretty good! new version of raven?? any others?

Corsair Obsidian 700D. No black paint, just black-anodized aluminium.

Cooler Master ATCS 840. The black-anodized version still has a bright aluminium frame, but the frame is given a similar treatment (without the dye) to resist corrosion.

 

[JohnnyLucky]

What does your client think of the Coolermaster HAF 932? I have one. It is a huge beast. Ventilation, airflow, and cooling are excellent.

For a classic all black full tower case I'd recommend the Antec Twelve Hundred:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129043&cm_re=antec_1200-_-11-129-043-_-Product

It is one of those cases you purchase and keep for a long time.

There is something that has been overlooked. Which video card(s) is/are going to be installed? There are a few high end video that are extremely long. That will limit case selection rather quickly.

 

[ares1214]

the HAF 932 was the first choice, he thinks it looks cool, but i was wondering if there is anything better? and its gonna be 4x5870.

 

[JohnnyLucky]

The ATI Radeon HD 5870 video cards are 11 inces long. Add another half an inch for the PCI-e power cables. You'll need a case that is fairly long from front to back.

EDIT - Almost forgot - There is a HAF 932 AMD Limited Edition case. The front bezel is red:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119212&cm_re=cooler_master_haf_932-_-11-119-212-_-Product

 

[ares1214]

i know, thats why im mainly looking for full tower, i think HAF is big enough...any opinions on obsidian? aint the prettiest thing, but it looks really good...btw, any estimates on the power draw of 4x5870? might have to do 2 psus...which will also effect case selection.

 

[Crashman]

i know, thats why im mainly looking for full tower, i think HAF is big enough...any opinions on obsidian? aint the prettiest thing, but it looks really good...btw, any estimates on the power draw of 4x5870? might have to do 2 psus...which will also effect case selection.

BTW, the HAF 932 is trash, I've had a couple of them through here. It also looks like some 12-year-old made it out of cardboard, after being inspired by a dump truck.

OK, so the Obsidian 700D has a vent beneath the 7th slot, to allow a fourth double-slot card to vent out of the case there. That's almost as good as having an eight-slot case.

 

[Crashman]

Thermaltake Xaser VI, LIAN LI PC-P80 and HEC 98 98R9BB have ten expansion slots.

LIAN LI PC-A77F and Thermaltake Level Ten have eight.

 

[JohnnyLucky]

Crashman - Sometimes case selection is a matter of personal preference. There's no accounting for personal taste. The HAF 932 is one of those cases people either love or hate. There is no middle ground. Personally I wasn't crazy about the side window or the front bezel so I did a case mod.

I can confirm and agree with the Tom's Hardware article that ventilation, airflow, and cooling are excellent. I have experimented with an original Thermalright 120, and an original Coolermaster Hyper 212 cpu heat sink. I also tried several fan configurations. Cooling results were outstanding.

 

[Crashman]

Crashman - Sometimes case selection is a matter of personal preference. There's no accounting for personal taste. The HAF 932 is one of those cases people either love or hate. There is no middle ground. Personally I wasn't crazy about the side window or the front bezel so I did a case mod.

I can confirm and agree with the Tom's Hardware article that ventilation, airflow, and cooling are excellent. I have experimented with an original Thermalright 120, and an original Coolermaster Hyper 212 cpu heat sink. I also tried several fan configurations. Cooling results were outstanding.

All of that is academic since the HAF 932 doesn't FIT his graphics cards. And if it did, the cooling for the fourth card would be horrible.

 

[ares1214]

i have loved the xaser for a long time, wanna delve a bit more into that?

 

[Crashman]

i have loved the xaser for a long time, wanna delve a bit more into that?

At a minimum you need around an inch of space beneath the graphics card in order to use four double-slot cards. But if you want it "done right", you actually need eight slots, because 4 x 2 = 8. Corsair has a vent beneath the bottom slot to serve the same purpose as the eighth slot, when it comes to mounting a fourth card, but an eighth slot is better because it forces the card to vent out of the case.

So, I gave you a list of cases that had at least eight slots, rather than the standard 7.

 

[ares1214]

and the xaser has 10...anything bad about that?

 

[Crashman]

and the xaser has 10...anything bad about that?

The $125 and $145 versions have a plated steel interior, you wanted black paint
The $200 version has a bright-aluminum interior, not black anodize

 

[ares1214]

werent you just saying thats good? and that i dont mind, or he, its just most are the ugly, generic, tan, and black looks better. but that looks fine to me...

 

[Crashman]

werent you just saying thats good? and that i dont mind, or he, its just most are the ugly, generic, tan, and black looks better. but that looks fine to me...

I haven't seen a tan computer case in a long time. The plating on the steel is a darker gray color than the colorless anodizing for aluminum, but I prefer plating or anodizing (whether it's black or silver) for interiors. You said you wanted black paint to begin with...

 

[LePhuronn]

4 5870s? How is Crossfire scaling these days?

For similar money, you could try 2 5970s, overclock them to match the 5870's clocks (5970 is 2 5870s underclocked a bit after all) and then get a standard 7 slot case.

If money for the case is no object then you could get a Silverstone Temjin TJ07 and powdercoat the inside. The TJ07 should fit 12" cards.

EDIT: Have you seen the Sapphire 5970 TOXIC? Looks like triple-slot coolers though but 2 of those could be a viable alternative to 4 5870s so you don't have to worry about 8 slot cases (although you will need a case that can fit 12" cards lol)

 

[JohnnyLucky]

Crashman - OOPS! Totally forgot about the OP mentioning four 5870's. My bad!

On the other hand I can confirm that an ATI Radeon HD 5870 video card will fit inside the case without any problem. The case is 22 inches long from front to back and the lower hard drive cage is oriented perpendicular to the length of the case. I actually measured the available space for another thread. User comments at newegg.com also confirm that a 5870 will fit inside the case.

 

[ares1214]

ok, unless anybody can present any bad info on the xaser, thats winning now, cuz its one of the biggest cases ive ever seen, looks good, 10 pci slots, and has plenty of features...any bad things, or alternatives?