Mid Tower Vs. Full Tower

[Lutticon]

Hello,
I'm building a new PC and I can't decide on whether or not to go with a mid or full tower? Here are my choices

Full:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119230

Mid:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119196

I think the mid tower looks cooler and has those handy handles and the size is convenient, but is the full tower an obvious choice. Will it run cooler? I am putting in a CoolIT ECO Liquid Cooling Unit for my i7 processor, and I'm a little hesitant on space. I could deal with the big space, is it really worth it?

 

[Lutticon]

what sort of liquid cooling though? i plan on using this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835227006

 

[WR2]

For that type of self contained water cooler the better mid-tower premium gaming cases (Storm Scout is one of those) have enough room to handle that cooler and all your other parts with enough room to spare for upgrades.

 

[Lutticon]

Will the space be a little tight for in the future purchasing another graphics card and/or additional ram. Are self-contained liquid coolers good for overclocking? I'm sure the Storm Scout (which is what I was looking at) wouldn't be able to hold a complete liquid cooling system would it? And which tower would keep the system cooler... a full tower or mid tower?

 

[WR2]

Won't be a problem for the Storm Scout. All the hardware is up at the top end of the case while a 2nd GPU would be down toward the middle of the case in the 2nd PCI-e slot.
Here is a good picture (in another forum) of a Corsair H50 (same size as the CoolIT SYSTEMS ECO-R120) installed in a CM Storm Scout.
Video of CM Storm Scout and Corsair H50.

 

[Lutticon]

Okay cool, but generally does a full tower run cooler, or does a mid tower? And what if I decided to put in an expensive liquid cooling system? Or is that not really necessary?

 

[blackhawk1928]

Well, a bigger case might be heaver but most likley, you system will run cooler. And, if you need to do something inside of it, the larger size of the full tower will give you more room and slack for your arms and hands to dig inside.

 

[Lutticon]

Okay will the temperature difference be worth the extra 60 dollars, I mean is it a noticeable difference? And yes the work space is true, it just seems likes a full case is gigantic.

 

[WR2]

The cooling performance of a full size case should be within a degree or two of a mid-tower case given the same intake/exhaust volume. And some premium mid-tower cases will have better cooling performance than some full size cases.

 

[blackhawk1928]

^As he said.
It depends on the case, the best mid-tower will be better then the worst full tower. It depends on your personal needs also. For the most part, full tower cases provide better airflow and more fan ports and larger fans. They also can fit more hardware. The main and probably the only reason I went full tower was for the extra space and area to put stuff in and customize. The difference in size will usually be pretty big and will be noticeably more convenient.

 

[ares1214]

To be honest, this is the best of both worlds:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119194

While it still is classified a mid tower (that has nothing to do with size btw) it is one of the biggest cases out there. It debatably has better stock cooling that the HAF listed, as it has the added side 200mm fan, and is a little bigger. It has very good watercooling setup, and very good cable management. However, if you wanted a more customizable case, id recommend this one:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119216&cm_re=692-_-11-119-216-_-Product

That is more of a mid tower size, but even at that bigger than my full tower. It comes stock with 3 fans, however it has some of the best capabilities for cooling of any case. It has about 10 slots for fans, of several sizes, and you can really customize what fans you want, and where you want them. Since it is fairly cheap, you have $40 to spend on fans and such over the HAF, by which time it is very likely it will surpass it in cooling. It likely has the best features of any case listed here, and can very easily accomodate a 240mm radiator, and i believe 2 of them if you move things around.

 

[Crashman]

To be honest, this is the best of both worlds:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119194

While it still is classified a mid tower (that has nothing to do with size btw) it is one of the biggest cases out there. It debatably has better stock cooling that the HAF listed, as it has the added side 200mm fan, and is a little bigger. It has very good watercooling setup, and very good cable management. However, if you wanted a more customizable case, id recommend this one:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119216&cm_re=692-_-11-119-216-_-Product

That is more of a mid tower size, but even at that bigger than my full tower. It comes stock with 3 fans, however it has some of the best capabilities for cooling of any case. It has about 10 slots for fans, of several sizes, and you can really customize what fans you want, and where you want them. Since it is fairly cheap, you have $40 to spend on fans and such over the HAF, by which time it is very likely it will surpass it in cooling. It likely has the best features of any case listed here, and can very easily accomodate a 240mm radiator, and i believe 2 of them if you move things around.

Tom's Hardware tested the Storm Sniper, it's not really better than average for cooling. It even got beat by a similarly-priced Thermaltake case of more traditional design.

For performance, I'd go with the Antec Three Hundred. For price, I'd go with the Antec Three Hundred. If I wanted something fancier than the Antec Three Hundred, I'd jump to the SilverStone Raven 2.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811163154&Tpk=RV02

 

[ares1214]

Proof?

 

[ares1214]

I wouldnt quite call that losing. But its still doing fairly well. I still wish i could design my own case :lol:

 

[KingKnight]

Lately I've been just going for full towers only for my first build until I found this case: http://www.corsair.com/us/pc-cases/vengeance-series-gaming-case.html The full towers I've seen mostly had some main features missing like cable managment room, or they were too expensive or they literally looked like they were put together by a monkey but performed really well, but I had this case on my radar until I realized that this is the perfect case, the design is FAN-Tastic has the best airflow I've seen in a mid tower, so much customization you could do, I love it, totally using it for first build.

 

[cmarin61]

I really like the C70 too, I just wish it had a better face on it. The thing looks very plain, even for Corsair.