Looking for a particular kind of case.

[truepurple]

There are cases too small, then there are midtower cases that are too large. I am looking for a smallish sized midtower, but it needs to be able to fit a radeon 5870.

I want one that has some cooling, but dust filters for any fans/openings.

Tool-less as possible, things like thumb screws and stuff would be nice.

Front USB/eSATA connections. (hopefully lower down for the eSATA)

Top handle for easy carrying.

Swap drive bay would be nice.

Lacking sharp edges would be nice.

But I don't want LED fans, painted interior, I'd prefer the case not be black (though I am flexible in this as so many are) Fan controls, I'd prefer leaving that to the motherboard. That it lack loud decorative stuff.

It just seems there are boring small cases with little features, boring large cases with little features, and loud obnoxious overpriced LAN type cases. I want another option(a few of them would be especially appreciated), and I don't know what to use to search for such a case.

Would a asus P7P55D-E LX fit into a
APEX TX-381-C with or without the radeon 5870?

Is "micro" a specific standard? Do boards that are "micro" usually say so in their name or how do you know that they are "micro"? If a case says its for micro boards, does that mean that the connection points for other MoBo's won't be right or something?

 

[tigsounds]

Suggestion: Here


I use this model and it has been perfect. Very quiet, has sound deadening panels, air filters that are easily removed for cleaning... on and on... I like it, you might too.

The picture doesn't show it, but there is a 120MM fan mounted on the board side of the bottom drive bay/rack. That bottom rack holds 4 HDD's.

 

[truepurple]

Your link does not work, it takes me to the general Antec website. What's the model of this?

 

[tigsounds]

Your link does not work, it takes me to the general Antec website. What's the model of this?

Those jerks. I just tested it and it works fine for me, but then I see a cookie... hmmmm...

It's the P183

 

[truepurple]

Its nice, I like that its full of good features without the flashy LAN stuff. But a look over, I see a number of issues with it too.

Its pretty big.

It has a noise deadening feature I don't need. It can actually be useful to hear what sounds your PC is making. Obviously I don't want it very loud either, but not necessarily dead silent.
It has a PSU separate chamber feature I don't particularly need (though I am not specifically against) I already have a ultra quiet seasonic x650 bought for it, it goes fanless till very high loads and then is really quiet at first when it does kick in. Its also been shown to work well in higher heat (though I suppose its heat might heat up the rest of the case)

Which brings us to the real problem with having both of these last two features in one case plus its large size, weight. 31 pounds for just the case.

It lacks a handle, that coupled with its weight will make it very unportable. I hope to get a case actually small enough to fit in the back basket of my bicycle. While that might not be strictly necessary, I would like more portability.

Would you please see about answering a few of my questions in the first post?

 

[hell_storm2004]

I would say you look at the HAF912. Its cheap and good. The P183 is a great case though.

By the way, what's your budget?

 

[tigsounds]

Would you please see about answering a few of my questions in the first post?

I don't have those answers. I run a DFI board, my vid card fits with no problems (that was a big concern for me)..

That case you linked to doesn't say the actual inside space available. They do say ...

Motherboard Compatibility
Micro ATX, Flex ATX

which indicates no full-size boards are going to fit.

The board you mentioin is....


Form Factor
ATX

Dimensions
12" x 8.6"

So being a full-size ATX board looks like it won't fit.

There are reviews at Amazon.com on this case. People reported their 5770 cards did fit, and yours is a 5000 series, so that much is OK.

You can Google various boards and get sizes, then min case dimensions.

 

[truepurple]

Budget is not a issue, I am willing to pay more for good stuff I can use, I'd rather not waste money on stuff I don't need. Obviously I won't pay thousands of dollars or something on a case, but I'd rather not put a max dollar sign on the issue.

BTW, it doesn't look like the HAF912 is quit right for me either.

 

[hell_storm2004]

Then P183 is the one of the best. Otherwise my favourite choice would be the:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811112253

But the best is this one i guess:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811163121

Since budget is not the issue. You can get a full tower and be clear of all the doubts.

 

[tigsounds]

BTW, it doesn't look like the HAF912 is quit right for me either.

Egads... That thing looks like it fell off a truck and then got ran over by another one.

I bought the Antec case and never looked back. It's been perfect. Yes, it has a bit of weight to it, but it's not going to fold up if it gets bumped. My machine is too heavy to carry around very far anyway. It has 8 hard drives, 2 floppy drives (Why??), and of course my BD burners. I would guess my machine weighs in at about 65 pounds. I have all optional fan locations filled and it is still very quiet. The machine releases enough heat to keep the room it is in warm, but it never gets cold here anyway, but still, the room warms up if it's on 24/7. (Heat, my CPU is a 125 Watt Athlon, and then all the drives, yup, pretty warm in here).

For your use, maybe you'll consider getting a really nice suitcase handle and drill holes on top of the case and mount your own handle, before you install anything inside. If you do a nice job, it would be the asset you are looking for. If you don't need to install so many drives, it wouldn't be too heavy to carry... um... very far.

 

[geofelt]

It is not clear to me if you already have your motherboard. The one you mentioned is a full atx sized motherboard.

I think you are interested in a lan party type system. If so, start with a motherboard that only has enough slots for your needs.

A full atx will have 7 slots.
A Micro-ATX will have 4 slots.
A Mini-ITX will have only one slot.

For a lanbox, consider a mini-itx. The slot will be a pcie-x16 slot which can hold the strongest of graphics cards.

Here is a case that will mostly fit your desires, the lian-li PC Q08R:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811112267

There is no carrying handle, but it is very small, and made of aluminum so it should be easy to carry.
It will hold a graphics card up to 300mm(11.8"). The 5870 is about 11"

There are other colors, but the red is stunning. I have it in a V351 cube type micro-atx case.
The fan does have a red led, but you should be able to deactivate it.
Lian li NEVER has sharp edges, and the build quality is superb.

 

[truepurple]

I do already have my MoBo, its the Asus board I mentioned earlier.

Lacking a separate power supply compartment will save some size.

What about a case that has removable hard drive cages and power supply cage so that the motherboard can actually go behind these for a smaller case?

BTW looks are not that important to me.

 

[dsaddons]

I would suggest this Lian Li:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811112099


Then installing your own handles, maybe these mnpc tech handles here:
http://www.mnpctech.com/MnpctechBillethandleGrooved.html

 

[truepurple]

Dsaddons, the case is big, lacks air filters(important to me), lacks removable drive bays, lacks hotswap bay, lacks motherboard plate/back access, lacks esata... etc. It's surprisingly expensive for all that it lacks. Not sure why you thought that case would get close to fitting the bill.

Install your own handles, interesting, but top handle is better, that way you can carry it with one arm. It's not that hard to simply hold the case from its bottom compared to using side handles.

 

[truepurple]

The Antec Two Hundred(v2) seems to get somewhat close, I can live with its lack of any kind of tooless features whats so ever, and its lack of moduleity (removable hard drive bays etc) And I suppose maybe I can get a handle installed on the top, if its not too thick there and the top fan doesn't get in the way.

But I really want dust filters for all ports, the 200 mentions dust filter, but I can't find it anywhere on product pages or reviews, so it must not be that great. I really easily removable dust filters for easy/quick maintenance that doesn't require screwdriver and disassembly.

I would also appreciate a USB 3 front port, but I can live with USB 2. I love its hot-swap bay idea and really want a case with something like that, I hope something Sata3 compatibility though. A bit disappointed that it only has 1 internal 2.5 bay, I'd rather not have to worry about having adopting mounting racks.

Anyway, I have looked at the pages of three or four brands I could find in my google search without any success.(there doesn't seem to be many brands for decent cases) Anyone have any more suggestions/names?