PC-K62 vs Storm Sniper vs NZXT Phantom

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hyperups

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Hi guys. I have read a thousand reviews and a thousand threads about these cases but I can't choose. My budget is $150 max. I won't be doing any water cooling and I don't want to have to buy extra fans for the air cooling. I don't care about side windows either. A little about my rig: AMD Phenom II 555 BE with 4 unlocked cores and oc'd to 3.6ghz, HD 5850 with no oc'ing, 2 hard drives and 1 dvd drive.

The K62 is going for $110. The inside looks great and easy to assemble but I heard the outside plastic is pretty flimsy. The Sniper is $150. I love all of the controls on the front but, again, I heard the fan knob and exterior are cheapish and don't feel right. The Phantom is $130. I heard to that to have proper cooling in it you needed to buy a couple of extra fans which would bump the price past the Sniper. Are the Sniper and Phantom worth the extra money over the K62?

By the way, my current case is a Rosewill R5601-BK.

Thanks

Zack
 
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Bigmac80
I was looking at all those cases you brought up and i ended up buying the Lian-li PC 7FN Mid tower case. All those cases you mentioned are decent but to me they feel cheap as in plastic cheap. My new Lian-li case is a mid tower case and it's all aluminum. It has a 140mm intake fan and a 120mm exhaust fan and has all the holes on the motherboard tray for easy cable mgt. Also i know it only has 2 fans but since it's lian-li there are alot of options when it comes to cooling. You can get a front bezel that's aluminum and convert to a intake fan that fits 120mm. There are also 2 different types of top covers with either one 140mm fan on it or two 140mm fans.

Here is the exact case i bought. I know on the picture it shows it doesn't...
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Leaps-from-Shadows

Leaps-from-Shadows

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I had much the same dilemma as you do -- I just couldn't decide between several cases. The PC-K62 and Sniper were on my list also, but I didn't even consider the Phantom.

I ended up grabbing a Cooler Master HAF 912 and stuffing it with six Scythe S-FLEX SFF21F fans. Nothing flimsy on the case, and with the new fans it really lives up to its name (HAF = High Air Flow). I'm glad I made the decision I did, and I wouldn't trade it for any case $200 or less (there are some water-cooling cases I might consider trading it for though).

If you want to stick with the ones on your list, I'd go for the Dragon Lord Dark Ice (PC-K62). It's got all the Lian Li touches but in a steel case.
 
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hyperups

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Thanks for the reply! The HAF series seems like a good practical case but I just don't like the looks of them. I'm wondering if all of the fans in the K62 will be too loud at 100% since it doesn't have a fan controller. It's a bit expensive to get a 3.5 adapter and a fan controller. That would bump the price up to the Sniper. Do you think it would be worth it to do that?
 
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Leaps-from-Shadows

Leaps-from-Shadows

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Whether it's too loud or not depends on your ambient noise level. If you're used to working in a library, it might be. If you're in a basement next to a furnace like me, you probably won't even hear it.

The fans in the Dragon Lord Dark Ice are mounted using special rubber mounts. I'm pretty sure your ears won't bleed from the noise. :p And no, a fan controller isn't necessary.
 
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kaosnkorruption

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Quoting myself from a previous discussion about the k62

I picked up the Lancool PC-K62 recently I really likeit. It has a rather large cutout for backplate access. I've seen a number of cases where the cutout only exposes about half the backplate or so.

The PC-K62 is also completely toolless, literally. When I swapped components into the new case, I only need a screwdriver to pull stuff out of the old case.

The case has decent cable management, not exceptional though. The major beef I had was the space on the backside (behind the motherboard) to run cables was a bit tight (had a tough time getting the side panel back on), and my PSU isn't modular and there isn't anywhere to tuck the extra cables...but neatly bundling the cables with a ziptie resovled that for me (although the bundle is just sitting at the bottom of the case).
Click to expand...
 
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hyperups

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Ok, so you guys are making me lean towards the Lancool K62. What exactly is it that you guys like about the K62 more than the sniper. The obvious things I see are that it has a smaller sleeker size. The tool-less thing seems really nice as well. Are there any other reasons that the K62 trumps the Sniper? Is there any way to pop out the leds of the fans in the K62 if it turn out to not be my thing?
 
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hyperups

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Sorry for the double post....Is there any difference in build quality between these two? That would really help me choose.

I just found a deal for a Lian Li PC-9F for $130. Would this be a better overall case than the K62?
 
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davcon

davcon

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Yeah the PC-9F is a true Lian Li built out of aluminum.
The K62 is a Lancool constructed out of steel.
Kinda comparing apples to oranges.
The PC-9F is sleek and has the minimalist look.
The K62 appeals to a gamer look.
 
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hyperups

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So, looking at the PC-9F vs PC-K62...is the PC-9F worth the extra $20? And can the PC-9F usb 3.0 cables connect to my motherboard's usb 2.0 headers as I don't have a motherboard yet with usb 3.
 
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Bigmac80

Bigmac80

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I was looking at all those cases you brought up and i ended up buying the Lian-li PC 7FN Mid tower case. All those cases you mentioned are decent but to me they feel cheap as in plastic cheap. My new Lian-li case is a mid tower case and it's all aluminum. It has a 140mm intake fan and a 120mm exhaust fan and has all the holes on the motherboard tray for easy cable mgt. Also i know it only has 2 fans but since it's lian-li there are alot of options when it comes to cooling. You can get a front bezel that's aluminum and convert to a intake fan that fits 120mm. There are also 2 different types of top covers with either one 140mm fan on it or two 140mm fans.

Here is the exact case i bought. I know on the picture it shows it doesn't have cable mgt holes but when i recieved mine it actually does. one for the cpu retention plate and a ton of other cable mgt holes. There are different types of the Lian-li pc 7fn case...7fnw has the window 7fnwx has the window and painted black inside and 7fn has no window. This case cost me 140bucks with shipping.

http://www.mwave.com/mwave/skusearch_v3.asp?scriteria=BA25864&pagetitle=LIAN LI PC-7FWB (black) mid tower no power supply 5x5.2

Here is optional 5.25 fan module..

http://www.frozencpu.com/products/5433/cpa-155/Lian_Li_Triple_525_Bay_120mm_Fan_Module_-_Black_CCFANMODULE.html?tl=g43c241s612

Here's a picture of the other 2 optional top cover with fans.

http://www.frozencpu.com/products/10797/cpa-353/Lian_Li_Mid_Tower_Top_Cover_w_Dual_140mm_Fan_Holes_for_PC-60FN_7FN_-_Black_T-LM25B-1.html?tl=g43c241s1113

http://www.frozencpu.com/products/10769/cpa-350/Lian_Li_Mid_Tower_Top_Cover_w_140mm_Fan_Hole_for_PC-60FN_7FN_-_Black_T-LM24B-2.html?tl=g43c241s1113

Hope this helps....Go aluminum if anything...But this case is sexy and simple looking with alot of lian-li mods. I was in the same boat as you buddy but then i realized i wanted something that would last me. So i started looking into aluminum cases not plastic. Check this case out. Im in love with my case :)

 
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Bigmac80

Bigmac80

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No problem Hyperups. Here's some video of some of the lian-li cases on youtube. This helped me out alot also. Although the 1st video is the older version of the Lian-li 7fn case. the 2nd video is the newer version of it, has more cable mgt holes and has a vent for the pwr supply including a dust filter. 3rd version is the Lian-li 7fnwx it has the inside painted black and has the top optional 140mm fan on the top.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJ-rcwyZSH0&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJ-rcwyZSH0&feature=fvw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gi2Bc85DpWU

hope this helps cause this totally made me wanna buy it lol...






 
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Bigmac80

Bigmac80

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I prefer the 7FN because of the hard drive cage. Because on the 9F it has the hard drive cage so where you can see your wires. But in the 7FN you can actually turn your hard drive cage around and hide the wires for cleaner cable mgt. Both are good cases though but i prefered the 7FN because of the hard drive cage and it was a bit cheaper. i got mine for $119.99 and i believe the 9F is about 30-40 bucks more.
 
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