HAF912 or Elite 430

Going to pick it up...

So... I got it home. The 912 is solid and light. I always like the design, though I am surprised by how light it is. I'll be using this case to build a DAW based on an i7-930 and an X58 sabertooth board.

I'm going to pull out the center drive bay module to allow uninhibited airflow from the front fan. I'll only need a couple hard drives in this system.

I have an Antec 300 too (I think I paid $40), but it doesn't have the cutout in the tray behind the CPU. I do like it a lot though.

Thanks again for your advice.

Best answer selected by ubercake.

Thanks for the BA uber! 
Will i hope the case NCIX sends me is the new version 300 with the cpu cut-out.
Use to have a 300 yrs ago without the cut-out,but like you said it's still a great case.

I always wonder why the cpu cut-out isn't part of every case these days. Just punch it out? I don't even care if the edges of the cutout were smooth on the low end case. I know it would add a step or two to the production process, but I'd pay an extra $5 for a lower-end case to get the cutout behind the cpu. The 300s they are picturing on newegg are again without the cut-out. I guess I find it funny that something like this would be considered a more high-end option. It seems like the overall production cost wouldn't suffer much to add it.

I agree ubercake, however Antec have borught out revisions that include the cut out to the 1200 and 902, so maybe the 300 is in the works.

I got it all setup. I added a Geforce 210 1GB for decent graphics. I'll be in the 2D world for the most part on this machine anyhow. I got an OCZ ModXtreme 600W. I got a WD Blue 500 for my Protools app drive and a WD Black 500 SATA3 (does it matter???) for my recording/write drive. I picked up a Samsung combo drive.

So the only gripe I have about the HAF 912 is cheap screws and standoffs... 4 of the nine stripped in the standoffs. That's just damn irritating. Not the way you want to spend time when you're putting these things together. I should invest in some top quality hardware and just keep stock around.

Also, one thing that really disturbs me and makes me happy at the same time is how much better the Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus is at $25 (after microcenter rebate) than my $100-worth of H50/push-pull fan setup on my gaming rig. The 212 Plus is a tad better even with only one fan.

That's probably why Corsair ditched the partnership with Asetek. In my opinion, you better get better performance if you put liquid anywhere near your system. -1 for Corsair and that H-whatever nonsense.

Blah! sorry to hear about CM cheaping out on the 912 hardware.
Unbelievable!
How annoying and tedious that must have been.
Glad you posted it though it's good to know.
Hard to beat an OZC ModX 600W and 212+ for price and performance..
Have those in one of my builds.