Do I need a Full sized case?

[jorru3p0]

Hello, I'm looking to buy a new case, because I cheaped out on one and I'm regreting it now. I bought a $30 case thinking "it's just a box that holds all my stuff". Now I know I was dead wrong. It only has 2 spot for fans and they are tiny as hell.

My rig is hot as it is and I'm looking to update my graphics card to something along the lines of a GTX 560 (If you guys could give me some advice on a good video card for around $100 that would be great). So I need a new case with good fans.

My question is, would you guys recommend me getting a full sized case or a mid sized case? My case is mid and it is the definition of cramped.

These are the mid cases I think might be good:

BitFenix Shinobi:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811345012&nm_mc=KNC-GoogleAdwords&cm_mmc=KNC-GoogleAdwords-_-pla-_-NA-_-NA

NZXT Tempest 210

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=11-146-084&SortField=1&SummaryType=0&Pagesize=10&PurchaseMark=&SelectedRating=-1&VideoOnlyMark=False&VendorMark=&IsFeedbackTab=true&Keywords=%28keywords%29&Page=1

Here's the Full sized cases I think might be good:

BitFenix Shinobi XL
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811345004

BitFenix Colossus
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811345002&nm_mc=KNC-GoogleAdwords&cm_mmc=KNC-GoogleAdwords-_-pla-_-NA-_-NA

What do you guys think? I just need something that will keep my rig cool. If you guys could give me a few recommendations of cases that would be great! Thanks!

 

[Supernova1138]

A Midtower would be fine for you. There are plenty of cases in the 50 to 100 dollar range that are midtowers, and have lots of fan ports. The Tempest 210 you linked to looks decent.

Full towers are more necessary if you plan on getting multiple video cards, or very large CPU coolers.

As for video cards. We would need to know what power supply you have, what resolution you plan on gaming at, if you are gaming, and other system specs. It would also help to know which card you have. $100 is a rather modest budget for a video card to tell the truth. Depending on what card you have, the best you might be able to do with $100 would be maybe a sidegrade, rather than an upgrade, at least if you want to buy new. You may get better performance if you look at used cards in that price range.

 

[jorru3p0]

Thanks!

I have an HEC 585 Watt PSU. It's not the best, but it hasn't let me down. My monitor right now is 1366x768, but I might be getting a bigger one.

Right now I have an Nvidia GTS 250 with an Intel i3 2100 (I hope to upgrade to an Intel i5 2500k soon). I mainly play SWTOR, but my GTS 250 only goes up to Mid settings. If I try to play on high it lags.

$100 really isn't my max, as long as I get my moneys worth. I don't really know a lot about the newer graphics cards since I've been with my GTS 250 for a few years. I don't mind buying used.

 

[Supernova1138]

Yeah, around $100 all the cards sold for new will be approximately equal to, or less powerful than your GTS 250. For a worthwhile upgrade, you'll want to jump 3 performance tiers at least, which would put you in the $170 price bracket, with either the GTX 560, or Radeon HD 6870. Anything below that isn't really worth it for the money you'll spend.

At your resolution, the 250 should still be adequate for many games, though with no DirectX 11 support. You may want to consider getting a higher resolution display in the future after you upgrade your GPU. The GTX 560 and cards above it are really meant for higher resolution gaming. At 1366x768, the 560 wouldn't really be used to its full potential outside of a few extremely demanding titles, like Crysis 2, Battlefield 3, Metro 2033, or Witcher 2.

 

[jorru3p0]

Best answer selected by jorru3p0.

 

[abekl]

Here's a full tower case that has four fans and is really popular stylwise, as well as for it's quality:
COOLER MASTER HAF 932
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119160