Case recommendations

[Micromachette]

I'm looking to upgrade to a full tower because my mid tower is getting cluttered. Any recommendations?

 

[a pet rock]

Budget?

Off the top of my head, the HAF-X and HAF 932 are very well recommended for air cooling, as long as you can put up with that ugly face. The NZXT Phantom also has a good reputation and is cheaper but in my opinion only slightly less ugly.

Now cases that I personally would actually be serious about buying? Silverstone, Lian-Li and Fractal Design basically make the only cases worth my money (though Corsair has some decent offerings worth considering just over-priced). So, going by full tower then.

Corsair 800D is best for water cooling and also very expensive for part-steel.

The Lian-Li cases all tend very expensive but are actually worth it considering all the aluminum and good looks. The lower end of the price range is PC-90 and A70 for fewer features.

The Fractal Design cases are definitely cheaper at $150, but that's because they're made of steel. They're just clean good-looking cases at a fair price.

And then the Silverstones. Arguably the best air cooling cases on the market are the FT-02 and RV-02/3. The FT is aluminum and better looking, hence the price, while the Raven is essentially the same layout in steel and plastic rice. If you're looking to drop serious cash on a full tower, the Temjin series is very nice and very expensive. Also probably best for water cooling.

 

[Micromachette]

Well havent set a budget. Really ill buy whatever i decide i want lol. As for cooling I use case fans and a push-pull setup with a kuhler h20 620 for my cpu.

Thank you for the advice ill have to go look at those.

 

[Micromachette]

Here's what i currently have. This summer ill be switchign out the graphics and adding cooling.
=(e)= Texas
Model: Custom
Processor: AMD FX(tm)-8120 Eight-Core Processor (8 CPUs), ~3.9GHz
Memory: 8192MB RAM
Hard Drive: 300 GB, 1.5 TB
Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 550 Ti (EVGA)
Monitor: 2 1600 X 1024 monitors
Sound Card: the integrated sound chip on the Sabretooth 990FX
Headset: generic headset
Speakers: Cambridge Soundworks Extreme 2.1
Keyboard: Razer Black Widow
Mouse: Mionix Naos 5000
Mouse Surface: Razer mousepad
Operating System: Windows 7 Professional 64-bit

 

[a pet rock]

Honestly, I don't see a reason to go full tower. With only two drives and a single GPU, you don't really need much space at all. Mini-towers are plenty capable of that. If you want to reduce clutter, you could just look for a nice aluminum mid-tower with plenty of tool-less options and space behind the motherboard for cables. Or look into a modular PSU to clean out unneeded cables.

 

[Micromachette]

Hmm alright. Well i just built it. I will eventually be adding more stuff. You have a good point though. at the moment I don't exactly need one lol. My main reason was my water cooler blocks the chasis fan power and control hub. I have plenty of space for my cords. Im using an Antec 1100 now but my power supply cables are way too short.

 

[Turmoil]

I have the tempest 410 elite and I must say the inside is very, very clean looking and it to is only a midtower.

 

[a pet rock]

Hmm alright. Well i just built it. I will eventually be adding more stuff. You have a good point though. at the moment I don't exactly need one lol. My main reason was my water cooler blocks the chasis fan power and control hub. I have plenty of space for my cords. Im using an Antec 1100 now but my power supply cables are way too short.

I would just move those molex cables to behind the motherboard. Very clean cable management is entirely possible in a mid-tower.

 

[Micromachette]

The molexs you see are for the case fans and the ones coming off the two fans on the clear plastic part. The rest is running behind the mobo. I think im going to try to find some extenders so I can run them in a less conspicuous manner because theres no way to get those particular ones behind the mobo.

 

[TBone01]

I would recommend the Corsair Carbide 400R as I've seen my neighbor's build that used it in person. It's very spacious on the inside, has very good features for the price, and looks pretty slick. Fan leds can be turned off which is a plus if you have to sleep with it on. Even though it is a mid tower it was no where near close to half full with his h100 and 6870 in it.

 

[I'm your huckleberry]

IMO, keep the antec 1100. That is a great case which is actually a large mid tower ("super" mid tower is what they call it). As apr has said, for what you have, you have plenty of cooling. You also mention that your power supply cords are even too short, which will only be exacerbated if you increase to a full tower. You could look at some extensions:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...Id=1&Description=nzxt+extension+cable&x=0&y=0

Just looking at the picture you posted, I wouldn't say it looks cluttered at all. The cables not being routed behind the mobo is the only thing to possibly tidy up the look, and some cable extenders should do the job.

 

[Micromachette]

Any idea how to fix the problem with the radiator blocking the molex power connection? I'll definently look at those extenders

 

[I'm your huckleberry]

http://www.futurelooks.com/antecs-eleven-hundred-1100-super-mid-tower-gaming-chassis-reviewed/2/

This review seemed to have the same issue. You would think antec would make the two units compatible, but I guess that is unfortunately not the case. So is that a fan controller, or simply a hub to connect the fans together? If it is the latter, I suggest routing again behind the mobo and simply using extensions to connect them together. Not sure there is any other option unless you can mount the radiator on the outside, but I would not want to do that myself.

 

[Micromachette]

its the speed control hub as well as the power for the two case fans that come with it. I was able to fit the molex in barely by plugging it in before i screwed in the radiator.

 

[a pet rock]

Speed control hub? On the mobo? I never plugged my case fans into my mobo. They're usually not PWM and unless you have a Gigabyte board (which you don't) you can't control them through voltage. That means you might as well power them through the PSU which would also eliminate that clutter.

 

[Micromachette]

No i mean theres a speed and led switch on the back that controls the fans connected to that hub. All in all its not a huge deal. Its part of the case not the mobo
it is the power supply powering them. Theres a molex coming out of the back of the case. I think the extenders should fix everything but the radiator problem

 

[I'm your huckleberry]

Yeah that is a nice feature to have. However, if the fans are not overly loud simply plugged into the psu, or the noise is not a huge factor, plugging the top fan in to the hub if possible only to control the led (if this is something you even need) would be my suggestion. I know it is a nice feature to have, but as you have said, it might not be worth the hassle, especially at the cost of a new case imo as most don't even have fan controllers. At worst, you could buy a separate one as well.

 

[Micromachette]

true. I could spend the money on upgrading the graphics instead or peripherals maybe. idk im going to spend it on the pc one way or the other lol.

 

[I'm your huckleberry]

I like the sound of that. Upgrade that 550 Ti when nvidia finally releases the rest of their new lineup.

 

[Micromachette]

So they are adding more past the 680? I haven't been keeping up my EE schoolwork has been keeping me from paying attention to it.