Hello BT'ers, I'm back from my unplanned PC hiatus and am refreshing all (well, most) of my hardware. I've got pretty much all the critical stuff picked out but I'm really struggling to find a case that suits my needs within budget. There are tons of tools that allow you to compare the many, many different types of PC electronics - primarily because all the variations are all so quantifiable - but nothing like a PC case finder. Thus I am relying on you, the good peeps of Bit-Tech, to guide my cursor to the correct purchase. Needs Support SSI EEB Motherboard Size 8 * 3.5" Bays Space for watercooling (Preferably at least 360's worth of radiator space) Not too expensive A window would be nice but is not mandatory. Cases like the Cosmos 2 or D900 would be great, but are out of my price range. I suspect £200 would be my upper limit. Any help you guys can provide will be much appreciated. TSB
Antec P380 should suit your needs. Bit Tech review here:- http://forums.bit-tech.net/showthread.php?t=282144
How about the Phanteks Enthoo Primo? It doesn't have 8 3.5" drive bays but it has 6 of them so you could, get some 5.25" to 3.5" drive bay adaptors if needed. It has space for plenty of radiator options, and according to Scan it supports the SSI EEB sized motherboards and is £200. There are a few things I would say about it now that I have one is that the standard fans can be quite loud, and there is not a great deal of airflow in the case as I have found with my SLI setup. Other than that the case is really nice, if I can I will try and get a photo up later of my system as it currently is, but I need to change the radiators and add waterblocks for the GPU's, change all the fans and then look at the lighting.
Good shout - Didn't think of any Antecs other than the 1900, which got terrible reviews everywhere. Will have a look, thanks. Pics would be awesome man, thanks. I'm even thinking now that maybe I should abandon the need for 8 bays, and just use bigger drives instead - I only shyed away from this before owing to the cost of the larger 6Tb+ drives. But it seems that for my intended application I can actually use the 8TB SMR drives which are very cost effective.
Pictures are not great but they should give you an idea about the size but, at the moment I cannot get a picture of the back or the drive bays. As I said I need to get the radiators replaced as these are old ones that need changing now, and I need to watercool the cards as they get quite hot in this case, but they don't throttle or anything but I would prefer them to be cooler. The 2 rads are in simply because I had them spare, which are a 360x35mm rad and a 240x60mm rad each with, fans in push pull.
I went through the same issues when building my last system. I ended up going for the 900D, but I did consider the NZXT Phantom 820. It's a few years old in design now and does have a destinctive look (but comes in 3 colours), but it does fill nearly all of your criteria - you can fit a 3x120 rad in the roof (Image Link), but it only has 6 drive bays. There is a bit-tech review of it here The only reason I didn't go for this is that I wanted the extra room that the 900D has to enable me to build a double rigid tubing loop in.
Welcome back TSB. I'm still using the FT02 that I bought from you way back when. How about the Raven 4 from Silverstone? https://www.overclockers.co.uk/silv...ower-black-sst-rv04b-w-usb-3.0-ca-350-sv.html
Corsair 780T *Will accommodate your motherboard *Only 6 (2x3) modular 3.5" bays but I think you might be able to buy another x3 seperately and attach it to the existing bays. *Space for a 360 radiator *Windowed side panel *£155
Ok no window and it's old. But it's an eBay bargain! Lian li a10 80 quid delivered and I think a Modders dream! http://m.ebay.co.uk/itm/Lian-Li-PC-A10B-Mid-Tower-Black-Case-/272023038545?nav=SEARCH Been really tempted to grab one just don't have the time atm
Thanks everyone, went with the Phanteks Enthoo Primo... It's widely regarded as the best watercooling case after the Silverstone TJ's and the Corsair 900D (and at half the cost, might I add?) Full SSI EEB support without needing to mod mobo standoffs. Will post back as build commences - doing something a little bit different
