I'm finalising the spec for a new rig, and its going to be fairly high-end but NOT heavily over-clocked, and I'd appreciate some thoughts on cases. The spec is appx; Asus P6X58D-E i7 - 930 (or possibly 980x) SSD of one sort or another 1TB Samsung F3 x 2. 750-850w PSU 12GB of mem (heavy photo/video editing) probably an nVidia 580 or possibly the new high-end Radeon when it's announced (WON'T be going SLI or Crossfire though) Sound card Air cooled - Fenrir or similar (or just possibly a Corsair H50/70) I'm looking at cases now (don't want them to be too pokey and tightly packed etc), and have got a rough short-list of; SilverStone Raven SST-RV02B-W - £141 inc vat (but does this have the Air Penetrator fans???) Corsair 600T - £129 inc vat Fractal XL - (like the look of this one) £120 inc vat My main unknown for these cases are; 1) Will they take the heat-load (I'm assuming they all should be able to) 2) Critical question - would they all take the latest high end GPU card? I'm thinking about physical card length here. 3) Would all of these cases work comfortably with the Corsair H50/70's - not sure about whether the air flow direction and resultant temps would be an issue or am I worrying too much??? Thanks as always guys...
For that spec (and considering you like the XL) have you looked at the Fractal Design R3? Bit-tech review here. Would have thought it would be big enough and you'd save a few quid!
Yes, I agree the R3 does look good. My only question is would it be able to take really long cards such as the new high end nVidia and Radeon cards just being released now? If yes, then I'll probably go with the R3.
I would pick the CoolerMaster CM 690 II and add some fans. This will fit your graphics cards, where as in the R3 it will be a tight squeeze. Also there is the possibility of watercooling in the CM 690 II.
Specifications for the R3 * Dimensions (mm) 207 x 521 x 440 (W x D x H) * Material Steel, plastic * Colours available Black, white, titanium, silver * Front Panel Power and reset switches, 2 x USB 2, eSATA, stereo, mic, * Drive Bays 2 x external 5.25in drive bays, 8 x internal 3.5in drive bays. * Form factor(s) ATX, micro-ATX, mini ITX * Cooling 120mm front fan mount (fan supplied), 120mm rear fan mount (fan supplied), 2 x 140mm/120mm roof fan mounts, 140mm/120mm side panel fan mount * CPU cooler clearance 160mm * Graphics card dimensions supported 280mm I'm reading that the 580 is roughly the same as the 480, i.e. 10.5" or 266.7mm so i dont see an issue there
Ah, as of today, I think I'm now looking at an Asus Sabre Tooth x58.... And 1 question for the people with CoolerMaster 690 II advanced - again, will it take the latest high-end GPU cards being released now/soon? Thanks.
Hey the CM 690 II Advanced will take the latest high-end GPU's you can remove the lower part of the HDD cage to fit larger cards in! and it still looks good!
I've tested the Raven 2 and really liked it. That said, the others mentioned here aren't half bad, either. And the Fractal R3 CAN take the HD5970, but it's a bit of a squeeze and you probably will get better temperatures/OC in some other case.
That's why I'm sort of leaning towards the Fractal XL - although the CM690 II actually looks pretty good too...
The Raven on scan has the new AP fans, not sure about how much room there is for graphics cards. Silverstone say up to 12 inches, how long is a 580? I have a 6870 in the FT02 which is basically the same layout inside and it clears the fans by about 2 inches.
There's exactly a bit too little space for the HD5970. You can fit one in the Raven2/FT02 (they have the same frame), but it requires removing the finger guard from the middle fan. I seriously hope AMD isn't going to make the future graphic cards any longer than the 5970, but I guess you never know... The GTX 580 is 268 mm (10,5") long and has no problems fitting in there.
When i was looking for a case, also with the 5970 in mind, I read that Silverstone made a few tweaks to the Raven RV02 chassis to fit the 5970. I don't think they've applied the tweaks to the FT02 yet but here's the Raven RV02-E (..for evolution). It 'should' fit a 5970 but I don't know if it definitely does. They redesigned the Air Penetrator fans so you no longer need to install a grill. Happy days Here's the link if you're interested http://www.silverstonetek.com/raven/products/index.php?area=usa&model=RV02-E
