Hey folks. Looking to upgrade my Silverstone PS02 case as it is much dinged, and pretty cramped inside limiting airflow. Any recommendations for a Full Tower would be appreciated. (Already been told to look at the NZXT Phantom, though not sure which model) Cheers
You aren't exactly saying your requirements. So maybe Fractal Define R5, Nanoxia Deep Silence 1/2/3, Antec P100 ?
Something in a Full Tower, as I need enough room for 4+ HDDs, + dual GTX670's. As it is, the GPUs are overlapping into the HD bays, forcing them to be right at the bottom of the case squashed together. As the gpus are fairly big, and the case is small, the airflow/heat dissipation is fairly poor (doesnt help that the case only has 2 shitty fans [1 doesn't work well as the airflow is blocked by the hdd's], +1 I had installed myself in the roof)
Too bad you need 4 hard drive bays (unless few of them are SSD's) - Define S would be ideal for you then : http://www.fractal-design.com/home/product/cases/define-series/define-s But your best bet would be probably a Nanoxia Deep Silence 5, or if you got way too much space and money, Deep Silence 6 : http://www.nanoxia-world.com/product/1/89/Deep+Silence+5+Rev.+B http://www.nanoxia-world.com/product/1/83/Deep+Silence+6+Rev.+B
What do you guys think of the following: Cooler Master HAF X NZXT Phantom 820 Thermaltake Level 10 GT Rosewill (Newegg house brand) Thor V2 (Actually looks pretty good with a decent price) Antec 900 NZXT H440
What does 4+ really mean? "Full" tower cases are monstrous and typically needed when you have 10+ drives. There are MANY quality mid-tower options that support 6-8+ drives and have excellent cooling options. For example, the Antec Nine Hundred.
Cooler Master HAF X – Good cooling but a very ugly, old design. Its huge too. NZXT Phantom 820 – Nice styling if you like the futuristic cyborgy kind of look Thermaltake Level 10 GT – One of the ugliest cases every created Rosewill (Newegg house brand) Thor V2 (Actually looks pretty good with a decent price) – not sure, but reviews look average. Antec 900 – Can you even buy this still? It’s about a decade old. NZXT H440 – The best case on this list bar none
I'm still using an antec 900.... I wouldn't recommend :/ its soooo cramped on the inside - there not much room for anything
I disagree for one reason - no front access to an optical drive. That means you have mess with external DVD or Blu-ray drives just to install Windows or watch a DVD/BR movie. And yes, you can get the Antec 900 as I linked to above (probably while you were typing your reply). And I disagree with the above comment and believe it to be a great case. Though I am not a fan of fancy case lighting (it does nothing for performance, adds some heat, consumes some power and does nothing for performance - worth repeating) the Antec has many great features including support for 9 drives, lots of cooling including a 200mm top fan. The only thing it does not have that I insist all my cases must have is removable, washable air filters. But that's because at my age, tearing down and lugging my system outside to blast out the dust is not something I enjoy doing. So filters mean I have to that less often. Antec is actually my preferred case brand. Most are not too fancy looking with flash lights. I prefer to pay attention to my monitors and expect my cases to sit quietly and discreetly off to the side and not be distractions. Antec cases tend to be very sturdy and "true" (exactly 90.0° bends) in the sheet metal which has rolled edges.
An Antec 900 is still going strong for my server case, bashed around after housemoves etc and still soldiers on. The thing to watch out for is the drive cages are proprietary and need special screws to install hard drives in (as supplied 6 3.5" as the other 3 bays lack a cage). When I look at upgrading I am thinking myself of going for a Fractal Designs XL R2 as I want size for the number of drives (currently 9) I have in the thing, but better cooling and noise properties.
Optical drive.... Pfff haven't used one for five years.... What's a DVD? The 900 was a good case in 2007. It's been eclipsed a dozen times since, most recently by people like Fractal or Phanteks. In fact Antec as whole have barely evolved since the 900 came out, they are a dying company, just look at the comments on their latest case unveiling... For which they are asking $500.... What a joke.
The 300 and 900 felt dated when they came out, despite being good cases. Other case designs were featuring things we'd now take for granted on modern cases (easier access to back of the motherboard and better routing being prime examples probably). And I agree that Antec have been rather stagnant for a long while now, knocking out the same designs with just enough tweaking to keep up in some respects (USB3, etc). Though we're digressing there a bit
I have to agree with the NZXT H440 being the superior case out of the list you submitted, it's nice and crisp looking and has a well arranged interior for airflow and cable management. Plenty of space for an SLI 670 build. Sure there's nowhere for an optical drive with that case, but these days it's massively rare for a situation to arise where you need one built into the machine. If you're potentially after something more roomy, another option would be the NZXT Switch 810 which boasts enough space for even a Quad-SLI build and more. I'm currently using the Switch 810 with a pair of EVGA 670 Signature2 cards and there's easily 4" of space from the end of top GPU and about 2.5" to the lower one from the angled fan mounted on the upper HDD cage. I've only got 2 HDDs and an SSD in mine, but it has mounting for up to 7 drives... or more if you add an adapter to the 5.25" bays. The SD card reader with the front IO is a bit of a plus for me too. I think the only reason I would ever change from my current case is if I was compacting my rig into something smaller.
It may not be a matter of "need" but rather of convenience. And it depends on what you do with your computer. Many people still watch movies via DVD's and Blu-rays, or they make image backups via optical drives. Whether you install an optical or not is a matter of personal preference. But if you don't even have the option, then you don't have a choice - you must go buy an external optical drive - even though you may have several 5.25 drives from previous builds you could use. I, for example, have over 600 music CDs. And while I have ripped many of my favorite songs to an HD, occasionally I like to toss in a CD and listen to the whole album.
True it can be convenient to have a drive available, however I'm assuming that Deadbolt doesn't particularly need one as he listed the case as an option. There's always the option of doing the optical drive mod in the roof of the case: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmwj5DPp5hU
If I ever need to use an optical drive, I can always just use an external or plug a spare one in. Most of my media is downloaded in any case, so the only thing that it might be used for is windows reinstallation and other setup tasks. ---- Just been on Newegg UK checking the price. Case - £81 Vat - £30 Shipping £90-100 Total - £205-215 My reaction: Priceless. Scan.co.uk Case - £90 (vat in price... **** US system of vat added at checkout) Next Day delivery - £10
I just had to look at the Newegg UK shipping prices after you said that. They want £121.75 for a £44 case... almost three times the cost of the bloody case! Wouldn't that order qualify for free next day delivery from Scan, or are you outside of the mainland?
True. Forgot to register with them (account was linked to my work email, so had to change that aswell)
