I'm considering an Antec 1200 case and have a few questions for those of you using one with Intel i7 systems: - what CPU cooler are you using in the case? - how noisy is the case with the fans turned down to low? - what is the cooling performance like with the fans turned down to low (have you Oc'ed your CPU and by how much)? The reason for my questions is that I have an i7-920 with a Scythe Mugen cooler that's about 160mm tall so I'm wondering if the 1200 can accomodate it. I'm considering giving up on the P193 that I already have which won't accomodate the Mugen because of the protruding side-panel fan (the 193 can't accomodate any high performance coolers; not even a Corsair H50 water cooler unless I mod the case's side-panel fan mount). The 1200's side panel fan mount appears to be positioned lower down the case so that a 120mm fan could be fitted without physically interfering with a tall high-performance CPU cooler heatsink. Is that true? A quiet case is important to me, which is why I bought the P193 and I intend to OC my i7-920 to around 3.6 GHz hence the need for a high performance cooler, but if the 1200 isn't too noisy at low speed whilst providing sufficient cooling for the OC'd 920, then it'd fit the bill for me. Please let me know what you've got installed in your i-7 based system housed in an Antec 1200 to help me make an informed decision on how to proceed. Thanks in advance
Hi the antec 1200 is a great case in the cooling department but if you want silence then its not the quietest. Even with the fans on low yuo can still hear the fans, i have had the case for about a year and its been great im not too concerned about noise level i just want my rig to be as cool as possbile. I always keep the fans on low and its still great at cooling, its not really noisey but if you wanted to keep it on all night you would get annoyed by it with the constant humming (unless you want to change the stock fans, which im thinking of doing) As far as cpu coolers go ive got the Thermalright ultra 120 eXtreme fitted with the push and pull config and theres still plenty of room, if you do want to attach the side fan, which i have you will have to cut the corner of the fan off for it to fit but that doesnt affect the performance of both the cpu cooler or the side fan. I have overclocked the cpu to 4.1Ghz now and its running fine temps are in the 40's on idle and on full load they are in the mid 70's which is good considering ive got the C0 stepping version of the chip If you want a case with space, great cable management and excellent cooling abilities and dont mmind the slight humming then id go for the antec 1200. I was thinking of replacing it but nothing is as good for cooling on the market yet so im going to stick with it and replace the stock fans.
Akasa Nero. Custom PC managed to get a C0 to 4GHz with one. My C0 gets to 3.6GHz on stock volts (VID of 1.2V). Should do the job for just over £20.
After a bit of research and reading forum posts, I'm thinking that if I do decide to finish building my system in another case, then I'll (go off thread and) plump for the Coolermaster HAF 932 - it's very quiet and offers unbeatable cooling, should be able to accomodate my Scythe Mugen CPU cooler (160mm - too tall for my P193) and is very easy to work with. Dust filtering is non-existent though. If I do decide to not use my P193 then there's the issue of what to do with it - I could ebay it but I probably wouldn't get anything like the 120 quid I paid for it and the shipping would cost me an arm and a leg, so I need to consider that in my decision. The only way I can decide to stick with the 193 is if the Corsair H50 water cooler will fit with the side-panel case fan fitted. Last time I checked there was some slight interference between the H50's radiator and the trailing edge of the side-panel fan's housing that protrudes inside the panel. I reckon that if I can rub down and shave a few mm off that, then the P193 will just about accommodate the H50. Otherwise I'll be buying a 932 and selling the P193... anyone interested? Thanks for all your feedback
Heres a pic of my Antec 1200 with i7 and GTX295, about to finish WC'ing mine though. Tonnes of space, I run fans on medium and its pretty quiet so on low must be silent! You can fit the biggest of heatsinks inside as well, was using a Titan Fenrir
