Hi all some of you helped me design my gaming rig earlier this year and i know i said i had a case but the truth is it's S***. Ijust want to know what the best air cooled case there is for under £130 but i want it to be reasonably quiet too. the best i've got so far is HAF 932 Antec 902 ATCS 840 (i heard it doesn't supply very good air cooling?) Antec 1200 (right at the top of my budget) Any other suggestions? I know that the Antec 1200 is the best stock air cooling but i saw a vid of it and it sounded uncomfortably loud and if im gonna be spending £130 i want it to be worth it.
i had the same thread. tbh i would add the HAF 922 to your list as its a slightly cheaper, but better case than the 932.
is it really better than the 932 has better cable mangament, more room, more fan mounts etc. i like the 922 but i'd rather have a full tower.
my PC is this. CPU-core i5 750 MOBO - MSI p55 GD65 RAM - G.skill ripjaw cas 9 (red) GPU - XFX 5850 PSU - corsair HX750 HDD- WD caviar green 500GB 32mb cache OD- 2x LG 24x DVD-WR CPU cooler - AC freezer 7 pro if this is any use
You won't find an ATCS 840 for <£130 I wouldn't think. Look at the Lancool K58 or K62. They are smaller than the cases you have listed though, similar to a 902. Full tower wise, if it was me, I'd go for an Antec P-something. I think the P182 is quite popular.
i know the ATCS 840 is going for £160 so i'd make a special exception for that but otherwise i've had a look at those lancool cases and they just look a bit tacky, although some of the features look useful i.e. the toolless PCI arms but it just looks like it wouldn't survive shipping.
Lancool cases are made of steel AFAIK. So it should be pretty sturdy (as in, 9.45kg of sturdy). Apart from the front bezel.
I'd go with the Lancool as they are some of the best built Steel cases in the market. Or the ATCS840 which does have good air cooling capabilities, but watch out for that top dead zone.
Lancool may be very high quality, but so are all coolermaster cases in excess of £100, the HAF 922 is the best option imo, the K62 would come second and a ATC 840 (best performance, in third for its price)
People seem to recommend the Lancool K62, completely forgetting the better looking, better built aluminium Lian-Li P50. That comes in at comfortably under £130, so it's well worth looking at.
The hitch with that case is that the HAF932 and the ATCS840 are close to it's price. Although I will admit it's an awesome case.
Well you could consider an akasa omega as well (i got myself one), and I have to say i'm very pleased with it. It's only downfall was a bit low cooling on the gpu side in stock form, yet with full additional 4 fans installed, it rocks. Plus, Like bit-s review said, installing a system in this was a total breeze. Plus, Imho it looks great - no unnecessary 'bling', and construction is sturdy aluminum. My two cents.
My current case keeps these temps. keep in mind that my cooler is going full wack and its an arctic cooling freezer pro 7. I've also OCd to 3.7Ghz idle cpu = <32c gpu idle = <30c CPU load= <47c GPU load = <50c cooling is not my problem as you can see. its just the quality of my case that makes me feel shameful. the thing that is the most annoying is looking at it every morning and see the "iCute" glaring at me in cheap chrome effect!
I must have a really dodgy Freezer 7 pro... ah well, I'll replace it next year with a H50 or something
