This. Can pick them up for £68 delivered, looks nice, fairly well put together, good cooling and gets great reviews.
Thanks thats great! I have got a black DVD reader so thats nice to know if I go for the titanium grey it won't look out of place. The only thing remains now...(why is it every time I go to press the checkout I get see a new case that catches my eye....)...I plan to buy a case that will last at least another if not two future upgrades so spending a bit doesn't bother me...it just HAS to look good and have good features. I am pretty set on the Fractal Define R3 with the new USB 3 version. (£83 with del) But having seen this case, with its potential x2 230mm and x1 200mm fans for great coling and being quiet...and the looks are of a gaming computer....for £110 inc next day delivery it does make me drool a little I suppose: What do you guys reckon??
well in that case what about the HAF X that allows for pleant of cooling and has usb 2 & 3 as well as esata and firewire in the front, I have one of these and it is loaded out with fans 1 x 230 at front 2 x 200 on top 1 x 200 on side 1 x 120 in wind tunnnel and 2 120 over the cpu cooler radiator and it is quieter Overclocked @ 4.2 Ghz than my old PC which had 3 x 120 fans standard @ 3.3 Ghz. Check out my build HAF X in project Section
The HAK X is a little pricey...and tbh the looks are porr imo compared to the Aerocool one. This looks like a performer and a has sneakily crept in... Is it quiet? How does it compare visually in person with the fractal design R3?
Note that the X Predator doesn't actually come with those 4 side fans, it actually only comes with a couple of fans. When you add the price of powerful, quiet fans (perhaps with LEDs) on top of the price of the case it adds up to quite a bit. You're looking at at least £40 just for the side fans alone! The R3 is an excellent case, a very good choice, though not to everyone's taste. I've got the Silverstone FT03 which I absolutely love, but considering your choices above I imagine you'd find it very dull!
Comes with 3x140mm 1000RPM fans and a controller for them, rubber HDD grommets etc. so as quiet as you want it to be really. Although being quite open (like that AeroCool one you like, but shouldn't buy ) you may have to be a little more selective with your components to make it properly 'silent'. I think it looks great in person, I've yet to build my system into it though as I'm waiting for more parts. I have done a little write up on another forum which I'll update once I've actually built something in there. Ton of pics incoming.
Really nice stuff there! +Rep I have to say I really like the Arc Midi Tower...and cooling from it is really good. When comparing it to the Fractal D3 it looks a little less visually appealing. Ok...I fairly like the Arc Midi and I really like the Fractal D3 (now that a x2 USB 3.0 option is available). So the cruch is to decide between these two. This bit is what worries me...
http://www.quietpc.com/files/images/products/fd-arc-both-large.jpg It's less obvious than that in real life, studio lighting makes it look a lot more OTT than it actually is.
Trust me, the Define R3 is a well built case, ive upgraded different bits a few times and often piss about inside when cleaning it and all, its not got even remotely close to having bits drop off it and i havnt managed to scratch it either. They are well built.
Thing is I don't mind it looking like that...if it actually looks like metal than thats the bonus from the case...because that look is quite good and makes it look sophisticated....the thing was I thought it was metal because of the look. That's why I'm now a little hesitant to decide between the two cases, even though the Arc Midi has better cooling and a decently quiet and also cheaper...and kinda loooks not as sophiscated. Having said that chris is the front panel metal on the D3?
It's not obviously plastic, having owned a few Lian Li cases it doesn't look a million miles off. Both are good cases though, I'm sure you will be happy with either. I'll add some more pictures on Monday when the rest of my stuff arrives, I'll try to get them in better lighting too.
Get the arc midi i posted, it has plenty of room for cooling and gets excellent reviews everywhere ! Or if you like the more gaming style cases, have you considered the HAF 912+ ? http://www.scan.co.uk/products/coolermaster-haf-912-plus-black-mid-tower-case-w-o-psu
NZXT Phantom? Great cooling, looks like a gaming PC, only £10 more than an R3. Not sure if Its quiet though..
As promised here are some pics of my finished build, runs very cool and quiet. All the fans in the system are at around 500-600rpm (apart from the GPU which is 750, the lowest possible setting). Getting 29-30c idle on both the GPU and CPU, running a CPU burn in it still only hit around 42c with the CPU fan staying at its lowest setting. For reference the cooler is the Thermalright MUX, a bargain at £26 and it's cooling a Q6600 @ 3ghz
Going through case selections in my head too at the moment. Definitely thought it would be easier than it is. Good Luck
