Looking for a New case

Jacobfox

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I'm going to build a new computer with graduation money from gifts. I am looking at a few possible cases. It's going to be a system with at least one 8800 and a 680i mobo, so it needs to be big.

I've narrowed it down to a few possible companies/cases and I need some input here. I love the Lian Li look and quality, but I hear that the upside down setup can be a bit weird. I've heard lots of good press about the Gigabyte Aurora 570 (Maximum PC gave it a Kickass award and a 10), but I don't know what their quality standards are. And I love the style of the silverstone fulltowers, but I don't know much about them either.

Any advice?
 
^ It's good if you want a cool computer but gets dirty quickly. Its brother the P180 has a smaller top fan and has air filters on the inlet fans, fits the 8800 well if you sacrifice some HDD space but theres still plenty of HDD spaces.
Silverstone build fairly solid cases such a as the TJ07 & TJ09 and have quite a few fans, but are abit pricy.
 
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here's my iCute case. i really like the fan at the front and the flip down drive covers are nice, you don't need colour coded drives. used to be available at Maplin, but they don't sell it anymore. come with 3 fans (140mm, 120mm and 80mm)

clicky

and my case:

http://img396.imageshack.**/img396/9675/pict1514nz3.jpg
http://img452.imageshack.**/img452/5797/pict1518op5.jpg
http://img454.imageshack.**/img454/8830/pict1519as5.jpg
 
I was looking at some of the Antecs, but my main foci are on the three brands I mentioned, with Antec as an outside choice. As for the coolermaster ones, the build quality isn't quite up to snuff for many of their cases (highest models excepted).

I also like that Zalman Fata1ity case, but it's really expensive and the logos are a little bit dorky.
 
i have the antec 900 and im very happy with it, it can take the 8800gtx with out any modifications and it is actually very quiet because of the oversize fan on the top.
 
I dislike most so-called "high-end" cases currently on the market, because IMHO metal-coloured plastic has no place on a high-end PC case. Keeping that in mind there are very few companies that fit this bill, the best known companies being Coolermaster, Thermaltake, Silverstone and Lian Li (that i know of). The craftsmanship on Lian Li cases is just unequalled and not all cases have the awkward upside down layout. This quality and craftsmanship does come at a hefty premium however. Coolermaster and Thermaltake operate in the same price range, with quite similar build quality, which is also fucking great. Thermaltake cases tend to be a bit more extreme than the more restrained designs by Coolermaster. I like both their styles, but the CM Stacker 830 series is my current favorite. That leaves me with Silverstone, whose designs i do not like and their case layouts make no sense to me.
Another brand that does include plastic in their cases, but doesn't pretend it's something that it is not is Chieftec. A great choice if you just want good build quality and no nonsense design. But when you plan on attending a lot of LAN parties, your chiropractor will come to love you, because my fucking god, those cases are heavy.
Antec is also a good choice, but they have a history of using metal coloured plastic on some of their cases and i don't really like their designs, but some of their layouts (180, nine hundred, fusion) make very much sense to me.

And lastly, go for a case with plenty of inside room. I did, and i'm still glad i did, it makes working on your PC so much easier :mrgreen:

I hope this was of some use to you :)
 
I dislike most so-called "high-end" cases currently on the market, because IMHO metal-coloured plastic has no place on a high-end PC case. Keeping that in mind there are very few companies that fit this bill, the best known companies being Coolermaster, Thermaltake, Silverstone and Lian Li (that i know of). The craftsmanship on Lian Li cases is just unequalled and not all cases have the awkward upside down layout. This quality and craftsmanship does come at a hefty premium however. Coolermaster and Thermaltake operate in the same price range, with quite similar build quality, which is also fucking great. Thermaltake cases tend to be a bit more extreme than the more restrained designs by Coolermaster. I like both their styles, but the CM Stacker 830 series is my current favorite. That leaves me with Silverstone, whose designs i do not like and their case layouts make no sense to me.
Another brand that does include plastic in their cases, but doesn't pretend it's something that it is not is Chieftec. A great choice if you just want good build quality and no nonsense design. But when you plan on attending a lot of LAN parties, your chiropractor will come to love you, because my fucking god, those cases are heavy.
Antec is also a good choice, but they have a history of using metal coloured plastic on some of their cases and i don't really like their designs, but some of their layouts (180, nine hundred, fusion) make very much sense to me.

And lastly, go for a case with plenty of inside room. I did, and i'm still glad i did, it makes working on your PC so much easier :mrgreen:

I hope this was of some use to you :)

Thanks...I think that I prefer the lian li and CM designs over thermaltake's (I'm just not a huge fan of their cases).
 
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