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Antec or Thermaltake?

BriGy86

Diamond Member
Thermaltake
Antec

I've read the reviews and noticed some issues with each. I was just wondering if some one owns one of these 2 and could tell me how they liked it

Thanks

*EDIT*

I'm wondering what PSU to get now
I'm thinking about this one.

or maybe the 750 version

the stuff all be putting in it is this: (most likely)

mobo- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16813128321

video card- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16814130061

RAM- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16820145168
(I think ill max it out at 4 gigs and buy 2 of these sets

CPU- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16819103759

as for hard drive and optical drive I have the hard drive and I can get a DVD all in one drive pretty cheap from a friend of mine.

let me know what you think and if you would go with something different tell me what it is and why.

Thanks again
 
Originally posted by: BriGy86
Thermaltake
Antec

I've read the reviews and noticed some issues with each. I was just wondering if some one owns one of these 2 and could tell me how they liked it

Thanks

Lots and lots of people have a P180, myself included. I like it a lot.

If it helps, you can get a P180 for $80 shipped (plus tax?) after rebatehere.
 
I like the amount of fans in the P180 and the fact that they are all 120's but how much of a problem is the PSU issue with how far the cords have to stretch (that was one of the down sides that was mentioned about that one)
 
You will have to do some searching on your own to find out if a specific PSU has long enough cables. I don't think there's a list of all PSUs that says how long the cables are.

Or you can do what I didn't and take a blind guess and get lucky. I think most new PSUs have long enough cables anyway.

If you happen to have a PSU without long cables, you can get an extension cable for ~$10 or so.
 
Antec has one huge flaw with every single case they have ever made (that i've ever seen).

Very lacking in depth.
P180
21.3" x 8.1" x 19.9" (H x W x D)

TT Armor
20.87" x 8.66" x 22.05" (H x W xD)

Good luck fitting the newer longer video cards into that Antec w/o hassle.

That, & seriously, look at how cramped the P180 is.
It's a huge case, yet somehow Antec has managed to make it seem tiny inside.

Not saying the Armor is perfect, because it certainly isn't.

But when i bought my Armor, the P180 was a candidate also.
Till i noticed the glaring flaws i have pointed out.
 
I see you got my message, and thanks for the input

I did notice the galaxy power supply and was wondering if I would ever need something like that and how it would fit in the P180 (I don't think it would)

I'm currently leaning towards the Thermaltake but I'm curious as far as changing it to BTX what is the SRM plate for?

http://www.thermaltakeusa.com/product/Chassis/fulltower/armor/va8000bws.asp

*EDIT*

I found out, I believe it mounts on the bottom left or something like that so the motherboard can be flipped and all mounting holes will line up.

did you get the one with the 2 side air ducts, the 250mm fan, or just the plain side?
 
I have the Thermaktake case as my 'server' case. Very spacious. They have a small fan on the top of the case that seems rather useless as they have it blowing through a grid with widely spaced tiny holes. A redesign there would probably help even more with cooling.

It has built in 'filters' on the front of the case, and runs suprisingly quiet (3 120mm fans, CPU Fan, PSU fan..etc.)

Very large and very heavy

I had to modify the front a bit. The swing out 'wings' on the front side of teh case are very loose. I added a few layers of electrical tape to the hinges and this tightened them up a bit.

I don't have the P180 so I can't comment on that case.
 
If you're looking for more room I'd agree, go with the TT. As much as I like my P180, I wish it had more room on the inside, especially as I'm going to water cool it. But I don't like lights and windows on my cases, so it's not for me.
 
i do like the amount of fans they give you in the P180 and the fact that they're all 120's means they can move a lot of air and still remain some what quiet
 
P180 had poor materials choices in the orignial production - I've heard that they have fixed that (separating laminated panels, warping door, typical Antec weak hinges. You might want to look at the Antec Titan case. They usually have a couple in their B-Stock store for cheap.

And the Armor with window is way too riced for me - get the ones without window if that's what you eventually choose. otherwise it is a nice and roomy choice but the HDD cages don't rubber-isolate the drives. The reason for the rebate is that it is hard to sell the old model without the 250mm fan in the window. I'd prefer the Eureka if I was gonna buy a large Tt case.

IAC, your two choices don't even belong on the same short-list (IMO, of course). They are apples and oranges - both are PC cases but they are diametrically opposed in purpose. One is for a quiet, moderate system, the other is for a large, max-performance system.

Take a look at the Silverstone Temjin 5 for another option - OR perhaps the original Stacker (STC-T01) - still one of the top boxes for large, max-performance systems. And that circle on the left side is perfect for a 250mm fan (performance-pcs.com) or a trio or quartet of 120mm fans if the 250mm is too pricey.

.bh.
 
Thanks, I should probably have mentioned that performance was my main goal (i currently have a case with 7 80mm case fans along with 4 other fans that are on/in other components) so my current computer is pretty loud.

I went and i bought the Thermaltake from Micro center (the link I posted recently)

The only thing I think I could improve is how loose one of the doors is. I took off the front panel to see if there was a screw I could tighten and there wasn't. But the doors should be pretty easy to remove (if all else fails) since they use standard screws to attach to the hinges.
 
Originally posted by: BriGy86
Thanks, I should probably have mentioned that performance was my main goal (i currently have a case with 7 80mm case fans along with 4 other fans that are on/in other components) so my current computer is pretty loud.

I went and i bought the Thermaltake from Micro center (the link I posted recently)

The only thing I think I could improve is how loose one of the doors is. I took off the front panel to see if there was a screw I could tighten and there wasn't. But the doors should be pretty easy to remove (if all else fails) since they use standard screws to attach to the hinges.



The armor rocks. Straight up and simple, yeah the front doors are kinda funkey, but there built strong as you realize from feeling them. Its also protected my front CD bays from damage.

Heres some teasers of my armor setup.

inside 1
Inside 2
Inside 3

Max OC

Burning Temps on both CPU and GPU.


Basically want to prove that the armor has a LOT of potential.

Also thats a OPTY 175 doing 3.2 and not a C2D.
 
that was another thing i noticed, it looks easy to convert it to a BTX style and also looks fairly simple to use water cooling with later
 
Originally posted by: BriGy86
that was another thing i noticed, it looks easy to convert it to a BTX style and also looks fairly simple to use water cooling with later

the only case i find easier to watercool is the stacker due to the bottom radiator mount.

I should take some pictures and show you how my stacker is built. Maybe i'll do so when i get my camera back from my brother.

But yeah, in my pretty armor i have:

2 D5 Liang Pumps
1 120x2 Blackice GTS
1 120x1 Blackice GTS
Apogee
2 DD Maze4
Swiftech Micro Rez.

3 Hard drives
2 Opticals
1 fan controler

:] And i still have room for maybe 3-4 more hard drives if i mount it with a strings.

So yeah, i love my armor, i love my stacker as well, but ive found a new love which is my TJ-07.
 
Yeah, the stupid wings/doors in the front are just that. Stupid.

I'll admit it looks kinda cool with them, but after hearing them vibrating for a while, they came off pretty fast 😛
Never mind the fact that they serve absolutely zero functional purpose.

As for the LED fans...those are easy to replace if you dislike LEDs 🙂
But if you don't mind LEDs, they serve their purpose just fine, & quietly too.
 
I did a search on the TJ07 and that is a nice case, very expensive though

are there any front mounted fans other than the hard drive ones on the side?
 
Originally posted by: BriGy86
I did a search on the TJ07 and that is a nice case, very expensive though

are there any front mounted fans other than the hard drive ones on the side?

ROFL, if you step up to a TJ-07 you wont be unhappy.

Why? people are going to ask me whats so special about a TJ-07

1. because the thing has tons of mounts for fans. 2 at top, 1 at rear, bottom is hd cage.

2. The entire case is made rivitless. Whats so special about this? because the entire case can be striped down to its frame. What does that mean? it means if i want to invert my board, i take out the mobo plate, and mount it on the other side. If i dont like a bar in the middle, it can come off. Its a modders dream in sense.

3. It has its name. When someone says i have this case, or that case, the two big names that pop up with envy are Silverstone TJ-07 and Mountain Mods UFO. Every other case with the exception of TT's Kandolf LCS and TT's Tai Chi, feels like an ordinary case.

And n7, my doors dont rattle. But then again, the doors are always in a closed position. Also, my case doesnt vibrate much due to its watercooling, so i never had a vibrating noise.

Also, the doors do help, i was moving my comp one time and i slamed it against a desk by mistake. I think i would of taken a DVD-RW front with it had the front gaurds not been there. Did i mention there STRONG as hell, it would require quite a bit of force to bend them.
 
To Fix the doors here is what I did:

Seperate the hinges and put a few pieces of electrical tape on the spindle part of the hinge. Then reconnect and this should make the doors less flimsy and vibrate less. It also makes them stop flopping open and closed so easily.

If I remember when I get home from work I'll take a pic of what I did to help..but it was a rather easy
 
Originally posted by: NeoRecon
To Fix the doors here is what I did:

Seperate the hinges and put a few pieces of electrical tape on the spindle part of the hinge. Then reconnect and this should make the doors less flimsy and vibrate less. It also makes them stop flopping open and closed so easily.

If I remember when I get home from work I'll take a pic of what I did to help..but it was a rather easy

thanks, after taking the front panel off it didn't look like it was easy to separate the hinges at all.

now all i need to do is figure out what I want to put in it. I'm still wondering how big of a PSU to get. A co-worker of mine says around 600

I plan on getting an Athlon 64 X2 and most likely a 7900 series video card for now (I think those 2 things will be the main determining factors)
 
Unless you really want a very high end SLI/CF setup in the future...

Corsair HX520

Pretty much the quietest best PSU you can get (aside from HX620).
 
your thinking all I might need is a 550 if I'm only using one video card?

when i get all the parts together I can post them here, might be on Saturday night or so
 
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