Choosing a case, madly confused. Help.

[specialmias]

I'm going to be building my new build around mid December. It's been 5 years since I've built a rig for myself and my old Thermaltake xaser II (modded chieftech) is starting to become a giant dust ball and the plastic parts are coming off from years of use. I'm looking for something that has :

• A removable motherboard tray

• Toolless

• Great cooling performance

• Cable management of some sort would be nice

• Room for larger graphics cards (just in case I'd like to add one later)

• Fits over sized coolers like Thermalright 120s and Tuniq towers

• Room for those long PSUs (just in case as well)

• Maybe some sort of way to control dust....

• Moderate price >$200

Really don't care how loud it is.

So far I've found the cosmos fills all of these categories except for the fact it has pooy HD cooling.( and no Mobo tray but thats negligible)

Lian li cases also seem attractive but they don't seem to have the room for some of the larger parts unless I plop tons of cash down.

The ThermalTake Armor has no Motherboard tray but a low price and good cooling. It's also bulky much like the aging box of metal I have now and probably a giant dust magnet.
Thermaltake, however, is coming out with the Xaser VI and the Armor+ soon which feature much of the things I'm looking for but I can't see myself spending $300-$400 for a case

The CM Stacker 690 seems nice and roomy but I don't know much about it. Same goes for the 830.

The last one I've found is the Ultra M998 which has a mobo tray and some toolless design but I can't find many websites selling it. Plus it's around $200 for a midtower



Honestly everytime I build a PC for either myself or someone else this stage takes ages for me to figure out and I'm very confused as to what I should buy. Any other cases/advice anyone can throw out there is much appreciated.

 

[kenrippy]

how many 5.25" external bays do you need?

how many hdd's do you need to hold?

do you need any 3.5" externals? (card reader/floppy)



i just built a machine for a friend with an antec 900 and it's super sweet. great cooling, i mean GREAT cooling, and good looks (looks are subjective though). it's very quiet also (all fans are tri-cool adjustable) Text

the drawbacks for the 900 are that it's only got 3x5.25" externals & 1x3.5" external. it doesn't have a door, if you like that function. not much for cable management, no mobo tray & you'll need a screw driver.

i may buy one for my next build seeing as how those negatives don't affect me at all.
it barely fits a thermalright ultra 120 extreme & tuniq. i used an ultra 120 extreme and it does clear, but not by much.

zzf has it for about $55 and i believe if you use paypal you get free ship
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[specialmias]

I forgot about the Antec 900 and the the p180 line for that matter.

For my purposes the 900 is suitable but like you said the coolers barely clear meaning its going to be fairly cramped inside and that's something troubling. It's my top option for a mid tower case and nothing is really wrong with it other than size. The price point of the 900 is especially an attractive feature letting me spend more money on performance and less on case.

Oh and only 2x5.25 devices on my end with 4HDDs

 

[kenrippy]

the ultra 120 extreme cleared the side panel by about 1/4" with an abit IP35 pro. i'm sure all mobo's will be the same tho. hey, that's all you need though.

if you're not an extremist, get a tuniq and you'll have extra clearance.

 

[Zepper]

If you like the m998, the basis of that and the Akasa Eclipse (generally not available in the States), the Global Win YCC-61F1 has been available for under $100. A little black spray paint or vinyl dye and you're in. It's at ComputerNerd.com and there is always the Silverstone Temjin 9 (SST-TJ09) to cover most of your bases except price. Also look at the Temjin 5 (SST-TJ05) (the side arm on the TJ05 is removeable for more clearance). Good luck. Maybe the Enermax Uber Chakra or the Gigabyte Aurora 3D 570.

Oh, you have the "greater than (>)" symbol next to your $200. figure - I'm sure you meant less than (<) $200.

.bh.