Desperately need a new case and cooling suggestions

[thecoffeeguy]

Ya, my rig locked up a few times today while playing Rift with settings really high.
The culprit appears to be heat.

Both times, we were battling some big time rift/invasions and the action was flying. Then, my screen just locks and I am like "Son of a -----!".

I am not really sure what GPU temps are considered high, but since I popped open my case and started running GPU-Z, my temps have dropped easily 5 degrees.

I immediately popped my case open and put my hand inside and that sucker was HOT inside.
So I am ready to throw down some money to get my rig nice a cool.

System currently:

AMD 945 3.0ghz, stock CPU fan. Would like to OC to 3.2ghz.
8gigs DDR 1600 memory
GTX 260 GPU (will be upgrading to something bigger here shortly).

Case and cooling fans obviously suck. Will not list.

Would like a full tower, nothing extravagant, but something that will allow for clean cabling, lots of nice air flow.

Fans, all are suggested, but I want quiet fans. No jets please.

May not be the right forum, but suggestions for CPU cooler are welcome as well.

Like nice air cooling for obviously the CPU, GPU, mobo and memory.

I need to better cooling across the board. That is clearly evident.

Cheers,

TCG

 

[weez82]

whats the budget looking like? With out that I cant recommend a case. But I can recommend a cooler. cooler master hyper 212+ and amazon has a good deal right now (as of 4-23-11 $27+ free shipping). I just got mine from them and yes, it is as good as everyone has said it was. Look up reviews of that.

 

[aphelion02]

If you are looking for something cheap, the Antec Three Hundred is a good deal right now, at $45 after shipping. . The HAF 912 is also a perennial favorite. Both will give you very good cooling.

 

[thecoffeeguy]

whats the budget looking like? With out that I cant recommend a case. But I can recommend a cooler. cooler master hyper 212+ and amazon has a good deal right now (as of 4-23-11 $27+ free shipping). I just got mine from them and yes, it is as good as everyone has said it was. Look up reviews of that.

Say budget is around 200-300.
Really need to cool this rig down.

I have read about that cooler. Should I be considered about it being so big, it covers part of my memory banks? I have some G.Skill memory head spreaders on them.

 

[weez82]

Say budget is around 200-300.
Really need to cool this rig down.

I have read about that cooler. Should I be considered about it being so big, it covers part of my memory banks? I have some G.Skill memory head spreaders on them.

you shouldnt have any problems with that cooler. but just to be safe, do a search. lots of posts out there about the 212+. And with that kinda budget I would look at the Cooler Master HAF series. They have lots to chose from so look through them and chose the right features you think you'll need. If it where me, I would get the COOLER MASTER HAF X RC-942-KKN1, thats one sexy beast

edit: my roommate has the Haf X nVidia Edition and it nice. Yes its big but lots of cooling and will last years and many builds

edit 2: the haf 912 look nice too. newegg looks to have video on most of the haf series. take a look

 

[aphelion02]

You must be crazy rich to consider $200-$300 for a case + cooler cheap. You can't go wrong with the HAF X, but I'll throw in a vote for the Silverstone Raven

 

[thecoffeeguy]

You must be crazy rich to consider $200-$300 for a case + cooler cheap. You can't go wrong with the HAF X, but I'll throw in a vote for the Silverstone Raven

Ah, I wish. My budget might not be that...hehe....my mistake.

This locking up due to heat was evident that I need a better setup. :/
Moving forward, I need to invest in better cooling here as mine sucks.

I appreciate the help though.

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

Here's a thought. Leave the side of the case open, no good?

I do during the summer time.

If not, i'll look up some cases for ya. Although my suggestion would be the cheapest

 

[thecoffeeguy]

Here's a thought. Leave the side of the case open, no good?

I do during the summer time.

If not, i'll look up some cases for ya. Although my suggestion would be the cheapest

Believe me, I would if I could. But with a 3 year old and a 9 month old, something is bound to get thrown inside the computer. LOL

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

Believe me, I would if I could. But with a 3 year old and a 9 month old, something is bound to get thrown inside the computer. LOL

lol, ok then... i'll do some lookin

 

[infoiltrator]

The HEC/Compucase BLITZ isn't bad at all. about $50 shipped, sometimes less/
Xigmatek Gaia performs about the same as Hyper 212 but can be mounted for front to back airflow on AMD motherboards.
I caught an NZXT case Asgard II for $40 shipped, see reviews.

 

[philharmonik]

I have an Antec 1200 and I LOVE it. It has 8 fans. Im running an amd 945 x4, 8gb ram, msi gtx 470 twin frozr II, cool and breezy!! Very big case and lots of room to grow. Those cooler masters that the others are recommending are very nice as well!

 

[sandorski]

What Case is it? 80mm Fans? I suspect a Case with plenty of 120mm fans(assuming yours has 80mm now) will do the job. I recently ran into a similar issue when I upgraded from a Radeon 4850 to a Radeon 5870. My Xaser III just couldn't exhaust the hot air fast enough. Bought a Zalman Z9 Plus and things have been great since.

There are many Cases in a wide range of Prices that are good Upgrades to an old 80mm Case Fan based Case. Also keep in mind Cable Management options and, IMO, bottom mount PS as things to look for. Again there are many Cases these days that do both those as well.

 

[Axon]

Yeah, you need to upgrade not only your case (well, at least the fans), but your CPU cooling could use help as well. Also clean out your GPU heatsink with compressed air. It gets dusty under that shroud.

I think you're looking for something with a nice, fairly large side panel fan. Now, with a taller heatsink, such as the CM 212+, you need a fan that's mounted lower in the case (which is easily done these days, manufactures are very cognizant of this).

My recommendations:

Rosewill Armor: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811147047 $100 case, very nice side fan, two 120 MM top side fans, glows like a spaceship.

Coolermaster HAF 932: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811119160. Full tower, $150, everything you'd need or want right now. It has 1800 reviews with an average of 5 eggs for a reason.

Throw in a CM212+ heatsink, and you'll have significantly improved cooling for a $125-175 investment. Not bad.

 

[Petey!]

Silverstone FT02/RV02 and a CM hyper 212+

Never worry about heat again.

The FT02/RV02 are the best air cooled cases on the market, and they're both QUIET. They also have easy to clean dust filter and positive pressure so your comp will stay nice and clean.

The Hyper 212+ is the best bang for buck CPU cooler out, fits pretty much everything, and will cover you off for just about anything.

 

[VirtualLarry]

My recommendations:

Rosewill Armor: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811147047 $100 case, very nice side fan, two 120 MM top side fans, glows like a spaceship.

That looks like a nice case. I was considering upgrading my desktop rigs to a pair of Antec 100 cases, but this one looks like it is almost as good. Plus, it has a reset button, the Antec 100 for whatever bizarre reason left that out.
But the Antec 100 has 8 expansion slots, this one only has the standard 7.

Not really sure which one would have the better cooling. I'm divided on the mesh idea. Sure, that allows the case to "breathe" better, but it also means that the fans are less effective, since they only blow locally, instead of having a directed airflow through the case. (Leaking everywhere because of the mesh.)

Plus, the Antec 100 is half the price.

I'm also not sure if you can fit a CD-ROM into the top bay, it looks like they have some sort of fan power distribution block there on the side where the top CD-ROM would go.
Surely they could have come up with a better design, one that didn't rob you of a CD-ROM bay.

 

[Axon]

That looks like a nice case. I was considering upgrading my desktop rigs to a pair of Antec 100 cases, but this one looks like it is almost as good. Plus, it has a reset button, the Antec 100 for whatever bizarre reason left that out.
But the Antec 100 has 8 expansion slots, this one only has the standard 7.

Not really sure which one would have the better cooling. I'm divided on the mesh idea. Sure, that allows the case to "breathe" better, but it also means that the fans are less effective, since they only blow locally, instead of having a directed airflow through the case. (Leaking everywhere because of the mesh.)

Plus, the Antec 100 is half the price.

I'm also not sure if you can fit a CD-ROM into the top bay, it looks like they have some sort of fan power distribution block there on the side where the top CD-ROM would go.
Surely they could have come up with a better design, one that didn't rob you of a CD-ROM bay.

Yeah, I don't think that top bay holds anything, both from looking inside and outside the case.

 

[dawp]

I like the minimalistic look of most Lian Li cases. this one has 2 140 fans in front and 2 120s in back.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811112243

plus there's enough room on top to mount a radiator if you should ever want to try out water cooling.