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Help me find a case for new system

I

imported_BIOSMonkey

Member
I'm building a new A64 system, and am trying to find the best case for it. I have looked all through the offerings at Newegg and have come up empty.

Maybe I'm being picky, but case designs nowadays have become so 'artsy' with all of the fancy lighting, weird designs, etc that it's difficult to find one that's plain and simple.

This is what I intend to put in it:

Asus A8N-SLI deluxe, DFI SLI, or DFI ultra board, haven't decided yet
Athlon 64 3500+
WD Raptor, and 4 Hitachi 160GB disks (all SATA, two in RAID0 and two in RAID1)
Antec True550EPS12V
Lite on DVD-ROM
NEC 3520 DVD burner
Audigy 2 ZS
ATI x850xt Platinum Edition

Here is what I am looking for in a case:

1) Stick with standard beige or black so I don't have to worry about the color of components (prefer beige)
2) No door. Like I want to open a stupid door every time I need to burn a CD. Yes I can probably remove it but then it looks crappy. Especially when I trip over it and it gets involuntarily removed.
3) No fake floppy or cd covers.
4) Power supply area can handle the size and weight of the PS mentioned above
5) Can take 120mm fans on front and back to maximize airflow and limit noise
6) Can take the 5 hard disks mentioned above (this is the hard one)

Some nice things would be...
1) USB connectors somewhere besides the dang bottom of the case so I don't have to stand on my head to plug on a flash drive. (This means somewhere middle to top) But, I'll just get a drive bay breakout connector for USB/firewire if I have to.
2) removable motherboard tray

Anybody have a suggestion?

 
Just get the Lian-Li PC-75B. It's a full tower with lots of room. It even has a window! It's regarded as the best case ever. I happen to have one.
 
Look at some of the new Enermax aluminum cases that run around $50 w/o PSU or Coolermaster Praetorian or the Kingwin 424 series (it's Al too, so easy to gouge out the fan openings 😉 ). One of the Silverstones is a relatively normal case and might suit you I think it's the Temjin series TJ02/TJ04... Those should all have no problem with your PSU. For some reason I like the looks of the JustPC Gazelle, but I doubt it would be to your taste.

.bh.
 
Look at the Lian-Li V1200 and V2000 cases. The V2000 exceeds your hard drive request by over 2x (can have up to 12 hard drives in the dedicated bays, not to mention up to 7 optical drives or 5.25" devices). It comes in black and/or silver depending on your taste.

About the USB ports... I have the Lian-Li V1100b case. The ports on the bottom of the front are VERY solid. I've used other cases (antec and coolermaster) where the ports flexed when you inserted anything into the USB ports. These ports don't budge a micron. Plus, there's a FireWire port next to the USB ports that actually works without issue. I've used cases where the front FW port wasn't wired the same as the mobo headers and they simply didn't work. IF you really don't want to reach the few extra inches to the ports towards the bottom of the case, just pick up a couple of USB extension cords. I got one with a USB flash drive that's about a foot or two long. I also picked up a longer one for use at work, since it can be a pain to reach all the way behind my computer to get to the ports. I've also used them to connect to the USB ports for cases that are under desks and don't have any front ports. If that's your only issue with the Lian-Li cases, I migh be persuaded to just send you one (or maybe two) USB extensions for you. You can get the V2000 on newegg for about $240 these days, which is a rather nice drop from even a few months back. PM me if you're going to get the Lian-Li case and we'll talk about the USB extensions... I like the V1100 more than enough to do this. JUST for the person that started this thread though. NOONE else. 😛
 
aspire x-dreamer II (mid tower, black, 7 expansion bays, 4 5.25" bays (removeable "fake drive covers"), 2 external 3.5" bays, 4 internal 3.5" bays 2 included 80mm fans (one top, one side(blue)), either 2x 80mm fan mounts in back or an 80/92/120mm mount (all as one), 2 unknown front fan mounts, 6 front blue LEDs (very bright, i have mine on a fan controller to dim them), 2x front usb, front case temperature indicator, strange front audio connctors (adapter available at http://www.frontx.com )) all together ba, after some minor adjustments
 
In the 100 dollar range I really like this Lian-Li PC7B USB Very nice case for the money...Dual 120m/m fans...80m/m blow hole fan...Lian-Li build quality.

The five hard drives is going to be tricky...The Coolermaster Stacker...Build quality on these cases is just awesome...Should give you everything that you want and more.
 

Silverstone TJ06


Originally posted by: Zepper
Look at some of the new Enermax aluminum cases that run around $50 w/o PSU or Coolermaster Praetorian or the Kingmax 424 series (it's Al too, so easy to gouge out the fan openings 😉 ). One of the Silverstones is a relatively normal case and might suit you I think it's the Temjin series TJ02/TJ04... Those should all have no problem with your PSU. For some reason I like the looks of the JustPC Gazelle, but I doubt it would be to your taste.

.bh.
Click to expand...

BTW, you meant Kingwin KT-424 right? 😀
 
Good post, great suggestions.
Just registered to ask just about the same question. Good thing i saw this first.
While i'm at it? would this be could enough to power a set up like this?
this'll be my first build, wanna get everything right...
 
Wow, thanks everybody for the great suggestions.

Some of them, though, had the USB ports right on the very bottom, and one had them in a place that would be blocked since this case will go under and against the left side of my desk.

BUT that Coolermaster Stacker looks like the one I need! Everything is just about perfect, except the depth may be a little too much. From what I can tell it is about 23" deep, and add another inch or two for cable clearance and it may stick out from under my desk too much!

If anyone has this case, and it is pushed back against a wall or the back of your desk, can you measure the distance from the wall to the front of the case so I can get an idea if it will fit?

I really love the capacity of it, and the top-level USB ports. The included fans and design of the front fan blowing over the 4 drive bays is nifty too. Plus I've never seen a design like the optional motherboard blower...that's great too (anybody care to comment if it is worth purchasing?)

Wish it were cheaper though...I hadn't really considered going over $100 for a case (forgot to mention that detail ...🙂 )
 
Yup BM (well, you chose the handle... 😉 ),
. My limit for a case w/o PSU is $100. (beyond that is severely diminishing returns on the dollar) except perhaps for a major server. Too bad you don't care for doors, the Silverstone Berserker is a great case. However it is pretty deep too.

.bh.
 
Originally posted by: Zepper
Yup BM (well, you chose the handle... 😉 ),
Click to expand...

LOL - what an unfortunate abbreviation I never thought of ...😀

I chose the handle many years ago when trying in vain to come up with an unused email address for yahoo. EVERYTHING I tried was taken, but amazingly this one was not :Q

I didn't really want to tie the handle to BIOS, but it was what I did at the time. Of course, years later I no longer do BIOS development (same company just different things) but everything in the world is tied to this handle so I am stuck with it. Oh well.

 
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