I can't decide on a case!

[Degrador]

The loudest things in my case now are the HDs and powersupply (only psu when comp is hot from 6+ hours of encoding, like now ). I'm not sure which way the zalman fan blows, but either way it should be good - either blow hot air out of side vent, or suck cool air in. The SLK-948u is similar to the xp-120 I've got, so you can have the fan blowing whichever way you like. So it'd be a good one to get imho.

 

[Ethex]

The Stacker is a very well designed case and dual power supply feature is top-notch. I wouldn?t say the PC-V2000 is ?so much better? than the stacker though for my purposes it suits me better. First off this thing will be in a carpeted living room. The wheels on the Lain Li raise it far enough off the floor to ensure proper ventilation. The wheels that come with the Stacker look flimsy in comparison an aesthetically unappealing to me as well. Next is I like the look of the case, nice and simple looking. Also the thing is big, even bigger then the Stacker. That means more room for my fat America hands to install a water-cooling system. I probably wont fill up 12 hard drive bays and 7 CD size ones but when Raptors are 200 gigs and $80 buck a pop, I?ll have at least a terabyte in the thing with room to add. As far as BTX goes I?m not so sure it will catch on. Intel is pushing it so they don?t have to address the heat problems that their chips create. AMD processors are set in reference to the memory (I am not certain why exactly but always in the center). The MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum could possibly be the closest thing to BTX that we see for AMD for a while. VIA and Nvidea chips aren?t as hot as the new Intel chipset either. BTX will probably catch on in SFF eventually but the cases we?re talking about are 2 feet by 2 feet. Speaking of bigasscases heres mine again, I?m thinking Pandora is a suitable name. The Zippo there to show proportion (seem like a good idea at the time)


Pandora

 

[Ariste]

Thanks for the comparison between the two, Ethex. I think I'll be going with the Stacker, but only because I like it's looks better. Feature-wise I think they are both basically tied. Thanks for your input,

 

[Degrador]

Ethex, just thought I'd mention on the wheels - I saw a review on the stacker case where they got some girl to ride around on the case with the wheels attached, so I'm certain they're high quality and sturdy enough for the case.

But it looks like you're right about the size - I didn't realise the V2000s were that big.

And yes, BTX probably won't catch on very much, but it is a nice bonus.

I guess both cases are good, just depends on your aesthetic preference (and need for other smaller features they differ in). Also, here in Australia, the Lian Li cases cost twice as much as the Stacker, so between them it was pretty much a no brainer for me .