• We’re currently investigating an issue related to the forum theme and styling that is impacting page layout and visual formatting. The problem has been identified, and we are actively working on a resolution. There is no impact to user data or functionality, this is strictly a front-end display issue. We’ll post an update once the fix has been deployed. Thanks for your patience while we get this sorted.

Looking for full tower.

P

powerMarkymark

Platinum Member
I would like to get (here in Canada) a full tower that can accomodate around 10 hard drives.

Do not need or want some fancy looking case, just something that is both functional and affordable.


Thnx.


M@rc
 
Stacker? Affordable???

The Silverstone Berserker can hold up to 11 (13 if you want to use the floppy bays too) hard drives using two CoolerMaster 4-in-3 drive cages (US$20. each) - each CM cage can hold up to 4 HDs and has a 120mm fan for cooling as well as 4 large elastomer grommets for noise isolation. You will have no room left for an optical but that could go in an external USB or Firewire enclosure. It could do 10 using the bottom bay with CM cage, 3 standard positions, 2 floppy positions plus one 3 to 5" drive adapter bracket - then you'd have room for a couple of 5" devices too.

Actually any case with 6 or more 5" bays plus some normal HD bays or 6 HD bays plus 4 x 5" bays would probably work for you. Use Newegg's case configurator tool to find a selection then buy from your fave Canadian reseller (Newegg is supposed to be coming to Can. soon).

AMS Genesis - big and CHEAP. Looks like it would be easy to mod for an extra PSU and extra internal HD brackets (Available from Evercase.com - options for 42x2 case series - less than $10 each add avalable rubber vibe dampers). The AMS Gmono (CF-2029) or the aluminum CF-3206SB could work as well. The latter looks VERY sleek...

The Thermaltake Armor has 10 x 5" drive bays plus 6 HD bays! 10 HDs with 7x5" bays left over! Need room for future expansion, eh?

The Chenming 602 or 901 series/Chieftec/Antec (sold under lots of other names too) super mid (602 has 5xHD and 5x5" bays) and full towers (901 has 6 and 6) are good and inexpensive besides. Probably the closest to what you need for the least money. Check eBay too. You could use 1 CM cage with those or 4 adapter brackets would work but you'd have to supply your own cooling solution. The 602 series comes in aluminum or steel. The 901-A? series can be easily modded for two PSUs - the 901-SS puts the HD cage in the way of adding an extra PSU.

Enermax CS-10182 + 1 CM cage. Very nice case!

Codegen 9000 series + 2 CM cages.

And the Athenatech 800 series (very similar to the Enermax 10182) may be available there and is sold under a couple of different names.

Or some of the Aerocool cases - and they look pretty sharp too.

Regardless which case you settle on, you'll need a stout PSU like the Sparkle FSP550-60PLG, Zippy HP2-6460 (or higher) or two decent brand 300-350W ones with modern 12V rails (at least 20A@+12V each).

.bh.
 
The stacker is an excellent case, of course you're going to be spending more on it... but it's worth every penny.
 
I just posted two contributions to "Just Not Happy With My Case." You might want to take a look, but I saw your thread at 10 AM this morning just as I was preparing to leave the house and trade some cyber-junk for another used case.

This one is a HUGE Compaq Proliant Server case with a bunch of hot-swappable 50-pin SCSI-2 drives in it. It is a testament to my good health (two more years and I'm 60) that my back doesn't hurt after hefting this sucker. My colleague at the hole-in-the-wall computer store didn't want to bother gutting the innards, so I got the whole thing, lock, stock and barrel. He knows he'll get the drives and circuit cards if I don't want them, and that will mean more money in his pocket.

Anyway, here's some snaps:

The Exterior Proliant

The Front Door and Hot-Swap Cage Revealed

Case-rear: Huge Power-supply, no need to cut 120mm fan-hole

A Replacement ATX Mobo Pan -- Get out the Dremel

The US probably has more junk and garbage than Canada, if only for a demographic weighting, but surely, you have the equivalent of county landfills up there, cyber-junk recycling centers, computer stores that do back-door business with rare-metal and hazardous waste salvage. Ask around. Check the junk-yard. "Free" . . . is FREE!

This one has a 486 motherboard pan. Surely, people remember the Intel 486? Some of the standoffs should fit ATX, as I think the rear slots may also, but in the event they don't, some U-shaped aluminum flashing from Home Depot, a Dremel tool and pop-rivet tool should make it not too difficult to install the L-shaped mobo-pan in the last photo -- so that it is removable -- sliding on a rail from the case-rear.

Also, the hot-swap SCSI-drive cage. 3.5" < cage-width < 5.25". What can you do with that? Easy! Suspend the drives with longer screws and stiff black-rubber bumpers -- the kind of thing you might find on the bottom of a computer case or electronic equipment. You could probably even use chunks of used automobile tires!! 😀
 
Originally posted by: powerMarkymark
I'm liking the Lian-Li V2000.

Any other sugestions?
Click to expand...


I'm not the forum police and at times i feel like a real time waster(of other ppls time).

TITLE: Looking for a full tower
SUMMARY: Affordable

Sooo, some guys post what they would buy on the cheap or how they get away without any cash at all.
Then you come back with, I'm liking the Lian-LiV2000........Any other sugestions??

That my fellow forum member is what our friends on the other side of the pond,

the Brits,call, A Time Waster.

Think about it awhile before you get irritated with me. Think, whats wrong with this picture.



GY


 
Hey GY,

I guess "affordable" is in the eyes of the beholder. Under $100. for a case is affordable around here, while over $200. is "price be damned" category - I guess I should have thrown in the Yeong Yang cube or a Chenbro server case... Maybe I could have fooled you all into thinking those cases are considered "affordable" here - and I light my cigars with $20s, riiiight. 😉
. I can spot two obvious cooling flaws in the L-L V2000 without even trying hard. I'd choose the Stacker over it unless I really needed as much drive space as the L-L offers - but I'd have to do some cooling mods before I could be happy with it. It's a shame to have to take a Dremel to a >$250. case - I guess the word "prestige" really is from the same root as prestidigitation...

.bh.
 
Interesting discussion, and in the wake of my own previous post.

Obviously I made my point: you can have it for free, but you have to do the work.

If you're going to buy, I also would pick a Stacker. Lian-Li has some full-tower models with the basic idea of the VB-1x00 -- and I think the OP already mentioned one, which I had been looking at a month or so ago, just to see "what's out there."

My problem with "under $100" is another reason I mod these old steel cases. I've been inside a few Dells over the past few years; I've visited places like PC Club where they display an assortment of cases including "under $100." Several "under $100" are pretty rickety pieces of s---. As are Dell cases. The old ones, if only steel and IBM Beige, are more solid than the newer schlock.

But a ThermalTake "Armor" case -- similar in some ways to the CM Stacker -- is only about $160 -- maybe less. PC Club had it on "special" for a few days at $135.
 
This is just my own perspective on the case dilemma, and it relates to my junk-box-recycling compulsion.

I could "afford" a ThermalTake "Tai-Chi." I'd like to have a ThermalTake "Tai-Chi" or something like it. But I'm going through a couple motherboards a year; the technology keeps changing; I can't predict tomorrow.

I'd rather spend my money on processor and memory swaps.

My version of the "Tai-Chi" will be a steel-case version . . . .

But if $400 is "affordable," I'd say "Tai-Chi" would make a great case. How long are you going to keep it? And when you decide to unload it, who . . .ya gonna . . . sell it to?

A lot of people just go down to Costco and buy an "E-machine." Anyway, if I purchased a "Tai-Chi" for every computer I built . . . .
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Back
Top