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Looking for info on full tower / server cases

Dorkenstein

Dorkenstein

Diamond Member
I have a mid tower atx case, and its a good one, the Antec P182. However my case is getting really crowded and it was small to work in when I first got it.

I need help picking up a nice full tower or server case with good airflow and lots of room. Any recommendations in those categories are most welcome.

P.S. Are the mountainmods cube cases worth the money?
 
Originally posted by: Dorkenstein
That's a good idea, it's still kind of expensive though but not nearly as bad as others. Thanks.
Click to expand...

$89.99 ain't bad, is it?
I think shipping to you would run $30.62.
Put your e-mail address in the field after adding the case to your shopping cart & it'll give you a coupon code for $2 off...not much, but hey.
 
Originally posted by: Dorkenstein
I have a mid tower atx case, and its a good one, the Antec P182. However my case is getting really crowded and it was small to work in when I first got it.

I need help picking up a nice full tower or server case with good airflow and lots of room. Any recommendations in those categories are most welcome.

P.S. Are the mountainmods cube cases worth the money?
Click to expand...

The mountain mods cases are only worth it if you're going to be doingmulti-loop water cooling. And at that a dual loop will fit in high end towers like the Silverston TJ-07 just fine. I've even seen tripple loops crammed into a Lian Li V2K. It was CRAMMED though. For air cooling they're not worth the money IMHO. Aigomorla has one so he could elaborate further if you'd like. I have an old AT tower case that's always been my favorite, even though it's got rather poor airflow. It'll be home to my chilled water setup once I get more comfortable with modifying an HVAC system. They're always a fun way to go if you don't mind doing some serious modifications yourself.

If you want an off the shelf way to go, I reccomend a Stacker, any of them to be honest, so long as you're air cooling. The 83x's can be a pain to water cool. Besides that, the Lian Li PC-70 is a great full tower. As is the Silverston TJ-09 for air cooling or the TJ-07 for water cooling.
 
Gonna be hard to beat that unit that Tull linked in a full tower for the money. I'd prefer the standard side panel to the windowed one as one of those 250mm fan kits would go on there with little work. But you can find or trade for a normal panel after you've got the Stacker. But if you are willing to go more money, here are a few more to look at: XClio Windtunnel/Tagan Obelisk (both are the same case), Silverstone Temjin 5 or Kublai 3, Gigabyte Aurora 3D 570, Enermax Uber Chakra. There are others but the prices go up out of sight... Unfortunately it is really hard to find all the full tower cases on Newegg. Choosing that from the Newegg case specifier gets a bunch of cases that aren't really full tower and doesn't find all the ones that I'd consider to be a full tower.
. I don't consider Mountain Mods or most Lian Li to be worth the money. Perhaps for a very few niche markets...

.bh.
 
Here is a really low-end job:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16811121018. Qualifies as a full tower height wise, but doesn't support EATX mobos. (this one is also available from Directron, but not with free shipping... But the $15. diff in price may cover ground shipping from Directron - who knows. Similar units are available under the ChenMing and Chieftech brands.

The Maxtop Domino series available from http://www.arrowmax.com and a few other places is another low-cost way to get a larger case. Several internal arrangements available. The side bar is removable. Better pix of the Domino series available on http://www.servercase.com and maybe the Maxtop web site. My first enthusiast case, the Silverstone Berserker, was based on this chassis or a very similar one.

.bh.
 
Thanks Zepper. I see the Domino has 2 120mm fans on the top in the description but it doesn't mention other mounting points. If you have any experience with the case can you tell me what fans to throw in there, if any?
 
Which model Domino are we talking: A, B or C? The case I had was like the B or C. With that type, the front fan will probably be on or in whatever hard drive cage you choose to use. I'd probably use one of the Cooler Master 110 CFM fan kits on the rear (see my review here: http://www.techIMO.com/reviews/) (or a Sanyo Denki 109R1212H1011, 120x38mm) and a Zalman FM3 on the front (or vice-versa if you like positive pressure- but 38mm might not fit on the front). They'd both be connected to my fan controller. I'd either remove the side bar or mount a couple of HDDs there (there are mounts for two on the sidebar if you take off the fan cages, etc.) until the HDD cage I ordered came in. I'd block of the venting for the other fans including the top one.

You should get a bit more detail on the bottom bay of the B or C to see what you have to work with there space-wise (the space there wasn't implemented very well on the Berserker (I reviewed this too at the same link as the fans, in the Cases category) - I had to supspend my Cooler Master device module (hdd cage that comes with the original Stacker) with zip ties). One would hope that the new Kublai Kage from Silverstone would fit (should be out soon - I sound like a broken record on that one...) as it is among the least expensive for the capacity and feature set.

On the A model I'd do the same as above except I'd move the 80mm from the top (if it's any good at all) to the right side of the HDD cage.

I'm sort of a nut about implementing an airflow plan with no contribution from superfluous or extraneous fans or venting.

Looks like the rear fan grill on the Dominos will need to be cut out as it appears to be seriously restrictive. The Berserker came out when 120mm fans hadn't yet become the standard for the rear.

.bh.
 
Well, the Stacker is a great case for extreme systems, but it needs work too. The two 120mm fans that come with it are quiet but are weak sisters that don't move a lot of air. Plus, there are only three real 120mm fan mounts as delivered and if they are still like the earlier production, they are restricted by various types of grills which will need to be opened up for better cooling. Read my reviews of the earlier and later versions of the Stacker drive cage at http://www.techIMO.com/reviews/ in the Cases section.
. The side panel (well not in the case of the windowed side panel) and the front bezel provide a lot of uncontrolled air that I'd want to deal with.
. You may have to acquire some bay adapters for 3.5" devices (if you have or want any). The one 3.5" external bay is in the HDD cage - if you use it, you'll need to drop back to a 92mm fan on the cage.
. You'll find more things as you go along. Unfortunately, nothing in the known universe is perfect (except for perhaps its perfect imperfectness). Some things less perfect than others. Either way you go you're gonna be in for some "fun". Having the prestige of a Stacker case may make the "fun" more palatable...

.bh.
 
I will look more carefully at what you wrote previously. (Having ADD tends to make me skim a lot). Thanks again, I will think about the Domino case since it seems to fit the bill and is cheaper.
 
Question for you zepper, which would you recommend over the other, the Domino A-model Case for 55 bucks or the Globalwin Akasa clone at Computernerd.com for 99 dollars? Thanks for your valuable input.
 
Quick bump, also I would like to know if the plexiglass window in the picture of the Globalwin is more of a hindrance than an asset. Thanks again.
 
I'm not a case window fan, but that might be because I pay little attention to wire management... 😉 The Global Win is a nice case, but it too is imperfect... If you have noisy hard drives, you'll have to rig your own isolation as there is no rubber in the G-W. But it probably has the least tweeking that would need to be done of any that we've mentioned. jab-tech.com has some inexpensive grommet sets that could be modded in as aluminum is easy to drill/cut/bend.

I'm kind of iffy on Computernerd as my questions were never answered, but AFAIK that's the only place to get it at that price. SVC has some G-W cases but not that one. I'd get some confirmation from a live person re. stock, etc. before sending any money in their direction.

.bh.
 
Yeah I had a bad feeling about them too since resellerratings.com doesn't show them as being well thought of and the feedback on there is really old. Too bad because this looks like the best option for a case. I wish I could just get the Akasa model but I don't see it anywhere. Thanks again Zepper.
 
The Ultra Products m998 is also based on the same case and you can find that lots of places. TigerDirect (Ultra is part of the T-D conglomerate) is having a sale on the m998 at $130. right now. Others I found with froogle are close, so it's shipping cost that will tell the tale. Unfortunatly your state is about as far away from anywhere as it's possible to get in the northeast... 😉 OTOH, InfoTel/Ultra are Ohio based so maybe shipping won't be so bad. T-D has the best bottom line with $26. or so of ground shipping. Found that CompUSA's web site beats T-D by a few cents.

PC Connection, right there in New Hampshire, is just a couple of bucks over T-D. But who knows where they ship from...

.bh.
 
Thanks for the added insight. I see the Ultra case is a mid tower though. It's times like this that I wish there really WAS a cut-and-dried best choice 🙂
 
The m998/Global Win YCC-61F1 and the Akasa Eclipse et al. are mid tower in height, but maxi-mid in depth and width. Note that it is only 18.2" high (just a bit more than typical mid tower range) but 9.5 wide (1.5 to 2" more) and 20.5 deep (up to 4" more than some mids) and can take an EATX mobo. So I'd call it a maxi mid. Plus it comes with wheels - Tull loves dem wheelz! Makes it look taller...

.bh.
 
Hmm so there's no size difference between the GW and the Ultra? If there isn't a difference I think I will get the ultra, provided it has more wiggle room than my P182. Then I will get better fans for the Ultra and some silencing gear.
 
Yup, the Akasa, GW and m998 are all based on the same GW chassis. Mainly cosmetic differences.

There are quite a few reviews out there on the m998. The ones that give the higher ratings are linked from the Ultra or TD sites find the more critical ones with YFSE (your favorite search engine).

.bh.
 
I just thought of something, I need something taller than mid-tower and not just deeper. My GTS vid card and my hdd cage practically hit each other now. If the Ultra isn't any taller I may need to just wait and expand my budget for something nicer. I'll try to find out.
 
How will being taller change that? The m998 can take 13" deep mobos - no card will be near anything in that case... Even the GTX card would look almost lost in there. Take a look at the photo galleries around the web - even the one on T-D shows how big the insides are on this case. Check this out: http://www.3dgameman.com/content/view/11027/48/ .

.bh.
 
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