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Looking for roomy, quiet, ATX case

R

Rickyohead

Member
hiya,

I'm slowly buying parts to a new computer. I already stuck in a new 480w thermaltake PSU and an ATI 9800pro in my existing computer (athlon 1800+). Next I'm getting a 939 AMD 64 CPU (haven't decided which one yet), mobo, RAM, etc.

I have a decent size case right now, but I guess it would be smart to build it all in a new case now instead of taking it ALL out in the future.

Can someone recommend a few brands/models for me? Like I said above, I don't need a PSU; I'm not pimping this out, so lights/windows aren't important. It would be nice if I could pick it up in a retail store to avoid shipping charges. thanks.
 
All cases are quiet -- it's the fans and components that you stuff in them that generate the noise.

Generally speaking, larger fans tend to be quieter. Just head over to your retail store and look at the fan sizes -- if it uses a 120mm front and back, you'll be golden. Depending on where you buy it from, online prices + shipping may be cheaper retail prices + tax. Returns for heavy items like cases can be a pain though.

 
Antec Sonata is good because it uses 2x 120mm fans, rubber gromets for the HDDs to reduce vibration and includes a quiet powersupply with fan only leads give ~7V and are controlled by the PSU.
 
thanks for all the suggestions. i'm going to look for the larger 120mm case fans. my current case has the 2 rear 80mm fans with room for 5 total, and it's a noisy setup.

does anyone know of retail stores that generally carry the antec sonata case?
 
Another vote for Sonata. Newegg sales (or at least used to) refurbs once and awhile. I picked up one for $60 ish shipped and it was perfect. Also, Outpost (Fry's) has sales every so often and sometimes, a very good price pops out. Picked up one several months ago from Outpost. $39.xx after $10 shipping and double, overlapping $30.00 rebates! 😀
 
I may have said this before -- about a week's-worth back in posts to this or the "CPUs/Processors and Over-Clocking" thread.

If you posolutely absitively must have aluminum, then you will buy and you will pay.

If you have a closet-ful of cyber-junk that you feel sure will never find further use, I suggest looking around your area for anything from a hole-in-the-wall computer sales/repair shop whose owner makes money by sending circuit-boards, cases, hard-drives etc. to a metal recycler, or a warehouse usually advertised with a name like "computer surplus and recycling". Depending on local environmental regulations, you might even try a trip to the specially-designated area of the county landfill for cyber-junk. In that latter case, it's still an exchange -- you drop off your cyberjunk and find a decent case amidst the discards.

So far, I've found two or three establishments in two different states who were glad to take a boxful of dead CD-drives, hard-drives, Pentium-66 motherboards and PCI graphics cards, cables etc. -- in trade for a dated but "quality" OEM steel ATX computer-case (check to make sure the front-panel switches and LEDs are still serviceable, and that the motherboard pan has not been stripped of its stand-offs.)

At that point, the possibilities are limitless for the application of a dremel tool, a Radio-shack "nibbler", pop-rivets and a $5 pop-riveter.

If you don't like "IBM-beige", some wet-or-dry sandpaper and auto-store paint supplies might be in order. You'd best re-primer the case if you plan to paint it. And make sure you paint it and let it dry before adding your precious components.

Personally, I'm still satisfied with the "Classic vanilla-beige" appearance, but, as I said, there are certainly a lot of possibilities for a case you obtained for absolutely nothing except junk you would never think of trying to sell in want-ads -- which, after all, cost money.
 
Originally posted by: Engineer
Another vote for Sonata. Newegg sales (or at least used to) refurbs once and awhile. I picked up one for $60 ish shipped and it was perfect. Also, Outpost (Fry's) has sales every so often and sometimes, a very good price pops out. Picked up one several months ago from Outpost. $39.xx after $10 shipping and double, overlapping $30.00 rebates! 😀
Click to expand...

cool. i realized i don't need a case that comes with a power supply. i wonder if I can find a Sonata w/out a PSU since I just bought a brand new thermaltake 480w.....

it looks like the P160 and super LANboy are the only Antec cases w/ 120mm fans AND come w/out power supplies. i don't really like those and are out of my price range. *keeps up the research*
 
If you want to spend money, I recommend at least two.

There is the CoolerMaster Stacker.

There is also the Lian Li V1000 -- an innovative design that puts the PSU on the bottom, an ATX mobo into a "BTX" configuration with a vent drawing front-intake air across the hotter mobo components and right out the ass-end.

These days, I'm rather "down" on any other mid-tower selections, because I believe that full-towers cool easier. Close friends of reliable opinion say good things about the Antec Sonata, nevertheless.

Or -- you could easily find a free, ATX full-tower case as I mentioned. Then, take the money you would have spent on a $200 case and use it to buy high-end memory modules, Western Digital "Raptor" Sata150 drives, a Turbo-Cool 510 dee-lucks PSU. You can make a recycled OEM computer case look pretty, and plexi-glass windows or dremel-bits don't cost a lot. But you can't turn a sows-ear PSU or dual-channel value-ram memory modules into a silk purse high-performance component.
 
By the way -- the Purepower 480 is really nothing to sneer at. Whatever warranty period they offered me, and despite a rather anemic 12V rail, they have proven quite reliable over a year's time. The voltages are rock-steady and not only within a 2% range (+/-) of the spec requirement -- they are within 1%.
 
Basically the same concept as the V1000.

After buying midtowers from InWin and Enlight during the late 90s, and two midtowers from PC Power & Cooling in 2002, followed by the impulse-purchase of a coolerMaster WaveMaster (sold it to my dentist after using it with lackluster cooling potential for about 10 months) -- I've suddenly become addicted to resurrecting old steel cases and doing modest-to-aggressive sheet-metal work on them.

For my next build, I may "steal" all the ideas I can from NewEgg marketing photos -- like those for the Lian Li top-end -- and implement them on late-90s vintage steel ATX full-towers.

Something to do with my computer: database of prospective parts; Turbo-CAD the design or maybe just use "Corel-Draw"; find another (absolutely free) free computer case or maybe two -- cannibalizing one for extra sheet-metal.

Use my computer to build another computer.
 
Originally posted by: Rickyohead
Originally posted by: Engineer
Another vote for Sonata. Newegg sales (or at least used to) refurbs once and awhile. I picked up one for $60 ish shipped and it was perfect. Also, Outpost (Fry's) has sales every so often and sometimes, a very good price pops out. Picked up one several months ago from Outpost. $39.xx after $10 shipping and double, overlapping $30.00 rebates! 😀
Click to expand...

cool. i realized i don't need a case that comes with a power supply. i wonder if I can find a Sonata w/out a PSU since I just bought a brand new thermaltake 480w.....

it looks like the P160 and super LANboy are the only Antec cases w/ 120mm fans AND come w/out power supplies. i don't really like those and are out of my price range. *keeps up the research*
Click to expand...

The Super-Lanboy is an awesome case, I bought it for $80 but I just saw it for $60 at Fry's (after $20 rebate I think). It is quiet, has 2 120mm, hard drive dampener things, and so stinking light. My PSU doubled the weight :Q

It does not come with a PSU, but if you all-ready have one then it is a good case to get.

-spike

EDIT** One of the great things about the super LB case is that the front 120mm has very clear air flow so you get a nice intake into the case. The sonata does not do this as well IMO.
 
I have had the sonata and the wavemaster and these are my impressions:
the sonata has better cooling but the black can start to look crappy quickly with fingerprints and dust

the wavemaster's cooling is lesser than the sonata
the WM build is a lot easier and roomier than the sonata due to it's removable mobo tray

personally the silver WM looks a hell of a lot better than the sonata.
 
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