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Mid- or full tower?

I

imported_Septimus

Member
Here's a quick question that I would've thought was a no-brainer but am not so sure about these days.

I've been using mid tower cases for years, particularly the CoolerMaster Centurion line - nice balance of features for a reasonable price. I'm building a new system soon and am going to upgrade the case to something slightly fancier, but I'm wondering if I need to shell out $$$ for a full tower. I really don't think that my hardware requires it, but I have maybe a centimeter to spare on my graphics card right now (an eVGA 8800 GTS, shortly going to be a Radeon 4870) and it's just a mess with cables going everywhere.

I will have:

- 1 WD VelociRaptor 300G
- 2 WD Caviar 600 GB
- 1 DVD Burner
- 1 Sapphire ATI Radeon 4870
- Intel Q9450 and 8G RAM on a Gigabyte EP45-UD3P Motherboard
- Corsair CMPSU-520HX 520W PSU
- TV card (PCI)

I'm doing 2 things to reduce clutter:

- Going to a modular PSU
- Getting rid of all IDE devices (currently an HD and a DVD burner I'm replacing) - no more ribbons

Is there any real advantage to going with a full tower - something like the Antec 1200 over the 900? It's tough to justify the extra cost for a big pile of extra space inside that I can't imagine I'll fill when the CoolerMaster centurions I've been using are -just- too tight.

Any recommendations?

Thanks!
S
 
I have 2x500GB, DVD burner, HD4850, Q6700, Asus P5Q Pro, 4GB of RAM, HX520 and a sound card inside a case with a smaller working area (my CM632S) than my Centurion 534 (my E7200 build). I observed no heat issues and my cabling is fine. However, I have small hands so I can easily work in tight areas.

Yes, getting a larger case will help with cable management because you'll have more space to work with. However, the Antec 900 for the most part is a tight fit even compared with the Centurions. Not too big of a fan of the styling on the Antec 1200 though because I think the novelty factor will fade very fast. I would actually say VirtualLarry's recommendation is decent because it's not an audacious looking case and generally will blend in as a computer (which is what I like a case to be). On the CM side of things, there's really not many cases I would recommend that aren't loud (CM590 and 690 in their stock forms, for instance) if you want airflow and aren't cheaply built (like the Elite line). I might actually have to say you should look into some Lian Lis.
 
If you think you would like to go water cooling later on down the road, get a case oriented for something like that. I bought a PC-A20 Lian LI and i dont' want to drill into it for my next water loop so i'm challenging myself with my PC-60... but point is consider that when your next case -

 
I don't think water cooling is in my future - I rarely (if ever) overclock. I'd just like a nice case with room to work in, decent airflow and not too much noise. I don't need ultra-silent or super-duper airflow, but I'd like to invest in a case that I can keep for quite a while.

I don't really care one way or the other about having it look 'awesome' - I'd lean more toward the CoolerMaster Cosmos 1000 series than the Antec 900/1200. I'd prefer 'sleek and discreet' over 'omfg blue lights.'

thanks for the suggestions!
 
On NewEgg those things are like $319. I'm prepared to drop $150, $160 maybe, but I'm not sure I see what my dollar is getting me beyond that point. Even the Antec 1200 is $160 atm.
 
For the rig that you have, I don't think going to a full tower will be beneficial. You're already going modular to reduce the clutter and its not like you need extra space for more HDD/DVD drives.
 
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