• 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.

Need a good full-tower, budget $300-$400 or (preferably) less

Page 2 - Seeking answers? Join the AnandTech community: where nearly half-a-million members share solutions and discuss the latest tech.
I have a TJ-09 and it's a GREAT case. Very sturdy. Plenty of space for HD's and Optical drives (along with 2 slots for floppy's).

The only bad part about it. about once a month, I take it to a friends house and I've lost 2 of the little legs during the move.

So, if you don't plan on moving your comp much, you won't have this problem. But if you do, just throw a little lock tight on the screws then tighten them in and I'm sure that would take care of any issues.
 
Interesting suggestions.

So I'm starting to think I should just buy these based on what I see, and not based on cooling performance, then just stick more fans into it if I'm unhappy.

I mean, with the lack of unanimous praise for 1-2 cases, I'm going to assume most of these do perform close to each-other.

Do any of them plain suck for some reason so that I don't accidentally choose them? Like the 800D won't be getting, there's no place for more fans to intake air, nothing at the front, just from the bottom and the way it's designed now, it can't possible be good; definitely a water cooler's case and not an air cooling one. One of the few cases where I've heard actual benchmarks.

So anything like that? Or are most of the ones on the list that I haven't found problems with lacking in problems?
 
How about the Lian Li PC-B70?

Full tower
Aluminum
Space for 10 hdds
Five external 5 1/4" drive bays
One external 3 1/2" drive bays
Tool-less design
Side panels have open celled foam mats applied
Removable motherboard tray
Two 140mm intakes & two 120mm exhaust

Granted, the 2 front fans are LEDs, but you could easily change them out if you didn't want the "bling".

Review
 
Maybe. I think that if there's no way to know how well the case cools, then I should instead look for cases that have good customization in terms of fan sizes and placement, so that worst case scenario I can put in some new/bigger fans.
 
ChorniyVolk said:
Interesting suggestions.

So I'm starting to think I should just buy these based on what I see, and not based on cooling performance, then just stick more fans into it if I'm unhappy.

I mean, with the lack of unanimous praise for 1-2 cases, I'm going to assume most of these do perform close to each-other.
Click to expand...

It's not that! It's because the masses of sheeple are idiots.


Let me just say this ATCS 840 is dead quiet. All I hear is the faint whir of wind while my CPU idles at 28 C in a 24 C room with a little 92mm heatsink.
 
Well I can certainly say you've single-handedly heightened my opinion of the 840 since I posted this thread.

you know what else looks like a cool case? The TJ10: http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...278&CatId=1510

Window, good ventilation, 5 fans one of which is pointed directly at a place that will need good ventilation, the videocard, nice looking, pretty great. I wonder why nobody has recommended it. My only problem with it is the shitty green LEDs, but hopefully I can turn them off, or I'll just break them (how's that for custom modding?). Does it suffer the same vibration issues though I wonder...
 
Last edited:
So ignoring the Mountain Mod place because I don't know anything about them yet (aigo, mind helping me out there?), here are all of the viable choices of cases that I know of right now, that I have to pick through. Maybe I should kill myself, if I'm dead I don't have to pick a case at all! That sounds nice.

Anyway, the list:

GIGABYTE

SUMO 4198: http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Products/Chassis/Products_Spec.aspx?ProductID=2828
3D MARS: http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Products/Chassis/Products_Spec.aspx?ProductID=2591
All of these (the two above just didn't show up on the list): http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...20Full%20Tower

CoolerMaster

ATCS 840: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811119187

SilverStone

Ignoring the 07 here (sorry) due to the vibration problem.

TJ09: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-073-_-Product

TJ10 ESA: http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...LXyA51MP5Er0DQ

I can't tell the difference between them (aside from the TJ10 ESA version having more fans) apart from the TJ10 being longer. What's the deal?

Lian Li

ABS Canyon 695 (it's a LL design): http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811215012

Most of these (not the stupid looking ones): http://www.lian-li.com/v2/en/product/product04.php?cl_index=1&sc_index=25&ss_index=61
http://www.lian-li.com/v2/en/product/product04.php?cl_index=1&sc_index=26&ss_index=67
http://www.lian-li.com/v2/en/product/product04.php?cl_index=1&sc_index=26&ss_index=66
http://www.lian-li.com/v2/en/product/product04.php?cl_index=1&sc_index=38&ss_index=95

I haven't looked through the list ones, like the gigabyte newegg list and the lian li lists, so some of them I might just not like for whatever reason, so I'll probably update this once I've gone through the lists and handpicked the ones I'd be willing to buy; but as is, which ones do you guys think suck or I should avoid? And for now ignore price, I'll focus on that later when I've got a smaller list and am comparing the cases.
 
Last edited:
ChorniyVolk said:
Well I can certainly say you've single-handedly heightened my opinion of the 840 since I posted this thread.

you know what else looks like a cool case? The TJ10: http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...278&CatId=1510

Window, good ventilation, 5 fans one of which is pointed directly at a place that will need good ventilation, the videocard, nice looking, pretty great. I wonder why nobody has recommended it. My only problem with it is the shitty green LEDs, but hopefully I can turn them off, or I'll just break them (how's that for custom modding?). Does it suffer the same vibration issues though I wonder...
Click to expand...

That looks pretty cool, after looking at the pics on frozencpu.com and it has plenty of HDD/SSD space. It also probably comes with good fans. Silverstone makes more than a few nice products. I seem to remember some of their fans being one of those products, IIRC.
http://www.frozencpu.com/products/71...J10B-WESA.html

BUT... it doesn't have a cut-out for the CPU backplate, and it's a little pricey. Also don't like windows personally.

Maybe the difference between the TJ09 and TJ10 is the ESA feature? I haven't looked at the TJ09 so that's a guess....
 
Nope Chai, The TJ10 ESA is a special version of the TJ10.

And it doesn't cost THAT much, especially considering Bing cashback.

As far as the 932, eh I don't like how it looks, nor am I big fan of side-fans.
 
Last edited:
djnsmith7 said:
If I were to build another system for myself or a friend, I'd buy the CM Cosmos Pure Black Aluminum, hands down. I love my Stackers & this falls in line with those. This would be a no-brainer for me. I also really like my Silverstone TJ06.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-214-_-Product
Click to expand...

But it looks like it has the same problem the 800D has, intake from the bottom and nowhere else. And all of its fans seem to be too small to provide the kind of movement that the bottom intake to top/rear exhaust would need to keep up with stuff that has intake from the front.

Or am I wrong? It seems like all it'd take is one big videocard and airflow is completely ruined, like it is with the 800D (and plenty of people recognize it as a case that's for water cooling, and does air cooling poorly).
 
Last edited:
ChorniyVolk said:
But it looks like it has the same problem the 800D has, intake from the bottom and nowhere else. And all of its fans seem to be too small to provide the kind of movement that the bottom intake to top/rear exhaust would need to keep up with stuff that has intake from the front.

Or am I wrong? It seems like all it'd take is one big videocard and airflow is completely ruined, like it is with the 800D (and plenty of people recognize it as a case that's for water cooling, and does air cooling poorly).
Click to expand...

You may be right, but I haven't had any issues with air cooling on either of my Stacker cases. Then again, I haven't done enough research on the air cooling issue with the case I linked to be able to say one way or the other. I like what I've seen in person & read in the reviews enough to be willing to purchase the case for another build. I'll let others step in with additional information pertaining to the air cooling issues / concerns related to that case.
 
Maybe I'm wrong, I'm just saying that I don't want to risk it and don't want to spend the time test driving these things, you know? But thanks anyway.
 
Hey, no problem. The more I look at that Cosmos case, the more I like it. That is a huge case & it probably won't meet everyone's needs or aesthetic interests.
 
I just wish it was like the stacker, it has front to rear cooling instead of bottom to top.

And yeah, it looks really cool and it's big, and I love the dark colors, the only thing I'm wondering is why they have such small fans on it considering how big it is? The ATCS 840 manages to fit 2 230mm fans at the top, and it's actually smaller than the Pure Black.
 
I have the TJ-07 and Cosmos S. If I was in the market for a new Case, I'd probably get the 800D over both of those, although it'd be a hard decision. Those are the only three I'd consider, except I look for water cooling capability rather than air.
 
Yeah, when I go for an all-water set-up I'll reconsider cases, but for now I'm going with air-cooling and the 800D isn't my cup of tea.
 
Adamantine said:
I have the TJ-07 and Cosmos S. If I was in the market for a new Case, I'd probably get the 800D over both of those, although it'd be a hard decision. Those are the only three I'd consider, except I look for water cooling capability rather than air.
Click to expand...

same here, I have a TJ07 and a cosmos. Nothing beats the 800d wire management, which is the most important thing to me.
 
ChorniyVolk said:
Nope Chai, The TJ10 ESA is a special version of the TJ10.

And it doesn't cost THAT much, especially considering Bing cashback.

As far as the 932, eh I don't like how it looks, nor am I big fan of side-fans.
Click to expand...

When I changed over to the HAF My temps went down 10 degrees C just because of the cable management.......I guess if you don't the way it looks you wont buy it
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Back
Top