need help in deciding between a couple of cases

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threepointone

Junior Member
Sep 17, 2006
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I've done a whole lot of research on cases. My primary concern is how good the cooling is. From all the reviews I've found, I've narrowed down the list to these cases:

Thermaltake Armor
Gigabyte 3d Aurora
Li-Lian PC-V1000
Temjin 6
Antec P180
Cooler Master Praetorian

it's ordered somewhat by preference.
Unfortunately, it's difficult to get side-by-side comparisons of these cases, since they're rarely tested with benchmarks, and when they are, the reviews always use different test systems.

HDD cooling is relatively important to me, as I greatly value my data and would prefer to keep their temperatures as low as possible. In general, cooling just about everything else will also be important to me, but I may opt for a water cooling system or nicer fans to make up for slighly deficiencies in the cooling.

Preferably, if sound levels can be kept down, that'd be great too.

The only real "spec" requirement is that it should have lots of HD bays and a decent number of 5.25" bays.

Looks aren't a major concern, but I don't want anything really flashy or ugly.

So does anyone have any preferences on anything on the list or have good/bad experiences with any of the above cases? Or some other suggestions (note, though that I've probably already passed on most of the cheaper cases and the REALLY expensive cases)

thanks!
 
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acegazda

Platinum Member
May 14, 2006
2,689
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Wow, those are all awesome case, wish I had the cash to get one. Out of those, though, I would have to take the gigabyte aurora. I like its design, has 2x 120mm fans and is thermally sound. The second choice would be the lian li, though significantly more expensive. ($40 or something) Also check out this. VinDSL showed this to me and looks killer for the price.
 
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Zepper

Elite Member
May 1, 2001
18,998
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The Aerocool Spiral Galaxies is basically the same as the temjin 6 for a lot less money, I also like the Aerocool Masstige (Bay Dream)/Coolview. The Aurora is basically a stretch CM Centurion for the WCing niche. The Tt Armor is way to big for any sane person. The Praetorian is superbly made like the Wavemaster but it has a mobo drawer so the exhaust fan is only 80mm, but that can be dealt with. The Antec 180 is not for anyone considering WCing - it is specifically designed to cool well and quietly on ordinary air.

But none of the ones you listed, or that I mentioned above, meet all of my casitude criteria OOtB that can be found in some budget cases at $50 and under - except maybe the P180... But none are beyond redemption with a little work.

.bh.
 
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Operandi

Diamond Member
Oct 9, 1999
5,508
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I really like the CM Praetorian, I think I?ve used about 5-6 of them now. It?s one of the best looking and built cases I?ve used; tied with the Lian Li V series.

The only downside is the 4x80mm fan setup not being as optimal as a 2x120mm case. And the silly Praetorian (WTF is ?Praetorian? anyway?) name plastered on the front bezel but that comes off with some light sanding with no damage to the case itself.

If you are not going to be putting seriously hot hardware in the case I wouldn?t have any hesitations going with the Praetorian.
 
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gabags

Junior Member
Sep 19, 2006
6
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Originally posted by: Zepper
But none of the ones you listed, or that I mentioned above, meet all of my casitude criteria OOtB that can be found in some budget cases at $50 and under
Click to expand...

Zepper - What are your "casitude criteria"? I have seen you recommend the Rosewill because they meet the criteria, but I am curious about what they are.
 
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Zepper

Elite Member
May 1, 2001
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- 120mm fan mountings f/r
- normally oriented HDD bays not too tightly spaced - sidesaddle acceptable if some attention has been paid to air flow
- some HDD isolation (rubber mounting)
- indirect noise paths at the front (IOW, air vents at sides or botton of bezel, any front venting louvered)
- some "modern conveniences": toolless features, removeable drive cages, etc.

.bh.
 
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Caldenfor

Member
Sep 22, 2006
114
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Zepper knows his stuff and as linked above by the VinDSL friend, the Raidmax Smilodon is what I plan on ordering and having a front 120mm and an adapated rear 120mm fan setup, just working on picking my fans out for nice quiet love fest.

Dave
 
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acegazda

Platinum Member
May 14, 2006
2,689
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Originally posted by: Caldenfor
Zepper knows his stuff and as linked above by the VinDSL friend, the Raidmax Smilodon is what I plan on ordering and having a front 120mm and an adapated rear 120mm fan setup, just working on picking my fans out for nice quiet love fest.

Dave
Click to expand...

that would be me:p
Zepper, how good is this case? Front 120mm fan, bracket for one in the rear, side facing hdd rack, what do you think? For $50 shipped, it caught my eye.

EDIT: got the link right...
 
SparkyJJO

SparkyJJO

Lifer
May 16, 2002
13,357
7
81
apparently that is one of the sites that the word is filtered by AT for some reason. AT doesn't like LED shoppe . com (without the spaces) either, really strange.
 
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quicksilverXP

Senior member
May 24, 2003
483
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Just bought an Enermax Chakra case. It's only 69 dollars (less than 60 at some places) and it comes with a side 250mm fan. Has spaces for 2 120mm fans (a front cage to cool three hard drives). The front panels are all mesh for goof airflow and you can control the direction of the fan (intake/exhaust). I use it as an exhaust as my X1900 packs on the internal heat.
 
BonzaiDuck

BonzaiDuck

Lifer
Jun 30, 2004
16,674
2,047
126
The Centurion is a decent case, depending on which of the several models you get.

I have a terrible bias for full-tower cases. In one perspective, they present a certain type of cooling problem -- balancing the amount of intake and exhaust airflows -- for mixing warm air in a larger space. In the other perspectve, especially if the motherboard and heat-generating components are ducted -- they are easier to cool with a slightly-pressurized balance of intake and exhaust.

My other bias is for resurrecting old, AT-era cases. My Conroe project will use a 1995 Compaq Proliant Server case -- huge even in comparison to the CoolerMaster Stacker vanilla-models. The motherboard pan is large enough that I can put in a full-size ATX mobo after drilling an extra hole for "ATX compliance" -- and add probably two CoolerMaster "cross-flow" barrel-fans. The front hinged-door opens to a set of hot-swap hard-drive trays, and the rear of that drive cage has a large frame for installing 120mm fans oriented in the case-center (less noise).

But INtel announced recently that they are giving away some significant prize for anyone who can design the most stylish and compact HTPC (and case).



 
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acegazda

Platinum Member
May 14, 2006
2,689
1
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Originally posted by: BonzaiDuck
The Centurion is a decent case, depending on which of the several models you get.
Click to expand...

which ones are good and which one's arent'?
 
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gabags

Junior Member
Sep 19, 2006
6
0
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Originally posted by: quicksilverXP
Just bought an Enermax Chakra case. It's only 69 dollars (less than 60 at some places)...
Click to expand...

Is that $69 shipped? If so, where did you find it? $75 shipped is the cheapest I could find so far. (Had almost decided on a PC-7b plus ii, until I stumbled across this one. Now I can't make up my mind, but that is another story...)
 
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threepointone

Junior Member
Sep 17, 2006
11
0
0
I've narrowed down my list a bit more:
thermaltake armor
gigabyte 3d aurora
temjin 6 / Aerocool Spiral Galaxies

Praetorian would be on the list, too, but I'm really, really confused with all the different model numbers within the praetorian group and I'm not sure which ones are actually good.

From a number of reviews I've read, the thermaltake armor cools HDs extremely well, but is slightly worse off in all the other categories. I know it's HUGE, but there's something that I seem to really like about the hugeness of the case. I've got a lot of custom LCD/modding ideas for the front panels.

The gigabyte aurora is worse off than the armor in terms of cooling HDs, but it's better in the GPU/CPU/etc... department. It's similar in cooling performance to the thermaltake shark (which I don't list since it's a lot more expensive for roughly the same stuff)

I'm not entirely sure if I'll go for water cooling, though. I might, if I end up with enough excess in my budget. So, does anyone know which case has more potential for air cooling? Is there any method to cool the HDs in the Aurora even more without increasing the temperature of everything else in the case? Likewise, would it be simple to decrease the temperature of the GPU and CPU with more / different fan configurations for the Armor case without compromising its HDD cooling?

Sorry if some of these things about cooling/cases are supposed to be obvious; this is going to be my first complete system build. I've got no experience with fans or anything, except from what I've been reading. Upgrading from a really old P4 dell 4400 O_O


A couple of reviews I've been using for these cases:
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/other/display/gig-3d-aurora_11.html
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/other/display/tt-cases_37.html

edit:

how effective do you think a side fan for the armor is? would that, or a modification to the side cover perhaps bring the temps down to something similar to the gigabyte's side ventilation?
 
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