New case advice please

[WelshBloke]

Hi would appreciate some advice.

I've had my old case (antec soho full tower) for ages now and I think it?s time for an upgrade.
My rig is pretty quiet but I get a bit of fan vibration but the main noise is the seek noise (?) from the hard drives. I'd really want to get rid of that.

I've narrowed down my choices to:-

1) Antec SOLO (changed from P180)
2) CoolerMaster Stacker 830
3) Lian-Li PC V1000

1) Changed to Antec SOLO due to advice from bobthehost and Zepper.

The CoolerMaster looks like it does the job but looks a bit 'bling' for me.

The Lian-Li looks absolutely fantastic but I'm a bit worried about mounting my motherboard upside down (Abit AN8 ultra with a heat pipe cooler for the NF4 chipset). Also I've heard there are problems fitting some of the larger power supplies in them.

Thanks all.

 

[Bobthelost]

If you're not putting SLI in or more than 3HDs then check out the P150, in terms of noise it's better than the P180 (i have both). The PSU isn't one i'd chose normally but it is good enough.

 

[WelshBloke]

Originally posted by: Bobthelost
If you're not putting SLI in or more than 3HDs then check out the P150, in terms of noise it's better than the P180 (i have both). The PSU isn't one i'd chose normally but it is good enough.

Cheers for the reply.

I wont be going SLI but I'm up to 3 HDD's already and will be needing another soon (damn TV tuner card).

I dont need a PSU with the case as I'm transfering all my old stuff across.

 

[Boyo]

I would go with option #2. I hear the P180 runs hot and I don't like the mounting of the V1000...just my two cents.

 

[WelshBloke]

Looking at reviews of the coolermaster I'm swinging that way, it just looks a little star trek for me.

 

[Zepper]

I'd prefer the original Stacker (STC-T01) - one of the most geek'O'licious cases ever made. But even that is way more than necessary. Check out the new Antec Solo. Unless you deploy a bunch of drives or something, that's as much case as most anyone needs.

.bh.

 

[WelshBloke]

Originally posted by: Zepper
I'd prefer the original Stacker (STC-T01) - one of the most geek'O'licious cases ever made. But even that is way more than necessary. Check out the new Antec Solo. Unless you deploy a bunch of drives or something, that's as much case as most anyone needs.

.bh.

Hmmm the Antec Solo looks pretty similar to the P150 but without the PSU.

I certainly like the suspended hard drives. That one?s definitely a possibility.

Thanks

 

[AMDfreak]

" If you don't over-do it now, you'll likely do it over later." :evil:

Maybe you should also consider a Twice-7 from Mountain Mods?

 

[WelshBloke]

Originally posted by: AMDfreak
" If you don't over-do it now, you'll likely do it over later." :evil:

Maybe you should also consider a Twice-7 from Mountain Mods?

:laugh: LOL cheers but thats way too bling for me, I'm too much of an old fart for that.

 

[slpaulson]

I'd consider the Lian Li PC-7B Plus

 

[Zepper]

Beware the drive suspension scheme in the Solo - they made the bungees so they won't break and drop your HDDs as the 150 would, but they are now slippery so your drive can slide out. Use the tray mounts with the rubber bushing until they sort that rubber suspension out better. Or you could use cable clamps to hold the drive in. McMaster-Carr sells 'em for $4.00 per 100.

.bh.

 

[WelshBloke]

Originally posted by: Zepper
Beware the drive suspension scheme in the Solo - they made the bungees so they won't break and drop your HDDs as the 150 would, but they are now slippery so your drive can slide out. Use the tray mounts with the rubber bushing until they sort that rubber suspension out better. Or you could use cable clamps to hold the drive in. McMaster-Carr sells 'em for $4.00 per 100.

.bh.

I won?t be moving my case about so I wouldn?t have thought that there would be much danger of dropping a HDD.

I'm sure I can bodge something to make it more secure. It?s mostly just disk noise I can hear in my old case, that?s what I'm trying to get rid of.

Thanks for the advice

 

[WelshBloke]

I got the Solo and am very pleased with it.

Its a bit smaller than my last case so was a bit of a squeeze getting everything in, but now its all set up its great.

It does a good job of keeping everything cool (overclocked A64, x1800xl and 3 HDD)

I used the tray mounting for the HDD's in the end after seeing the mounting system (those rubber grommit things are bigger than i expected) and it is keeping them pretty near silent.

Its now a very quiet system about the only noise comes from the air flow of the rear 120mm fan.

The other thing I'd never thought about was the lack of door on the front. I much prefer this it looks a lot neater (and I have no need to lock the front of my computer at home).

So thanks a lot guys for the advice.

 

[sygyzy]

FYI - I bought the Lian Li PC-101 which is $200 case (not cheap) and very similar to the V1000/V2000 with the inverted power supply (sits at the bottom). Well I just returned it because of the way the PS compartment was designed. There is only about 0.5-1 inch of space for the wires. You have to bunch up all your cables and try to route them to a small hole that's all the way to one side of the compartment, so it can exit. With a modular power supply, this is impossible since the plugs are spread across the PS. Even with a non-modular PS, you'd have to pray that all the cables are bunched to the correct side of the PS so they line up. At first, I RMA'd my PS then ordered another one. Then I realized I'd have to play the PS exchange game until I found one that fit. No thank you.

BTW, Enermax has detailed CAD drawings of their supplies but none that show you how the cables are being outputted or positioned. Also, sites like eWiz have terrible pictures of the PS. Newegg is the best with pictures and angles but they don't carry most of the good PS's, at leas the ones recommended by Howard.