Thinking about getting a new case

[mrblotto]

Hello all,
In my never-ending research for a new PC, I have almost neglected the case.....D'oh!

So far I have the following components 'set in stone' per se:
-EVGA 780i Mobo
-Q6600 CPU
-4G Corsair DDR2 800M RAM
-2 EVGA 8800GTX SLI (air cooled)
-Auzentech Prelude
-LSI LOGIC LSI00110 PCI Express 8x SAS/SATA RAID Adapter
-3 15K 73.4 SAS Drives (RAID 0, maybe 1....I dunno yet)
-1 750G Hitachi 7200RPM SATA drive
-2 IDE DVDR drives
-Cooler Master 850W PS
-Water Cooling solution (for NB/MCP, SB, CPU)

The case I have now is just a Plain Jane generic Full Tower case, nothing special. I'm thinking the SAS drives are gonna run quite a bit warmer than SATA drives, so airflow is critical. Also, things are quite cramped in there now with tubing and wires running all about.

Currently, I'm eyeing either the LIAN LI PC-A70A Silver Aluminum ATX Full Tower:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16811112140

or the LIAN LI PC-A71B Black Aluminum ATX Full Tower:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16811112144

Both of these cases have a flat top, which I require, as that is where the WC radiator would sit.

Does anybody have any other recommendations? I'd like to hear 'em.

Thanx as always!

 

[EarthwormJim]

Have you looked at the Silverstone TJ-07 and the Lian Li V2000?

Both are pretty good water cooling cases. The TJ-07 doesn't require any modding to fit a 3x120 radiator.

 

[mrblotto]

For some reason, I'm just not liking the Silverstone. Cant quite figure out why tho. The V2000 is one sweet case! However, my radiator is a 1 piece unit from Koolance, so it'll have to sit on top. Still though, the room in that V2000 is just cavernous!

 

[Zepper]

To isolate 15k drives if you are worried about noise at all, you may have to do a bungee or athletic shoelace suspension for them. I have the cable clamps you'll need in my listing in the FS/T section. The link is in my sig, below. Take a look at the Silverstone Temjin 5, Kublai 3 or XClio/Tagan Windtunnel/Obelisk (both the same case). Plenty of room, good or massive cooling potential. The Gigabyte Aurora 3D 570 or Enermax Uber Chakra might also be options.

.bh.

 

[mrblotto]

Naturally, I've changed up a bit...lol. I'm scrapping my current WC stuff (all Koolance), but will be implementing a WC solution in the near future (hopefully). So, it looks like the TJ-07 is the one. I'd like to run an internal rad (or 2), and the TJ-07 seems to be the one that can handle that. But it'll be air for awhile at first. I'm wondering how to cool the HD's then. I dont think I can put fans in front of the drive cage, at least not from the pictures I look at.......... *shrugs*

Edit: D'oh. what was I thinking. The drive cages are on the bottom with a fan on each one. I guess I was wondering if I am to put a rad (or 2) down there, then the cages will probably have to go (well, at least one of them). If thats the case (no pun intended), then the hard drives will have to be moved to the 5.25 bay area (using 3.5 brackets to secure them). I guess I could just slide them out a bit so a fan or 2 would fit in front of them.........

 

[DerwenArtos12]

Originally posted by: mrblotto
Naturally, I've changed up a bit...lol. I'm scrapping my current WC stuff (all Koolance), but will be implementing a WC solution in the near future (hopefully). So, it looks like the TJ-07 is the one. I'd like to run an internal rad (or 2), and the TJ-07 seems to be the one that can handle that. But it'll be air for awhile at first. I'm wondering how to cool the HD's then. I dont think I can put fans in front of the drive cage, at least not from the pictures I look at.......... *shrugs*

Edit: D'oh. what was I thinking. The drive cages are on the bottom with a fan on each one. I guess I was wondering if I am to put a rad (or 2) down there, then the cages will probably have to go (well, at least one of them). If thats the case (no pun intended), then the hard drives will have to be moved to the 5.25 bay area (using 3.5 brackets to secure them). I guess I could just slide them out a bit so a fan or 2 would fit in front of them.........

Most people will just move them up into the main area with either some adapters or their favorite active cooling solution. I guess if you're just using dual 120mm radiators you could retain one of the two hard drive cages but, don't quote me on that.