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Upgrade from Cosmos 1000 to mid-tower?

PCJake

PCJake

Senior member
Hey guys, I'm working on a build in General Hardware, but I wanted to ask this question here. What would you guys consider to be an upgrade from the Cosmos 1000 while still being smaller than the Cosmos 1000.

I have plenty of space for the Cosmos, but I've had it for five years and I'm bored with it - the reason I'm considering going with a smaller case is because I use air cooling and in theory they should be a bit better for that. I just don't want to feel like I've taken a step down in terms of quality and ease of use.

Edit: Here's my wants and needs:

1. Has to fit my Noctua NH-D14 (don't know if that's an issue with mid-sized cases)
2. I'll probably end up with a Geforce Titan (or whatever the updated version of that ends up being), so I need room for that.
3. Elegant design. Black on black all over with rubber grommets inside, and a mostly rectangular shape is the best for me.
4. Button panel on the front, not on the top.
5. Preferably no fans on the top of the case (#4 and #5 are related - my cat sits on top of my computer. Can't blame her.)

In a more broad sense, I want something that feels sturdy and has excellent airflow. I'm not too picky about noise, as long as it's not annoying, high pitched noise - I don't mind a bit of whooshing. I'll spend $250 to get a good case without hesitation, so I'm open to pretty much any suggestion.
 
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I would take a look at the Fractal Design cases. My desktop build is in a CoolerMaster HAF932... I thought that was a pretty sweet case, until I built my HTPC in a Fractal Define Mini... Fractal is first-class all the way. Now I'm trying to justify the $100 to dump the HAF and get another Mini case for my desktop.
 
I'd says size and cost != quality. Unless you're running 4 graphics cards and 10 HDDs, you don't NEED something the size of the Cosmos. The NXZT Phantom 630 is one example of a somewhat smaller, but still very high quality case.

Unless you go for a significantly smaller case (like a mITX or mATX case), there should be no difficulty assembling at all in any midtower case (unless you are Shaq, in which case God help you and your big hands).
 
Give your case some add-ons to help breathe a little life into it. That always helps because the same old thing will happen. You'll get board/tired of a new case eventually.

What helped me was getting quieter fans, and a HDD Power switch. I have 8 Samsung F3 1Tb drives and none of them are on unless I push in the power button.. It's made by Lian Li..
 
BTRY B 529th FA BN said:
Give your case some add-ons to help breathe a little life into it.
Click to expand...
I definitely agree with this in spirit--but case mods outside of the very easiest projects (swapping fans) are pretty demanding, both in terms of money (to get started) and in terms of skill required. It's best to either start small or have a really cheap "practice case" so you can get used to using the various tools.
 
Sleepingforest said:
I definitely agree with this in spirit--but case mods outside of the very easiest projects (swapping fans) are pretty demanding, both in terms of money (to get started) and in terms of skill required. It's best to either start small or have a really cheap "practice case" so you can get used to using the various tools.
Click to expand...

Not like taking a 4" hole saw and cutting 3 holes in the top for a 360 rad, hah 🙂

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Just small things. Even re-routing wiring can make me feel better about my case 🙂
 
BTRY B 529th FA BN said:
Just small things. Even re-routing wiring can make me feel better about my case 🙂
Click to expand...

Yeah, I know what you mean. A couple times a year I redo my wiring, and that's satisfying for a few days.

I'm looking for something completely new now, though. I'm really starting to come around to the idea of having a smaller case for air cooling purposes, and I'm thinking more modern cases are going to perform a bit better (not to the same degree as most other things in the computer realm, but still).

I wish my own aesthetic preferences didn't limit my choices so much - even a case like the NZXT Phantom PHAN-001WT looks BUTT-UGLY to me, but there's not much I can do about that. And that one is fairly tame in comparison to some that are popular on Newegg. I think the Lian Lis and some of the Fractals are quite beautiful. I also like the SilverStone Fortress series and the Corsair Obsidian 550D.
 
BTRY B 529th FA BN said:
What are your requirements and things you want out of a new case? Price range? etc.
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Well, my original plan was to get a Corsair 800D, but I don't water-cool so I've been guided away from that choice by the folks over in General Hardware in favor of something smaller. The 800D is $279.99 on Newegg, so I think I should be able to get pretty much any mid-size case available. Except for modded/painted cases that cost $500+ - I have no interest in those anyway. Here are my other requirements:

1. Has to fit my Noctua NH-D14 (don't know if that's an issue with mid-sized cases)
2. I'll probably end up with a Geforce Titan (or whatever the updated version of that ends up being), so I need room for that.
3. Elegant design. Black on black all over with rubber grommets inside, and a mostly rectangular shape is the best for me.
4. Button panel on the front, not on the top.
5. Preferably no fans on the top of the case (#4 and #5 are related - my cat sits on top of my computer. Can't blame her.)

In a more broad sense, I want something that feels sturdy and has excellent airflow. I'm OK with hearing the fans blowing, I really don't need a "silent" case. Just as long as it isn't high pitched, annoying sort of noise. I'll add all this information to my original post, I really should have done that in the first place.
 
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I've been thinking about this a lot last two days, and I just wanted to reaffirm something here - I need to get a case that does not have top fans (or at least has a cover for them when not in use, like the Corsair Obsidian 550D). Again, this is because my cat sits there. For the same reason, buttons on the front are preferable, but not as important - she'll step on the reset and power buttons once in a while if they're on the top, unless those are covered when I'm not using them as well.

Just wanted to emphasize this is high on my list of priorities. Continue with the excellent suggestions, please!
 
I can't say enough good things about the 550D. I've been using one for around 6 months and really like it. I have all the covers on and only use the front and rear fan and can hardly hear it. The quality is the same as the 800D (which I also have.) It's very solid and feels tight unlike a lot of other tinny cases I've used in the past.

The 550D is very expandable, so if your situation changes you can add radiators and such to it with very little trouble. I recommend the 550D to all my buddies when they are doing a 1-2 GPU build that demands a quality case. For exotic watercooling and such I look elsewhere.
 
Subyman said:
I can't say enough good things about the 550D. I've been using one for around 6 months and really like it. I have all the covers on and only use the front and rear fan and can hardly hear it. The quality is the same as the 800D (which I also have.) It's very solid and feels tight unlike a lot of other tinny cases I've used in the past.

The 550D is very expandable, so if your situation changes you can add radiators and such to it with very little trouble. I recommend the 550D to all my buddies when they are doing a 1-2 GPU build that demands a quality case. For exotic watercooling and such I look elsewhere.
Click to expand...

Thanks for sharing your personal experience - that's by far the most useful sort of comment to me. I'm looking forward to trying out the 550D.
 
You can always cover the top of a case with cardboard or something, to detour your cat's hair from getting into the case if you are partial to a case with fan mounts on top.
 
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