Will This Case Solution Work?

[Nebor]

Actually, I found a new case.... unfortunately newegg doesn't take paypal funds... so I'm waiting for paypal to transfer funds elsewhere.

Antec Fileserver Case

This thing seems really tall (is this the one that 950 has?) and it accomodates 5 80mm fans. I picked out 2 Antec 2600 RPM fans because only 3 come mounted in the case. So I'll be running all 5 fans, 2 front, 2 rear, one side, one HD (where's the HD one go?) Take into account the power supply fan, my vid card fan ,and my intel heatsink fan... and you've got one cool mama jama. Each fan is 30dB though... that might be kinda loud? Oh well, I want this thing to run coooool. The case comes w/ a 430w power supply.

I'm also getting two of these: HD Coolers to cool my hard drives.... and for the cool LEDs on the fronts. Also, the aluminum look should look good with my case... But I notice the case has a door that opens up top where the 5" bays are... would that door hinder the air flow from the HD coolers?

Any comments or ideas from anyone? ANything I'm doing wrong here? I realize this thing will sound like a harrier jet when I fire it up... but I don't really care, I have loud speakers and good noise blocking headphones. Anything wrong other than the noise?

 

[Lord Evermore]

You aren't going to notice the difference between like 2 case fans and 5. On behind the CPU and one in the side will really be all you need. Putting a front fan in hardly makes any difference, and the side fan would be better than a front fan could ever be.

The HD fan goes above the 2 front fans, there's a plastic mount hooked into the removable drive bay.

Keep in mind that Antec cases are just rebadges of Chieftec cases, you might get a better deal buying a chieftec with no PSU and adding a PSU. The file server cases aren't anything special either, they're the same design as all the other chieftec cases.

 

[Nebor]

I need a beast of a power supply.... I was wondering, do more powerful power supplies have more connectors? Because my current 350w Antec PS doesn't have enough connectors for everything.

 

[Nebor]

Ah... you were right, I looked at chieftec stuff, and found I case I like better. It's pretty much the same case, but it's black, and cheaper. It comes w/ a 450 watt I-Star Redundant Power supply though... can I trust that?

 

[Lord Evermore]

Dunno. The images should show you what the power ratings on it are. I'm guessing the quality will be alright as far as it putting out clean power and lasting, the output just may not be what one would expect from a good 450W. However, being a cheap PSU, it probably has limited connectors. The images may give you an idea on that too. I'm not sure how many you need though. Antec TruePower PSUs have so many connectors I've got an entire string unused in my system (though the fan-only connectors do reduce the need for the full power connectors). Something like 9 or 10 4-pin large connectors, and 2 floppies.

 

[Nebor]

I've never heard of I-Star before... but the difference between a chieftec case w/ a 450w PS, and one without one is only 38 dollars. So either it's a good deal, or that PS is crap.... What do you guys think?

 

[0roo0roo]

yup, right behind the bottom hd tray is the top fan. its a good design, lots of case air flow. i have one too aluminum to boot. that being said, 5 fans is good. why? lots of low rpm fans = quiet. lots of fans running at full speed = annoying though. buy a vantec nxp-201 one hook em all up to it and dial down the speed and you'll enjoy peace.

harddrive coolers are excessive, and loud. small fans = high pitched and annoying. its just not necessary witht that cases air flow. excessive cooling does no one any good, just creates noise and wastes electricity.

make sure to keep cables clean/folded and zip tied and your case will be perfect.

heres mine http://fox302.com/index.pl?s=vg&user=oroooroo&category=Case

i only bother turning up the fans at all if its like 100degrees outside.

i also hooked up the psu fans to the controller, but thats um harder to do.

 

[Nebor]

When I built my computer, I noticed my Antec PS said something like "If you open this box, you will likely die." Sooooo are you crazy?

And I don't care about noise, It lets me know I'm really USIN' a computer. Like the rumble of a v8 muscle car.

 

[Czar]

I have a Dragon full tower case, its big, very big, think thats the same case as you are looking at
http://www.grnetwork.com/hardware/cases/prod_detail.php?ProdID=DRG-S-F
this except mine doesnt have a door (pointless anyways)

I would recomend it if you need the space, but its also very heavy and most of the time has a bit more space than you realy need

 

[0roo0roo]

the door isn't pointless. it finishes the case, makes it look half decent. it muffles cdrom noise quite well to boot. also gives you the option of locking the power/reset etc from access.

as for psu being dangerous, yes, hence the warning. if you don't know anything about it, don't touch it

 

[Nebor]

So I-star is ok?