yet another Recommend a Case for Me thread

[nageov3t]

I'm feeling a little overwhelmed at all the options out there and I was hoping AT could help me narrow down some options.

my needs are relatively basic... all I want is the smallest case possible, that can still comfortably fit an ATX motherboard*, 4 hard drives (minimum; 6 would be nice, even if it was at the expense of an optical drive) and a full-sized video card.

my top goal is saving some desk real estate in my home office without sacrificing anything from my current system (and future expandability options)



*motherboard is negotiable if necessary, I've been thinking about upgrading it in the near future

 

[Blain]

We need a budget before launching our extensive case filtering programs.

 

[nageov3t]

We need a budget before launching our extensive case filtering programs.

hadn't even thought of it my budget is probably in the sub-$250 region, but willing to go higher for a case that's worth it.

 

[kleinkinstein]

How about you stay under a Benjamin with a Fractal Arc Midi or smaller still the 3000? Or upgrade that mobo and go lilliputian with the 1000.

BTW, for the life of me I don't understand why you would put your rig on your desk. Unless you live a floor-less hut and prone to flash floods, go and stick it on the floor where it was meant to live.

 

[Blain]

ATX MB support... 6 internal bays... save desktop space...

Gigabyte GZ-G2SGB Plus @ about $95 shipped

 

[nageov3t]

How about you stay under a Benjamin with a Fractal Arc Midi or smaller still the 3000? Or upgrade that mobo and go lilliputian with the 1000.

BTW, for the life of me I don't understand why you would put your rig on your desk. Unless you live a floor-less hut and prone to flash floods, go and stick it on the floor where it was meant to live.

thanks!

the floor thing is a combination of dust and heat paranoia, since I've got high-pile carpeting... also, I kept on kicking it accidentally

 

[T_Yamamoto]

How about you stay under a Benjamin with a Fractal Arc Midi or smaller still the 3000? Or upgrade that mobo and go lilliputian with the 1000.

BTW, for the life of me I don't understand why you would put your rig on your desk. Unless you live a floor-less hut and prone to flash floods, go and stick it on the floor where it was meant to live.

He wants ATX cases. Not Matx. Also. Your text is blue and very annoying.

Edit, upgrading, I see

But still would prefer atx over matx

 

[NickelPlate]

I'd say go for a mid ATX tower based on your description. True there are tons of them for all different needs and budgets and you'll get flooded with recommendations no matter where you go, most of which will be recommending what they are currently using (nothing wrong with that). Maybe just stick to the following more well known manufacturers of quality cases.

Antec
Lian Li
Coolermaster
Thermaltake (TT)

The link below has been in the hot deals section of this forum for a bit. Can't beat the sale price and it's a well reviewed product but you might want to do some research about it fitting a full size graphics card before buying. I imagine it would as my old Antec Sonata from 2005 that I'm still using fits a GTX670 FTW just fine which is full size.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...&SID=u00000687

Go to their websites and check out the specs and offerings and see what you like, then do some review searches to help you decide. Or just browse Newegg or one of the other large vendors and filter to only view mid ATX form factor. You can mount a HDD or SSD just about anywhere with the appropriate brackets and adapters.

 

[nageov3t]

btw... for comparison of what I want to downgrade from, my current case is a full tower, Antec P180 from 2004-5.

 

[NickelPlate]

Mid ATX for the win. It will be substantially smaller than what you have now. SFF cases are nice if small is your main requirement but cooling often suffers and there isn't alot of room to get your hands in there and work with stuff. Even in a mid ATX things can get tight if you have big hands and start filling it up.

 

[nageov3t]

still shopping around, but I think I've settled on wanting a case with a height of under 16" if that helps anyone think of anything

my current case is 21", and while 18" seems pretty common, I'm not sure I'd notice much of a space savings from a mere 3" chopped off the top.

 

[Termie]

still shopping around, but I think I've settled on wanting a case with a height of under 16" if that helps anyone think of anything

my current case is 21", and while 18" seems pretty common, I'm not sure I'd notice much of a space savings from a mere 3" chopped off the top.

You won't get under 16" unless you go micro ATX. The smallest ATX cases will be about 17" high. That would be something like the Fractal Core 3000, but I bought one and honestly didn't like it. Went with the Temjin mATX case instead.