Yet Another Recommendation Request Please

[Kulamata]

My first build. This will be my last computer probably, and I'd like to future proof it as much as is reasonable. Over the next few years I expect to expand memory of course, and video cards. My main concern is the future length of video cards as they try to outdo Moore's Law.

Something like a Cosmos 1000 would be fine for space and cooling, but it's much larger than I'd like, though the depth is good.

Projected build: Unknown Nehalem Mobo.
4870X2 (??) initial GPU, possible SLI someday?
Floppy with card reader, so external 3 1/2 bay.
1 Veloci-Raptor, and a pair of RAID 1 SATA HDD's.
Plus the usual DVD RW, and a 650??? Watt PS.

I expect I'll buy one of JNCS' bundles with Mobo, CPU, Memory, and perhaps the Veloci-Raptor tested and burned-in.

Thank you for your thoughts.

 

[Zepper]

Welcome to the AT forums.

The Chenbro SR105xx series has about the lowest cases (~17.5") that can handle EATX mobos (13" deep) and cards even a bit longer than that. But some have only three 5" bays and one goes away if you need an external 3.5" bay (adapter included) - I think some others have a dedicated 3.5 external with the three 5" bays. On most like the XClio WT (windtunnel) or the Silverstone Kublai KL03 or Temjin 5, or the Gigabyte Aurora 3D 570 or the Enermax Uber Chakra, you get a bit of extra height with your length. The Kublai is a bit over 20" tall at the top of the ports panel.

Unfortunately, you can't find all the deep cases on Newegg with one simple search (one would think a search on EATX would do it, but nooooo - it only finds a few of them as their descriptions are very inconsistent). EATX will find some, 13" (max mobo length) will find some more and other characteristics like 5 or more 5" bays will find yet more or the word Extended-ATX or phrase "Extended ATX". just keep trying different relevant characteristics until you stop turning up new ones. I hope others here know of some more stumpy, long cases to suggest. I have a friend that has a variant on the SR105 (has the three external bays only) he may want to sell - LMK if interested.

From some more browsing I found that some of the Antec Titan server cases are supposed to be fairly short, but they are hard to find and many come with PSUs which may not be to very current standards. Antec has some Titan 550 cases w/o PSUs in their B-stock store - their shipping charges are usually very high, so you may find a 550 w/ PSU out in the retail channel for a lower shipped total. These are nice, heavy, server boxes though little known. The Atlas is similar but limited to short (std. ATX) mobos

If you don't mind paying less, the Rosewill R5600 series is an excellent, high-value box with 11" of card space. I doubt that any will go much over the 10.5" of the 8800GTX as and others as it would cut their market potential too much. See my review here: http://www.techimo.com/reviews under Cases and way down at the bottom of the list (Yeong Yang/Rosewill).

.bh.

 

[Zepper]

Added to and revised above.

.bh.

 

[Kulamata]

Thank you for the time and effort, it paid off handsomely. I was following up on your Antec 550 comments and came across the 650, which looks ideal. For some reason on NewEgg, the Antec Titan 650 hadn't come up using search, perhaps because they're out of stock, or it's considered an enterprise unit. Yes, the PSU is so 2007 :Q, but it has good reviews. Pretty much the sort of thing I was hoping to find, and at under $200 shipped, with a good substantial supply, 17.6" H by 23" D, and good reviews, it seems ideal. Any reason that comes to mind why I shouldn't go for it?

 

[Zepper]

Depends on how you are searching, I think the Titan 650 comes up under servers - looks like all the Egg has is the Titan Watercase. Provantage.com has a good price on the 650. Generally server cases aren't so careful about noise. The stock fans in the SR105xx are screamers, but IDK about the Titan...

.bh.

 

[Kulamata]

Reviews have said it's quiet. I had looked at the case and a few PS reviews; however, I was just reading the reviews of the separate PS on NewEgg, which has been discouraging; they seem to have a QC problem. Awkward, as the case is very appealing.

Edit: I moved on to following up on the Chenbro. Both the SR105 and 107 are of interest. I'd never heard of Chenbro, clearly an oversight.