Quote:

Originally Posted by geoxile;13349034
Looking for something that can fit 12" video cards mainly. Also concerned about the quietness and temperatures.

HAF 922 is a nice case that can fit pretty much any graphics card. If you can get to $160 get the HAF 932 advanced.

 

Fractal R3.
$100 on newegg.
Easily one the best cases on the market right now.

Not entirely sure if it'll fit a 12" card, but it fits cool and quiet perfectly.

 

NZXT phantom he he

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by hglazm;13349085
Fractal R3.
$100 on newegg.
Easily one the best cases on the market right now.

Not entirely sure if it'll fit a 12" card, but it fits cool and quiet perfectly.

Fits a bit above 11"

It was my first consideration and still is at the top of my list should I get a 11" or less video card

 

CM690II ad. it fits some massive cards in SLI just fine, great flow, water cooling friendly, pleny of bays for HDD. fits silver arrow I got mine for microcenter for $79.99 on sale

 

HAF922 or CM690 II Advanced.

 

Second for Cooler Master 690 II advanced.
Rosewill has some nice cases in that range; Armor and Thor look nice.
Zalman Z9

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by geoxile;13349304
Fits a bit above 11"

It was my first consideration and still is at the top of my list should I get a 11" or less video card

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5yG-_AS6To[/ame]

That's slightly over 12", so it's doable.

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by geoxile;13349034
Looking for something that can fit 12" video cards mainly. Also concerned about the quietness and temperatures.

For a 12'' graphics card, I assume it is HD6990.
To accommodate this card, space as well as thermal consideration should be taken.

Thermal consideration: because this type of card exhausts 50% of its hot air into the case via the card's front, management of this heat dump should be taken not lightly.

2 provisions ought to be made:-
1) establish a clear distinct and direct path for fresh air supply to the central located intake fan

2) establish a clear distinct and direct path for the internally dumped hot air to escape from the card's front to outside of case. This path must not go through the CPU heatsink-fan.
('Clear distinct' means: uninteruppted by other airflow. 'Direct' means: as short as possible the route is.)

As the card is installed with its intake fan facing the bottom of case, the typical solution for (1) and (2) is to have a bottom-side intake case fan(s) and top exhaust case fan(s).

I am using HAF 932 in the following pic to demonstrate. An alternative to supply fresh air to the card is to use a case bottom intake fan.
Many other cases (eg Rosewill Thor) can also work. These 2 cases are slightly above your budget though.

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hapa http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5yG-_AS6To That's slightly over 12", so it's doable.

So will a 6970 Lightning fit?

 

Fractal XL with upgraded fans and removed upper HDD cage. Quiet and should keep things cool, though in the end, a bit over budget.

R3 should do the trick as well.

*edit* people seem to have trouble reading and comprehending OP's before replying...

 

The HAF 932 and the CM 690 II are both amazing cases for large cards and cooling. My friends CM 690 II has an abundance of fans and cools his SLI 450's and i7 very well.

Now if your my style I would go with the NZXT Phantom

 

Since I already made this topic. What's a good case for a watercooling loop? Most likely just a CPU loop. Would the R3 or maybe the XL suffice? For that purpose I'm willing to extend my budget to 200USD.

Also, would a universal GPU cooling block be worth it vs. a full cover block? For both OCing and quietness. I'm mainly worried the VRMs won't be sufficiently cooled in the case of getting a GPU only universal block

 

CM690II. can mount of the 3 rands. 2 2x120 rads, one in top other in bottom. last one is a single 120 rad on the back exhaust fan spot, has pre drilled holes for the water tubes. many people have had great results with this case when doing custom water loops.

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by geoxile Since I already made this topic. What's a good case for a watercooling loop? Most likely just a CPU loop. Would the R3 or maybe the XL suffice? For that purpose I'm willing to extend my budget to 200USD. Also, would a universal GPU cooling block be worth it vs. a full cover block? For both OCing and quietness. I'm mainly worried the VRMs won't be sufficiently cooled in the case of getting a GPU only universal block

The XL isn't a purpose built WC case, but can be modified fairly easily to accommodate a lot of radiators and cooling capacity.

As to the GPU block, I would suggest a full cover option. Since you need room for a 12 inch card, it's likely to be fairly high end and therefore power hungry. You will need to keep the VRM's cool along with everything else for stability, longevity, and maximum overclocks!

 

Well, I mainly planned on going with the 6970, in which case it won't be 12" if I WC it. I was looking at the MSI 6970 Lightning like I mentioned, which is 12". Besides an OC, I see WCing a way to save space and X-fire. With a Sound card and dual slot video cards I just don't have that option but I think I might with WCing. In any case I guess I'll have to consider full coverage too.

 

When is the Xigmatek Elysium expected to hit the market?

 

I vote for the Phantom if you can get it on sale it is even better. Plus it can fit massive video cards in it.

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by thrasherht;13382814
I vote for the Phantom if you can get it on sale it is even better. Plus it can fit massive video cards in it.

Good case, great price. It's just that the OP wants a quiet case, and there are other options that work better to that end.

 

Aerocool XPredator !