I needs me a case.

857 Views 22 Replies 13 Participants Last post by SupahSpankeh, Mar 17, 2009

SupahSpankeh

Discussion Starter · Mar 16, 2009

Hi all.

I skipped out on my birthday present a week or two back and in exchange for certain favours (PM if you need details; I can draw a pretty clear stick figure diagram) I've persuaded the wife to let me purchase a case. I'm moving away from lights and stuff, and this time around I'd like to focus on:

1. Airflow. AIRFLOW. Really, airflow. I have a 4870 in there and even at 50% fan speeds it likes to get the SB to quite toasty temps.

2. There's a chance there will be the pitter patter of tiny feet, and anything that doesn't fall over when a child sneezes at it will be appreciated. This may also be the last case upgrade for a while.

3. Soundproofing - not at the expense of airflow, but certainly important. It's in our living room as it's our combined media server and argument-avoidance device. the current case (Armor) isn't at all soundproof, but I like the style so I haven't changed it yet.

3a. Bottom mounted PSU
3b. I have a TRUE. Need space for it in the new case.
3c. 3 HDs, one optical drive.

4a. Cable management - I'm naturally lazy, so anything that helps me sort this out is a good thing.
4b. No side window - I've now seen the inside of a computer, I want it to be stylish, silent and powerful

So - I was thinking a CoolerMaster 1000. I don't mind a door at the front cos most of the stuff I use is downloaded anyway, and I don't think I've used the DVD drive in around 8 months (Steam for games, MMOs tend to have online distribution and I have a memory stick for anything up to 8GB). I rather like the idea of its cable management and "hidden" intake fans. Quite classy.

Thoughts? Suggestions? Complaints?

Thanks all for your time,

Me

See less See more

1 - 20 of 23 Posts

Robilar

· #2 · Mar 16, 2009

Coolermaster Sniper. It has built in fan controllers (so you can dial them back to quiet levels). PSU on the bottom, excellent airflow.

No side window

Excellent wire management

check out my review in the cases section

http://www.overclock.net/computer-ca...er-review.html

the coolermaster 1000 is excellent for soundproofing but really has terrible air flow.

See less See more

tofunater

· #3 · Mar 16, 2009

Antec 300 and get some sound proofing material. Simple, quality design, and dirt cheap.

Mmansueto

· #4 · Mar 16, 2009

What is your budget?

The cosmos is a nice case. I have owned one and I enjoyed it.

spaceballsrules

· #5 · Mar 16, 2009

YouTube - #865 - Cooler Master Cosmos 1000 Case Video Review

Reactions: 1

Fletcher Carnaby

· #6 · Mar 16, 2009

I love my Coolermaster 690. Affordable, solidly built (heavy imo), excellent ventilation (counting a zip-tie bay mod, I have 8 120mm and 1 80mm case fans), spacious, good cable management, classy-looking.... check out the 690 club in my sig.

Reactions: 1

SupahSpankeh

Discussion Starter · #7 · Mar 16, 2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mmansueto

View Post

What is your budget?

The cosmos is a nice case. I have owned one and I enjoyed it.

Around Â£150.

Good airflow?

See less See more

SupahSpankeh

Discussion Starter · #8 · Mar 16, 2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by spaceballsrules

View Post

YouTube - #865 - Cooler Master Cosmos 1000 Case Video Review

>.>

Nice, thank you very much indeed.

Do you think the "GPU cooling duct" will be of any consequence given I've got a 4870 with dual card slot cooling solution?

See less See more

SupahSpankeh

Discussion Starter · #9 · Mar 16, 2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fletcher Carnaby

View Post

I love my Coolermaster 690. Affordable, solidly built (heavy imo), excellent ventilation (counting a zip-tie bay mod, I have 8 120mm and 1 80mm case fans), spacious, good cable management, classy-looking.... check out the 690 club in my sig.

Have done, am looking at it now. Ta v much!

See less See more

SupahSpankeh

Discussion Starter · #10 · Mar 16, 2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by Robilar

View Post

Coolermaster Sniper. It has built in fan controllers (so you can dial them back to quiet levels). PSU on the bottom, excellent airflow.

No side window

Excellent wire management

check out my review in the cases section

http://www.overclock.net/computer-ca...er-review.html

the coolermaster 1000 is excellent for soundproofing but really has terrible air flow.

That is a pretty informative review. I must admit, I'm kind of torn between the storm/sniper and cosmos 1000. Do you really think the airflow in the 1000 will still suck even if I fill every available fan slot?

As I'm an AMD user and my motherboard only had certain retention holes available, my TRUE is positioned vertically (i.e. it blows up, towards the top of the case) and I think the Cosmos's bottom-to-top airflow fits with that. I'm kind of worried that the vast, meshy side door will introduce turbulence at best and at worse render the air pressure created by the top and/or bottom fans pretty redundant.

What do ya'll think? Sniper or 1000?

See less See more

Robilar

· #11 · Mar 16, 2009

Bear in mind the sniper has a nice big fan in the roof as well.

The Cosmos 1000 has very little air intake. There is plenty of air movement but its known to cook hard drives. Its biggest pro is sound management.

The Cosmos S (Which I also own) is far better for airflow but is a bit on the loud side.

BTW, the sniper storm has an on/off switch for the fan LEDS. If you have it in a media centre and don't want tons of blue LED, just turn it off

you can also link any other fan you add to the case to the daisy chain fan controller. that alone is gold in my book

See less See more

2

spaceballsrules

· #12 · Mar 16, 2009

YouTube - #1035 - Cooler Master Storm Sniper Case Video Review

SupahSpankeh

Discussion Starter · #13 · Mar 16, 2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by Robilar

View Post

Bear in mind the sniper has a nice big fan in the roof as well.

The Cosmos 1000 has very little air intake. There is plenty of air movement but its known to cook hard drives. Its biggest pro is sound management.

The Cosmos S (Which I also own) is far better for airflow but is a bit on the loud side.

BTW, the sniper storm has an on/off switch for the fan LEDS. If you have it in a media centre and don't want tons of blue LED, just turn it off

you can also link any other fan you add to the case to the daisy chain fan controller. that alone is gold in my book

Mmm. I can handle it if it cooks a few drives - they're cheap and I can always back up. I'm more worried about the CPU, GPU, NB/SB or RAM frying. They look like they'd be pretty secure.

Do you think there's any wasted air pressure in that setup? Not as a result of what you've put in it (I wouldn't have done it any differently) but if you have a large open mesh on the side, some pushing in from the bottom and extraction from the top, surely there will be a large amount of pressure lost in the mesh around the central fan?

That's the wife's concern anyway. She works in supercritcal fluid dynamics, and she didn't think it's too clever to have open mesh as part of a high pressure (relative to the outside) system.

Then again, the rest of the fans are certainly powerful and the raw power might make up for the lack of a closed system.

See less See more

2

Robilar

· #14 · Mar 16, 2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by SupahSpankeh

View Post

Mmm. I can handle it if it cooks a few drives - they're cheap and I can always back up. I'm more worried about the CPU, GPU, NB/SB or RAM frying. They look like they'd be pretty secure.

Do you think there's any wasted air pressure in that setup? Not as a result of what you've put in it (I wouldn't have done it any differently) but if you have a large open mesh on the side, some pushing in from the bottom and extraction from the top, surely there will be a large amount of pressure lost in the mesh around the central fan?

That's the wife's concern anyway. She works in supercritcal fluid dynamics, and she didn't think it's too clever to have open mesh as part of a high pressure (relative to the outside) system.

Then again, the rest of the fans are certainly powerful and the raw power might make up for the lack of a closed system.

Here are my case idle temps. I personally like the mesh aspect. The ambients inside cases typically go up when hot air is trapped and does not have an easy escape route. This case definitely does not have positive pressure but then again, it doesn't need it.

Attached are my idle temps. This is with my cpu overclocked to 4ghz (load is 52c across cores). My GPU tops out at about 50C as well.

And this is with all fans dialed to minimum. Note the hard drive temp...

See less See more

2

Andru

· #15 · Mar 16, 2009

Well, I got a cosmos 1000 case and its a great case. For improved airflow you should use the included intake fan to cool the HDD bays(there is an included adapter to do this) and buy a new intake fan with a higher CFM, preferably a 120x38mm

Phoebus

· #16 · Mar 17, 2009

The Antec 1200 has great airflow -- it stopped my two 8800 GTX's from cooking themselves. It meets all your criteria, but it is a bit on the noisy side.

SupahSpankeh

Discussion Starter · #17 · Mar 17, 2009

[In reference to "The Antec 1200 meets all your needs"] Mmm. Except for the large side window and rather garish LCD fans.

Cable management and cooling is top notch though...

grahamcrackuh

· #18 · Mar 17, 2009

You should really consider the cm 690. There's a good reason so many people on this form have one. Incredible airflow with 8 fans

.

The sniper is great too.

See less See more

hellr4isEr

· #19 · Mar 17, 2009

id suggest the antec p180.. mine is literally silent.. has all possible fans installed (antec tri-cools at low setting) and it keeps my 7750BE at 27C on stock which is great.. cools all 6 of my hdds as well.. its huge.. and lots of airflow.. did i mention its sound cancelling? great case to consider.. Also if u were to wanna mod.. i have an extra set of left+right+front panels.. lol

happyxix

· #20 · Mar 17, 2009

I vote the p182. Quiet, classy, and have cable management. It is supposed to run extremely quiet though I do not know if it can support a TRUE.

If you have more money I'd go for the silverstone FT01. Just got mine and its pretty nice.

1 - 20 of 23 Posts

This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.