I'm looking at building a new i7 pc and was wondering what case to purchase.
I want a full tower case, just for the size,space and cable management. no liquid cooling just fan. I will be running 2 x 580gtx, so i really want good air flow.
On December 10 2010 11:22 mav451 wrote: Well if you got money to burn look at the top then. Corsair, Silverstone, Lian-Li.
I've never had a dual-GPU setup though, so guys with SLI should chime in here.
Same. My not-so-educated opinion would be one of those Silverstone cases with the horizontally-mounted motherboards, just because that's awesome. I think they're RV02 or FT02. They're supposed to be good at cooling multi-GPU setups while being quiet.
No Need for case fans with this baller case, just get a table top fan!
by far the coolest case in the world
silver-stone is supposedly the "Best" but i have never owned one of their cases, Look for a case with plenty of room for fans, and air flow, and make sure it comes with dust filters.
i got an antec case won in a lan with a paint etc but i'm running my i7 at 4.2 ghz so i kept my old 20$ case , open on both side and a big fan blowing in it ... depend on what u want to do , put 150 in something to keep open, move in car often etc don't worth it
I recommend HAF 932. It does allow for liquid cooling (internal and external), but also has air flow through 5 out of 6 sides. Also allows mounting the power supply on the bottom....
I think a new generation of that case was recently released (HAF 942? I think), so maybe that one might be better. It comes with wheels, but I prefer to keep it tabletop.
On December 10 2010 12:16 Volkov wrote: I recommend HAF 932. It does allow for liquid cooling (internal and external), but also has air flow through 5 out of 6 sides. Also allows mounting the power supply on the bottom....
I think a new generation of that case was recently released (HAF 942? I think), so maybe that one might be better. It comes with wheels, but I prefer to keep it tabletop.
Usually known by its other name HAF-X (same thing as 942). I have a 932 and its awesome besides the fact that it has no dust filters and my computer is dusty as shit no matter what I do.
Since you obviously are rolling in the dough if you can afford 2x 580's, might as well splurge on a case as well.
I would go for a higher end silverstone/lian li case. Both of those manufacturers are known for making very, very nice albeit pricey cases. Make sure that PSU is bottom mounted, and you like the looks.
This case is gonna pretty terrible unless you are liquid cooling. Especially if you are trying to run multiple graphics cards.
Please explain?
The design is just flawed and the lone intake fan doesn't intake enough air. The whole chassis is also made of steel as apposed to the aluminum you see in most higher end cases. You can just google the name of the case/airflow problems and a lot of info will pop up. Basically if you try to only air cool and run two graphics cards your gonna get very high temps even if you add front and top intake and exhaust fans. A lot of people took out the stock intake fans and put in multiple high rpm fans and still got very high temps. The case just isn't ideal for air cooling. If your just building a basic system it probably isn't gonna overheat, but if your gonna build a high end system with more than 1 graphics card (especially nvidia graphics cards which run hotter than ati) then you shouldn't buy this case unless you are going to liquid cool everything.
This case is gonna pretty terrible unless you are liquid cooling. Especially if you are trying to run multiple graphics cards.
Please explain?
The design is just flawed and the lone intake fan doesn't intake enough air. The whole chassis is also made of steel as apposed to the aluminum you see in most higher end cases. You can just google the name of the case/airflow problems and a lot of info will pop up. Basically if you try to only air cool and run two graphics cards your gonna get very high temps even if you add front and top intake and exhaust fans. A lot of people took out the stock intake fans and put in multiple high rpm fans and still got very high temps. The case just isn't ideal for air cooling. If your just building a basic system it probably isn't gonna overheat, but if your gonna build a high end system with more than 1 graphics card (especially nvidia graphics cards which run hotter than ati) then you shouldn't buy this case unless you are going to liquid cool everything.
Thanks!
I didnt realise the airflow wasnt that good, i knew it was primarily a case for watercooling. I thought you could get away with it, although not ideal. Your very right though, temps wouldnt be as good especially with the 2 580s in SLI that run at like, 80C under load.
On December 10 2010 11:17 D3ath3nat0r wrote: I would recommend cases with dust filters so it will last longer and protect your PC components so maybe the antec 1200? its likes $150
Antec 1200 is an awesome case
I have the Antec 900, which is essentially a mid tower version of the Antec 1200, and my ambient temperatures does go past 40 C even when im on skype, itunes, sc2, xsplit, and firefox.
I am not sure about the 1200, but the 900 comes with 4 case fans, one of which is a gigantic 200 mm intake fan. I am sure that the 1200 will come with more than 4 fans, since its a full tower rather than a mid-size tower. So, there should be plenty of circulation to keep everything cool. No need to even consider going liquid cooling even if you are overclocking
On December 10 2010 16:18 absolutionsc wrote: In terms of air cooling, one of the best cases available is the Silverstone FT02. I've got it, and it is pretty damn nice.
Yeah. If you've got a fairly large budget (~$200) and you're going air cooling, nothing beats the Silverstone RV02 E/FT02, especially if they're got the new AP181s. Apparently only the black models have the new fans as standard because they sell far better than the silver version according to Silverstone anyway.
Probably the quietest case for high end systems too since the airflow design is so efficient. Not quite a full tower case (its massive but doesn't support eATX) but its without a doubt the best air cooling case in every single way.
On December 10 2010 16:18 absolutionsc wrote: In terms of air cooling, one of the best cases available is the Silverstone FT02. I've got it, and it is pretty damn nice.
This, in terms of good airflow that not only gets to your cards and cpu but also vents out of the case. Silverstone FT02 is great. It's also a great looking case with air filters etc. Silverstone Fortress and Raven both do great jobs in air flow, mostly because it sports alot of fans and they are right up next to the cards and cpu.
90 degree motherboards mounting. airflow goes in one direction and iirc, the gtx580 cooling system let's hot air release from behind, so it actually compliments with this case.
Well, if you want something extremely high end and expensive you can always go with a MountainMods case:
Enough room in that thing to fit pretty much anything (33 hard drives, 10 CD drives, and 4 power supplies, lol--plus a ton of room for massive water cooling radiators). Just about every aspect of it is easily moddable and customizable.
Personally I find it gaudy, but a lot of people like them. And it's one of the very few cases out there that will fit an SR-2 (not that that matters for an i7 build).
This case is gonna pretty terrible unless you are liquid cooling. Especially if you are trying to run multiple graphics cards.
Please explain?
The design is just flawed and the lone intake fan doesn't intake enough air. The whole chassis is also made of steel as apposed to the aluminum you see in most higher end cases. You can just google the name of the case/airflow problems and a lot of info will pop up. Basically if you try to only air cool and run two graphics cards your gonna get very high temps even if you add front and top intake and exhaust fans. A lot of people took out the stock intake fans and put in multiple high rpm fans and still got very high temps. The case just isn't ideal for air cooling. If your just building a basic system it probably isn't gonna overheat, but if your gonna build a high end system with more than 1 graphics card (especially nvidia graphics cards which run hotter than ati) then you shouldn't buy this case unless you are going to liquid cool everything.
Well, this is the case i own. And to be honest i've had no problems with overheating whatsoever. Only modification i made was changing the default intake/outtake fans to high speed, high cfm fans. I also added fans to all availiable slots.
I run a trifire system (4gb 5970 toxic @ 950 mhz, and 2gb 5870 toxic @950 mhz), an overclocked i7 960 (4.2 ghz) with coolermaster v8. Temps wise the graphic cards run at 25 (5970) - 30 c (5870) at idle, and under load the 5970 never goes above 48c and the 5870 stays just over 50. The cpu idles at 22 c, and under load goes to 38c -42c. This is a purly air cooled system, and as you can see the temps are far from anything you could term high.
Clearly this case was designed for water cooling (masses of room for radiators, tubing grommets at the back of case etc), but i have had zero heat problems through air cooling
On December 10 2010 17:51 onewingedmoogle wrote: what exactly is 90 degree motherboard mounting? i dont understand the difference between the raven case and any other tower
All your cards are mounted vertically in the case, i.e. all the cords come out the top of the case. It sounds weird, but read a little bit about thermodynamics and you'll understand why it makes a lot of sense.
On December 10 2010 17:51 onewingedmoogle wrote: what exactly is 90 degree motherboard mounting? i dont understand the difference between the raven case and any other tower
the back panel faces upward, so all the heat exits in one place.
If you're looking for great air cooling, you want the Silverstone Fortress FT2, the Silverstone Raven, the Coolermaster Cosmos, or the Coolermaster HAF X.
The Fortress is easily the best of the 3 cases in my opinion. Looks great, amazing build quality, easy to build in, and very efficient cooling.
On December 13 2010 04:36 FragKrag wrote: To be completely honest, the 300, 900 and 1200 are a bit dated in their design :/
I'd go with a better case at their price point. Lian Li and Silverstone cases generally have the classy look and the cooling capacity to go with them.
Antec's 300 900 1200 have good airflow but lack good cable management, I'm still for the raven v02 or the more aluminum Fortress V02, the HAF case is one that has good cable management it just is somewhat cheezy imo.
On December 12 2010 21:27 funk100 wrote: hmm, i would prefer dual 6850's or 6870's, TONNES cheaper
They also would not perform anything close to 2 580's in SLI. =p He's asking for a case not cards.