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Argh which case for better cooling Xaser II alu or Xaser III steel

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fenix_uk

Registered
Joined
Apr 3, 2003
Location
UK
Well after looking at expensive heatsinks and cheap watercooling i've decided that my TT Volcano 9 is working well enough and that the best chance of cooling further is to reduce ambient temps in my case.

I've decided my £20 case doesn't really cut the mustard and by the time i've finished modding and fitting fans i might aswell have bought a new case.

so the big question is do i go for


The Thermaltake Xaser II Alu

http://www.thermaltake.com/products/cases/6000.htm

or the Xaser III Steel

http://www.thermaltake.com/products/xaser3/v1000cblue.htm

Now the reason i'm looking at these 2 is they come with a lot of fans as std, include a fan controller and they look pretty good

The question is which one is gonna give me the best cooling.

Xaser II is aluminium so should be slightly better at dissipating heat but then again the xaser III has 2 more fans, a more advanced fan controller and is slightly larger.

I guess the real question is how much difference does case material have on effecting ambient temps?

And is a bigger case better for cooling?

Ps i don't want the lian li cooler master arguments by the time you've included fans and modding they are way over budget.
 
you won't notice the ifference between aluminum and steel except in price and weight.....ALso, have you looked at just a generic cheiftec/chenming dragon case?
 
Yeah looked at quite a few casesand was tempted by the dragon but The sheer amount of cooling holes stuck in these plus the fan controllers are what make them very tempting. Especially the 7 on the Xaser III

Well if i'm not really gonna notice a heat difference between alu and steel looks like it'll be an xaser III. Just wish somewhere had the black one in stock :p
 
I geuss 7 fans is quite a few, personally I like to choose my own fan spots and my own fans, but it'll do you well in the cooling department.
 
I just got the Xaser 3 blue steel today. I can assure everyone that if you take off the air filters (which don't restrict THAT much air but still...), the 10 amp fans will be very efficient. I'd say they are capable of AT LEAST 35 cfm.

The reason for getting a Xaser is so that ALL your components inside the computer get some airflow. There are NO heat pockets inside. Everything is circulating. I've got a ton of wires to obstruct airflow (including flat IDE cables), but it's still flowing like crazy.

If you want a case with tornado fans, then get something cheap for $50 and then buy the fans seperately. You will get the same result, but I still like the Xaser because it comes stock with all the goodies...and it looks damn amazing in light and in the dark!!!

Downside: the steel case I got is EXTREMELY HEAVY. On the other hand it's good for sound insulation.
 
One more thing: before the Xaser, at 60 celcius, my CPU would fail and BSOD on me. Now I can run CPU Burn while playing UT 2003 and nothing happens (62-63 celcius). I'm going to get a little more serious heatsink in the future (eg. SLK-900) or go all out crazy and get the Innovatek watercooling kit which will once and for all silence my CPU and GPU. :D
 
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