Want New Case

Last March I built my computer (see sig) and what I did for the casing was I bought a CHIEFTEC case for it. You see, at that time I was reading all about watercooling and everything so I bought a full tower chassis. We all know how big this is.

What I'm not thinking is that I'm not going to do watercooling. My temps are fine with air (System mid 20s and CPU mid 30s) and watercooling would still require some fans which wouldn't do away with sound altogether.

Here's what I'm thinking. Maybe I should go and get a smaller case (don't know what it would be called, a "desktop"?) and just transfer all of my current hardware from this full tower to that small case. That way it's a lot smaller in case I want to go to a LAN party or if I just want more floor space.

I also figured that a smaller case would do me good as far as the noise went. If I get a nice small case that has bays for, say, 2 x 120mm case fans that would be perfect I think. Right now as far as case fans go in my full tower, I have 4 x 80mm Sunons. And 120mm fans are definitely more powerful and have a higher CFM and most importantly...they're quieter! So I figured I'll get a small case with 120mm fan bays.

And about the power supply, should I purchase a case with a power supply already in it? The full tower that I have right now has a 420w psu in it. Could I just transport that over to a smaller case or wouldn't it be able to fit?

So that's what I'm looking at right now. I want to buy a small case with 120mm fan bays (I don't want it to come with the fans, I'll just buy a couple of real good 120mms at sidewindercomputers.com) and possibly with a power supply (350+ watts).

What do you recommend for my purposes?

Thanks!

Id say go for a smaller case. Never liked full towers anyway...

As for the PS, as long as its an ATX PS and it works well with that hardware, you can and should use it.

What do you mean by ATX? Is that brand or something? The PSU I have right now just came with the CHEIFTEC and I'm not sure how it would fit in a different case.



Thanks!

ATX is a form factor for computer parts. If it came in a standard pc case (besides the small dell's/gateways and micro cases) itll be an ATX PS. And ATX just refers to part dimensions, screw mounting hole positions and power connectors.

How could I know if it's ATX? Would it say it on the psu?

Yes it will say ATX. This is the most common form factor for hardware at the moment. Here's an example of some Antec power supplies at newegg:

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProdu...=58&manufactory=1516&DEPA=1&sortby=14&order=1

If you buy an ATX case then your current PSU will fit.

As far as the case goes for what I'm looking, do you guys have any specific recommendations? Like a good brand, quiet, what I'm looking for (120mm bays)?

Thanks!

Lite-On mid tower. Has 3 120 holes in back one behing the CPU and one behind the removable drive cage to kee them cool. I have 2 SCSI drives there. The PS sits above where the CPU goes. It a cooling fool. 4 ext 5.25's and 2 3.5's. Its slightly wider than a normal mid tower, and there fore lets you put the cables out of the way where they belong. About $100.

If you're not scared of using a dremel, you can "make" 2 120mm fans fit in the front of a Chieftec midtower. (This will mean no 3.5 bays, but there's still room for a few HDs in the 5.25 bays)

You could also put a 120mm blowhole on top.

If you don't want to do that,

this case has room for two 120s, and is pretty small.

The lite-on is an awesome case, but it's really big for a midtower.

Is midtower what I'm looking for? I mean, is it the smallest case? Thanks!

Yeah, I was just looking at that picture, and I think that's still a pretty big case. Anything any smaller than that? Thanks!

By smaller do you mean matx? That's about as small as a case is going to get if it comes with 120mm fan mounts.

Hmmm...I'm not familiar with the term "matx". But if it is standard as in all hardware "fits", then I would like to go smallest w/ 120mm bays. Any links to this type of case? Like I said, I'm not sure I'm familiar with it.

Thanks!