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Best Functional Case??

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JimmyG

Member
Joined
Apr 21, 2001
Location
Michigan
I'ver searched the forum and could not find a "Best Case" thread.

I think one of the mods should start a survey thread to have folks vote on the best case "functionally." I don't mean which one is pretty. I mean which one is the best for overclocking!

What do you think?
 
Well what makes it difficult is each user has their own specific needs, Some need plenty of room for extra storage, Water setups, Etc, Some like me have pretty simple setups that don't require alot of extra room. Just like looks, What is functional is also in the eye of the beholder.
 
To me functional means that there are plenty of places to put fans, there are no plastic fan holders (you can't isolate the fan with rubber isolators when the case has those silly fan holders), there is a good layout for cables, there are easy to remove drive bays, there are front panel connectors for USB, Fire wire, sound, etc., there is a reset button on the front panel (it amazes me that some cases don't have a reset button), there is an easily removable mobo tray, and the front panel drive bays are easily accessible.
 
I think the best full tower case is coolermaster stactker, the first one that they made. For midtower I give it to antec p180. I like my realestate to be heavy.
 
I have had antec 1080's, thermaltake tsunami, thermaltake armour, coolermaster stackers, and my p160w I have now is my favorite hands down, from looks to wire managment to utilization of space interior and exterior and also very light. Best case I have ever owned.
 
Antec P180 is m fav. Been though alot of cheap cases <70 and I dont like em almost all > 100 doolars cases are awesome.

hope it helps

Hl2dxcrt
 
JimmyG said:
To me functional means that there are plenty of places to put fans, there are no plastic fan holders (you can't isolate the fan with rubber isolators when the case has those silly fan holders), there is a good layout for cables, there are easy to remove drive bays, there are front panel connectors for USB, Fire wire, sound, etc., there is a reset button on the front panel (it amazes me that some cases don't have a reset button), there is an easily removable mobo tray, and the front panel drive bays are easily accessible.


Sounds just like a Lian-Li case.
 
I have myself an Antec P180 right now, have had it for maybe a 6 months or so.

Pros: I really enjoy the look of it/removable drive bays and the cooling it provides for how quiet it is.
Cons: It's very heavy, at first i didnt especially care but lately i find myself moving it a lot and i find it's a pain. While the PSU on the bottom is good in theory, wire management becomes somewhat of a hassle. On my current motherboard (The one in my sig) the 4 pin power connecter is at teh very top left of the motherboard right by the I/O port. which is perfect if the PSU were on top...i found a solution by routing it behind my case.

The case im thinking about getting now is the ThermalTake (Disgusting!) Armor Junior. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811133017
 
I have the Antec Sonata II, which doesn't quite satisfy your needs (no mobo tray, PSU at top-left of case restricts your options severely), but I wanted to throw in a big vote for removeable filters, if you can get them :beer: they rock.
 
Lian Li FTW i love both that i have... i have a PC-67 silent edition for my HTPC and a v2000B plus 2 full tower case for my main rig... and i can tell you I LOVE the AWSOME ammounts of space inside my main rig airflow is CRAZY good and the way i have it setup it just makes the case shine... i have a scythe kama bay with a 120mm yate loon that pulls cool air in and pushes it directly to another yate loon thats on my ultra 120... then out the back through another yate loon... this is all in literally a straight line. and for gfx i have the side exaust (guess what another yate) pulling air from the rear pci slots above my 8800gts which pulls the hot air out of the vents on the gfx cards cooling out of my case... Heck my case temps never get more than 2*f above outside the case ambient temp
 
my coolermaster 830evo is everything everyone said it would be.

I miss a window, but the vast quantity of fans is simply ridiculous. 9 drive bays is also nice.
 
btw, P180 looked nice, but mid tower is too cramped for me. for air I bet its great. for water, not enough room to breath.
 
Oh, I forgot to mention, it needs to have easily removable and washable filters.
 
Rattle said:
I have had antec 1080's, thermaltake tsunami, thermaltake armour, coolermaster stackers, and my p160w I have now is my favorite hands down, from looks to wire managment to utilization of space interior and exterior and also very light. Best case I have ever owned.

I have the p160 so, I'm gonna 2nd that one. For me, I had had enough of the door opening and closing over the drive bays.
 
meionm said:
I think the best full tower case is coolermaster stactker, the first one that they made. For midtower I give it to antec p180. I like my realestate to be heavy.


Seconded.

I have the stc-t01 stacker and its HUGE

dual PSU bays, with HDD dapters can hold up to 15 Hard drives, the front is all grilled so plenty of airflow and even has on optional 300mm blower for the motherboard. (I dont own that though)

For anything smaller though I would buy cheap and mod the heck out of it :)
 
RIG RIDER said:
Cooler Master Stacker STC-T01-UW1.
Link is in my SIG for my Blacker Stacker.

Hey RR, very nice looking rig!!!

When can you have mine ready? Don't need any water cooling mods, staying on air for now.


Ps. What is the deal with the upper PSU? Is it just filling hole?
 
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