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Knowledge and your opinion wanted (and respected!)
- Thread starter gsadan
- Start date
- Joined
- Oct 11, 2005
- Location
- Tau'ri
12"" wide case to allow for larger heatsinks. and leave room for mounting hdds behind the tray.
12-14" deep, to handle x58 motherboards and EATX standards, 8 PCIE expansion slots, at least an inch on top and bottom of motherboard for clearance and wire management. Maybe even more on the bottom to handle multi GPU setups and oversized VGA heatsinks.
Vertically mounted motherboard and above that, a vertically mounted (IE on its side) PSU and one or two vertically mounted optical drives.
Leaves plenty of room to get your hands in the motherboard tray. Vertical orientation for more efficient heatpiped motherboard heatsinks. 140mm fans in the front of the case for cooling mobo tray and hdds while running cool (at least 2, altohugh 3 would be nice) 140mm rear exhaust, or 2x120mm if at all possible.
side panel should have 1 or 2 120mm fans for DAC cooling the VGA cards and NB/RAM.
fans in top for exhausting hot air. (If fans are high speed then this would be less necessary).
HDDs flat mounted behind motherboard tray.
12-14" deep, to handle x58 motherboards and EATX standards, 8 PCIE expansion slots, at least an inch on top and bottom of motherboard for clearance and wire management. Maybe even more on the bottom to handle multi GPU setups and oversized VGA heatsinks.
Vertically mounted motherboard and above that, a vertically mounted (IE on its side) PSU and one or two vertically mounted optical drives.
Leaves plenty of room to get your hands in the motherboard tray. Vertical orientation for more efficient heatpiped motherboard heatsinks. 140mm fans in the front of the case for cooling mobo tray and hdds while running cool (at least 2, altohugh 3 would be nice) 140mm rear exhaust, or 2x120mm if at all possible.
side panel should have 1 or 2 120mm fans for DAC cooling the VGA cards and NB/RAM.
fans in top for exhausting hot air. (If fans are high speed then this would be less necessary).
HDDs flat mounted behind motherboard tray.
- Joined
- Jul 15, 2008
- Location
- Suffield, Connecticut
That case would be extremely large. Why don't you keep the vertical mounting of the PSU, but move it to the other side of the motherboard tray, rather than on top of it? That would shave off about 6 inches of IMO unnecessary height. If you could imagine what I'm talking about, the end result would be something similar to the NZXT Panzerbox, but with the PSU on the back of the motherboard, rather than in front of it next to the GPUs. Then you can have vertical HDD mounts on the back of the motherboard tray for a few drives, and vertically mount the opticals as well. That way the case would be about a foot wide in total, and about a foot tall, with maybe 12" in depth. A perfect cube.
- Thread Starter
- #24
Thank you everyone for this input. I just tried to respond to each comment in one post but somehow I got logged out of the forum and lost my lengthy posting when I pressed submit. Please keep it coming - the project ends on the 7th of November and I will post about the final outcome around that date.
All comments have been constructive and intelligent, I like the direction this feedback is coming from and will try to present back to you guys the end result in the same way.
Thanks
Dan
All comments have been constructive and intelligent, I like the direction this feedback is coming from and will try to present back to you guys the end result in the same way.
Thanks
Dan
Last edited:
- Joined
- Apr 24, 2009
- Location
- Yawn, Ohio
I can't give a whole lot on strictly gaming, as I do everything with my rig. And for LANs, if they were to happen, I don't mind the weight. These features may not be applicable to just gaming, but forms of them may.
Size
I prefer for all intents and purpose, a full tower. Or larger mid-size. Enough room for excellent airflow, large heatsinks and videocards. A little extra wide would be beneficial, to allow a lot of organization behind the motherboard.
Looks
Black, black interior. Steel gray looks incredibly dated any more, and makes even managed wires stand out and look ugly.
Rectangular side window only, not showing the HDDs. No one is really interested in those.
No ridiculous looks. My only gripe with my 1200 is the top and side window, only cause of the mesh. Not "rugged" looking, but not boring. I like the mesh grilles in front, the size, etc. I'd prefer the classier looks of the P Antec series, but I do not have the bank for them or skills to add windows.
Function
3 5.25 bays. Enough for minimum one optical drive, and two optional things like front audio panels and temp sensors. In my case, two opticals as I do a lot of disc-disc copying. (don't want hundreds of authentic cd's sitting in my car at work or school)
No proprietary fan power grids/etc. For example, one molex off the PSU feeds one large strip that can power devices plugged into it. Just one more link to break, one more part to get in the way, and generally makes wires look more cluttered.
Room for minimum 3 HDD, with brackets for SSD use. Two for a RAID, and a third for media. Full tower/mid could obviously have more. As someone suggested, removable brackets if the user wants to W/C with internal RADs.
Bottom mount PSU. I feel PSU manufacturers will start making the ATX and ATX12V longer as bottom mounting becomes more common place. I just like the weight being at the bottom, easier to keep cooler.
Thumb screws for nearly everything.
Removable mobo tray. I never had experience with one, but enough people ask for them.
No "tools free" stuff, unless it's a thumbscrew. Tools free from my experience has been one more step to the building process, one more part to lose, one more part to break. Lucky the case is still usable when a part breaks, just takes more time. No thanks.
Wire management holes everywhere. Underneath the mobo, above, all the way down the side. Not just one hole either, individual holes. if possible, some on the left side, for wires such as front audio wires or firewire wires. Holes in the mobo tray to allow them to snake up and around? And for larger mobos, provide holes as well. Holes by drive bays, for power and data cable.
Brackets to support the weight of larger videocards against the chassis. Beneficial for gaming if people plan on moving to LANs. Last thing you need is a 300 dollar card biting the dust from a connection snapping.
Cooling
At least a side fan, two rear fans, 1-2 large diameter fans on top, room for intake fans. Provide a few fans at least. Enthusiasts will know what they need and want. Bottom fan for the more VGA oriented setups to help with the side fan.
Enough PCI slots for a minimum of 6 PCI cards. VGA you figure takes two, then sound card, then raid card, then NIC. Depending on the mobo layout, you want those components to be able to breathe and organize wires to and fro with ease.
Front USB, Audio, with wires long enough to be hidden and still reach wherever a mobo manufacturer decides to place their plugs.
Easily removed filters on any intake spots.
Sorry for the lack of organization, I am just thinking off the top of my head. I know some of these aren't completely relevant, but I do not strictly game or require massive VGA processing. I also like the looks, space, and cooling of a larger case. -shrug- Hope some of this is applicable or useful.
Size
I prefer for all intents and purpose, a full tower. Or larger mid-size. Enough room for excellent airflow, large heatsinks and videocards. A little extra wide would be beneficial, to allow a lot of organization behind the motherboard.
Looks
Black, black interior. Steel gray looks incredibly dated any more, and makes even managed wires stand out and look ugly.
Rectangular side window only, not showing the HDDs. No one is really interested in those.
No ridiculous looks. My only gripe with my 1200 is the top and side window, only cause of the mesh. Not "rugged" looking, but not boring. I like the mesh grilles in front, the size, etc. I'd prefer the classier looks of the P Antec series, but I do not have the bank for them or skills to add windows.
Function
3 5.25 bays. Enough for minimum one optical drive, and two optional things like front audio panels and temp sensors. In my case, two opticals as I do a lot of disc-disc copying. (don't want hundreds of authentic cd's sitting in my car at work or school)
No proprietary fan power grids/etc. For example, one molex off the PSU feeds one large strip that can power devices plugged into it. Just one more link to break, one more part to get in the way, and generally makes wires look more cluttered.
Room for minimum 3 HDD, with brackets for SSD use. Two for a RAID, and a third for media. Full tower/mid could obviously have more. As someone suggested, removable brackets if the user wants to W/C with internal RADs.
Bottom mount PSU. I feel PSU manufacturers will start making the ATX and ATX12V longer as bottom mounting becomes more common place. I just like the weight being at the bottom, easier to keep cooler.
Thumb screws for nearly everything.
Removable mobo tray. I never had experience with one, but enough people ask for them.
No "tools free" stuff, unless it's a thumbscrew. Tools free from my experience has been one more step to the building process, one more part to lose, one more part to break. Lucky the case is still usable when a part breaks, just takes more time. No thanks.
Wire management holes everywhere. Underneath the mobo, above, all the way down the side. Not just one hole either, individual holes. if possible, some on the left side, for wires such as front audio wires or firewire wires. Holes in the mobo tray to allow them to snake up and around? And for larger mobos, provide holes as well. Holes by drive bays, for power and data cable.
Brackets to support the weight of larger videocards against the chassis. Beneficial for gaming if people plan on moving to LANs. Last thing you need is a 300 dollar card biting the dust from a connection snapping.
Cooling
At least a side fan, two rear fans, 1-2 large diameter fans on top, room for intake fans. Provide a few fans at least. Enthusiasts will know what they need and want. Bottom fan for the more VGA oriented setups to help with the side fan.
Enough PCI slots for a minimum of 6 PCI cards. VGA you figure takes two, then sound card, then raid card, then NIC. Depending on the mobo layout, you want those components to be able to breathe and organize wires to and fro with ease.
Front USB, Audio, with wires long enough to be hidden and still reach wherever a mobo manufacturer decides to place their plugs.
Easily removed filters on any intake spots.
Sorry for the lack of organization, I am just thinking off the top of my head. I know some of these aren't completely relevant, but I do not strictly game or require massive VGA processing. I also like the looks, space, and cooling of a larger case. -shrug- Hope some of this is applicable or useful.
- Joined
- Aug 28, 2009
- Location
- Toronto , Canada
Something with a very deep right side panel. So no worrys about if the case will close or not 
- Joined
- Jan 20, 2009
I don't know how you figure that.. I don't have any atx cases here that are comparable in size to this. The case would need to be another 4" taller to handle a full atx board.
- Joined
- Jul 15, 2008
- Location
- Suffield, Connecticut
Lets say you completely removed everything from the inside of the case. It has about the same volume and dimensions as my Antec 300. The space is just used in a different way. That's all cases are really. Finding different ways to house the same components with less volume. That's my challenge, at least.
- Joined
- Oct 11, 2005
- Location
- Tau'ri
If you put the PSU behind the mobo tray, you would be looking at a case much larger than 12" in width. Well, at least if you want room to mount a nice heatsink in it.
MY method would leave only an inch of two of unused space for mounting HDD flat again the back of the mobo try could easily fit 3 in there at least, with enough space around it for airflow.
The base of my design might be 12x12 but it would be about 20" tall.
In fact since it is so tall screw it. pop feet on the top and bottom of it so you can flip the case over and run it R-ATX style if you like. for extra stability.
I was trying to leave everything easily accessible but still having enough room in the mobo tray area for people like me with big hands
The PSU behind the mobo tray would work, something like a MM case, but not nearly so huge, and expensive. just have it at 12" deep, 16" wide and and 15-16" tall
- Thread Starter
- #30
just so you all know - it's going to be a regular ATX case. I could propose another micro ATX if I had a strong enough argument and I'm sure there is one out there but I don't have the time to focus on both so it's going to be full size ATX for now
If you feel MATX has benefits other than space-saving and portability please let me know!
Thanks everyone!
Dan
If you feel MATX has benefits other than space-saving and portability please let me know!
Thanks everyone!
Dan
- Joined
- Apr 24, 2009
- Location
- Yawn, Ohio
just so you all know - it's going to be a regular ATX case. I could propose another micro ATX if I had a strong enough argument and I'm sure there is one out there but I don't have the time to focus on both so it's going to be full size ATX for now
If you feel MATX has benefits other than space-saving and portability please let me know!
Thanks everyone!
Dan
Woot! So a lot of my ideas are plausible. =D
