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SOLVED New MidTower Case Help

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glazer1972

Member
Joined
Jul 31, 2003
Location
Lufkin,TX
Going to have to replace the 5 year old Antec Solo now. Daughter thought she was hitting the on button and she was hitting the restart. Of course since it didn't start up she kept pushing and broke it. I had already super glued one side of the start button. Not sure super glue would hold both sides of the restart button. Of course I could use a case with better cooling and we are making a trip to Houston which has two different Frys and a Microcenter.

Looking for a MidTower to house the system below. I don't care for Windows and I don't care for LEDs. I would be ok with a vented side. Would like one with good airflow and cable management. Would like all the fan mounts to be at least 120mm and would like a bottom mounted PSU this time. Would also want the cutout so I can change the cooler backplate. Probably going to have to buy some fans too. I only have a Nexus 120mm and two 120mm Antec Tricools.
 
Fractal Design Arc Midi
Fractal Design R3 (Will be a lot more silent; but not as good airflow as the above.)

I've used the Fractal Mini before (The small version of the R3) and it's a fantastic case to work with. nice finish on both the front and the body. Nice powdercoat type finish.

Note with the R3 you cannot remove the HDD cages so you'll be limited in GPU length.

Antec Solo II looks okay. But not sure about airflow on that one..
Antec Three Hundred Two looks decent; and you could use 2 of your tri-cool fans on the intake; and leave the rest as is.

Are you after silence? Performance? Or both?
 
Well, I've just ordered the Silverstone TJ04-E, has to be the most beautiful case around.

The Fractal Design R3 is a great case so long as you only want to air cool it. A dual rad cooler like the Corsair H100 will not fit in that case. I know as I have one, which I transferred my HTPC into when the H100 wouldn't fit.

The new Antec P280 is probably the most versatile quiet case you can get for the money
 
The P280 is a great case. But it's fairly deep.

The TJ04 could be another option for sure.

mjw stop following me! Ha! :p

Lol, how can I stalk you without following? :p

No, but seriously, I have a habit of just going into whatever posts are towards the top. The only area's a look at are AMD CPU's, General CPU, very occasionaly video cards, cooling, Cases and case modding, and another fav is Power Supplies....
 
XD.

I just check 'Todays Posts' and occasionally 'unanswered threads'. Our friend here (the OP) actually Pm'd me asking about the case; as no one has replied to his thread! But now we have the ball rolling perhaps some others will chip in too ^^
 
I guess part of it comes down to whether you like a front door on a case or not. Years ago when I used to install a lot of things off optical discs I was completely against having a door on a case. These days on the other hand I never really use CD's with the exception of installing Windows in the first place.

Cases with doors are typically quieter as there's no direct path for noise to escape the case. The Silverstone TJ04-E doesn't have a door though it should be reasonable anyway since the air intake is on the right hand side, and I put my computer on the right side of my desk so noise will go away from me.

Both the Fractal Design R3 and the Antec P280 have front door designs and are nice and quiet. The Fractal would be the quieter of the two cases, though the P280 offers better felabillity in your choice of cooling solutions.
 
Fractal Design Arc Midi
Fractal Design R3 (Will be a lot more silent; but not as good airflow as the above.)

I've used the Fractal Mini before (The small version of the R3) and it's a fantastic case to work with. nice finish on both the front and the body. Nice powdercoat type finish.

Note with the R3 you cannot remove the HDD cages so you'll be limited in GPU length.

Antec Solo II looks okay. But not sure about airflow on that one..
Antec Three Hundred Two looks decent; and you could use 2 of your tri-cool fans on the intake; and leave the rest as is.
Are you after silence? Performance? Or both?

A little of both. I didn't mind the Antec Tricool as long as it was on low. 1200rpm/25dba. I didn't find it terribly bad at 1600rpm/28dba. I guess what I am getting at is it doesn't have to be dead silent but I don't want it to sound like a vacuum cleaner either.

I do need better performance than the original solo with an antec tricool on 2000rpm/30dba exhaust and two Nexus 92mm 1500rpm/19dba intakes can provide.

That Fractal Arc Midi looks like it would work well for me. It looks like I could fill the unfilled fan positions or all the fan positions with Yate Loon 140mm Lows 46 CFM/1000 RPM/25 dBA for fairly cheap and not end up super loud. Maybe even mediums 62cfm/29dba/1600rpm.
 
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Hey mjw check the 'post your wire managed pics' thread. There's your TJ04 in there on the last page :p.

The Arc midi sounds like a good choice. What I would do is NOT use the fan controller it comes with; but rather buy your own and hook up all fans to it =). When you're browsing/doing nothing, turn them all low; and up them a little while gaming or whatever.
 
I have a 4 knob and 2 switch fan controller. A blue colored zalman. Fits a 5.5" drive bay but that would mean losing the card reader or the dvd rewriter. I do have a card reader on the side of the monitor but not sure I will always have it. That may be the best way to go though. Fan ctrlr and lose the card reader.
 
Hey mjw check the 'post your wire managed pics' thread. There's your TJ04 in there on the last page :p.

http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=445933&page=153&highlight=post+wire+managed+pics

Yep,sexy as. Lots of space around the mainboard too so installing the mainboard and cooling solutions should be easy. I think wiring and HDD installation is going to be the difficult bit. Should look nice through the big side window..... It's actually going to be my first case with a side window. :D
 
Ok guys. I went to the Microcenter in Houston to look at the Fractal Arc Midi. None on display but one of the sales associates went in the back to get one. We really check it out and I really wanted to like it and it was a very nice case. I went to comparing it with the Corsair 400r which was suggested to me in the Intel Overclockers thread. After looking the two over for quite awhile I ended up thinking the Corsair was a better fit for me. I also got a 5.25 to 3.5 bay adapter to allow me to use my card reader. I will still have enough bays for dvd writer and also for the fan controller if I end up needing it. Thanks alot for the suggestions.
 
Decent choice. Imo the fractal looks nicer. But yeah I can see the practicality of the 400r for you. Just make sure you either run the stock fans on a fan controller or replace them. Frankly the corsair fans aren't the best or most silent fans. Every corsair fan of my old 650D was replaced :p.
 
Decent choice. Imo the fractal looks nicer. But yeah I can see the practicality of the 400r for you. Just make sure you either run the stock fans on a fan controller or replace them. Frankly the corsair fans aren't the best or most silent fans. Every corsair fan of my old 650D was replaced :p.

I planned on getting enough fans to replace them all just in case. I need to figure out exactly what positions will take what. The information available on the web isn't exactly clear. I do agree with you that the fractal was the better looking case overall.
 
The only issue with the Fractal is the clearance for the top fans. If there were more space it would be perfect.
 
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