The traditional "recommend me a case" thread...

[Acurax]

So I'm gonna be ordering another system as soon as I can decide on a case.

I'm looking for something mid-sized and aluminum (i move my system alot) with good cooling. I have owned CoolerMaster, Chenming style, MountainMods UFO & Lian-Li and was reasonably happy with all of them. Since I'm air cooling this machine (probably with a Ninja Scythe), I don't want something massive. I'm now looking for portable and affordable. I have ruled out the LianLi V1100 series because of price.

Here's what I've been looking at:

Model - (Price+S/H) - [Dimensions,HxWxD]

ThermalTake Tsunami VA3000BWA - $95 - [19.5"x8.3"x18.9"]
Pros:
-Unique Look
-Rear 120mm fan
-Side 92mm fan
-Removable drive cages
-Drive rails
-Window

Cons:
-Structural quality?
-PCI card 'clips' rather than thumbscrews
-Top I/O ports instead of blowhole

Lian-Li PC-7BPlus - ($145/Window, $120/No Window) - [17.7"x8.3"x19.3"]
Pros:
-Quality
-Rear 120mm fan
-Top 80mm blowhole
-Removable drive trays
-Front I/Os

Cons:
-No drive rails
-No side blowhole


Not quite as eye-catching as the Tsunami (IMO), front I/Os and top blowhole are good. I could buy the model w/o window and add my own later w/ a side blowhole... SunDialMicro is the only place I can find this model w/ the 120mm exhaust, which makes it more expensive to get.

CoolerMaster Praetorian 730 - ($140/Silver, $165/Black) - [18.2"x8.9"x21.3"]
Pros:
-Unique Looks
-Quality
-Interchangable Top I/Os OR 80mm blowhole
-Side 120mm blowhole

Cons:
-Unique Looks
-No drive rails
-Non-removable drive cages

No 120mm rear fan, but dual 80mm's would be fine I think. I can't decide if this case is "Sweet-***" or "Dumbass" looking. Little deeper than the other two, which may or may not be a good thing. Could add my own window fairly easily in the future and keep the side blowhole.


What do you guys think? I've also looked at the Antec P180 because its beautiful, but its bigger and too heavy for my taste right now. I'm tired of looking...

 

[MrClean]

im also thinking about getting the tsunami. it looks really cool and from the reviews its pretty good but a few of em say that the case is flimsy.

 

[Nexus Realized]

I'm partial to this case, NZXT Lexa

It's got 3x120 and 1x80, reviews seem pretty good also.

 

[darksparkz]

Antec P180.
-Nice solid rigid silver look
-Great 3 layer sound damping material on the walls
-Many recommended reviews and opinions
-Quite a few 120mm slots
-Great PSU design on the bottom lessening heat
-All that for around $100.

 

[Nilo]

I would go for the Antec 160 or 180.
The Tsunami seems to be a little flimsy, and also its HDD cage. And the PSU area is not the best one you can find. Check out some reviews to decide.