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Thread: New Case

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    HEXUS.social member Allen's Avatar
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    New Case

    My Antec SLK1650B-UK has served me well for years, but my needs have outgrown it of late with the inclusion of a rather large graphics card that has left me no option but to remove the hard drive bay from the case and sit it on the floor. This of course means that the case is open, it's noisy, it's dusty and it's overheating. So I need a new case.

    I have been in love with the Fractal Design Define XL Black Pearl since I saw it, and I am sorely tempted to pick one up, however it is slightly over my budget, so I am looking at alternatives. My requirements are:

    Black (also a black interior if at all possible)
    Good cable routing/tidying options built in
    Decent airflow without the need to purchase too many additional fans
    Large enough for my MSI GTX 560 Ti Twin Frozr II, a Corsair A70 and about 5 x 3.5" HDD's
    No flashy lights (or bells and whistles!)

    That last one seems to have ruled most Antec cases out, except possibly the P280. Lian Li, lovely but all seem to be way too expensive and I am not keen on the shiny interiors. Thermaltake? Don't really like the look of any of them. The Fractal Design Define R3 looks the best of the rest in my opinion and at about £35 cheaper than it's bigger brother, it certainly appeals to my wallet. But will I regret making the decision of buying the little version? Will it comfortably fit my kit in it?

    Any other ideas on other cases I may have overlooked? Do you think a mid tower will do?

    P.S. If anyone from Scan reads this, you have the Define XL Black listed under mid towers and the Titanium Grey under full towers (they are the same case, just different colours).

  2. #2
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    Re: New Case

    You have to ask yourself, "XL - do I need 12 HDD bays?, even tho the top 4 are removeable, is the gfx card really that long?

    get an r3 and enjoy it, i have an arc mini and it is great

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  4. #3
    HEXUS.social member Allen's Avatar
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    Re: New Case

    Don't need 12 HDD bays, no, but I do like the idea of a nice big roomy case with plenty of airflow, separate sections for mobo, drives and PSU, the looks of the case both on the interior and exterior, the cabling options... it's just sexxeh!

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    HEXUS.social member Allen's Avatar
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    Re: New Case

    The Define R3 does actually look very nice, and until I looked up the measurements of my GPU (24cm) which is smaller than I thought, I think it would suit very well. However, the Antec One (http://www.antec.com/product.php?id=704830&fid=84) looks very similar and is much cheaper, actually about £40 on Scans TO deals. Anyone have any thoughts on that case?

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    Re: New Case

    For me I definitely prefer the Define R3 it is prettier, better cable management and will be quieter.
    Personally I dislike the extruded sides of the Antec One, the lack of replaceable back plates is annoying and the HDD/SSD bays aren't quite as good.

    Personally I would be happy to pay the extra £27 and will for my next build.
    I would envisage the case being reused multiple times and thus good value for money.

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    Re: New Case

    I have an R3 and it's just fine. It has a number of positive features. However, the Corsair 550D would have been better.
    Society's to blame,
    Or possibly Atari.

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    Re: New Case

    the antec one, is the new low cost case replacement for the 100, which was a low cost version of the 300
    Nothing special, they've used a few cleaver tricks in it, eg the pressed out sections on the side panels to both give strength back to the thinner steel and give more space inside the slightly narrow frame, the case it self is only 190mm wide but the extrusion on each panel is around 10mm
    Don't get me wrong it's a nice trick to give you more cable space behind the motherboard tray and more cpu cooler clearance.
    I would just like to have seen the frame at 200-210mm in addition. (the 300 and 100 are 200mm)
    Same have been done with the top fan, the case has been shortened slightly with less space above the motherboard so the fan vent is pressed out, it's also been offset to move it farther away from the motherboard, it might be far enough to allow for a 120rad.
    Overall nothing outstanding and nothing bad ether, a reasonable lower cost case, I'd say it pretty much at the top end of it's budget, if it was £45 or more then it'd not be worth it.

    Have you considered the Fractal design ARC http://www.scan.co.uk/products/fract...e-case-w-o-psu
    not that cheap but it's a good step up.
    The front bezel is just plastic textured to look like brushed aluminium, so while it's sort of fake, fractal have not skimped on it, using a higher density plastic and the texture is very close to a brushed aluminium finish.

    More expensive but very nice looking corsair 550D http://www.scan.co.uk/products/fract...e-case-w-o-psu
    or the far cheaper 300r

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    Re: New Case

    Please remember that the one is the antec's CHEAP end case, so compairing it to the R3 at nearly twice the cost isn't exactly fair.
    You'd need to compare it to the core 3000 against which it stacks up quite well.

    Although at the same time the slightly more expensive antec 302 is well worth a look.
    If I hadn't picked up my haf 912 cheap this is the case I'd probably go for if I couldn't afford the ARC
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubX0pKrtZiI

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    Re: New Case

    Now I am thoroughly confused which case to get. I at one point decided to get the R3, but then read about the R4 yesterday. After reading up on it, it seems as though my Corsair A70 cooler (at 160mm high) won't fit with the side fan in, and as this case has noise dampening materials I would prefer to use more fans, the side one being one of them.

    Other cases I have looked at include the Corsair Carbide 300R, very nice but quite small and I can't find out if the A70 will fit, the Core 3000, again not sure if the A70 will fit, and although larger cases look much nicer, they are way more expensive, like the Define XL.

    I am really struggling to decide and am supposed to be placing this order tomorrow. :S

  15. #10
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    Re: New Case

    Any case using a rear 120mm fan should fit the A70.
    The side fan on the R3 or R4 will not get in the way of the cpu cooler, it's too low down, it's opposite the pci slots not the cpu socket, it's when you get side fans higher up that you get issues.
    The R4 is basically the same as the R3, just a bit wider and with the hard cage broken into two with one cage removable.
    really nice case

    edit: and just to muddy the waters slightly here's another couple I'd consider
    Silverstone Kublai KL04 http://www.scan.co.uk/products/silve...e-case-w-o-psu Like the ARC it's a plastic bezel with a brushed metal texture not actual brushed aluminium.

    Sharkoon Tauron http://www.ebuyer.com/341363-sharkoo...-4044951012299

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  17. #11
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    Re: New Case

    Not a fan of white cases, and that Silverstone looks nice but quite expensive and it seems to lack a few things from cheaper cases, unless I am mistaken.

    What are NZXT like? I've read a couple of reviews saying they are new to the scene like Fractal Design but they look pretty good. The design quality of http://www.scan.co.uk/products/nzxt-...usb-30-w-o-psu looks pretty amazing for the price!

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    Re: New Case

    Ive just purchased this and I can tell you that its absolutely amazing. Well worth the 77 quid like. Has the option to turn the LED on the front fan off with a button on the top of the case too

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  20. #13
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    Re: New Case

    The Tauron does come in black http://www.ebuyer.com/341361-sharkoo...-4044951012275

    NZXT has been around a while they are far from new, granted not as old as some.
    The source are their new ones, from what I know, not bad but nothing massively impressive, pretty similar to the coolermaster elite's, although I do like the look of the front bezels on these.
    Space is pretty tight inside them, you'll be able to fit your cooler and such in there but it will be tight and cabling will be a bit tricky.
    the source 220 has a few fake aluminium highlights on the bezel

    Like the KL04 and ARC it's just a finish on the plastic to look like aluminium

    On the KL04 it is a bit pricey but it does have a few features few do in that price range.
    It's got a cleaver removable hard drive cage, it's not just that it's removable but it's designed to be removed to fit and remove drives

    let me copy and paste from a different thread
    review here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0yaSV7yr0zM not the best of reviews, but covers most of the points.
    Another here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmgEYwgANr0 much better review
    Key points missing in the 2nd review:
    -PSU off set, he talks about a shelf below the motherboard, what they've actually done is to off set the psu instead of put it in the middle that makes a lot of space behind the psu. Now if he really wanted to show off the cable management instead of trying to build the system with only one sata cable, he should of used a non-modular psu then bundled up all the unused cables and put them in that space, this is one of the big advantages to the design.
    -Top fans offset, the top fans are also not in the middle but to one side, again there's a reason for this, it's the same as the fractal design ARC it means you can put any depth of rad into the top and it will be clear of the motherboard.
    you can fit a 60mm thick 240 rad with four 120x38mm fans in push pull and not be in the way of the motherboard.
    -He talks about the position of the rear fan, this is because of the flat rear panel, instead of having the IO and pci slots inset.
    Personally I don't like that design as it tends to weaken the rear panel and move the rear fan in slightly, his complaint of that cooler overhanging the cpu socket is meaningless, he talks about having more space in other cases to which I say not enough to matter, a standard inset rear panel would move the rear fan out 15mm but that's all because if it was more it would be outside ATX specifications, you could put an additional box on the back to move the fan out more but I've never seen that on any stock case, also the fact that it does overhang means it clears the water block so it's not going to be in the way of tall ram ether. Basically it's a perception thing, because it stick in more it looks like it could be an issue when it's not.
    -The bottom filters sticking is a quality issue, doesn't mean all cases will be the same, oh and it's easily fixable, the bit the filters slide into are just simple tabs, a flat bladed screw driver can be used to bend them open slightly more.
    -He might not like the look of the side vent but there's no front ventilation at all due to the solid bezel, if they removed the vent you'd have air flow issues.

    One thing I do agree on is the front bezel when you remove a cover to fit a dvd it looks a bit odd.
    The cost is a bit high I'll admit, if it was my money I'd not buy it because I'm not that enamoured by the looks, I like the layout and features not the looks.
    And I don't think I've ever spent that much money on a case (picked up my haf 912 and P180 2nd hand)
    If I had then I'd look at the Fractal design ARC or Antec 1100 or stretch the budget for the raven 3
    Others would be the Lancool K58 or Ante 600 but that's for cheapness and with an eye to modding

    Speaking of which Lancool K63 also worth a look, the new ones (k57/61/63) have the same fully tool less features (that work) and a better internal layout compared to the older k58/60/62
    However I personally prefer the look of the angular bezel on the older ones, the K57 bezel is ok but too much has been given up.
    the k63 like the k62 has everything, full set of fans, window, painted interia, the K61 is closer to the K57, no window, no internal painting, no top fans (you need special rubber grommeted screws to fit fans in these cases*, so you can fit top fans (140mm only) but you need to also get the screws)
    the K57 has dropped the whole 2nd hard drive cage, plane top panel (so no vents or fan mounts) only one front fan (again you could fit another but 140mm only and you need the screws*)

    * you can get around this but it will involve getting creative with the fan mounting, which many people just don't seem to be prepared to do

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  22. #14
    HEXUS.social member Allen's Avatar
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    Re: New Case

    I went for the Define R4, in the end I'll stick with my original thoughts and spend the extra cash on getting a decent case.

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