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About LinkBacksIt's true what you say, but for £25 I could upgrade to 4 fans now while a new case is going to cost £125 to £250 depending on what I want and even through I plan to upgrade this year it won't be soon, it be after May for sure and likely later.
It's true what you say, but for £25 I could upgrade to 4 fans now while a new case is going to cost £125 to £250 depending on what I want and even through I plan to upgrade this year it won't be soon, it be after May for sure and likely later.
Well if you're opting for the golf ball sharkoons then they're about a tenner a pop from scan I think. I've not seen them for £25. The thing is they're just fans after all, if your case is stuffed to the rafters then fans simply wont be sufficient if they cant draw the required air through the case no matter how good they are.
An alternative could be possible route the cables better? it's surprising what a couple of cable ties and some clever wiring could do for you, all I see is cables all over the place. Also is it really necessary to have ALL those fans you have in the picture?
What case is it you're using anyway? And what one's are you considering? £125-£250 is a massive investment for a case. The NZXT phantom is huge, packed with fans and you can get that for £105, I'm sure there are plenty of other cheaper mid-full size options out there too.
After thinking about it, I think I will hold off from the fans, it was going to cost about £54 all together because I needed some cables as well and fan clips as well as one or two other bits I wanted.
For an extra £30 I could get a R3 Fractal Design Mid Size case.
The case? It's a CIT http://www.maplin.co.uk/cit-atx-gamer-case-228148 that I brought from scan about two years ago in a rush because the old case couldn't fit all my HDD's (made a stupid mistake, could had brought some converters, lol) ah well. It was only £38 or something.
I spent hours on cable management a while ago, but there is only so much you can do with them cables and within such a small case, you can't tell from the photo, but the space infront of the heatsink and behind it is clear, only the 3 SATA cables from the HDD controller are running over it, the PSU and other SATA cables are far back of the case.
The photo was taken in the heat of summer.
I have three cases in my sights: Fractal Design Define XL, Consair 800D or the Cooler Master HAF X
Last edited by IronWarrior; 04-01-2012 at 06:46 PM.
I had some problems with heat in my case, so added some of the sharkoon golf ball ones instead of the ones that were already there, and they work a treat. I tried with the older ones as well, and it just didn't really work - putting my hand next to them and there was little air movement - I put this down to too many fans working at one time meant the air wasn't really moving.
So, it might be worth removing some of the extra fans, and making sure there aren't too many blockages.
Next time I need to clean the insides of the PC, will try to do some cable management again.
iamlorro, I only have 3 fans and I think they are all critical, heatsink, rear fan and the 2 fan unit feeding air to the fan unit for the 6950, lol
That small 80mm you saw in the photo is no longer being used.
The corsair unit is a very nice case and it is HUGE. the front panel for usb ports slides opens very sleekly too like a fancy kitchen drawer. That's a very hefty price though dude. Best of luck with it! But yeah I'd say best put the money aside towards a case fund IW.
If you were going to spend around £50 for fans anyway, Have you looked at one of these? Even as a stop gap until you get your dream case?
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/lian-...g-case-w-o-psu
I've just got the K60 today, which is basically exactly the same except the K58 (the one linked) doesn't include the fans. For my one (with the fans 1x120mm and 3x140mm) it's like a tenner extra but I see you have plenty of fans anyway. Unfortunately I cant comment on the performance as I havent received all my bits yet! It's a very decent case though. The tooless nature of it is actually really good and it's built very well. It's got the side partition for cable management and is a decent size too. I'm not sure if it will accomodate as many hdds as yours though.
Sorry but I have to pull you up on this point, You've obviously never played around with a Delta high rpm fan, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BeTVOgVkAA note the way it's actually pushing itself across the table, I pulled one out of the old server at work they push out air like a hair drier.Originally Posted by RichieLee
Your pc will not be quiet but the air will be moved through the case.
I'd 2nd the K60 as a nice case, one issue with the K58 is that you need the special grommited screws to mount the extra fans unless you're willing to get creative. normal fan screws will not work.
And at £65 the K60 is a great value case http://www.scan.co.uk/products/lian-...g-case-w-o-psu straight out of the box nothing needs to be added.
Others to look at would be
BitFenix Survivor http://www.scan.co.uk/products/bitfe...handle-w-o-psu
Fractal design Arc http://www.scan.co.uk/products/fract...e-case-w-o-psu
Fractal design R3 http://www.scan.co.uk/products/fract...e-absorbing-ma
Coolermaster storm enforcer http://www.scan.co.uk/products/coole...usb-30-w-o-psu or HAF 912 http://www.scan.co.uk/products/coole...r-case-w-o-psu (it's the same inside just the outside that are different)
coolermaster 690 II LITE http://www.scan.co.uk/products/coole...e-sata-w-o-psu (cheaper but doesn't come with extra fans and do hickies)
For what you have in there you don't need to go to the giant cases like the HAF X or Define XT main issue seems to be that for the number on hard drives you've got you really need a longer case or 90 degree drive cage to give you the added space.
You'll also note the cases I've listed have a key factor of added width, esp the HAF 912/enforcer and ARC, that added width means extra space behind the motherboard tray for cables.
Last edited by Pob255; 04-01-2012 at 09:20 PM.
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Pob's new mod, Soviet Pob Propaganda style Laptop.
"Are you suggesting that I can't punch an entire dimension into submission?" - Flying squirrel - The Red Panda Adventures
Sorry photobucket links broken
No worries Pob, we learn something new everyday, that thing's like a jet fighter! I'm not a pro builder by any stretch, just learning as I go along.
I literally received the K60 today after reading a thread on here about cases and watching youtube reviews. To be honest I was expecting a budget pile of pants up close. I was worried that it'd be a downgrade from the £120 I spent on my previous antec p182 but I'm Pleasantly surprised. In fact, I'd go so far to say I'll probably not get another case in the future, this just simply does it all so well. It's packed with some very intuitive and handy features and is well built with high quality plastics for the fascias and the metal chassis itself is pretty sturdy, on par with the 182 but I cant vouch for noise yet until it's put together.
PS: The HDD cage in the K60 rotates 90 degrees too.
I really wouldn't bother with anyone other than SPCR. It's a bit like JonnyGuru for PSU reviews.
So many places when they try to review kit just plug it in, wave a decibel meter or a voltmeter at it and then stick 'approved' on it because it has a flashing LED.
Not saying Custom are bad, and it may well have been a really comprehensive review in which case I apologise to whoever owned them then and now, but if you have a look at the SPCR reviews you'll see how much work has to go in to a comprehensive review to ensure that it is truly accurate. The CFM testing in particular was quite spectacular in its complexity.
Ultimately, as I said before and as Pob explained, design doesn't make nearly as much difference as the manufacturers like to claim. A Delta is very loud because it spins at 4500RPM or whatever it is. Any well-built fan at 500RPM should be silent. Okay, there might be a grey area in the middle where a few extra quid can make a 10% increase in speed for no increase in volume, but I refuse to believe that there's a massive difference in PC performance when you get two good quality fans, however much better one of them is than the other when tested. When you get down to such minuscule differences in CFM, it's going to result in minuscule differences in temperature, which mean even more minuscule differences in performance. IMO, of course.
Yeah I agree with you there Jim. I'm pretty dubious about reviews at the best of times but it's a good starting point for a rough guide I guess. I'm a bit partial to custompc because it's basically from that where I learned how to build a pc. Also the articles are coherently written for a layman like myself. Throw me in the deep end with something like SPCR first and I wouldnt have a clue!
In general people are very much affected by posted figures, it's just natural to want the perceived 'best' at the same price point. I'm sure that in the real world they all perform similarly. I think as long as you dont take it by gospel, and with a pinch of salt you'll have a fairly balanced opinion. I rate the sharkoons from personal experience really, and in fact I quite like the theory behind the golf ball dimples, whether that was just gumpf or not I dont know. I should add I've not tried any other fans to date other than the stock fans but these do perform very well and quiet! But yeah, I've not come across SPCR before though thanks for that I will check it out.
Had a look at some mid-size cases, but I always thought about stop-gaps as just wasting money, that £50 could had been added to a other £50/60 for a bigger case, for example the Define XL which in is one of my favorites due to the insane amount of HDD's (I have many) and how big and roomly it is and how silent it can be.
Through, I would like a window on the side, if I go for that case, might do a mod for it.
You listed some really nice cases there, some are my favorites that I saved to think about, but the reason I would like a HAF X, Define XT or a other big case is to allow me to upgrade my core parts later on.
Well, I had a change of heart again and decided to go ahead and buy the parts I wanted. I see it as an investment as I can use these in the new case later in the year.
Scan.co.uk was nice enough to add the Coolermaster SickleFlow on the Home Page at a great discount for me when I found out that NovaTech sold them cheaper. So that was awesome by them.
120mm Coolermaster SickleFLow Blue LED Quiet Case Fan x2 (Rear/Front fans)
120mm Thermaltake Thunderblade Blue LED Silent Case Fan with PWM AF0032 1800rpm x2 (Heatsink)
Akasa PWM fan splitter Supports 2 PWM fans from a single motherboard PWM header
30cm Phobya Extension Cable 3Pin Molex - black x2
Only £33 in total.
Thanks for the help and suggestions you guys made, the other fans was a little too much for my budget.
Have to wait for Monday now, will be taking the PC to bits then to give it a nice clean and to replace the frontal fan, do some new cable management again.
All of those cases will take hardware upgrades without much hassle.
Overall hardware sizes haven't changed that much an ATX motherboard is still the same size.
yes you do get stuff like the EAXT (longer front to back) and there's been a couple which are taller for extra pci slots but they only occure at the very high end.
Graphics cards are the main thing that's got bigger but they now seem to be stablising in terms of length.
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Pob's new mod, Soviet Pob Propaganda style Laptop.
"Are you suggesting that I can't punch an entire dimension into submission?" - Flying squirrel - The Red Panda Adventures
Sorry photobucket links broken
Indeed.
Well my parts came today, I was a little worried that the cables was smaller then I thought they be, then I remembered the cables on the fans are long enough, so all is well. lol
I will put the Thunderblades on the Heatsink later today, but everything else will have to wait till I finished painting the inside of the case and modding it.
But in the mean time, I thought I might do small picture reviews for the parts to share with others.
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