Thinking about installing a tower cooler - worth considering a case upgrade?

[cheesemp]

I've got an old Antec 300 case that has done me well for many years (And was a recommendation from hexus!) and I'm looking to OC the 3570k CPU in it soon and was considering upgrading the stock cooler to a new tower cooler (probably a hyper 212 EVO) but was worried about fitting such a heavy tower cooler without having a motherboard tray cut out to help install the cooler. The last tower cooler I installed in this case was hard to do (I ended up dropping the MB into the case while screwing on the cooler - thankfully this didn't damage the motherboard but has left me concerned about doing it again and that was a smaller cooler). Should I consider a case upgrade while I've got the motherboard out? I've had a quick look and the corsair 200r looks ok or would I see little benefit with the new case (I still love my 300) or would a simple 120mm closed loop water cooler (and new case fans) be easier to fit in the current case? Total budget is about £80 but I'd rather spend less... If a new case is a good idea which case would you recommend?

Current equipment in the case:
Gigabyte z77-d3h (ATX)
16Gb Crucial ballistix elite (with large heatsink)
Antec semi-modular PSU
2x SSD
2x HDD
2x ODD
580GTX (considering replacing this sometime this year with something similar sized - unlikely to need SLI support)
ASUS Xonar PCIx soundcard
4x 120mm Antec fans
1x 140mm Antec fan

Ideal features in case:
No window (don't like them)
Prefer clean/functional look (like the Antec 300/200r) - definitely nothing to OTT
Good airflow
Easy to build

If keeping the current case should I clean the old fans or replace them?

Thanks.

[Domestic_Ginger]

Many tower coolers aren't that heavy and rely on a decent throughput of air. The 212 has a large back plate to help disperse its 450 odd grams.

AFAIK IB is more limited by the heatspreader than thermal ability of your setup so a super duper cooler won't make much difference over a good one.

Mount it outside the case and have a spring clean?

[cheesemp]

Thanks. I'll give it a go again then. Just nervous. I'll go slow then. Far more use to the old clipped in hsf than the new pin based ones! Any recommendations for cleaning the old fans or should I just use a wet wipe?

[herooftime796]

i can't really recommend any coolers in particular but i can say that water coolers (especially custom loop) will take up a lot more space in a case than a good air cooling setup. adhering to your budget the 200r is a quality case but don't expect it to fit a watercooling loop. if you want something better which is going to be less frustrating to install in and last longer i'd recommend one of corsairs obsidian series 450d/650d (mid-towers like the antec) or 750d (full tower with serious water cooling potential). But those are if you want to splurge a little.

[Bonebreaker777]

Thanks. I'll give it a go again then. Just nervous. I'll go slow then. Far more use to the old clipped in hsf than the new pin based ones! Any recommendations for cleaning the old fans or should I just use a wet wipe?

Cleaning old fans: compressed air or brushes. Wet wipes for the frame plus blades. A drop of oil if they are old into the motor. This procedure helped me to regenerate more fans that I've bought.

[cheesemp]

Cheers guys. I'll grab a hyper 212 and give everything a spring clean. Would have been nice to replace the case but doesn't sound like it will be the big help I would like and I just can't afford to go higher end. Might as well save for a better GPU!

[cheesemp]

Right - everything removed and cleaned. The isopropyl wipes I had did a good job removing the old TIM and dust! With regard to applying paste - should I use some old (4~ years old) MX-2 I have (it looks ok) or should I just use the paste that came with the cooler? Also is the grain of rice application method going to be ok with this cooler?

[Bonebreaker777]

If the MX-2 haven't split/separated yet, use that, otherwise the bundled paste is good also.

I found the grain of rice not enough recently. Would suggest pea size if possible. Maybe half a pea. If you meant 'rice shaped', like a little but elongated, go for that. It's hard to produce a near perfect spherical lump anyway.

[cheesemp]

Thanks. I did use the mx2 and went for the rice method. The paste must be doing its job as I'm getting 30c idle and 60c Max under load. Time for some overclocking! Wouldnt recommended the new fan I got to fill the final fan hole. An artic f12 pro. It will only exhaust and due to its odd mounting will grind the blades on the edge if the cable isn't cable tied to take the weight...

[cheesemp]

Managed a 4.3ghz OC on stock voltage last night. Not too bad I think. I even had it stable at 4.4 for a while but pushing to 4.5 seemed to make 4.4 unstable. Need to see what fiddling with voltages will do but I'm not looking for much more as 4.4 will be a 1ghz OC which is good enough for my first serious OC.

[DanceswithUnix]

Nice OC!

Am starting to wonder about my Antec 300. One of the fans has gone buzzy, which in winter isn't a problem as I just disconnected it but might cause concern in the summer. One of the USB front ports is getting worn, and USB3 front ports would be nice. I'm sure the case could be refurbished, but when ISTR it only cost me £35 new and I have had a good few years out of it I wonder if I should either go ITX when Zen comes out, or just buy the latest version of the Antec 300 which seems quite improved (including easy access to the backplate).

[aidanjt]

If you really use those two optical drives, then I'd suggest the Fractal Design Define R5, if not, then the Define S, even if you do use them from time to time, then you could just as easily get the Define S and use the savings to get a USB optical drive.