new case what to get

[petercook7]

Need help seeking case been looking at the BitFenix cases anyone have any ideas?

[Pob255]

What are you looking for? what styles do you like? how much you willing to spend?

The BitFenix Survivor is a nice case (slight niggle is having to unscrew two rear sections of the trim before you can get the side panels off) and the new Shinobi is also nice (although a little expensive)


The new Fractal design Arc is looking good too

LanCool K60

The corsair Graphite 600t is very nice if you can afford it.

[shaithis]

Quite liking the Silverstone Raven due to the 90degree slots....haven't spotted any others with the feature yet though.....

[Blackmage]

BitFenix Survivor is a nice case but it's air flow isn't that great!

[Pob255]

Yes I do love the layout of the new raven3, just don't like the price, also a little disapointed with the looks
Silverstone toned it down from the preproduction model, but I think I prefered the more radical look.
If you're going to give something a radical look then you have to push the boat out and go for it.

[petercook7]

BitFenix Survivor is a nice case but it's air flow isn't that great!

Is it that bad?

[Blackmage]

Is it that bad?

Taken from Bit tech

Cooling is also an issue with this case, just as it was with the Colossus. The standard Survivor performed poorly in both CPU and GPU cooling thanks to the lack of a rear 120mm exhaust fan. While the addition of a rear exhaust fan in the Scan bundle might help things in this department, without knowing which fan Scan intends to use, we can’t comment on exactly how effective this bundle is, nor how much extra noise the exhaust fan adds.

If cooling is a particular priority for you, you’ll be disappointed that there are no additional fan mounts. This is a particular shame considering the bare and featureless side panels. One upside though is that BitFenix’s line of Spectre fans can take advantage of the nifty LED control PCB, which is a great little addition.

While there are positives to the case – USB 3 ports, the striking style and the easy cable routeing options – the negatives far outweigh them. The immense hassle of opening the case every time you want to upgrade – or even clean the PSU dust filter - and the poor cooling that can’t be significantly upgraded, both make the Survivor a disappointment.

[Behemoth]

It does look a little like an Imac and a PC have been doing naughty things together, but I've seen far worse. Asus Vento anyone ?

[Pob255]

Taken from Bit tech

but the exact same thing can be said for a lot of cases with lots of fan slots but only a couple of fans at stock, if you take the base numbers from the stock fractal design define it's got really rubbish cooling because it comes with two rather weak 120mm fans.

Having gotten hold of one of the bitfenix 200mm fans I can say they are very nice, yes the air flow feels a bit low but that down to the very low rpm which in turn make them near silent.

However, as with the Colossus, the Survivor’s poor cooling is in part balanced by very quiet operation. The two 200mm fans span very slowly - too slowly to provide decent cooling - but this is to the benefit of whisper-quiet noise levels. The low noise level is unsurprising given the thin dimensions of the fans, but we’d have preferred more airflow as well.

You could easily get the Core version which lacks a top and rear fan then put your own choice of more powerful fans in and the air flow would jump up considerably.
It would be more noisy, but the air flow would be better.

Oh and bit tech in general seem to dislike 200mm fans, I seem to remember they also didn't think much of 140mm fans back when few cases supported them, although they seem more excepting of them now they are more common.

I'd also like to add that bit tech's stepup is rubbish for the fan setup of the survivor without a rear fan.
If you've got a large 200mm fan extracting air about the cpu socket and no rear fan, then you don't mount a cpu tower cooler point towards the back of the case, where the cooler exhaust air is not being fed into the 200mm fan and the cooler fan is fighting against half of the air flow of the top fan.
What you do do is mount the cooler pointing upwards.

While side panel fans and vents can add quite a bit to overall cooling, you might as well rip out all the dust filtering from a case because of them, because all they do is restrict air flow, this means more air will get pulled in through unfiltered side vents making the filters pointless.

It's all down to what you want from a case, the survivor can still generate enough air flow to keep components in operating temperatures but at the same time it's very very quiet and low internal dust.

If you want raw cooling performance then generally the case matters less than the fans, you can generate more air flow and cooling with a single high power 120mm delta fan than a case full of very low rpm fans.
You'd have to use ear defenders when using your pc but the air flow would be better.

One of the base realities of fans is; air flow = noise
There are lots of little tricks and tweaks in fan design that can eek a bit more air flow out without greatly impacting the noise, but the amounts you can gain is small and the base rule still holds true.

[Brewster0101]

Corsair 650 is the best case on the market for size, value, design and looks - personally I would get this. If a little too much then the lankool K62 still makes a good case. If this is too much still then maybe the Coolermaster CM690ii standard.

[Cheapy]

I keep looking at the Fractal define R3 as mentioned earlier or the Lian Li PC-A05N because its different to a lot of other cases.
Only thing is the Lian Li seems to really need a blowhole in the top panel to properly cool the GPU.

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/lian-...r-case-w-o-psu

[Brewster0101]

I keep looking at the Fractal define R3 as mentioned earlier or the Lian Li PC-A05N because its different to a lot of other cases.

Those two cases are completely different. Ones a tiny ATM case, while the other a large Mid ATX case.
One is made of steel, the other Aluminium.

What you putting into this case?

[Cheapy]

What you putting into this case?

I would be using what is in my system spec to the left plus a Xonar DG soundcard.

petercook7 would be using whats in his signature im guessing.

[petercook7]

I keep looking at the Fractal define R3 as mentioned earlier or the Lian Li PC-A05N because its different to a lot of other cases.
Only thing is the Lian Li seems to really need a blowhole in the top panel to properly cool the GPU.

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/lian-...r-case-w-o-psu

Dont like Lian Li cases, would like a case sub £100, with no plastic sliver bits.

[phillai]

Fractal Design R3