What's your favorite case?

[WhiteEagle]

What about the Cosmos do I like? Easy, the ease of building a system in it! The 5 1/4" drives are held in place by a nice system that easy to use, and it works well. It also has plenty of space to work in, even if you run water cooling.

[fstroupe]

Please do, that's what I go by on and off the internet.

There are some differences between mid-tower steel cases, but you would have trouble seeing problem areas looking at sales photos, and they often aren't mentioned in reviews. The problem with reviews, especially case reviews, is you usually don't have time to live with the case before writing about it. I usually have a case a week or two before I realize the things I don't like about it, and the review has already been read by most of the people that are going to read it.

I don't know...I guess that the most important thing is find something you like the looks of. Regardless of everything else, if you don't like how it looks, you will never be totally happy with it. I could live with 4C or 5C higher temps because of the case, if I really loved how it looked. It could have icicles hanging on the inside...if its ugly, its ugly.

I want 120mm fans front and back. I had gotten away from side fans, but the passive cooling on my mobo seems to like it. My present case, and one about to be reviewed both have 80mm side fans. I kind of doubt that an 80mm fan running at 5v would penetrate the wind from the CPU fan to get to the NB cooler. The last one had a 120mm on the side that was positioned about video card level, I really like it, but there are other things about it, I don't. I haven't had one with twin 120s on the front yet, looking forward to it.

One biggie...it is very important that there is plenty of ventilation for the front fan. It is pretty easy to starve that fan, and that will probably make more temp difference than any other single thing. I have a Gigabyte case that probably allows 30-40% air to the front fan. It didn't really matter, as my old rig ran very cool. I would not put my present rig in it. My present case looked like it had enough, there are slits cut into the sides of the bezel...but both mobo and CPU runs 5-6C higher than its predecessor, a Sunbeamtech Freezing Storm, which is probably the coolest running case I've owned.

But...the more venting you have on the front, the more fan noise will escape to the front of the case. I keep mine on my desk, so it does matter. The Freezing Storm has louvers all the way up the front...even the bay covers are vented. It is a cool running case, but you get pretty much 100% of the interior noise in front of it. The ideal is somewhere in between.

Beware of cases with plastic covering. I had a Raidmax Samurai once. It was an awesome looking case...a steel case totally covered by a polystyrene skin, with an automotive paint job. It served as insulation, and the case made my rig run very hot. I gave the case away.

I have heard so much about aluminum cases. I have yet to own one. I really don't see how they could make that much cooling difference just because of the material...excepting the "insulated" case, I have never felt any part excepting the top of a steel case get warm, and that was only due to a hot PSU.

I do like blowholes, but don't like 80mm fans. It would be hard to mount a 120mm fan on the inside of a mid-tower for a blowhole...and I don't like them enough to have the fan on the outside.

[_WBaS_]

Thanks Frank, that was nicely put. As I stated earlier, I finally decided on the Cooler Master RC-690. I think for my purposes the 3x 120mm fans should provide enough cooling. It seems to have features to help cable management as well as noise reduction. The looks are alright, I think it will grow on me some now.

My current case is the X-SuperAlian and I guess it's been an ok case, but I'm ready for a new one. Like you, I hate 80mm fans. They are pretty loud and don't really have an advantage over the 120mm fans. If cooling is needed I might have to put some of the 80mm fans from this case into the new one, but hopefully that won't be necessary. It'll be kinda hard going from this lighte aluminum case to steel, but I think I'll enjoy the better quality. This case just looks and feels cheap.

[halutzparilla]

i love my CM Mystique, still got my CM AMMO [if i didnt need the space i will not dispose of it]
i would like to own this badaz case: Newegg.com - COOLER MASTER Stacker 830 Evolution RC-830-KKN2-GP Black Aluminum ATX Full Tower Computer Case - Retail

idk, why for some reason i'm attracted to CM chassis...

[_WBaS_]

Yeah I really like the CM Stacker 830, but I just don't have that kind of money.