A new case: Antec 900, Antec 1200, or anything better?

If it's airflow you're looking for I'd go with a Coolermaster HAF LINK

although I'd prefer the Cosmos LINK

edit: fixed link

If your looking for space an antec 1200 a full size so you'll be good. A 900 is good if u dont want like a super graphics card and only 1 or 2 hard drives. Another line I like is the HAF series, which stand for High Air Flow, I got one and it hasn't gone above 40C. The full size one is the HAF 932 and the mid one is the HAF 922. Hope you find a good case.

Personally I prefer the Coolermaster Centurion 590 series  They look cool enough (all blue-led fans on the front), the front is all a grill so awesome air movement, the powersupply goes in the bottom at the back, there is a nice big exhaust fan at the back above the PSU and places for more fans on the side and top.  There are also cooling holes on the right side just opposite where one's CPU would sit to allow the backside of one's mobo to cool a little better.

http://www.coolermaster.com/products/product.php?language=en&act=detail&tbcate=17&id=3927

Best case I've ever owned, imo  ;)

the Monk

If you want the best airflow possible check out the HAF932.

Granted it has great airflow because the majority of the case is mesh and the style is either a love it or hate it thing...but its the best basic cooling you'll get from a case.

freaky internet spam posts x2

I think a lot of people above have great options.  I have personally checked out all the cases in theis thread many times. I hate red leds, so that means no to the HAF series.  I am also looking for a new case, and am personally leaning toward the antec 902, you should check that one out.

902:

Similar style to 900 and 1200

Black painted interior looks great.

Better airflow that 900.

Great side air fan to cool your graphics card.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129058

Thanks everyone, I was looking at the Antec cases because they seem to have both space and airflow. Nearly every review i've read says they are also quiet.

I have nearly everything in my rig overclocked so strong airflow is important, but i am also concerned about the HUGE graphics cards that i have, and the fact that the 10.5" size seems to be the standard now, so space between the ends of the cards and the hard drive bay is necessary.

@Lantec: the Coolermaster HAF seems to have an odd PSU mount, with the fan facing the bottom of the case. To anyone who owns the case, is this a big problem? It seems like it would increase the PSU temperature and therefore lead to instability and a shorter life.

The Cosmos does look cool, but the reviews seem to mention that the fans do not move a lot of air, can anyone who owns that case verify or refute this? I would gladly give up silent operation for good cooling performance.

Does anyone know anything about the Thermaltake Soprano? Antec Sonata? Or Antec three hundred?

The three hundred: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129066

The Sonata: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129057

The Soprano: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811133046&Tpk=Thermaltake%20Soprano

I'd like to give a nod to the Antec 900 II (or 902), and would advise against the origional 900. I own both of these cases and I can say that version 2.0 is a fantastic value for the money. They added dust filters, painted the interior black, increased the build quality/styling overall, added external fan controls, and gave the whole outside of the case an interesting sandpaper-ish texture.

I have experience with the Soprano, Sonata, and the 300. In short, I feel the Soprano has too much flimsy plastic (and not enough airflow for a gaming rig), the Sonata may not have enough airflow for your needs either (although it will be extremely quiet), and the 300...will do you fine if you don't have enough cash for a 900 II, but it might be slightly cramped.

I don't have much experience building gaming rigs with Cooler Master cases, but from what I have observed first-hand in stores, I don't think that Cooler Master can floss on the same level as Antec when it comes to build quality and styling.

All this is of course my opinion--other folks will have different ones, which are just as legit as mine

Cheers.

Antec Solo is the best case I have ever used; in fact, the only case I've ever liked of every case I've had to deal with (mine or someone else's).  After a lot of research, I bought one for my parents, and the thing is really super-quiet, really nice-looking (black model), and very solid.

I got an Antec NSK6580 for myself when I noticed that it was on sale for $50, less than the price of a power supply alone (it comes with a decent-quality PSU).  My thought was that "Well, it LOOKS a lot like a Solo, and even if I throw the case away and keep the power supply I still come out ahead", so I bought one. 

However, it is flimsy-feeling and has external holes over the CPU socket that let out a lot of noise.  The thinner steel also lets through a bit of sound.  So after a week I finally caved, went back, and bought a second Solo after all.  The PSU that came with the NSK6580 is fine, though not as nice as the Seasonic I used for my parents.

The only flaws I can point to in the Solo are that the feet (if you choose to attach them) don't stay on very well; they're silicone pads with adhesive that does not hold tight.  Otherwise it is basically perfect.  I'd recommend it to anyone except those who want loud cases with flashing LED fans mounted all over and visible externally.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129018&Tpk=antec%20solo

As you can see, it has a pretty massively positive rating on Newegg, and looks like it happens to be on sale right now for $59 instead of normal $99.  Lucky!

Get the 1200.

It's like the 900, but bigger, and has dust filters.

And trust me, if you've had a 900 for a couple of years, you'll want to marry some dust filters.

The first PC I ever built was in an Antec case. That thing was the most durable, well constructed case I've ever seen. Worth the investment by all means.

I have the Coolermaster Cosmos S, great air flow, plus you have the option of water cooling.

It has air filters, the psu sit at the bottom of the case, which for me makes cable managing a easier.

http://www.coolermaster.com/microsite/Cosmos_S/

I also have the Coolermaster Stacker 830, they are both great cases.

good luck.

Haha, this was one thing i was concerned about with the huge amount of fans on the Antec cases. My rig is in a corner and it gets pretty dusty back there....

On new egg it seems to mention that it only have one 120mm fan, does it have any mount for more fans? Preferably more 120mm, but several 80mm mounts would be ok.

I looked at the cosmo s, it looks like a pretty good case, three 1200mm fans on top would be great, any dust filters?

The Stacker 830, other than being rather pricey, looks solid. It is a full tower case right? is it long enough for a 10.5" graphics card and a hard drive to be installed at the same time and not almost touch?

If you're looking for a case that looks a bit more...subdued.. than the Antec X00 series but still has good cooling (aluminum chassis, 2x120 front and 1x120 rear), you might look into the Lian-Li B25, which is what I use. It also has dust filters on the intakes and some convenience features (easy vibration-damping HDD mounts, removable mobo tray, etc). Though it'll set you back a fair bit more than the Antecs (around $200).

Personally, I find multiple 300mm fans to be pretty excessive anyway :p

I have found them to be necessary since 9800's in SLI sit about 2mm from each other, the fans need to make a tornado in the case or the top card gets waaaayyyyy too hot for my liking.

The Lian-Li case looks hot, no  e sata ports is a bit of a disappointment, but i will definently look in to it more

Thanks Kryo!

Hmm *sticky to my replies list

I have a HUGE 9800GX2 overclocked video card, so I'm having the space issue too.

How do the mesh cases affect noise level?

There are two ways to look at this: The mesh will not insulate against sound as effectively as a solid panel would, and thus would not contain as much sound in the case. The other side is that a mesh with small openings will allow more cool air to radiate into the case and help to cool the ambient case temperature. This means that the fans will not have to work as hard and will produce less noise.

Personally, i like the idea of a mesh panel and that's why i have been looking at these cases.

And for a little bit of off-topic in the off-topic forum, how is the performance from your 9800gx2 twilight?

CaptainAanderson

Yes the Cosmos S has filters the full front of the case and at the bottom where the psu sits.

The side panel where the 230mm fan is housed does not.

Yeah the stacker was a bit pricey but you get what you pay for as the old saying goes!

The Coolermaster Stacker 830 also has filters the full front and the side panel houses 4x120mm fans, each fan can be removed independently and has its own filter.

I have not had any excessive dust issues and my comp is on almost 24/7!

It depends on your environment though.

The bottom line for me was if I am going to get good gear I want to aleast put it in something decent and not worry about upgrading because something wont fit!

It depends on the individual, what he/she wants!

Hopefully that's a typo.... 1200mm fans are gonna be pretty draughty ... JAFOCHECK

I got me one of these Achilles cases...

I have the black one but with blue lights on front panel.  It has a side and top fan (120mm), a rear 400mm fan and plenty of room for expansion... the 8800GT fit with about 3.5 cm spare between it and the HDD's.  The case is a sturdy steel construction and can get a bit weighty when loaded with a bit of hardware, but I've found it to be a solid perfomer with good ventilation and I have not had any overheating issues with it... though I was using additional desk fans when summer temps soared above 45c, but that's a precaution I'd have taken with any case.

Although the Achilles comes with grills on the fans, I fitted them with dust filters for around AUD $20.00.... bringing the total cost of the case to AUD $85.00.  So yeah, it's a sturdy, reliable case at an affordable price.

Oh, and for those who don't like 'too bright', they don't come with the blue lights inside.  Those are an optional extra and the front panel lights can be disabled if so desired.

Well yeh. I can recommend the 1200, though the 900 is good too. Just remember my dust warning.

Plus the 1200 will have people looking at your pc, then looking at you and going "what the hell is wrong with you" when they come to visit

LMAO! Yeah that was a typo... Three 1200mm fans would probably suck ME into the case, forget about dust filters haha.

A 400mm fan?   Thats huge. I don't think I would have any overheating issues in the summer (living in New England.... We don't even have a summer anymore)

On the Achilles cases, are the drive bays toolless? It is a full tower case, right?

4 fans sounds good... I will definently look into it more, Thanks Quicksilver.

If any of you are wondering why i don't just go for a liquid cooling setup if i place such a high priority on cooling: Water+Electricity= You know...

Awesome, as to be expected I'm sure it has been passed in performance by now, but when I bought it it was almost the fastest card available. In any case, it feels good to get the newest game from the store and know you can smack it on high detail right away.

As to limitations I can't quite tell you any, because the rest of my pc is holding it back at the moment. With only an E6750 and 2GB of RAM and a monitor that's limited to a rather mid-end 1440x900 I haven't really driven it to its limits yet.

Downsides I have found so far are the noise, I had my previous card fitted with an aftermarket Zalman cooler and the noise is quite a step up coming from that because EVGA's cooler is quite small so it has to spin fast, and the second is the absolute HUGENESS (I know it's not a word but it should be) of the card. I totally forgot about it and just ordered the card - the pricing was rediculously low because of a pricing error so I ordered it as fast as I could - not minding the size of it. When I got the card I put it in my case and almost started to cry because it wouldn't fit. I had to move 2 of my hard drives and give all cables a reroute so it could fit, but everything around the card is very hard to get to. I will definately remember this when buying my new case.

I know how that is unfortunately, my monitor is also limited to 1440x900. After the case, a new monitor is the next part i am upgrading. I have a q6700 and 2gb of ram, so my rig has similar bottlenecks to yours.

And by "Pricing error" what do you mean? Last time i looked at that card i couldn't find it any cheaper than ~$500

Yes and by error I mean I got it for $365, if you'd use todays currency rates. The exact card I have is the EVGA E-Geforce 9800GX2 SC (not the same as the SSC version). Benchmarks I viewed at that time showed it was comparable to the Nvidia GTX280 I think (quicker in some benches, slower in others), but for that money I could not let it pass. I came from a rather hastily bought 7600GT, so you can imagine the upgrade it was for me :p The reason I assume it was a pricing error is that not only was it very cheap, they also sold all their stock of it within that day and never restocked on it for that same price.

Too bad the LGA775 cpus are still not very cheap. I'd spend a few bucks on a better cpu, but rather not do the whole cpu/mobo/ram thing at the moment. Thinking about a RAM upgrade for now, as my mobo can use DDR3. Maybe I can get a 21" 1650x1050 Samsung hand-me-down later, so not going for the monitor upgrade just yet.