New case

sandness · Posted: Mon Sep 18, 2006 2:12 am Post subject: New case

I will be putting a new system together within the next month or so and I want to retire my old Lian Li knock-off case. I've been looking for a midtower with at least 1 120mm fan for my radiator of my watercooling setup.

Here are a couple cases that I've found.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811129018
Cooler Master Centurion RC-534-SKR2 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811119112

I like the Antec- great reputation and should be very quiet. However, it is a bit more expensive and the bezel is supposedly cheap plastic (or so I've read). The Centurion looks solid and has an aluminum bezel that looks a bit nicer, plus it comes with a power supply that I can sell to make the case even cheaper. But I don't know if the tooless drive brackets are any good (ie. will they hold tight and will they rattle).

Any thoughts? Any other case suggestions?
_________________
•Asus P5K SE •Q6700 •4GB G.Skill •BFG 512MB GeForce 8800GT
•Swiftech MCW6000 CPU block •MCP350 pump •MCW30 chipset block •2 x MCR120 rad
•Audigy II •Fortron 500w •24” Acer LCD •320GB Seagate SATA2 •200GB Maxtor SATA2

Google · Sponsor

fussnfeathers · Lord of the Tweak Joined: 14 Dec 2004 Posts: 2763

The Cooler Master case is identical structurally to the iStar case I reviewed a couple of months ago.....

http://www.tweaknews.net/reviews/istarusastorms8/

The only difference is the front bezel. It's solid enough, and has plenty of room.
_________________
Big enough to scare you

sandness · Posted: Mon Sep 18, 2006 8:37 am Post subject:

Ah, thanks for the link. I was also noticing some of the lower end Gigabyte cases appear to use the same chassis. The 5.25" bay retention system sounds a bit cheasy compared to standard rails. Now I'm leaning towards the Antec.
_________________
•Asus P5K SE •Q6700 •4GB G.Skill •BFG 512MB GeForce 8800GT
•Swiftech MCW6000 CPU block •MCP350 pump •MCW30 chipset block •2 x MCR120 rad
•Audigy II •Fortron 500w •24” Acer LCD •320GB Seagate SATA2 •200GB Maxtor SATA2

sandness · Posted: Tue Sep 19, 2006 4:27 pm Post subject:

Hmm, now I'm in a pickle. I see the Antec P180 is on sale at newegg for $120 with free shipping. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811129154
I might just have to splurge on that. She gets awesome reviews from everyone as a solid, quiet case- with plenty of places for additional radiators if I expand my watercooling system. Only downfall is that it is way more case than I need- as I plan to have one hd and one dvd. Hmm, decisions, decisions. Too bad there are no good overclocking conroe boards in mATX as I really only need a small case.
_________________
•Asus P5K SE •Q6700 •4GB G.Skill •BFG 512MB GeForce 8800GT
•Swiftech MCW6000 CPU block •MCP350 pump •MCW30 chipset block •2 x MCR120 rad
•Audigy II •Fortron 500w •24” Acer LCD •320GB Seagate SATA2 •200GB Maxtor SATA2

2old2care · Posted: Tue Sep 19, 2006 4:55 pm Post subject:

Those P180's tend to have a "cheesy" hinge assembly as I remember. They may have improved it though.
I'm building a 6300 for my boss on a Asus P5B-VM m-ATX board, and putting it in a Coolermaster Centurian 541...one of these.

Again, space is a major consideration in the project. I'll be able to tell you more next week, my parts are ordered, but it'll be Monday before I wil get to it.
_________________
.
Liquid-Cooled Q9450 and an EeePC
.

fussnfeathers · Lord of the Tweak Joined: 14 Dec 2004 Posts: 2763

Since you're a tweaker, go ahead and get a bigger case than you need. Chances are very good that you'll use a high-quality case for at least three systems, so while you don't need the room now, you may need it a year or so down the road.
_________________
Big enough to scare you

sandness · Posted: Tue Sep 19, 2006 10:38 pm Post subject:

I looked into that board, but it looks like it doesn't have the overclocking capabilities I'm going for (i.e. the ram can only go up to 1.95v max). Let me know if I'm wrong because I'd love to go with a mini system.
_________________
•Asus P5K SE •Q6700 •4GB G.Skill •BFG 512MB GeForce 8800GT
•Swiftech MCW6000 CPU block •MCP350 pump •MCW30 chipset block •2 x MCR120 rad
•Audigy II •Fortron 500w •24” Acer LCD •320GB Seagate SATA2 •200GB Maxtor SATA2

2old2care · Posted: Tue Sep 19, 2006 11:18 pm Post subject:

Will do. You know me....I'll have to play with it a day or so.

Will let you know next week.
_________________
.
Liquid-Cooled Q9450 and an EeePC
.

sandness · Posted: Wed Sep 20, 2006 1:17 pm Post subject:

Since the sale ends today, I decided to pick up my skirt and get the P180. It will give me more options in the future, and will be easier to work in too.

_________________
•Asus P5K SE •Q6700 •4GB G.Skill •BFG 512MB GeForce 8800GT
•Swiftech MCW6000 CPU block •MCP350 pump •MCW30 chipset block •2 x MCR120 rad
•Audigy II •Fortron 500w •24” Acer LCD •320GB Seagate SATA2 •200GB Maxtor SATA2

2old2care · Posted: Wed Sep 20, 2006 1:52 pm Post subject:

Since you are not trapped (as I am) into a m-ATX mobo, I'd look into the Gigabyte 965 board. They seem to be fairly well liked for the C2Duo's.

I'll still report on my m-ATX build next week.
_________________
.
Liquid-Cooled Q9450 and an EeePC
.

2old2care · Posted: Tue Sep 26, 2006 4:31 pm Post subject:

2old2care · Posted: Tue Sep 26, 2006 11:23 pm Post subject:

Update...he's poppin' for a 7600GS board, so I'll post the new 3d05's when it gets here.
_________________
.
Liquid-Cooled Q9450 and an EeePC
.

2old2care · Posted: Mon Oct 02, 2006 10:25 pm Post subject:

Final update since this has got to get off my bench.

The 7600gs board was well worth the money. Everything is better when you take the graphics burden off of the northbridge and get back your system memory.

_________________
.
Liquid-Cooled Q9450 and an EeePC
.

Xal · Posted: Tue Oct 03, 2006 1:45 am Post subject:

He may be better off going for an X1600pro or XT, they cost arround the same and are faster cards, here is my 3d05 score and my system is far bellow your specs 2Old

As you can see, your CPU score kicks the $#!t out of mine but I still get a better overall score...
_________________
Phenom II x4 955 @ Stock
Asus M3N78-EM
4gb Corsair XMS2 DDR2 667 @ 800
1gb Powercolor Radeon HD 5850 @ Stock
X-fi Extreme Audio PCI E
Nexus 600W Silent PSU
Nexus Fans
Custom case

2old2care · Posted: Tue Oct 03, 2006 3:18 pm Post subject:

First of all the board is a gs and cost me less than $70.

The real point is, look at how much cpu resource is consumed by the onboard gfx. The only change here was the board....no tweakin' just stock. This box wasn't built for gaming, so these tests really are just comparative. But....in the real world...this overly adequate machine was being turned into a ho-hum box by the onboard gfx. Now it'll snap from spreadsheet to word doc to internet without hesitation.

I guess what I'm saying is, it is a minor matter whether it's ATI or Nvidia. As long as it isn't an onboard resource thief.

_________________
.
Liquid-Cooled Q9450 and an EeePC
.

Xal · Posted: Tue Oct 03, 2006 4:46 pm Post subject:

True, just sayin that I personaly would prefer to pay the extra few $$ and get more from my system at an acceptable price

But if he just wants an office machine then even a 6200 or x1300 would do the job nicely

_________________
Phenom II x4 955 @ Stock
Asus M3N78-EM
4gb Corsair XMS2 DDR2 667 @ 800
1gb Powercolor Radeon HD 5850 @ Stock
X-fi Extreme Audio PCI E
Nexus 600W Silent PSU
Nexus Fans
Custom case

2old2care · Posted: Tue Oct 03, 2006 6:42 pm Post subject:

Yep, anything would have done it. I was originally looking at the x1300 or n7300 area, but this 7600gs was well priced and I had never tried one. Certainly not my 7600gt board (my office machine

) but half the price.

BTW...I can't see your 3d05 thumbnail Xal.

PS: If we carry this any further we should jump to the correct section.
_________________
.
Liquid-Cooled Q9450 and an EeePC
.

Xal · Posted: Wed Oct 04, 2006 7:01 pm Post subject:

True that, hehe. Before we go too far off topic, good luck with the build sadness

_________________
Phenom II x4 955 @ Stock
Asus M3N78-EM
4gb Corsair XMS2 DDR2 667 @ 800
1gb Powercolor Radeon HD 5850 @ Stock
X-fi Extreme Audio PCI E
Nexus 600W Silent PSU
Nexus Fans
Custom case

sandness · Posted: Thu Oct 05, 2006 12:50 am Post subject:

Yeah, I'm still waiting on some more parts- namely the motherboard, a chipset waterblock, another radiator, more tubing, fluid xp, coollaboratory liquid pro, the Intel E6300 and Vista Ultimate. All but the cpu and Vista are on a little brown truck that should be arriving thursday or friday. At least I can get it set up with my D820 processor, although I'm not sure that I want to temporarily set up XP just to use it for a couple weeks before switching to Vista. Decisions, decisions.
_________________
•Asus P5K SE •Q6700 •4GB G.Skill •BFG 512MB GeForce 8800GT
•Swiftech MCW6000 CPU block •MCP350 pump •MCW30 chipset block •2 x MCR120 rad
•Audigy II •Fortron 500w •24” Acer LCD •320GB Seagate SATA2 •200GB Maxtor SATA2