Comments on: Help me choose my next PC case

By: Peter

Peter — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 16:17:20 +0000

I just bought an Antec p182 case to house a msi p55 gd65 motherboard.. but found that the motherboard is too big to fit inside, unless I remove the top fan from the case…

By: Justa Notherguy

Justa Notherguy — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 12:08:42 +0000

I’d go with one of the Cooler Master boxes, almost sight-unseen. At nearly any sub-$80 price point, they seem to make the best boxes.
.
Specifically, if you’d like something with a bit of style but not if it comes with a high price, the Elite 310 can’t be beat. Just one caveat: don’t open up the wrong expansion slot…there’s no easy way to re-attach the covers.

By: Sally

Sally — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 11:15:29 +0000

Jim, I’d be very interested to hear how you get on with your Fractal Design case – how easy to build it is, and especially how quiet it is.

By: Ian

Ian — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 17:13:52 +0000

Anything by Antec – mainly as their Customer Support gets rave reviews from pretty much everywhere I’ve read – and they’re quite happy to replace missing parts for free

It’s something I considered when I bought my Antec P182 last year – it’s been great for me though the motherboard chamber is only just big enough for my aging GeForce 8800GT, so your HD 4870 may not fit inside.

It’s very quiet though and I’m able to run a Q9650 at stock speeds with the case fans at their slowest speeds.

By: Vas

Vas — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 13:36:09 +0000

I would argue that a top of the range PC case would not be necessary. I, and many others who I know and have built systems, vouch by the Antec Three Hundred (http://www.ebuyer.com/product/143854).

By: Ben Speedy

Ben Speedy — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 12:36:21 +0000

I’ve just built my new Intel i5 based system inside an Antec Solo – an oldie-but-goodie quiet mid tower case, with enough room for my 16cm tall quiet CPU cooler. I’ve been very impessed with the flexibility and build quality – you can even suspend your HDDs from elastic, if you’re really keen on noise reduction!

By: Mike Jennings

Mike Jennings — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 09:24:53 +0000

Everybody, thanks for the suggestions – it’s good to see that there are plenty of other cases worth looking at aside from the ones that PC manufacturers prefer to use!

Going to go and research all of these cases now… any more suggestions?

By: Jon

Jon — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 06:56:10 +0000

Having built a number of ’silent’ systems for people, there are two clear leaders, the Antec P182 and the Silverstone Fortress. Personally, I think the stock fans in the P182 need replacing for a genuinely quiet system. Even on the slow setting, they aren’t terribly loud and the Sharkoon 1000 Golf Balls are much quieter. The Fortress is pretty quiet out of the box, mostly due to 2 out of the 3 case fans being 180mm not 120mm. Even so, the Silverstone stock fans are pretty decent, much better than the Antec ones. The only other caveat to the P182 is that longer cards require you to remove one of the extra HDD trays to fit them in, so if you have a fair few HDDs, that might be an issue.

By: Gil

Gil — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 01:50:38 +0000

go with the HAF932from Cooler Master
http://www.coolermaster.com/product.php?category_id=18&product_id=5363

iam glad i did

By: Jim McCue

Jim McCue — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 01:28:10 +0000

My case requirements closely match yours and, after much time spent researching all the different options, I have ordered a Fractal Design “Define R2″ case for my Win7 build. Looks to be stylish, quiet, with many cooling options and adequate room for expansion. The only downside is that that user feedback is non-existent since it is so new. The first UK shipments are scheduled for later this week.
http://www.quietpc.com/gb-en-gbp/products/pc-cases/fd-definer2