Case Suggestions Wanted

[ankitpayal]

Been reading through a lot of the posts here and reviews elsewhere. I had been sold on the Antec P180 until I found out that the maximum height could not be more than 19.7". I am looking for a case under $120 that has these features, in order of priority:

1. 1a. Cooling - The ambient room temp in summer can get as high as 35 C. I will be running a C2D E6600 with a Tuniq Tower 120 or the Thermalright Ultra 120. I will run a Radeon X1950 Pro in Crossfire or a single DX10 card. I will try to OC to the CPU to about 3.2 GHz and the memory will not be OC'ed. The video card might be. You can see how important cooling is...

1. 1b. Noise - Would like it to make as little noise as possible. Doesn't have to be completely silent

1. 3. Looks - Would love one with a window so I can have LEDs (Antec Nine Hundred looks very nice). See list below for cases I like and cases I don't.

Other Important Stuff:

• Weight of case will not be an issue, as its just going to sit in one location.

• At the MOST, I will need space for only 3 internal HDs and two 5.25" drives. No floppy drive, card reader, etc. All else would be waste.

Cases I Do Not Like:
Rosewill R6AS5
Thermaltake Matrix

Cases I Do Like:
Antec P180
NZXT Zero
GIGABYTE 3D AURORA
AeroCool Coolview
iStarUSA Nitro AX S-10000S

I know Lian Li's are good but they are a little pricey for me. However, how is the cooling for the PC-7B Plus 2?

If you need more info, let me know...

 

[Zepper]

Thermaltake SViking? Enermax Chakras or Phoenix? CoolerMaster Mystique 631/632? Rosewill R6A series?

.bh.

 

[Operandi]

Lian Li PC-7B; the cooling is very good.

 

[khurios2000]

Antec P160W B-Stock

 

[ankitpayal]

SViking - not enough cooling.
Mystique 631/632 - They are good but expensive.
Chakras - don't like the design and the noise it will make is a concern.
Rosewill R6A Series / Lian Li PC-7B - don't like the look at all.
P160W B-stock - really good except it only has two fans and so, does not alleviate my cooling concerns.
Enermax Phoenix - Probably the best but am concerned about it being able to handle a X1950 Pro video card.

Found an Antec Nine Hundred for about $99. Good deal?
Also found an Antec P180 for $98.

Don't know which one to go for...

 

[pkrush]

Even with those specs, you should still be fine with 2 medium speed 120mm case fans. Temps WILL be a bit on the high side, but no matter how many fans you add, that's always going to be a problem with a 35C ambient.

 

[ankitpayal]

Thanks for the response but things just changed as something incredible happened and I can now go for a more expensive case... The Stacker is looking good right now.

 

[VinDSL]

Originally posted by: ankitpayal
Been reading through a lot of the posts here and reviews elsewhere. I had been sold on the Antec P180... I am looking for a case under $120...

If cost is an issue, may I suggest B Stock -- same as khurios2000 said?