Mid-Tower/Mini-Tower Cases

[Optix]

What's a computer if you don't have something to stick the guts in?

I have been flip flopping on which case to get for a while. My Tempest is too big and noisy so it has to go. I also have space requirements so nothing taller than your average, run of the mill mid tower.

My choices at this point since it is a budget build are:

Antec Three Hundred w/3x120mm Scythe Slipstream fans and possibly a fan controller

Antec Six Hundred w/3x120mm Scythe Slipstream fans (a bit pricey leaving no money for a fan controller)

Lian Li PC-A05NB w/PCI exhaust fan or possibly to be modded to allow for 2x120mm fans at the top (again, a bit pricey)

I am leaning towards the Lian Li case because I like the design and the build quality is supposed to be out of this world on their cases but the cooling concerns me since my i3 will be going 4Ghz+. My tastes have changed from flashy to functional so I am fine with a plain Jane case so long as the features and cooling are there coupled with low noise.

Also keep in mind that I am really set on keeping the Scythe Mugen 2 as my heatsink since it gives great performance on the cheap.

Shipping will also be a factor since my build is pretty close to budget with any of these cases.

Any suggestions are welcome.

***EDIT: Bugger. The Lian Li case is now out of stock.

***EDIT: Looks like I'm going with an Antec Three Hundred. It keeps with the budget theme of the upgrade.

 

[Kougar]

Doesn't the Antec Three Hundred use Tricool fans? On low speed these fans are rather quiet, as long as they do not suffer from vibration issues (I had two that did) then they are decent case fans.

 

[Optix]

Yep. The back 120 and top 140 are both Tri-Cool fans. I'm going to pair them up with three cheap-o yet kick ass Scythe Slip Steam 120's running off an equally cheap-o yet kick ass Scythe Kaze Q 4 channel fan controller so I can really keep things quiet.

***EDIT: Well, here it is. I have the motherboard already and I am keeping the PSU from my old rig.

Mod Right FilterRight 120MM Fan Filter -BLACK-


Scythe Kaze Q 3.5IN Pure 4 Channel Fan Controller Black


Antec Three Hundred 5.25IN to 3.5IN Bay Adapter


Antec Three Hundred Mini Tower Gaming Case 300 ATX 3X5.25 6X3.5INT No PS Front USB & Audio


Mod Smart Serial ATA Data Cable 10IN Straight SATA Connectors - Silver


Lg GH22NS50 Black 22X Sata Dvd Writer Oem


640GB CAVIAR SATA 7200RPM 3.5IN BLACK

Sapphire Vapor-X Radeon HD 5770 860MHZ 1GB 4.8GHZ GDDR5 PCI-E 2XDVI HDMI Display Port Video Card


G.SKILL F3-12800CL7D-4GBECO Eco PC3-12800 4GB 2X2GB DDR3-1600 CL7-8-7-24 1.35V Memory Kit


Scythe Mugen 2 REV.B. HeatPipes CPU Heatsink LGA1366 1156 775 AM3 AM2+ AM2 754 939 940 120MM Fan


Intel Core i3 530 Dual Core Processor Clarkdale LGA1156 2.93GHZ Hyperthreading 4MB Cache Retail Box

Total is $741 w/tax and free shipping through Direct Canada.

Once my old PSU is back from RMA it gets thrown in my current rig to be sold and I'm ordering parts.

 

[Psi*]

I like aluminum cases. I never think about moving the machines around much, but it does happen & aluminum versus steel is a pleasure. I have 3 Lian Li cases & like them quite a bit versus the 2 old full tower steel cases (they are cut for WC). The finish of Lian Li is pretty durable. There are a few glaring mars, but they only show up in bright light (sun shining in office ... ugh!). These systems have been run all over the place in the back seat of a car ... Pennsylvania, Illinois, Florida, Connecticut ... then I started using gotomypc.com ... who knew?! But I digress ..

I have not used any other aluminum cases so I can't comment on those, but I am in the market to replace the old steel cases (they are so old that they are beige!!!). I am thinking mini-tower also, but that Antec ... I don't know. Hard to put my finger on it, but it doesn't float my boat.

Lian Li that I have are 2 quite different styles. One is all about cooling ... perforated with lots of holes. The others are for quiet & have sound absorbing foam added to the inside of the side panels ... they do run warmer but they are quiet. The latter 2 took me 2 days to figure out how to open them up tho. Simple once you know & a couple of calls later, "how do you open these cases?" were a little embarrassing.

 

[Optix]

Now I'm sitting here really wanting an Antec P180 even though it's probably not necessary and REALLY out of my price range.