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Case Suggestions
Elimination
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Going to be picking up a new case for the new PC build in the next month or two, not sure what the go to choice is these days. I have a mATX Board, a full size video card and PSU, one HDD but I will be adding an SSD in the future. I would prefer one I can also put my internal blu-ray burner in, though it is not a deal-breaking to have to ditch it and use an external one, its just a preference. I won't be doing any crossfire/sli stuff.
The smaller the case the better. I also have been looking at a few of those sound-dampening cases which also appeals to me.
So far I have been eyeing the steam-castle but its pretty ugly, but I like that it's functional. Any other suggestions are appreciated.
The smaller the case the better. I also have been looking at a few of those sound-dampening cases which also appeals to me.
So far I have been eyeing the steam-castle but its pretty ugly, but I like that it's functional. Any other suggestions are appreciated.
PSN: PA_Elimination 3DS: 4399-2012-1711 Steam: http://steamcommunity.com/id/TheElimination/
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I was actually eyeing that one earlier today. How silent is it really?
Have you checked out http://silentpcreview.com/ ?
This is the first i've ever heard of that site.
steam | Dokkan: 868846562
Also, SSD prices are coming down SO FAR, a person could consider a 1TB SSD and be done with a traditional HDD all together. We're looking at $0.50/GB, consistently on sale and It's only going to be getting better from here.
As Gaslight put it so aptly in the Computer Build Thread,
That, and I think spending $500 GB for only 1TB is insane, when I could get a (probably Nvidia) GPU that nearly rips a hole and space and time for the same amount.
(I blame everything going digital. Damn you, digital renaissance. You couldn't wait for US internet to stop sucking first?
To get back on point, I've got a Fractal Define R4, and am likewise happy with it. I'm not entirely sure what the R5's differences are (aside from being $50 more expensive, I think?), but aside from its extremely impressive sound-dampening qualities, it's very effective to keep dust-free and clean. As previously stated, what you'll end up hearing is your platter-based drives (in my case, regularly accessing them isn't loud, it's things like antivirus scans and the period immediately after bootup that is audible).
So I think it's an excellent choice. I can't speak to ease of assembly (I paid $45 for NCIX to put my motherboard and CPU in), but hard drives and basic things like that are fairly easy to manage, so that's a plus.
Don't store your media collection on an OS drive. I have a 500GB OS drive, but all media storage lives on a large spinning drive. Also has the advantage that if I need to re-install windows I don't have to worry about data migration. It took me exactly one time of having to find a place to migrate 1.5TB of data when I had my OS installed on a 2TB drive to decide I never wanted to do that again.
I don't-where did you get the impression that I do? That's what those two SSDs are for (one has my OS on it, the other is less full and occupied entirely by games as well).
EDIT: For clarity, media goes on those Western Digitals I keep filling up. It's the only way to go, I'd drown an SSD with just part of my TV series collection.
The topic on hand was noise, and the SSD will always be quieter than traditional hard drives. I only brought it up because I can remember a time not so long ago that the SSD was only a supplement to the HDD because they were FAR too expensive. Also, we were marveling about it in the Build thread, and it seemed relevant to bring it up here. You can do away with HDD's in some instances, but one certainly doesn't have to if the situation merits them.
Let's not sully this thread by going off topic.
On the topic of cases I ended up going with the Bitfenix Prodigy M as it hit most of the marks for me.
...actually, I think I'm okay. I've dealt with HDD failures before (mostly the click of death), though pleasantly, never with anything from Western Digital. And I've never really had a need for a raid setup. Instead, I just have physical backups of everything the hardest to replace.
But thanks? We should probably keep this at least somewhat related to Elimination's initial request. And yes, going full SSD is hard to recommend to anyone who keeps any kind of media library, or more than a few games.
That looks sweet, you'll have to let us know how that goes when you start assembly, and how the noise levels are when you're up and running. Congrats!
So, woe is me I killed my Mobo between hardware migration. It happens. I got a new (and better one.) installed now. The prodigy M has been good, noise levels are totally acceptable and thats with 2 extra, much larger fans than my old case. Cable management is a bit of a nightmare though, if I didn't have a modular PSU I think that it would have been a really big problem instead of an annoyance. There is really not much space to route cables in the back plate, so you end up having to tuck and tie most of the cable slack above the power supply (which is mounted at the front of the case, sideways.) everything in the case is also mounted upside-down, which honestly I like because it now causes my dual-fan GPU cooler's fans to aim toward the vent at the top of the case rather than downward toward the bottom, so air-flow is actually better despite the aformentioned cable issues.
Otherwise case is great, looks nice and is small in size just what I wanted. Just setting up the SSD now as i type this, gonna go with a fresh win install.
To for the quietest case move the spinner media drives to a separate home server, then stream the media wherever you want. You can also backup your played steam games to the server so you can keep them off the smaller SSDs in the main rig.
Origin ID: Discgolfer27
Untappd ID: Discgolfer1981
So far the top case contender for me is the nzxt h440. It might not be the best in all areas, but just looking at it I can't help but feel it's just a desperately pretty case. I've looked around at others, and have had great cases in the past, like the define cases from fractal design, and others from antec.
I've also, on the topic of silent things, been looking at and considering a closed loop cpu cooler. Anyone with experience with these? From what I've seen they have a lower thermal threshold than the standard heatsinks (higher idle temps but lower on load) but I'm not too sure the added price is justified. I've been a fan of my coolermaster hyper 212 Evo, as it's quiet, cools really well, and is only 30$ on a bad day.
Whether you need that extra thermal headroom, that is another debate. If you're just doing mild overclocks, you should have no trouble with an EVO 212.
I've built in a couple NZXT cases, and they've always been a pretty damn good value.