Searching for a new case

[old.LittleDwarf]

Hi, I wondered if anyone could give me any ideas on where I can find a nice and not to costly case (under £120 would be nice).
I've checked most places (coolcasemods, overclocking store, coolingshop) and really like the look of this one, I like the idea of the see-thru side panel, the only problem is I need this kind of thing but with a door on the front, because as soon as I put my nice white drives ect in the front it will look like poo

If I can't find one I guess I'll just have to go back to my original idea of buying a Chieftec Dragon instead.

 

[Will]

You are better going for something easy to work with I've found. I'd never buy a case without a slide-out motherboard tray and thumbscrews. A rail system for the drives is a bonus too, or at least detachable caddies.

If you are careful, you can get stick-on aluminium panels for a few different CD/DVD and floppy drives, or can used brush-on silver foil. Black drives can look good too.

 

[old.LittleDwarf]

I think I was just attracted to the colourful blue light
Would you suggest going with the Dragon then?

It seems to be the case of choice atm, I've been out the techy pc loop for a while so please correct me if I'm wrong

Slide-out motherboard would be nice I guess - I've played around with a pc with one and it did make things a lot easier, it was such a pain in the ass when I built this pc 3 years ago (yes my pc is very slow p3 450).
Still looking around at what to go for the inside, just thought I'd buy a case now to play around with - 3ghz cpu being on the horizon is holding me back a bit from buying atm.
Though I do like the look of the WD Caviar 120 GB SE - maybe the first part of my new pc.

If anyone wants to throw out a few parts they would buy if they where making a new pc please feel free to add them - just remembering I'm not quite a millionairre

 

[Will]

Well, that case you posted does use thumb-screws, though the Globalwin 802 is much easier to work with. Its not flashy though, its a beige box.

In aluminium, Coolermaster are a joy to work with, for the same reasons as the 802.

I feel so nerdy.

And the Western Digital 80GB SE was the first part I got of this PC.

 

[bodhi]

I have a Chieftec Black Dragon. It is quite spinkingly nice, except that the door doesnt close properly, but I think I broke that. Was a piece of piss to install all the bits in it and I'm ham fisted at best putting PC's together. A year later it still all works fine.

 

[lecter]

Teh Win
It has blue led's too.
(btw the monitor was free so dont go moaning about that either :])

 

[old.LittleDwarf]

The left led isn't as bright as the right one though - it would be to off putting

I think I'm going with a Dragon.

Plus I think I'll add buying a cd-writer to my initial purchase (at last) last time I considered buying one they where £200ish, now you can get them at double the speed for around £50 - computer prices ain't they great - now I remember why I don't like upgrading.

 

[Embattle]

One is the Power LED and the other is most probably the HD LED.

 

[old.LittleDwarf]

Originally posted by Embattle
One is the Power LED and the other is most probably the HD LED.

No doubt, I unplugged my HD led, I got bored of it blinking at me all the time - come to think of it the strangest things seem to annoy me

 

[lecter]

HDD LED doesnt work as I have SCSI POWAH!!!1

 

[mank!]

I've got a chieftech case, same as Bods but in 'white'. More like "atypical biege thx". It's hooj.

 

[Testin da Cable]

Originally posted by bodhi
I have a Chieftec Black Dragon. It is quite spinkingly nice

what he says

 

[adams901]

Here's the case I have...

It has plenty of room for the components and airflow.

http://www.overclock.co.uk/moreinfo.php?id=606

http://www.gibtek.co.uk/hardware/dragonali.html

 

[old.LittleDwarf]

That aluminium one is very nice - front runner atm I think - though I notice it has no psu in it - guess thats another £40 odd quid on top of that then - ouch

 

[~YuckFou~]

Juno P3 Mid Tower looks like a bargain and has doors to hide the drives.

I recently bought one of these , which is not in use yet, fans, lights and windows are the christmas project.

 

[old.LittleDwarf]

Cyber Fusion looks nice - don't like the look of that other one though

Also noticed the aluminium dragon doesn't have a pull out motherboard tray DOH! anyone confirm if the normal ones do I can't seem to find it mentioned anywhere.

 

[adams901]

I was worried about the lack of tray as well, but to be honest there is so much space in the case you dont really need a tray.

 

[Happy Go Lucky]

I have a Globalwin 802

OCuk are selling a range with added blowholes at the side and top here

 

[slowjoe]

Im thinking of a new case too.....

Anyone got any comments about the I-TEE case's?? available from E-buyer. I like the idea of all the ports on the side but was concerned with space for big heatsink and cooling aspects ...any ideas??? If not I'll prob go for Chieftec Dragon and follow the crowd

 

[old.LittleDwarf]

Well Ive finally made my choice and the winner is the Chieftec Dragon (yes if everyone jumped off a cliff I probably would follow them). Anyway it won't be to normal as I'm going to have a window on the side door. The problem I now face is that it doesn't come with a psu so I wondering what to get - luckly while looking around I noticed Firingsquad has an artice on this very subject (they lost me when they started talking about formulas and stuff though )
So any particular brand of psu I should plump for? - probably going for 350w to 420w - just wondering if any particular brand I should look at.
I've never really thought much about the psu so a real n00b on this(ok on most things, I admit it) - I did buy one once but that was because I blew up my old one - the less said about that the better

 

[Will]

I bought an Enermax 460W PSU, because you can turn down the fans inside it. Handy when it isn't working too hard, and you want to be able to hear the TV. Totally excessive for my needs, but it gives me some spare headroom.

Stick with a branded PSU (Enermax, Sparkle etc) and you'll be fine.

 

[old.LittleDwarf]

Cheers Will - 460w ay that must sound like a jet taking off

You must have a water cooling system in your pc right?
Or maybe one of those panels on the front of your pc for switching individual fans off inside the case?
Another thing I'm not to hot on I just have the one fan on my cpu - those where the good old days where you didn't have to have 12 fans in the case to stop your pc from buggering up every half an hour.

 

[Will]

Heh, I wish I had water-cooled.

Actually, once I turn down the PSU fans, they are pretty silent, just the whine of my ickle baby heatsink and fan. I've got my PC crammed into a tiny case, no room for additional fans or anything else. I think this may be why the CPU runs at 58C.