Gaming PC - Ultimate Cases

[Gareth]

I was planning a substantial PC upgrade towards the end of the year (for Fallout Las Veags & Cyrsis 2 coming out really) but I've started thinking it may make more sense to leave my current machine alone and build an additional machine rather than upgrade. So, as with all PC builds I need a case to start with and although I'm still some time off ordering parts I'm looking what is out there.

My current system uses a Coolermaster nVidia special edition case:

I was wondering what others there are that people can recommend?

Antec 900/1200 seem to be recommended regularly but i find their design a bit underwhelming to be honest, any recommendations/pics?

 

[Darren S]

Simple and elegant...... with just a hint of 'yes, I am hard' to it....

http://www.lian-li.com/v2/en/product/product06.php?pr_index=258&cl_index=1&sc_index=26&ss_index=67

D.

 

[Lawless]

The antec 1200 is a beast, i would get it.
I'm upgrading my PC soon and been looking into it, looks a nice case, Just get a cheap case and mod it yourself, Cheap enough for leds and perspex on ebay

 

[mr.valver]

I had the Antec 900 case, best case I've ever had.

Been thinking about building another since I sold up!

 

[Gareth]

I'm not into the whole LED / neon tube scene to be honest, I'd rather something that looks built for purpose with a flair of simple, yet effect design.

Darren, looks good, but HUGE!! The one I have at the moment is already a bit of a mare to lift/move around.

 

[mr.valver]

You can whip all the neons out or just don't connect them, adjustable fan speeds to. Nice and cool, had mine OC'd to pieces and SLi and always kept low low temps.

 

[saltyhair81]

Darren has the right idea with Lian Li - best cases on the market.

 

[Damo_Sport]

Funny this thread is on here lol

Get CUSTOM PC magazine. pretty good for getting prices on things and reading reviews

My PC i built is due for a upgrade soon, might just pull it apart and build one from scratch again but with watercooling this time

 

[mugglesquop]

dont buy a cheap case, makes building it such a pain in the arse.

 

[Gareth]

Funny this thread is on here lol

Get CUSTOM PC magazine. pretty good for getting prices on things and reading reviews

My PC i built is due for a upgrade soon, might just pull it apart and build one from scratch again but with watercooling this time

I've recently taken out a subscription to read over the next few months to help out with the build.

I'd currently go for i7, 6GB or 8GB and a XFX 5970 2GB Black Edition, but I don't actually need the PC now so I'd rather hangfire for new releases/cheaper prices towards the end of the year. I also want to try and get a SSD for the O/S if i can.

 

[Andy.]

I'd vote for an Antec P183 or P193. I have the older P182 but it has great cooling, and is well insulated so is pretty quiet too.

I didn't want something with Neon, perspex and other gunk, just something that was easy to keep tidy and manage. They look good too. (IMHO)

 

[Gareth]

I prefer the look of the 1200 tbh, although not completely sold by it. (I don't think they are 'special' enough)

 

[Damo_Sport]

I've recently taken out a subscription to read over the next few months to help out with the build.

I'd currently go for i7, 6GB or 8GB and a XFX 5970 2GB Black Edition, but I don't actually need the PC now so I'd rather hangfire for new releases/cheaper prices towards the end of the year. I also want to try and get a SSD for the O/S if i can.

yeah good choice... ive always been a Pentium man, my last PC was built around a AMD Athlon x2 6000+.. Only reason is i got it at the quarter of the price cause it had a damaged box *bargain or what*

BUT.. in just over a year it had blew.. taking the motherboard with it!!

So next build is on a penitum, not only cause i dont trust AMD's now, but they run alot cooler then AMD's.

 

[Gareth]

I used to be an AMD man also, but the Intels have been better ever since Core2Duo.

 

[saltyhair81]

I've recently taken out a subscription to read over the next few months to help out with the build.

I'd currently go for i7, 6GB or 8GB and a XFX 5970 2GB Black Edition, but I don't actually need the PC now so I'd rather hangfire for new releases/cheaper prices towards the end of the year. I also want to try and get a SSD for the O/S if i can.

I'd get the 480 GTX over the 5970. ATi drivers are still shocking - although the benchmarks don't show it, the 480 is a helllishly better card.

I've got a x965 Extreme here if you're interested

 

[wozzaa]

Run various machines so different cases for different uses.

On my main games machine which runs water cooling. I use a Corsair Obsidian 800D, http://www.corsair.com/products/800d/default.aspx

Got to be one of the best cases on the market. It is massive and already well prepared for water cooling etc.

My 2nd build which is turning into more of a work / server machine although slightly overspec'd for that since it has a Q6600 in there. Is in a stacker like the one in the original post but the normal Silver version.

I'd get the 480 GTX over the 5970. ATi drivers are still shocking - although the benchmarks don't show it, the 480 is a helllishly better card.

I've got a x965 Extreme here if you're interested

What backwards logic that is.

ATI card is crap cause of the shocking drivers. But the Nvidia card is better, but doesn't perform as well in benchmarks. Obviously that means the drivers aren't that great on the Nvidia card then too. Which I know is the case as the last few lots of Nvidia drivers have broken more games than they have fixed. Not really but they have broken a fair few games unfortunately, fallout3 being one of them. I can't play it under the newer drivers had to roll back.

Right now ATI at on top. Be mad to spend money on this gen Nvidia card. Slower, more power hungry, also has sucky drivers. There is a reason very few people are buying Nvidia this time. All moved to the ATI camp this generation.

Maybe next gen when Nvidia have ironed out this new architecture properly it will be worth it. But this gen, nah.

 

[saltyhair81]

Having been in the industry for over 9 years and owned both cards - the 480 is better

5870/5890 are by no means bad - infact much improved over the 4800 series but it's been a long time coming - powerplay works now (just).

Plus I'm not really a massive fan of multiGPU cards. It's hit and miss and if you try to ignore it's rediculous size it's really not worth it's price tag

Plus I've got to say 3d Vision is pretty pucker.

 

[Floodie]

Re: ssd's - I was looking into one of these too for the OS but after reading reviews they suprisingly dont seem to be MUCH MUCH faster than your usual HD's... for all the farting around and cost per gig i didnt think it worth it until they get uber quick... I was hoping for a "power on > 2 secs > Desktop loaded" type thing. shame.

 

[Gareth]

I heard SSD was that much faster, I currently run 2 x 150GB 10,000 RPM drives mirrored for my OS.

 

[UncleGrumpy]

The missus has just bought a new machine, she had the non nVidia version of the coolmaster that you have now and has gone to the Coolmaster Sniper Storm with liquid cooling, looks quite amusing inside with it's car like radiator and multiple large fans but they keep it nice and cool.

As for graphics she's running a 5970 and to be honest considering it cost just over £500 when she bought it it doesn't seem earth shattering in terms of frame rates, in Lord of the rings online which we both play with everything maxed out and 8xAA it's only about 15/25 fps faster than my GTX 275, I'd have expected more TBH so i'd definately look at a GTX480 or the rather tasty looking dual GTX470 if you fancy a mental 3 screen 3D vision setup.

One other thing worth looking at are the newest motherboards that support 6gb/s and USB3, the wifes machine has that and a 1tb 6gb/s hard drive and they really fly, the difference is noticable so I'd look at those for sure.

 

[Darren S]

I heard SSD was that much faster, I currently run 2 x 150GB 10,000 RPM drives mirrored for my OS.

If I were you (at this moment in time) - I think that would be plenty for your OS Gareth, rather than stumping up the cash for an SSD alternative.

I'm still running 2x 7.2K SATA for my OS!

D.

 

[Gareth]

The missus has just bought a new machine, she had the non nVidia version of the coolmaster that you have now and has gone to the Coolmaster Sniper Storm with liquid cooling, looks quite amusing inside with it's car like radiator and multiple large fans but they keep it nice and cool.

As for graphics she's running a 5970 and to be honest considering it cost just over £500 when she bought it it doesn't seem earth shattering in terms of frame rates, in Lord of the rings online which we both play with everything maxed out and 8xAA it's only about 15/25 fps faster than my GTX 275, I'd have expected more TBH so i'd definately look at a GTX480 or the rather tasty looking dual GTX470 if you fancy a mental 3 screen 3D vision setup.

One other thing worth looking at are the newest motherboards that support 6gb/s and USB3, the wifes machine has that and a 1tb 6gb/s hard drive and they really fly, the difference is noticable so I'd look at those for sure.

some useful info there, many thanks. I quite like the Sniper case actually!

 

[Gareth]

If I were you (at this moment in time) - I think that would be plenty for your OS Gareth, rather than stumping up the cash for an SSD alternative.

I'm still running 2x 7.2K SATA for my OS!

D.

SSD isn't factored into my budget tbh, its a nice to have and I'll see how I go.

 

[Adam]

Buy mine, I will do it at a good price

 

[Gareth]

lol, its too much fun building your own

 

[Damo_Sport]

While we are on the subject

Anyone know any good websites for watercooling bits? or recommend a case thats big enough to take watercooling parts?

 

[Adam]

lol, its too much fun building your own

lol well I can take it all apart for you, no worries .

 

[Adam]

While we are on the subject

Anyone know any good websites for watercooling bits? or recommend a case thats big enough to take watercooling parts?

Yip.

Chilled PC is where I got all my parts from, Tom there is a great guy and the forums are pretty helpfull aswell.

http://www.chilledpc.co.uk/shop/

Antec 1200 is the case I have got, its got enough space inside for a rad but in the end I opted to put the rad on the outside using brackets.

 

[Damo_Sport]

the Antec 1200 is the case i have atm with my current PC build, i may just reuse the case for when i rebuild a PC then

 

[Darren S]

lol, its too much fun building your own

Too right. Getting all the parts and putting it together is like Lego for adults!

D.

 

[conneh]

Anything Lian-Li. Anything else is rubbish in comparison.

 

[Adam]

Anything Lian-Li. Anything else is rubbish in comparison.

In your opinion obviously.

 

[SamP]

Anything Lian-Li. Anything else is rubbish in comparison.

Truth tbh.

 

[Cookie]

In your opinion obviously.

In most

Does what it says on the tin without the need for any fancy gadgetness

I've not had anything but Lian Li cases for years

 

[Gareth]

The one Darren posted is like £550!

 

[conneh]

I forgot how classy and how good air moves through the Antec 1200 ;p

 

[Gareth]

what's the deal with water cooling then? Easy to pick up or a mare to do / use / live with? (I've never touched it)

 

[saltyhair81]

what's the deal with water cooling then? Easy to pick up or a mare to do / use / live with? (I've never touched it)

Watercooling is a a lot more mainstream now really. on a fairly high end system I'd never go back to air cooling

Although I find GPU w/c to be a complete waste of time

aslong as you leak test it first by just plugging the pump into the PSU, there's not a lot that can go wrong.

I'd definitely recommend a twinrad setup - saying that if you want one out of the box the Corsair H50 120mm for 50 quid is a bargain tbh

 

[Munson]

I'm still rolling with a Thermaltake Armor (Black). Can't fault it TBH. Monolithic looks and excellent airflow. It also keeps the inards completely dust free, thanks partly to the filters, but also due to the upward blowing fan that vents out of the top.

 

[Darren S]

The one Darren posted is like £550!

You didn't give me a budget! :rasp:

I'm still using my Antec P180 at home, though the last build I did used an Antec P183. Excellent case that, imo.

D.