Upgrade from TT Shark? Need suggestions

[Soulburner]

Have done a bit of looking around so I have an idea of what I want. I have the Thermaltake Shark (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811133143), and while it gets almost everything right, it has a few things that could be improved on. Mainly it needs better airflow.

To really be an upgrade (and not a sidestep, or step backwards) my new case has to have:

-Wire management
-Very good cooling, I need air blowing across the board, video card, and to the CPU
-Easy drive installation, big fan of clip-in drives
-120mm fan minimum size
-Prefer steel for less noise, I don't move my rig around so weight isn't a huge deal, but aluminum works too
-Not opposed to unusual case arrangements as long as they work
-Quieter than the Shark

Do I go for the Armor with the big 250mm fan on the side? Are these things gimmicky or do they really work? In my experience with fans the larger ones tend to blow air just around the edges of their fins, and nothing comes through the middle so its nearly useless without a shroud or duct.

This will be housing an Abit IP35 Pro, E6750, 2gb DDR2, OCZ Powerstream 600w and an 8800GTS 640. I have 2 hard drives and 1 optical drive.

Preliminary candidates:

Thermaltake Armor (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811133021)
Raidmax Katana (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811156077)
AeroCool ExtremEngine 3T (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811196021)
ENERMAX Uber Chakra (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811124121)
XCLIO A380 PLUS (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811103014)
NZXT Zero (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811146029)
NZXT Apollo (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811146025)

Eliminated options:
Antec Nine Hundred (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129021)
Antec Performance One P180 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129154)
XION Stacker (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811208022)

Just a browse-through-newegg list, haven't had a lot of time yet and need to narrow down the choices still. Budget is around $150 tops. Thanks for any input :cool:

[GAR]

Armor, all the way......or the NZXT Zero

[AusScare]

Stacker 810 or 830?

[NoobCake]

yup stacker 830 for sure, i got one and have never regret buying it

great case if you wanted extra airflow

[Soulburner]

Stacker 830 is pretty far out of budget...

[NoobCake]

Stacker 830 is pretty far out of budget...

ohh ok then, and out of those list you have listed i would def go for the ARMOUR, i have had the armour also b4 the stacker and i found it to be a alright case, very nice to work in also, has some decent airflow also and because it is a full tower also, after the armour i would go the antec 900, although the antec 900 would have some better cooling, i have had this case also, the fans are VERY noisy at HIGH, but at low or MED they provide some adequate cooling already, for quiet and alright cooling it will probably have to be the antec p180, as you said you wanted quieter then the shark i would say this case would be good also. so either any of those cases would be fine :)

[Soulburner]

It looks like it would be hard to mount a floppy drive in the Armor.

How much air does that side fan move? I've heard its not very much.

Would the 900 be quieter than the Shark if the fans aren't at full blast?

I like the PSU at the bottom, it would help with the HD cables. How is wire management in the 900?

And how are the HD's mounted?

Thanks :cool:

[Solarfall]

i just love my coolermaster stacker case. its freaking huge :D .. and its not even that expensive. $159.95 at performance pcs.
http://www.performance-pcs.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=103_125&products_id=1725

[NoobCake]

It looks like it would be hard to mount a floppy drive in the Armor.

How much air does that side fan move? I've heard its not very much.

Would the 900 be quieter than the Shark if the fans aren't at full blast?

I like the PSU at the bottom, it would help with the HD cables. How is wire management in the 900?

And how are the HD's mounted?

Thanks :cool:
for the floppy, i did not find it hard what so ever, just the cables where the power was a real :banana::banana::banana::banana::banana: in the ass

the side fan doesn't move that much air, but it is very quiet, but i wouldn't buy it.

i would say so, the fans in the antec 900 on low are silent and by silent i mean silent

the wireing for the antec 900 USUALLY requires cutting the case, which i also did, but there are some mods out there that can help you without cutting the case

hdd mounted for the armour or the 900? well ill tell ya both, lol because i have had both, anyways, the armour is mounted via the icage like in there, with 4 screws, just slide the hdd in and screw it on, the 900 is the same also.

cheers bro

[Soulburner]

No thanks then. I really despise screwing in hard drives, and I'm not spending $150 to take a backwards step from what I have.

Thanks for the input though, it helps.

Really the Shark does it all for me with the exception of airflow, and I'm not finding anything really "better". Sure some of the newer cases have great airflow and this and that, but then it ends up missing something that I have so its not really an upgrade.

Are there any cases that are basically a copy of this design internally? The NZXT Zero, XClio A380 Plus and Enermax Uber Chakra look similar from the pics. The hard drive mounting is awesome, and they leave a lot of room for video cards (no more moving a hard drive to move the video card because they hit each other). The HD cages even have rubber vibration dampers which is great. The only real downside to sideways hard drive mounting is it blocks airflow through the front. If I can find a close copy of this that would be the best.

So with that said, the NZXT Zero is looking pretty good...but the door opens to the right...

Plus it has a rebate right now...$110 is pretty good for what you get IMO. I'll make it my top pick for now.

[LagunaX]

Be careful of the cases with the side 250mm fan. The fan takes up 2-3 cm internally so you can't fit a taller hsf such as a Tuniq Tower or Scythe Infinity. Just my 2 cents as I have the aerocool 3t.

p.s. The retail e6750's overclock worse than the current e6600's. 3-2-3.4 ghz takes 1.5 vcore ugh...

[tylerdustin2008]

Armor, all the way......or the NZXT Zero

What he said.

[Soulburner]

I have chosen the NZXT Zero to be the sucessor to my Thermaltake Shark, and the NZXT Apollo for a budget build for my family. The Apollo is an amazing mid-tower case for the price, currently $50 with a rebate. The Zero also has a rebate, sweetening the deal.