Need some help choosing the right case!

[piddan]

Hey everybody!

I've grown tired of my Thermaltake Tsunami, yes, already... So I'm looking for a new case! Here are some stuff I'm looking for:

- Silver, black or both mixed in a combo.

- Big miditower or Fulltower.

- Silent, with goood air circulation.

- Lots of places to put fans.

- Aluminum (Atleast the front)

[D_o_S]

CM Stacker?

[c42]

CM Stacker, Chenming 901, Lian Li pc 75?

[Judaeus Apella]

What I don't like about the stacker is that its more than I'd ever use or need. I'd never use more than 4 or 5 5.25" bays, and that thing is nothing but those all the way up and down the front. It also has 2 places for PSUs which is something most people will never use. Im sure to someone who has the money, the knowledge and the time to build a hard core system, its perfect, but unless you plan on actually using that thing to its full potential, then its just a waste of office space and money. Also, be careful. Most companies also use cheap breakable or bendable materials such as plastic, PVC, and aluminum.

I have done TONS and TONS of research and I found a tower that has very high review scores and is of exceptional quality and strength. I highly recommend the Silverstone Temjin SST-TJ05-BT ATX Mid Tower. I just received one my self and it lives up to its reviews. The body is solid steel, with a thick aluminum front panal that swings open like a door using a key lock to protect your drives, and has another swinging door over the drive bays. It also comes with a blue light up LCD that controlls up to 3 fans, displays the time and date w/ alarm clock, and monitors your system, cpu, and hard drive temperatures and will alarm if your system goes over a temperature you can specify your self. It has four 5.25 bays and two 2.5 bays. The tower is extra long with more than enough room for not only an extended motherboard, but enough room for even a pump and a radiator! It comes with a 120mm fan in the front and one in the back, plus three additional places to install 80mm fans on the sides. The 120mm fan in the front screws into a two peice fan dock that has a removable filter. When you slide off the left panel, there's a secondary swinging door down low that can fit two of those 80mm fans, or two hard drives. The third 80mm fan is on the right side of the tower, at the front bottom, and comes with a two peice tooless fan dock with removable filter. If you decide not to remove the drive cage and use that area for a pump and radiator, that fan will blow accross your hard drives and keep them nice and cool. The left sliding door, even has a switch that can hook up to certain motherboards so your system can warn you if your door is open. Most of the system is tooless, and even has some neat extras, including a little accessory tool box that attaches to the inside bottom of the case, snap and lock exteners that press against PCI/AGP cards to keep them from comming loose, and even a plate that unscrews to make installing the Power Supply Unit easier.

The SST-TJ05-BT goes for around $168 and I think its money very well spent. It comes in silver and high gloss black, and a less expensive high gloss black model without the LCD. The window panel will be available at the end of this month or a week or so later.

Silver SST-TJ05-ST:
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=11-163-028&depa=1

Black SST-TJ05-BT:
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=11-163-029&depa=1

Black SST-TJ05-B (without LCD -$20):
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=11-163-023&depa=1

You can probably find an even better deal if you look around. :)

Edit: Heres a video review of it:
http://7of9.keystreams.com/gameman/archives/3dgameman.com_videoreview_464_tj05st_case_02_512k. wmv

[piddan]

Thanks a lot for the answers guys! Especially the one from Judaeus Apella, very nicely written! The TJ05 looked really good, and packed with some sweet features. I also came across the TJ06, which looked good too. It had a windtunnel, for the hot air. But the TJ05, looked even sweeter in my eyes. So, I'll probably get the black TJ05, with high gloss and LCD that is ;) Or, the Antec P180, which looks really, really good! Anyone knows when it'll be released ? The Stacker was actually the first case I thought of, but it turned out that my PSU (OCZ Modstream) had some compatiblity problems with the Stacker.

[Rabidmoose171]

Id check out that lian li pc75. Its a killer case! So much space for everything you could want in a case.

[googles]

not much difference betw the tsunami and tj-05. go tj-03...full allu and bigger or deeper :D

[tolis]

coolermaster stacker?preaty good and BIG , also , see lianli v2000

[piddan]

Let's not get carried away here.. Lian Li is way too expensive, atleast the fulltowers. The Silverstone, fulltower in aluminum is also a tad too expensive.

[Judaeus Apella]

Yeah, thats why I didnt get it. $170 was as high as I was willing to go. I think I actually saw a $500 tower somewhere, lol. I don't think so.... Damn... who the hell spends that on a tower..... The Silverstone was the best I could find for my money. I just hope it doesn't have any compatibility issues with the PSU, but seeing as how I havn't ordered one yet, I can avoid making that mistake. Thanks for bringing that up piddan. Im definetely going to measure it now and find out.

[piddan]

NP! It was the grill of the fan that got in the way when installing the Modstream in the Stacker. It fits perfectly in my Tsunami case. I saw a new Lian Li today. It was a miditower, and really just an upgrade of the PC60. It had 120mm fans, and some other features inside. Very sweet actually!

[Franky 4 Finger]

where did you see it? I have seen reviews but no stores.

[piddan]

Franky, in a swedish online store, called www.gtek.se