New Build, Some Advice Please!

[TheHuntsman]

Hi guys,

I finished my first build about 2 months ago and found myself running out of money towards the end so I skimped a bit on the case and cooling.

At the moment I have an ASUS P5NE-SLI mobo with a pentium D 930 running at 3.7ghz. It is cooled by a zalman 9500. It is all sat in a seriously cheap EZCool ATX case with an 80mm intake fan at the front, an 80mm exhaust fan and a 120 mm intake fan on the side blowing air onto the board.

My NB and SB have no dedicated cooling and I feel that it is needed as they do tend to get quite hot.

The current cooling is adequate, it sits at about 38deg. idle and about 52 at full load but it makes a hell of a lot of noise. I cant fit 120mm fans (front intake and exhaust) to the cheapo case so can you guys please recommend a good case and cooling system for my setup that cools well but is quiet?

Thanks

[Anavel0]

How much money are you looking to spend?

[TheHuntsman]

Not too bothered, but preferably the cheapest good quality if that makes sense...?

[silverphoenix]

Well if you are looking for absolutely cheap, and don't care about looks, you can get an Antec Solution series, they drop under $60 sometimes, and all new ones have front and back 120mm fans.

[Nazu]

Antec NSK4400 or if you have more cash to spend on the case Antec Solo is very nice case.

[TheHuntsman]

Thanks those look pretty good. I also saw the Antec 900...what do you think of that case?

[Colossous]

The Antec 900 is not my personal favourite but a lot of people like it ! Check out Lian Li, Coolermaster and Silverstone cases too ! :up:

[Nazu]

Antec 900 is ok if you're not aiming for a quiet pc. Also I've heard that it's a pita to do a cablemanagement in that case. Antec P182 is very nice case too and it's pretty easy to do a decent cablemanagement to that case. My choices would be like this:

Antec Solo: If you want a really quiet computer and you are not planning to upgrade to 8800GTX/HD2900XT or similar long videocard. 8800GTS is the longest videocard that fits in without modification
Antec NSK4400: If you're on tight budget and you want a case that's quieter than the average cheap cases. I believe that with right parts and little modification this could be a good base for silent computer.
Antec P182: Great case with good air circulation and low noise even with the stock fan's. This case has the space for bigger videocards like 8800GTX/HD2900XT (even for a SLI/CF setup).

If you're a regular lanparty gamer a lighter case like Lian Li PC-7 Plus is great. Lian Li's have usually a little better build quality than Antec cases but they are not as silent.

[TheHuntsman]

Ok those sound cool. What would be the right parts and modifications for the Antec NSK4400? And what do you think about the Antec NSK6500?

[roadie]

In my view the Antec Solo really is a quality piece of kit with a build and features that others in the same price bracket fail to meet. The cable hooks behind the HDD cage make cable routing easy and the HDD suspension method is great. If you figure out how long a case will last then paying a few extra bucks for one that looks awesome and has great features then it's really a no brainer.

The only thing that I could chalk up as a bad point for the Solo is the fact that it can't accommodate extra long graphics cards like the 8800GTX.

[Nazu]

Get the best that you're budget allows you to buy :) Solo is very good case and with a simple mod (cutting a piece of metal from the hd rack) you can fit a 8800GTX inside.

[Chewbenator]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811112099

I personally like this case and may be going with the windowed version this fall. Right now its about 10 bucks cheaper than the solo at newegg. But, you did mention quiet and I've heard good things about the solo in that category.

[N H O]

check out the centurion 5 and centurion 534, they are really good cases for the money