Need case suggestions

Discuss cases, PSUs, and various cooling techniques in here.
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Bio-Hazard
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Post by Bio-Hazard »

My Centurion only cam with one fan also, but it was the cheapest review sample they had............. :shock: What the case has included with it all depends on what the e-tailer ordered with it from Cooler Master..............The second fan is a e-tailer option................... 8)
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FZ1
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Post by FZ1 »

After much research (and then some) I ended up going with the Centurion 532 with the window and PSU. Are there better cases out there? You bet. But for the price, I think the quality and features are pretty good. It remains to be seen if I will get the rear exhaust fan with the case or if I'll have to go out and get one. At least I can choose the one I want :roll:

Thanks to all for their input. I'll prolly be selling the PSU (cheap!) that comes with the case so if someone is interested, let me know. When I actually get it (hopefully by Monday) I'll post it in the trader section of the forum. If not, it will make a good spare.

Along with the case I went with the DFI Lanparty UT NF4 Ultra-D board and the eVGA 7800GT OC card. It’ll be interesting to see the difference in performance between what I have now (ABIT AV8 & Sapphire Radeon X800 Pro) and the new equipment. Maybe I’ll do some benchmarking before and after to see the difference although it’s almost apples to oranges since on the graphics side of things.

I haven’t had much luck OC’ing my 3500+ Winchester much over 2.3ghz without it becoming unstable but I suspect some of this has more to do with the poor cooling of the case than anything else. My temps would creep up to high 50’s and even 60 and this with the copper Zalman 7000A HSF which is supposed to do a good job of cooling (I reseated the HSF on the CPU a few times to make sure it was right). The AV8 is supposed to have issues with temp readings but it depends who you talk to. I do like the uGuru utility for the ABIT board and the third eye display. I’d keep it but I really wanted to move to a PCI-E board and I figured if I was going to replace the case I might as well do it all at once to save some work.

I haven’t decided yet if I’ll try to sell the mobo and vid card. I already a backup Dell P4 2.4ghz system so I don’t really need a backup system. My buddy needs a computer but he’s broke so he won’t be buying a processor, memory etc so he’s SOL :P

Anyway, I guess I've gone a little off topic Image but since I started the thread no one can bitch :finga:
Joe
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FZ1
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Post by FZ1 »

Once you start... :roll: I ended up adding a Thermalright SI-120 HSF with a Panaflo M1A 120mm fan and a Logisys 120mm UV Dual CCFL Ring Fan for the rear exhaust.

So,
Joe
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gvblake22
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Post by gvblake22 »

SWEET, you gonna post us some pics when you get it set up? :)
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Post by FZ1 »

Absolutely! I was hoping the stuff would come yesterday so I could work on it over the weekend :cry:
Joe
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killswitch83
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Post by killswitch83 »

:drool: oh man, this sounds great. personally though, I plan on going with the Tt Tsunami Dream tower. All-aluminum, tooless installation, vibration-dampening drive bays?? oh yes, for $100 it's a good buy for me, heheh. Plus I am modding the solid side panel with plexi and a pattern yet to be determined, with UV CC's, UV reactant paint and sleeving, this is gonna be interesting to say the least. Like what you're going with Joe, not bad at all man. can't wait for the pics :)
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Post by FZ1 »

Well, if anyone is interested in an update, I got all my stuff yesterday and started my build last night. I only got about 1/2 way through it though. I got a late start and it takes a little longer when you have to strip parts from one machine to put in the other. plus I'm sleeving most of the cables which takes some time as well. I'm really trying to take my time and do it right the first time. We'll see if my patience holds out.

A couple of things I found out:
>My Neopower PSU barely fit in the case. :x The screw holes didn't line up very well and I'm not that thrilled on how it's mounted. There is basically one small ledge (1/2"w x 1" L) on the mobo side of the case for it to rest on. No rails or anything like my Lian Li case. I guess it will do but it seems a little chintzy to me and could have been designed a little better. I’m glad it fit because I really like that the PSU is modular so I don’t have 50 extra cables hanging around.

>The eVGA 7800 GT OC card fan is pretty loud. :shock: Louder than I expected anyway. This is with the case wide open etc so I’m hoping it will be muffled by the case.

>The SI-120 Thermalright heat sink is pretty large but it gives plenty of clearance for everything although it’s pretty close to my vid card. With the 12cm fan on top it is a pretty large structure hanging out in the middle of the board. Not aesthetically pleasing if you are going for that really clean, minimalist look but hopefully it will do the job of cooling well. The Panaflo M1A fan I used is whisper quiet though! I had a tough time at first trying to figure out how the fan clips worked but once I did they worked nicely and it’s much nicer than screwing it in although I’d be wary if I was transporting the case, they don’t seem overly stable.

>The Lanparty board only has 2 PCI slots (not counting the PCI-E slots). Somehow this detail escaped me when purchasing the board. I have an Audigy Z2S Platinum card and I was planning on getting the ATI TV Wonder Elite PCI TV tuner so that about does it for my PCI slots. The good news is that with just the CPU, RAM and vid card installed, the board fired up and POSTed successfully on the first go ‘round. Nice.

>I have ton of cables! :? The rear exhaust fan I bought has a UV ring so it has extra cables and I have a pair of UV tubes that I’m going to mount inside the case. It’s going to be a chore deciding how to route everything to clean it up. Otherwise, I’ll have a UV board/components that you can’t even see because they are obstructed. The HSF is going to be enough of an obstruction already.

I'll try to snap some pictures but the wife has the good (I should say better) camera in Costa Rica. I don't think my Canon does macro shots.
Joe
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AWESOME

Post by gvblake22 »

Glad to hear you got 'er fired up on the first try, I love it when that happens! When I put my s939 system together it fired up on the first try too and I was SOOO pumped! I was 99% sure it wouldn't POST because it had an older BIOS and I had a new Venice, but it did, so it's all good 8)

Yeah, isn't cable management just the best thing in the world?! Especially with all the extra cables associated with lighting and fans?! I know how ya feel bro.

All of my cases (well, all two of them) have always had the little "tab" to hold the bottom of the PSU (no PSU rails) and I've never had a problem so you shouldn't be too worried. And it sounds like you've never had a Thermalright heatsink before? Those wire clips to hold the fans on work great, I have NEVER had one fail or fall off on me. Just make sure you put them in the right holes though! You should get a VGA silencer on that 7800 of yours, that will quiet it down ;)

Other than that, It's good to hear your new build was a success and you've got some killer hardware in that thing! Hopefully it all continues to cooperate!
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Bio-Hazard
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Post by Bio-Hazard »

Cool, glade you got it up and running without issues............... :shock:
As for the PSU thing, I'd say that 90% of all standard steel mid-towers mount their PSU's in that manner................nothing to worry about, just make sure that you get the mount screws installed and you'lll be fine............... 8)
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Post by FZ1 »

OK, I'm more or less done building. It still looks like a mess. You can't have a fully functional rig and not have a million cables running everywhere. This particular case doesn't really give any room to run the cables in the back behind the mobo tray either. I'm still waiting on my grill for the CPU fan which will be UV reactive as well (once I paint it). IMHO the window is too far forward and should be more towards the back. Anyway, without further ado, here are some pics...
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Post by killswitch83 »

hey man, did you use a cold cathode UV light, or just any CCFL? Was wondering, because you just gave me a glimpse into my future, lol. I plan on doing a good bit of UV in my case, as I'm very found of the flashy appearance of UV (when done right); just further accents what you have "under the hood" IMHO.
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