Maximum PC

Hey all -

The one thing that I spend more time looking for and researching when building a PC is the case. But no matter how hard I look I can never find one that seems to have everything I want. So hopefully you can help me.

Cooling is the most important to me, and I'd preferably like a case that has one fan for the hard drives and another intake fan for the rest of the case. Then fans on the back side and top are great as well.

I only need like 3 or 4 max 5.25 bays, but the more 3.5 bays, the better.

Any help you guys can provide would be great.

Thanks,
Matt

I've always been a fan of Cheiftech/Antec cases. Some of their cases have 2 3.5 removeable boxes that can be capable of having a 80mm fan to keep your HDs cool. And they always have 4x 5.25 bays.

I usually buy the "dragon" cases.

But the sonata line isn't too bad either or the LANBOY cases.

Some places I trust to buy cases and browse whatcha like are:

www.newegg.com

www.directron.com

Had to dig around to see where this thread went too:p

If you don't mind loud, the CMstacker has a huge crossflow fan that blows across the mobo, a 120mm in the front and back (and a mount for the side) and an 80mm up top. Add onto that a nearly flow-through design (practically open from front to rear) and you got one good flowing case. Check out my little crappy webpage to see the pics.

Other cases I'm running right now are a Chieftec dragon (the good ol' standard) , a lan boy, and some really old Fong Kai (which isn't worth mentioning anymore). But love the new CM. Plenty of room.

I'm with Wiseoracle on this. I love the Chieftech cases. Mine has two 80mm intake fans, one blowing over the internal 3.5 slots and two rear 80mm exhaust fans. You can also purchase them with a side exhaust fan.

Air flow aside, Chieftech cases have a drive rail system to make installing and changing drives easy. This is my case.

I'm running a Maxtop Singnature Series II Grey at 1/3 cooling capacity about 5C (mainboard) cooler than my old case at full capacity.

I can't wait till my new parts come in the mail. I've got a 120mm fan that will replace the really old 80mm in the back, I've got 2 adapters coming that will allow me to use the side-mounted 80mm, and the front 60mm that blows across the HDDs.

Really the only two fans I've got running are the 80mm top-mounted, and the old 80mm rear that I took off my old case. Yet it still remains 5C cooler than my old case (my old case was usually 35C, although it would often get up to 40C, this case is 30C round the clock).

I like the look of the Maxtop as well. It just has a simple design, nothing too fancy, which is how I want it. It is unfortunate though that Abit boards do not offer front-mounted USB ports.

Dan O.