discussion Case Recommendations

[3.0charlie]

The Gigabyte Aurora has a door too. Like others have said, you can't go wrong with Lian Li (PC-65B) and I personally like Silverstone very much - the TJ04-B would be a good choice for you.

John

 

[omgwtf]

I personally adore the Silverstone cases... I have the TJ04 it's pretty neat.
For the future I would like to go with TJ07, it's a great case too bad it's 350CAD...extremely expensive.

 

[Moneyless]

Yeah, the thing that covers the optical drives, power button, etc. ... I hate doors ...

The Aurora is too big and has a door, so it's out ...

The Lian Li PC-G50B doesn't have any 3.5" bays, but the 5.25" USB bay is an option. I also need to fit a card reader in there, too. Do you know of any black 5.25" card readers w/ 2+ USB ports ?

I found one by Startech w/ 1 USB port ...

Sure, there's tons of those everywhere, most are multi flash-card readers with 2/4 USB ports and 1 Firewire. They'll probably be in "bay devices" for most stores.

 

[sswilson]

This is the one I've got in my case.....

http://www.enermaxusa.com/catalog/p...id=53&osCsid=e1b5b1eec647273e3cad1db824d17eff

You might have to look around a bit to find it, but I'm sure there are other fan controllers out there with everything you're looking for.

 

[Moneyless]

This is the one I've got in my case.....

http://www.enermaxusa.com/catalog/p...id=53&osCsid=e1b5b1eec647273e3cad1db824d17eff

You might have to look around a bit to find it, but I'm sure there are other fan controllers out there with everything you're looking for.

I can vouch for this one, one of my friends has it and its very good. Even has e-SATA.

 

[Jmac]

This is the one I've got in my case.....

http://www.enermaxusa.com/catalog/p...id=53&osCsid=e1b5b1eec647273e3cad1db824d17eff

You might have to look around a bit to find it, but I'm sure there are other fan controllers out there with everything you're looking for.

I couldn't find an Enermax one in black, but I found this which looks to do the same thing ...

Sunbeam 20-IN-1 Black 5.25IN Superior Panel USB 1394 SATA Audio RCA SM/MD CF MS/MS Pro MMC/SD - DirectCanada

Thanks for the idea

 

[Moneyless]

There's also this if you want it in a 3.5 bay instead. No card reader though.

 

[Jmac]

There's also this if you want it in a 3.5 bay instead. No card reader though.

There is no 3.5" bay in the Lian Li that I'm looking at ...

 

[Moneyless]

Ok well i didn't know, didn't look at the case in question.. :blarg:

 

[Jmac]

Well, so far I've compiled the following pros and cons:

Lian Li PC-G50B

Pros:
Great build quality
Quiet
Good cooling, especially for hard drives and graphics card
Light (4.7 kg/10.4 lbs)
Small (381 mm/15")
Finish apparently doesn't show fingerprints
Room for 3 hard drives
All-aluminum

Cons:
Connections on top requiring additional purchase for front USB ports
Power supply right next to CPU, meaning tower coolers are out

Gigabyte GZ-XA1CA-STB

Pros:
Great build quality
Good cooling (lots of vents, large fans)
Enough space for tower cooler
Easy to install watercooling system (if I decide to go that route)
5 internal 3.5" bays, 3 sideways
Hard drives mounted sideways
USB connections on the front
All-aluminum
Includes polishing cloth to remove fingerprints

Cons:
Relatively large compared to the Lian Li (440 mm/17.3")
Relatively heavy compared to the Lian Li (8 kg/17.6 lbs)
Shows fingerprints very easily
Most expensive of the group

Silverstone TJ04-B

Pros:
Cheapest of the bunch
Well-built
6 x 3.5" bays, so tons of room to add hard drives in the future
Lower hard drive bay is removable for better cooling and lower weight
Lots of room inside for a tower cooler
Easiest removal of side panel
USB connections on front
Aluminum front panel and bay covers

Cons:
Steel chassis
May not fit (possibly 1-2 mm too tall)
Large (446 mm/17.6")
Heavy (9.2 kg/20.3 lbs)
No side or top vents
USB connections behind cover