Moving PC to new case - Advice appreciated

M

Merak

New member
Hi,

I want to move my PC to a new case and since this is the first time for me I have a few questions that I would appreciate some help with.

First of all, this is my current setup:

20150717_142846.jpg






My current case is too small, it gets hot easily and the PC is quite loud.

This is why Im looking to get a new one, but there are a few things where Im not so sure yet:

1. As you can see in the picture, I have a top-down CPU cooler. Would it make sense to just keep it or should I also invest into a tower cooler? I'd rather not out of budget reasons but I don't want it to mess up the airflow or anything. Also, if i kept it, would my new case need holes in the side panel or would the air in the case be sufficient for the CPU cooler?

2. I currently have 2 case fans, but I would like to get more. I don't know how many my mainboard (Asrock Z68 Extreme3 Gen3) can support though. Would I need splitter cables or should I even get a fan control panel for the front of my case? Some cases say that they have an inbuilt fan-control. What does this mean?

3. Do you have good case recommendations for under 100€? I've been looking at these for example:

https://www.bitfenix.com/global/en/products/chassis/shinobi/

http://www.corsair.com/de-de/carbide-series-300r-windowed-compact-pc-gaming-case

What do you think?

Thanks a lot in advance!
 
Last edited by a moderator:
If you want quality avoid anything Bitfenix make. They have a very talented photographer but in the cold light of day their stuff is built like junk.

The Corsair is very nice.

What country do you reside in fella? would make finding some cases a lot easier.
 
I would strongly recommend you Fractal Define S. One of the best Mid Tower cases (everyone will agree) on the market. Loads of airflow, and a jewel for water cooling if you ever decide to do it.

https://www.caseking.de/fractal-design-define-s-midi-tower-schwarz-window-gefd-038.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SIJs5y2igzo&t=1281s

Also you can fill it with 8 120/140mm fans (2 Fractal Design Dynamic GP-14 140mm you get in the case) Fractal fans are not expensive and have very good performance/silence ratio. They are rated at 0.2A. Fan headers on boards are usually 1A so you can theoretically put 4 on 1 header, but 3-way splitter is bang on.
 
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First of all thank you for all the replies.
After some more research I've finally decided to settle with the Enthoo Pro from Phanteks
 
AlienALX said:
If you want quality avoid anything Bitfenix make. They have a very talented photographer but in the cold light of day their stuff is built like junk.
Click to expand...

Harsh. I have the Shinobi and while it's not a brilliantly designed case I wouldn't say it was badly built, especially for it's price.
 
NickOmega said:
Harsh. I have the Shinobi and while it's not a brilliantly designed case I wouldn't say it was badly built, especially for it's price.
Click to expand...

Agreed, and considering it was one of the first cases they ever made I think you can forgive them for design not being on point, I had a shinobu USB3 then went to a Colossus which I am still using now and it is a great case and very solid and I have moved it around a lot.
 
ScottytooHotty said:
Agreed, and considering it was one of the first cases they ever made I think you can forgive them for design not being on point, I had a shinobu USB3 then went to a Colossus which I am still using now and it is a great case and very solid and I have moved it around a lot.
Click to expand...

Colossus is junk. Had one, total junk.

Looked nice though.
 
AlienALX said:
Colossus is junk. Had one, total junk.

Looked nice though.
Click to expand...

I think maybe you either just had a bad case or for some reason or you just don't like Bitfenix cases but either way their cases are not junk, the Colossus most definitely isn't so if you can't give un-biased opinions probably best you don't bother.
 
ScottytooHotty said:
I think maybe you either just had a bad case or for some reason or you just don't like Bitfenix cases but either way their cases are not junk, the Colossus most definitely isn't so if you can't give un-biased opinions probably best you don't bother.
Click to expand...

unbiased? not at all. I had mine for over two years thanks. The plastic is cheap and thin. It clacks when you close the front for example. The coating is nice, but areas where it is not coated look like crap (like inside the lid for example). The only well made part on a Colossus is the inside, but that's steel so not hard to do.

Maybe when you've been into computers for 40 years and have owned hundreds, nae thousands of cases you can come back to me. Until then whatever. I'm entitled to my opinion.

I also had a BF Survivor and it was no better. The roof fan exploded on the first use. The blades were out of sync and one hit my Noctua. So BF sent me another case and the second one was no better. The roof fan made the rig move around on the desk. Again, cheap rubbish.
 
I would recommend the Nzxt H440 ANY DAY, it is just about the best case i've ever had, and still very happy with it, all fans on 7v, 3 fans in, 3 out, silent and it easily handled the heatwave we had recently.
 
AlienALX said:
unbiased? not at all. I had mine for over two years thanks. The plastic is cheap and thin. It clacks when you close the front for example. The coating is nice, but areas where it is not coated look like crap (like inside the lid for example). The only well made part on a Colossus is the inside, but that's steel so not hard to do.

Maybe when you've been into computers for 40 years and have owned hundreds, nae thousands of cases you can come back to me. Until then whatever. I'm entitled to my opinion.

I also had a BF Survivor and it was no better. The roof fan exploded on the first use. The blades were out of sync and one hit my Noctua. So BF sent me another case and the second one was no better. The roof fan made the rig move around on the desk. Again, cheap rubbish.
Click to expand...

I have been "into" computers for over 22 years since I was 11 and built my first one when I was 14 and have built dozens over the years, I have plenty of experience in this thank you.

And yes you are entitled to you're opinion but the problem is this person is asking for advice and you are giving a totally biased view about issues you have had with a brand and just calling them junk even though that is not true, there are loads of review videos and articles about BF cases and most say they are very good.

I have owned two BF cases and have had zero issues with either, one of which is 4.5 years old and still has the original fans in and they are still quiet, the only thing I will say is in the colossus you'd be better off replacing the original 230mm fans with decent 140mm but that's only if you want to make it a tad quieter.
 
Here's my survivor.



Here is what happened the first time I ran the fan.



So Bitfenix not only sent me a replacement case (that was no better, BTW) they also sent me these.



Sorted, I thought. Just one problem, they were just as bad as the one that hit my cooler. Actually no, they weren't that bad, they got stuck on the 8 pin EPS instead.

In the end I had to remove both. Before I fitted my hardware into the new case I decided to test the fan. Because once you fit the roof fan and then the hardware you can't remove the fan. Fired up the fan from the PSU, case jumped around all over the place like a washing machine.

It turned out that the first case was twisted internally. This is why the motherboard posts did not line up etc. It wasn't damaged it was actually very well packed, it was just cheap junk.

The Colossus on the other hand? inside was as stiff as a post. Outiside let it down. Cheap thin plastic again (like the Survivor) door makes a horrible clack and like I said the plastic looks cheap and crap. Also, the side panel is poorly put together. It's all held in place with hot glue and nothing else, so the LED power socket failed after a few removals/replacement of the side panel.

Bitfenix make some of the best looking cases I have ever seen. Note - looking. When it comes to quality they are awful.

And it hasn't changed much. Last year a friend of mine bought the Pandora. He genuinely thought there was a mistake and that his one was a failed reject that had accidentally been re-boxed and sold by mistake. The edges of the alu were all rough, inside was twisted etc. So he sent it back and got a replacement - exactly the same.

Does that sound familiar? because my Survivor was the same.

I guess I am spoilt and very lucky, because I have had some really expensive cases. And when you work in those and then a Bitfenix you can tell that something isn't adding up.

So yeah, that's my opinion having owned in total 3 Bitfenix cases. I would never buy another (oh yeah and for cooling unless it's water the Colossus is crap also).

If you read reviews they all seem to agree with me about the quality too. Reviews were luke warm, even though the case looked spectacular in the dark and they don't make it any more so it can't have been that good.
 
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