I've just finished "assembling" a PC for my son via parts from SimHQ members and from various eBay sellers and now the last part is to get a new case for him. At the moment, what I got is an old beige tower case, the one with only a fan at the back. I am thinking of giving him my Antec 300 case and thus upgrading my own.

I am looking for a good, cheap, aircool case. I subscribe to the "cool air in from the front/bottom/side and out the top/back" method of cooling and my current Antec 300 has fans blowing out the top and back. I don't have any intake fans and though my side-fan is mounted, I've never had the need to turn it on as my GPU and CPU temps are alright. My only complaint about this case is the lack of cable management, plus with my new 6970, is a very tight fit.

So I'm looking for a case, hopefully under £100, with a proper airflow layout (none of that meshes-everywhere-and-you-don't-know-if-the-air-is-supposed-to-go-in-or-out cases) and cable management. So far, a CoolerMaster HAF 912 looks good, but still searching for other options.

Well, the HAF 912 ("Plus" version, I presume?) is a logical choice. I used one for a recent donor system. But if you want an option, the "Arc Mini" from Fractal Design is a nice clean looking case.

I really like my Fractal design R3, understated, stylish, quiet and has the flexiblity to add more fans if necessary, including the configuration you describe. In fact I pretty much have the same config as you describe, except I have an extra fan in the side panel to keep the gfx cards cool. I decided it would be a good idea after adding a second 460.
Cable management is quite good as well with enough room behind the mobo tray to hide most of the cables.

Current favorite.
106 Euros

http://www.corsair.com/pc-cases/carbide-series-pc-case/carbide-series-500r-mid-tower-case.html

HAF922

I use the same and love it

HAF 922 does it all -- I have 3 up-and-running in the house.

BTW, the 932 is bigger plus one fan plus USB3 on front panel. Everything fits in the 922 and its cheaper even if one adds the fan. Either is a great long term case -- a mini-investment.

Yep, the HAF 912 is currently the best option I am seeing at the moment -- particularly wins in the price department. The other recommendations are nice too, like the Carbide 500 and the Fractal R3. The HAF 922 and 932 are a bit on the pricey side for me, and the extra fans aren't really a "need" for me right now since my temps seem to be under control anyway.

I guess all I really need right now is additional space and cable management... with my two fans (top and back) and passive air inflow, it seems to be enough to keep my system cool so not looking for a case with fans everywhere.

What I find funny is the placement of dust filters... most decent cases have front and/or bottom dust filters, but how come the side-fan doesn't usually have one? Even with higher-end cases that have dust filters at the top fans, the side-fan doesn't have any...

Very happy with my Rosewill Challenger. I did add more fans and upgrade the ones that it came with, and added a fan controller.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811147153&Tpk=Rosewill%20CHALLENGER

A bargain at $55.

Don't seem to have Rosewill here that I can see....

Cooler Master.

Silverstone Raven series. Second to none for air cooling and best bang for the buck by far.

Cooler Master Storm Scout - $69 USD on Amazon.
Storm Scout on Amazon

These are mid-size, lots of fan support - I got two big quiet fans for the side with the see through cover. Has a sturdy handle on top for transport. I have two of these cases and would buy it again.

WC

Thanks for the recommendations! Just read up on some case reviews and it seems like my Antec 300 is hard to beat with regards to design and pricing, even in noise reduction. All the "better" ones are also more expensive. Pity about the lack of cable management...

The cheapest Silverstone Raven I could find was in excess of £100... just too much for a case at the moment. Wile the CM Storm Scout is cheap, it seems to lack proper cable management as well. There's just one hole near the PSU, but none elsewhere for the wires to re-enter the case.

Current options are the HAF 912 Plus and the Carbide 400R...

Not a fan of Antec 300. Bought one and it still "sits in the box" -- I never send my mistakes back. Older design, hard to work with compared to CoolerMaster. Still, if you like it, then just think how much you'll like a CoolerMaster

I also bought and used a CoolerMaster HAF912 (for a system I put together for my Grandson). Its a good case. Only downsides relative to HAF922 are: Less room for multiple hard drives inside -- after you install your "long" up-to-date graphics card. You have to remove some hard drive storage for a long GPU to fit -- no big deal if one only has a couple hard drives. Less "width" for the tallest CPU coolers -- though they seem to almost fit -- just check. Less fans -- once one adds the cost of the extra fans, the 922 with its "stock" big fans starts to make sense.

In summary, I would have no problem with buying another 912 to use. It is very easy to use and all the basic stuff fits well (not different from 922 in that regard). Assuming you do not need room for extra components (particularly hard drives), its a matter of price -- depending on the sale price of 912 vs 922 and the cost of extra fans (which may not be needed).

Just an opinion

Just bought a Coolermaster HAF 922 the other day $89 bucks at Frys. Its a mid size case that does fine for all my needs. Comes with 2 200mm fans and 1 120mm fan. HDD and DVD drive installs are all toolless. Matter of fact only tool needed is a pair of pliers to snug down the motherboard standoffs. Took me about 30 minutes to swap over everything from my old case

Nice one Airdog. Can I get a pic of the "other side" of the case?

Allen, I get your point and I guess if I had more money to spend I'd be a bit more open to ideas. However, the reason I'm not too bothered with HDD space and other fancy features is because I am working with a 500GB and a 1TB HDD and so far have not felt the need to upgrade or increase my HDD count. Also, while the fancy tool-less design may be great when you're building the PC, I have no issues about bringing out a screwdriver. I don't know about you guys but once my HDD/DVD writer is screwed in, it's not coming out unless something is wrong with it. The only time I appreciate thumb screws is for holding the side panels of the case in place... makes the monthly clean easier.

One question I have about the HAF 922 (£94.70 here btw) is the enlarged grille on the side panel. Like I said before, I'm not a fan of too much grilles as I think it just makes the air go everywhere, instead of just where I want it. Plus does that big grille have a dust filter?

I have an Antec 902 and have been very impressed with it. 2 fans at the front, 1 at the back and a big one on the top keep it very cool and loads of space inside and I have the V8 CPU cooler which is massive and it fits in.

Not so, - Ice. I can send pictures if you want.
I built all my puters - never a store bought - and the Scout case is a good modern design. The bulk of the wires and cabling go behind the MB tray and drive bays. Five 3.5" bays in this design, vs 7 in a full tower. A few years back I bought a Chenbro Gaming Bomb II and was surprised at how fracking big it was - that led me to the Storm Scout on my next two builds.

In the Storm Scout the drive bay is forward of the back cover and MB tray so there is a lot of room to stuff/hide cables. My puters are wired in so I won't be providing pictures of the back side cabling for now.

Note your new case choice dimensions. It's easy to order a bigger case when you really wanted something cute and sexy.

WC

I'm not a fan of spending money -- about $90 is my personal limit for a case (in days of old I spent over $200 -- finally figured out "they're just boxes"). Seems like $50 is as low as one can go and not have to retrofit extra fans or something (thus raising the cost) -- except for a "super sale". It is cheaper, usually, to get it all as "stock" rather than retrofitting. Nonetheless, one does have to go with what's cost effective for their situation -- includes hardware needs and location in the World. The 922 seems expensive where you live.

The big hole in the side of the 922 supports a couple 120mm+ fans or a 200+mm fan. I bought a Coolermaster brand 200+ fan (like the one in the front of the case). You're right. The most dust comes through that unfiltered side panel fan (the fan does fill a need blowing down onto the motherboard and filling the GPU with fresh air). I installed a cheap (under $2) furnace filter (got from the local Home Depot store -- again, a different country, a different set of good choices).

You know what you're doing. All my words are FWIW -- I'm verbose

Geez, I wrote 'cute and sexy' and look who showed up in the banner ads -

Mace, the Antec 902 looks good but expensive for it's price point (£92), the Corsair Carbide 500 (£86) offers more features for less money.

WC, I've built my current rig myself too and yes, my cables are stuffed beside the HDD drive bays. I must admit it may be easy enough to do some cable management on my own using loads of zip ties, but I prefer to have the cutouts as well for an even easier time and a (hopefully!) tidier result. Pics of your cabling would be appreciated...

Oh, and I'd rather have something a bit bigger... my current Antec 300 fits everything nicely (CM Hyper 212 Evo cooler, 6790 GPU, two HDDs, one DVD writer) though the GPU just barely clears the HDD assembly. This isn't a problem anyway since I can just relocate the HDD, no big deal. But the extra space and cable management would make for a tidier system and hopefully run cooler due to better airflow. I hope to put a fan in front of my HDDs this time for active air intake rather than the passive method for now. Plus the bigger case interior will make future modding/upgrade installs easier.



I LOL at this since I know you buy stuff for testing and for fun. Allen, I do understand your point and I do want to spend as little as possible, however, I am also wary of spending TOO LITTLE and end up with something that does not fit my needs. So I am a little bit flexible sometimes, as the budget and budget officer allows. Based on my experience, my Antec came with a top 140mm and a rear 120mm fan -- I bought the extra 140mm side fan but not used it. The 912 plus (£65) comes with a 200mm front fan and a 120mm rear fan, the Carbide 500 (£86) comes with a 200mm side fan, two 120mm front fans, and a 120mm rear fan. I could probably put my unused Antec side fan as a top exhaust fan, or take one of the front fans and move it to the top. Or do both. So as far as case fans go I can live with what comes default with the case. The £21 price difference I can easily put down to going from a strictly-budget 912 to a slightly-more-enthusiast Carbide 500. Or downgrade to a Carbide 400 (£77) for a £12 price difference.

Thank you very much for your opinions and words though. I appreciate you showing these points for me; I am simply explaining/defending my decisions as well, so as to check if they make sense at all


So... current choices are:

• Cooler Master HAF 912 Plus (£65) - painted interior, cable management holes but no rubber grommets, one 200mm front fan, one 120mm rear fan, modular HDD bays. Front and bottom (PSU) air filters.
• Antec 302 (£65) - unpainted interior, cable management holes but no rubber grommets, one 140mm top fan, one 120mm rear fan, front and bottom (PSU) filters, optional back-of-motherboard exhaust fan.
• Corsair Carbide 500R (£86) - painted interior, cable management holes with rubber grommets, one 200mm side fan, two 120mm front fans, one 120mm rear fan. Front and bottom (PSU) air filters.

The CM HAF 922 and Antec 902 come in close at just over £90, but the 902 sports an "older" layout similar to my Antec 300 so I think I'm better with the 302 and cheaper too! The HAF 922 also has a limited cable management system so the Carbide 500 has better options at a cheaper price.

Not in any particular rush to buy a case so still open to recommendations for evaluation and further research

Yes, you've got me pegged

Maybe I will use that Antec 300 after all. Its been many weeks since I've put a system together. You got me thinking (of an excuse).

All those unused fun parts laying around my "build room" waiting for a "purpose". For the price of a 4 core Bulldozer (a few of which can OC to 5.0GHz some say) plus 8GB 1600 speed RAM (net $133 on sales today), I can have yet another HTPC up and running. And, my wife has a good use for it -- making the $133 expenditure legal in her eyes

Heck, a chanced to finally try Bulldozer cheap and use the Antec - no brainer. "Pulled the trigger"

A pleasure doing business with you

Lol, glad to have helped.

Regarding that HTPC for my wife:

I added an ASUS Radeon HD7750 (just on-the-shelf in the last few minutes) at $110 plus shipping. Today's official launch day reviews put it as a great HTPC card that can actually play most of the new games on high settings with FPS above 20 and often in the 30's 40's (which is my personal criteria for playability). I'll be trying Skyrim with the HTPC on our 54" Plasma TV. However, FWIW, the HD7750 is not considered a serious gamers' card -- one can do better for the money, today at least -- its a high end HTPC card.

So, without dropping a fortune ($870+ for FX8150 plus HD7970 plus memory), I get to experiment with Bulldozer OC and HD7xxx while potentially getting a large screen gaming system and using up excess components -- for a total of roughly $250 net new purchases -- and make my wife happy -- win win win.

I'll report back in a new thread how it turned out -- I assume a week or two depending on deliveries.

My FX8120 arrived today,

Still waiting on the XFX 7950 BE to be restocked, now sold out at TD, and amazon jacked their prices to $600+.

I cannot be happer with the HAF922 though,

i was able to route all the Power Cables for the CPU and stuff behind the mainboard, and twist tie all the FAN/LED/Power-Reset/USB2.0 cables and stuff to the frame behind the mainboard, everything i've installed thus far goes in with no problems, plenty of space, and plenty of "cable management holes" on the frame to Ziptie wires down (i'm just using the twist ties that I have an abundance of from items shipped. The Airflow is really good. (the case does come with Zipties and all that stuff too.)