Pegasuz77

The closest thing I have found from Silverstone is the Raven RV03 and I still think I would rather have the Cosmos II. Yes, to a very great extent. It is my second choice at the moment. At one point I was even thinking of building my dream gaming rig in one... then I discovered CaseLabs and the MAGNUM SMA8. For my next main rig PC I plan on building in the SMA8 but I do not need anything like that for a NAS (at least I keep telling myself that...) As long as I can fit it through the doorway, size does not matter. I really like that case and if I was on a real budget I would probably get the Define R5 but as it is I am willing to pay the extra 200$ for the added features and future proofing of the Cosmos II. Plus I like the doors on the Cosmos II more.

I have a home server/NAS type computer I’ve been running for a while now and I have just been using an old crappy computer case from years ago. That old case can hold a max of six 3.5” hard drives. I have also been hiding it in a spare bedroom (old fans make a lot of noise). Now that bedroom has been annexed by my wife and my old noisy NAS computer must be moved into my home office with me… making noise… I have come to a compromise with the wife that if she gets to have the spare bedroom I get to upgrade the NAS computer. Basically, I am just going to put it in a new case with some new Noctua fans. I figure if I am going to do this I should try and future proof the case as much as possible while still meeting my current needs. Needs: 1 Quiet (Noctua should help with that) 2 As many 3.5” drive bays as possible so I can add more drives later as our needs grow 3 Not rack mounted 4 Fan filters are nice 5 At least 1 optical drive bay The case that is currently catching my eye is the: Cooler Master Cosmos II - Ultra Tower Computer Case with Aluminum and Steel Body (RC-1200-KKN1) I don’t need the side glass of the later generations of that case and I would rather have the side ventilation anyway. Plus, I really don’t need/want any RGB but not a deal breaker if it does have RGB. Features I like about the Cosmos II 1 Easy open side doors 2 Easy to remove side doors 3 Lots of ventilation 4 Big easy to grab carrying handles 5 Fan filters 6 13 drive bays (2 are hot swap… very nice) 7 Tool less drive cages 8 Will take just about any motherboard I can throw at it The reason I am here is I wanted to know if anyone knows of a similar case that might be a little more modern and maybe has some nicer features for what I am trying to do. I have done some looking around myself, but I always find myself thinking the Cosmos II is better. Does anyone know of a better case for my use case?

This just might work. I already have everything but the phone adapter as well. I will look at some adapters and give this a try. I will post back with the results... might be a few days or so. Thanks everyone for your input.

Something like that might work but after reading the product info it does not appear to be able to send audio back through the Bluetooth connection so i would not be able to answer back on phone calls. The motherboard on my work PC is an Intel DH67BL and its uses Realtek audio drivers so there might be a way to do what you are saying but I would still need some kind of Bluetooth adapter to connect to my phone since it does not have a 3.5 mm jack.

I am an engineer/project manager and most of my time I am at my computer using different engineering software and making FE models but I also make lots and lots of phone calls. I like to wear headphones because I like to have the audio feedback from the programs I use (and sometimes listen to music). Right now, every time I get a phone call I must take my headphones off and answer the phone then put them back on again. My headphones are cheap but they do have a decent mic built in and I have used them to plug into my phone and make long phone calls before. They have the 3.5 mm male jack with an inline mic and audio controls. What I would like is a way to be able to use my headphones to receive and make phone calls and still hear my computer sounds. I should mention my new phone does not have a 3.5 mm audio jack (gotta be brave, right?). Is there some kind of inline Bluetooth adapter that could take the 3.5 mm audio out from my computer and mix it with a Bluetooth connection from my phone? Or maybe some kind of Bluetooth adapter for my computer and software that would do the same thing? Also, if there are better headphones out there that already do this I am not afraid to upgrade. I am having a hard time finding a way to do what i want. My Google-Fu is not as strong as I would like. Thanks

Thanks everyone for the help. Sorry for the long wait between replies. (Work blew up in my face) I decided to go ahead and try out the software over at flexRAID For now I ordered a cheap IO Crest 4 Port SATA III PCI-e 2.0 x1 Controller Card Marvell Non-Raid with Low Profile Bracket SI-PEX40064 I figured I would run something cheap and see if I like this setup first. (Either it works or it wont right?) If I don't like the flexRAID trial or the performance of this system then at most I am out 30 USD and can move on to bigger and better things. And if all goes well maybe I can throw the rest of my budget into a dedicated GPU.

This depends on a massive amount of variables. What is your upper price limit? How large is the room you are working with? Do you need to have wireless satellite speakers or can you run wired speakers? What shape is the room? How many channels do you want? 2, 2.1, 5.1 or 7.1? (I actually know a guy who runs 4 subs and calls it 7.4 even though there is only one sub woofer channel. Funny guy...) How loud do you want this system to be? (Some folks also use them for party music so they need more power than would be necessary for normal TV watching) I personally spent about 500 USD on Onkyo HT-S5600 7.1-Channel Home Theater Receiver/Speaker Package a few years ago and I am very happy with them. I am sure there are better products out there but at higher price points and not knowing that makes it hard to answer the question of best. Obviously if you are trying to build a theater setup that will seat 200 people those are not going to cut it but at the same time I would not put those all on my computer desk.

After reading AshleyAshes and Electronics Wizardys posts And doing a little more research I am completely rethinking all my plans. The next big question I had was do I still need a hardware raid controller if I no longer plan on doing raid 5? Then this post by scottyseng popped up. So the next big question would be what is the best SATA card for my situation. Then the most helpful and well thought out forum post I have ever seen in my life was waiting for me this morning. mariushm you are a god among mortals. I think this is exactly what I am looking for (now). The greatest thing I like about this card is it is only a PCIe x1 interface. The MB I have as two PCIe x1 slots and only one PCIe x16 slot. I was hoping one day to be able to add a 4K capable dedicated GPU to this rig (once I an afford a 4K TV anyway). When I was first looking into raid cards they all appeared to be at least PCIe x4 or larger and would have to take up my one and only PCIe x16 slot. I had given up on a dedicated GPU at that point... but hope is returning. Am I correct in thinking I will be able to run at least one HighPoint RocketRAID 2300 PCI Express SATA II (3.0Gb/s) Controller Card (Possible two if I for some reason ever need more storage in the future?) And be able to run a 4K capable dedicated GPU in the PCIe x16 slot of my Intel DH67BL MB at the same time? If that all pans out I, only have one other concern. What is the maximum compatible storage size that card can handle? Just in case I would like to do something like AshleyAshes did and buy an 8TB drive.