Major case decision dillemma

[claudio.sandoval]

I'm looking to replace my current case, an Antec One Illusion.

Its a discontinued $50 budget mid-tower gaming case.

Its nice, but it was my biggest compromise when building my original system.

Now that I've upgraded, its not cooling well enough for comfort, especially with high-cost components.

​Its especially bad since it also doesn't support any kinds of radiators, which I'd like to switch to eventually.

These are the internals:

• ASUS P8Z77-M Motherboard
  
• Intel i7-3770k (OC'ed to 4.5 GHz)
  
• 16 GB G.Skill 1600MHz RAM (Looking to OC as well)
  
• 1.5 TB Western Digital 6.0 GB/s 5900 RPM HDD
  
• 180 GB Intel 520 Series SSD
  
• Generic DVD burner (LG I think...)
  
• ASUS Radeon HD 7850 (OC to 1040 MHz)
  
• 450w Antec VP450 (800w Toppower PSU in transit)
  
• Hyper 212 EVO CPU cooler
  

My room is ~26 C (~80 F) all day. My CPU idles at around 54C and my GPU idles around 44C.

At load, with all fans (4 crappy stock 120mm ones), the CPU ramps up to ~77C and at full GPU load it hits 65C.

With both a CPU stress test and a GPU stress test running at the same time, CPU hits 83C and GPU has hit 74C.

I'd like to push it further, but I'm not comfortable doing so. Plus, It doesn't make much sense to me to put almost $1000 of components in a $50 (US) case...

I like the HAF for the big fans, but I've read reviews where people have said that they actually don't push that much air. Plus its almost 7 years old and still no dust filters...shudder

I like the Trooper for the wider chassis, customizability and better cable management, but I'm not sure I like the sideways fans (I know I know, they can be adjusted)

My question is, does anybody have either of these cases or have had both?

I'm having a terrible time choosing, especially since theres only a $5 difference from newegg and free shipping for both.

Any help or tips would be awesome.

Thanks!

btw, here are the links: HAF 932 Storm Trooper

[nillas12]

I had the HAF X and I am not entirely sure about the difference between that and the HAF 932, but the fans on the HAF X were absolute crap. Also it would not mount an h100 in the top, which is the reason why I moved to a Corsair 600t white (Quite the change in design I know). Also I weren't happy with all of the plastic included with the HAF X. Again I do not know about the other Haf series cases, but regarding the plastic, I think it is the same.

The storm trooper however I have only heard good about. What I especially like about the Storm Trooper (Or stryker if you like it white) is that it is all 120 fan mounts. Yes the top has a 200mm, but it also has proper 120/140 fan mounts, which the HAF X did not. Are you dead set on a Cooler Master or would other manufactures be ok aswell?

[claudio.sandoval]

Other brands are cool, but my price limit is $150 US and I'd like it to be bigger than the case i have now. Especially since my video card is almost right up against the hard drive cage and the cable management space is tiny. Its like 8 inches wide total.

[Lukiose]

I'm using a NZXT Phantom 410, works great for me ^^, with ambient temps 26~30degrees centegrade my cpu idles at around 36 degrees and gpu 38~40degrees when the fan settings are at 5volts. Front mounted is a 140mm NZXT FZ Blue LED while on the back is a 120mm NZXT FZ Blue LED. Looks sexy as well and since you're using 2 drives like me, you can remove the extra hard drive cage to make room for a long graphics card and improve airflow :)

[Lukiose]

I'm using a NZXT Phantom 410, works great for me ^^, with ambient temps 26~30degrees centegrade my cpu idles at around 36 degrees and gpu 38~40degrees when the fan settings are at 5volts. Front mounted is a 140mm NZXT FZ Blue LED while on the back is a 120mm NZXT FZ Blue LED. Looks sexy as well and since you're using 2 drives like me, you can remove the extra hard drive cage to make room for a long graphics card and improve airflow :)

Chip is a i5-3570k at 0.97v~ (Automatically downclocked when 'idle'[surfing net for example]), CPU cooler is a CM H212Evo with an extra NZXT FZ 120mm Blue LED in pull with the stock fan. GPU is a Sapphire HD 7950 Vapor-X

[JAWs]

I have a CM HAF 922 with two 200mm fans on intake, and a 200mm and 120mm fans on exhaust. The large fans push plenty of air and at a lower rpm so they aren't that loud. My temps are never above mid 30's © at stock settings. The CM Storm Trooper or the Corsair 600T are also good choices IMHO.