Looking for a case?

[ionbasa]

Hi everyone, I am looking for a new case. I'll be doing a full upgrade from my old Pentium D 925 w/HT 3Ghz (old, I know).

 

I was looking at possibly picking up a Obsidian 750D. I really like the style,but there are few things that bother me abut it. First the front being brushed aluminum, it's a finger oil magnet, and the fact that it is wider than usual will mess up the look of the front panel because I will need to install an two optical drive. This is a must as one will always have a dvd loaded on it for some software that uses the disk as authentication.

 

Also the 750D is sold out on both Amazon and Newegg.

Are there any other options people will recommend? Please keep in mind that I will need space for a custom water cooling loop. Also 8-9 Pci slots on the case would be a must as this new system will have to hold quite a few expansion cards: RAID, Fiber channel, and 2 GPUs 

.

Thoughts? I saw the workstation build Linus did a while ago, but I wasn't too happy with the case they chose.

[Tmh85]

R4

[chimmychunger]

i personally really like the phantom 410 but others dont

[Unhelpful]

i personally really like the phantom 410 but others dont

I personally dont like it, or many of NZXT's cases, because of how plasticy they are. But thats just me.

[ionbasa]

R4

You didn't read my post carefully enough.

 

i personally really like the phantom 410 but others dont

That is a no-go, the curves on the front plus the cheap plastic look is awful.

[TymmVonD]

First of all, external optical drives exist, so  you don't need to worry about that. I know aesthetics are very important so an external would be perfect for not breaking p the case's look..

I am personally gonna get the Air 540, but for RAID-ing HDDs, airflow may be a concern in the 540's case. Pun intended.

[brob]

You didn't mention how many storage units the case had to hold. The Fractal Design XL R2 has two removable drive bays, the bottom one can also be moved back presuming the psu isn't too long, permitting a front mount radiator.

 

The NZXT H630 also has removable drive bays. It features SSD mounts on the motherboard back plate.

[ionbasa]

First of all, external optical drives exist, so  you don't need to worry about that. I know aesthetics are very important so an external would be perfect for not breaking p the case's look..

I am personally gonna get the Air 540, but for RAID-ing HDDs, airflow may be a concern in the 540's case. Pun intended.

Interesting, not a fan of cube cases as desk space is at a premium. This is going into a home office, although the air 540 isn't totally out of the question I would choose it as a last resort if anything else.

[TymmVonD]

Interesting, not a fan of cube cases as desk space is at a premium. This is going into a home office, although the air 540 isn't totally out of the question I would choose it as a last resort if anything else.

I feel ya there. I'm gonna need to build a better desk before it arrives, but I've been meaning to anyways if I plan on running more monitors in the near future.

[ionbasa]

You didn't mention how many storage units the case had to hold. The Fractal Design XL R2 has two removable drive bays, the bottom one can also be moved back presuming the psu isn't too long, permitting a front mount radiator.

That wont matter as I will be using these for HDD mounting: http://www.caselabs-store.com/standard-hdd-cage-assy/

Hmm, +1 on the case, it is now a contender up against the 750D.

[Tmh85]

900D

[ionbasa]

900D

I was hoping for something more sensible in price.

 

So far my only two options are the Corsair 750D and the Fractal XL R2.

[WoodenMarker]

Source 530: http://pcpartpicker.com/part/nzxt-case-caso530m1