# Time to get a new case



## The_Ish (Jan 8, 2011)

I was gonna buy a GPU but then I ended up buying two, so then i had to buy a new PSU which didn't fit my case and here we are 

So any suggestions? Usually you don't see a chassis flaws before you've lived with it for a while, and i was hoping i could learn from your mistakes this time instead of my own 

It has to be roomy. I might fit H2O to my GPU's at a later date so it's important there's enough space at the 2nd pcie slot. Good air flow. Noise isn't a priority at all as I either use headphones or high volume to mask any annoying fans  And not to expensive.
edit/
I'm considering Cooler Master 690 II Advanced. I just watched a video review of it and it seems to cover all aspects. Any thoughts on this?


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## silkstone (Jan 8, 2011)

The_Ish said:


> I was gonna buy a GPU but then I ended up buying two, so then i had to buy a new PSU which didn't fit my case and here we are
> 
> So any suggestions? Usually you don't see a chassis flaws before you've lived with it for a while, and i was hoping i could learn from your mistakes this time instead of my own
> 
> ...



HAF 922 is better imo. bigger with more airflow at around the same price.


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## The_Ish (Jan 8, 2011)

Not exactly eye candy, but I'm a man who like functionality.. I'll look at some reviews, but as you said a bit bigger, and that never hurts (pun intended).


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## silkstone (Jan 8, 2011)

The_Ish said:


> Not exactly eye candy, but I'm a man who like functionality.. I'll look at some reviews, but as you said a bit bigger, and that never hurts (pun intended).



Yea, the style isn't the best but it kinda grows on you. The inside could do with a lick of black paint and there's plenty you can do to mod it, if you are into that. I am very happy i bought this and it looks a lot nicer than the older and bigger HAF series. I also like the solid feel of cooler master cases damn heavy things they are.

Oh, if you do get one, dust filters are a must... i have to clean the outside every couple of days or so due to the sheer amount of air that goes through it, i'm thinking of going water cooling just so i don't have to wash my fans when the time comes again to clean the inside.


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## Reefer86 (Jan 8, 2011)

Lian Li PC-9F gets my vote great case, full aluminium and has awesome features. Plus its just come out

http://www.lian-li.com/v2/en/produc...ex=526&cl_index=1&sc_index=25&ss_index=62&g=f

also cheeper then a corsair 700d by £50 which would be my other vote


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## Feizy (Jan 8, 2011)

I love my corsair 700d. Also, I think corsair is coming out with a mid tower version soon.


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## silkstone (Jan 8, 2011)

Reefer86 said:


> Lian Li PC-9F gets my vote great case, full aluminium and has awesome features. Plus its just come out



I really like the look of Lian-Li cases, it's just a pity they are all aluminium


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## Reefer86 (Jan 8, 2011)

silkstone said:


> I really like the look of Lian-Li cases, it's just a pity they are all aluminium



a pity..... im confused......


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## The_Ish (Jan 8, 2011)

While I acknowledge that Lian Li makes great cases, I still think they *look* so damn flimsy.. Anyway, I just ordered a HAF 922 along with six Scythe GT 1450's  I'll be replacing fans where possible, and I am a master at finding places not intended for fans at all *whistle*


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## silkstone (Jan 8, 2011)

You won't be disappointed with the 922.


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## silkstone (Jan 8, 2011)

Reefer86 said:


> a pity..... im confused......



I say a pity as 





The_Ish said:


> they *look* so damn flimsy


and feel that way imo. But then again it's all down to personal preference.


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## The_Ish (Jan 8, 2011)

@silkstone, I don't think i will be. There are only two things I didn't like which was the overall look of "the thing" (again, pun intended). And after seeing the black insides of the 690 II Advanced, I really wanted it lol.. But as I said, I appreciate function above style when in comes to these sort of things. And it's not like I'll be watching it all the time anyway 

About Lian Li..
 I've never held one, so I wouldn't know. But it seems to me they tend to make aluminium cases thinner also. And it's certainly not to shave weight, but to save money/keep prices down. Aluminium is very expensive. They've got some nice looking black alu cases though.


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## silkstone (Jan 8, 2011)

Have a look in the Mod gallery section, there are a few people who have painted the inside of the case black. It doesn't seem too difficult if you want to go the easy route i.e. proper masking but without taking the rivets out. I would do mine if i had an area i could spray paint. Black insides look the bomb.


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## The_Ish (Jan 8, 2011)

I don't have any place I could do it safley (I live in an apartment). And as I said, I'll only see the insides if I open it up


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## revin (Jan 8, 2011)

The_Ish said:


> I'll be replacing fans where possible, and I am a master at finding places not intended for fans at all *whistle*



I had done some experimenting back in the day 


Nitro-Max said:


> revin im suprised your case doesnt take off looks like it has more rpms than a helicopter lol.


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## sneekypeet (Jan 8, 2011)

600T


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## The_Ish (Jan 9, 2011)

Revin @ That's just exessive  Intake bottom/front and exhaust top/back ffs! 
Also, I'm curios to know if you ran that setup open case? In which case it's no good. You might as well have all exhaust fans blowing out of the open side ^^

You want to push the air into, and through the case, not in and around 
But it brings back some memories, a friend and a similar nonsense setup ^^

edit/ Also, all those cables aren't exactly helping airflow, but perhaps cable management wasn't invented back then, huh ^^


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## revin (Jan 9, 2011)

That was 3 yrs ago with my old Xazer case which was closed.
I had to push alot of air in to remove the hot out because it was inside a closed desk O/C'ing a P4EE and the killer Bliss card The PWM's on the AI-7 were very hot

Down side to that case was only 80 fans so I had to do what I could to manage the air 
That was just a "gimic" shot for the "fans" here way back then. 
A LOT of experimenting on which fans and where went into finding the best balance of temp control Ended w/ the front 120 attached to the C/M 4in3 HDD cage[which is now in the 932] 2 side 92's and a 120 adapted to the rear and just the Ninja 12H fan on the cooler and a 10k 60mm on the N/B

The cables were from the Hardcano fan control center, which I ended up removing just the 2knob fan controlers, bolting them to a backplate which I still use for the 2 SanAces 1101's in the 932

Here's my trial's for cooling the Bliss Lol 





I know it all looked crazy, but I was having fun and alot got a kick out of it back then but with a lot of guidance from here I evolved and ended up with 1 of the best P4 AGP units then when moving to the crossbred Conroe865PE still had pretty much the best AGP video units going. 
My current Skt775/5870 has best Fur bench, but for the most part I still have a viable older system 
I just wish I'd took more time on case choice _only_ because of the lack of good dust filtering, but cant argue with how cool the system is with this case

 At any rate I just thought you'd get a kick out of some of the old days and how crazy some of us are/were


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## ReaperX87 (Jan 11, 2011)

silkstone said:


> HAF 922 is better imo. bigger with more airflow at around the same price.



Honestly if you are going to even get the 922 and you want room, forget mid tower's you want the HAF 932 or HAF X they are huge case's with enough room to fit any video card or PSU that is on the market. Trust me I love my HAF 932. Oh and the cooling is awesome, I mean My mid tower NZXT lexa S, the temps on the cpu even with the fans was too high for my comfort. With the HAF 932 my temps alone droped 20c. NO joke. HAF 932 or HAF X or the 800D.


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## silkstone (Jan 11, 2011)

ReaperX87 said:


> Honestly if you are going to even get the 922 and you want room, forget mid tower's you want the HAF 932 or HAF X they are huge case's with enough room to fit any video card or PSU that is on the market. Trust me I love my HAF 932. Oh and the cooling is awesome, I mean My mid tower NZXT lexa S, the temps on the cpu even with the fans was too high for my comfort. With the HAF 932 my temps alone droped 20c. NO joke. HAF 932 or HAF X or the 800D.
> http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l38/Xombie87/Reaper HAF 932/SAM_0501.jpg
> http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l38/Xombie87/Reaper HAF 932/SAM_0494.jpg
> http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l38/Xombie87/Reaper HAF 932/SAM_0498.jpg



The only significant dimensional difference is the height, everything else is more or less the same.

HAF 932 - (W)9.6" X (H)22.5" front half, 21.5" back half X (D)22.7"
HAF 922 - (W)10.0" x (H)19.7" x (D)22.2"

but imo the 922 looks much nicer


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## ReaperX87 (Jan 11, 2011)

silkstone said:


> The only significant dimensional difference is the height, everything else is more or less the same.
> 
> HAF 932 - (W)9.6" X (H)22.5" front half, 21.5" back half X (D)22.7"
> HAF 922 - (W)10.0" x (H)19.7" x (D)22.2"
> ...



The 922 is a great case and I know that its only a couple inch difference and that makes all the difference. The 932 has the option of 4 intake fans on the side panel, and 3 exhaust on top or a 3 120mm fan radiator, and one 230mm fan intake on the front, and the 140mm exhaust on the rear, this case has so much room and that what I need and the cable management is great, lots of room.


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## cyriene (Jan 11, 2011)

I just put a system in a HAF 932 today. Nice case, plenty of room for my triple rad and water cooling gear. Plus you could fit your 2 graphics cards easily. 

I say if you are going to be using 2 graphics card then get a bigger case than a mid tower. At least I feel it is more pleasant to work with anyway.

crappy phone pic, still work to do, bleeding and testing now:


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## silkstone (Jan 11, 2011)

same fan configuration as the 922 apart from the 922 can fit a single 230mm side fan or 2x 140mm intake rather than 4. oh also the 932 can fit 1 extra 140mm top fan, but the 922 comes with a 230mm top fan anyway. 
I don't think i would like any more air moving through this thing. not using the Hi-CFM 140mm's anyway.. they suck up soo much dust it's silly.

The only real dimensional diference is an exta 5.25" drive bay, i'd also like to point out that the 922 is deeper (W on the above specs), which gives it a slight advantage when aircooling, this was the only case i could fit my V8 into for the form factor and use side fans. I'm not sure how well it would fit in some Full tower cases with side fans either.

But you are right, both are great cases. I just prefer the looks of the 922 and the price bracket was significantly lower ($40-50 if i remember right) when compared to the full towers.

Cable management on the 922 isn't the best i've seen but it is possible to do right, just a little more tricky than some others. I also love the ability to turn the LED off the front.... it does look cool, but i can only get blue side fans and so is kinda mis-matched.

The hole in the motherboard tray is a great addition as it means i can remove the V8 to wash without pulling the whole thing apart like i had to on my last system.

The only things i dislike about the case: the first is purely cosmetic, and that is the inside isn't black. The second is i'm gonna have to either let it get dusty inside, reduce the airflow, go water-cooling or wash the heatsinks every month.

At the moment, i'm letting it get dusty, as i don;t have the cash for wathercooling and i am too idle to be pulling it apart every month. Mind you, the side fans shouldn't affect the dust build up on the cpu cooler, so i might be able to get away with lowing real hard and using q-tips... lol


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## silkstone (Jan 11, 2011)

cyriene said:


> I just put a system in a HAF 932 today. Nice case, plenty of room for my triple rad and water cooling gear. Plus you could fit your 2 graphics cards easily.
> 
> I say if you are going to be using 2 graphics card then get a bigger case than a mid tower. At least I feel it is more pleasant to work with anyway.
> 
> ...



There should also be enough room for a triple rad in a 922, if there is in a 932.. the dimensions really aren't that different. it is just as long. You are right tho, i'd be less room to work with an internal radiator.


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## ReaperX87 (Jan 11, 2011)

Watch these and if you like the 922 then go for it, my opinion is the HAF 932 or HAF X.

HAF 922 review- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bszPOf0U6KI

HAF 932 review- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvsG7AH-9c0


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## silkstone (Jan 11, 2011)

Not me buying, he already went for the HAF 922.

I agree the other HAF are good, the 912 is too small for my needs, but price-wise it's a very attractive case.



The_Ish said:


> While I acknowledge that Lian Li makes great cases, I still think they *look* so damn flimsy.. Anyway, I just ordered a HAF 922 along with six Scythe GT 1450's  I'll be replacing fans where possible, and I am a master at finding places not intended for fans at all *whistle*


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## The_Ish (Jan 11, 2011)

It's a compromise for sure. I wanted good space, but was on a very limited budget.
edit/ I'm also bad with money, hence the fans lol.


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## ReaperX87 (Jan 11, 2011)

The_Ish said:


> It's a compromise for sure. I wanted good space, but was on a very limited budget.
> edit/ I'm also bad with money, hence the fans lol.



I hope you are happy with the HAF 922 like I said earlier, the HAF 922 just doesnt have the cooling that I am looking for, I will show you some pics of my rig, I have alot of work to do to it, next I will be painting the inside, then getting more fans as well lol. after that when I can afford it water cooling.


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## The_Ish (Jan 11, 2011)

If you're gonna use water cooling, does it really matter how many fans you can mount? I say this because there are people fitting triple radiators to the 922, so there's enough room for some nice h2o stuff should you want it.

There are certain things I buy to last. PSU and case are two of them. The third would be monitor.
Although I just noticed today i've got a red pixel when a certain area is black :/ It's just over a year old. Gah.. And I NEVER keep receipts


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## silkstone (Jan 11, 2011)

The_Ish said:


> If you're gonna use water cooling, does it really matter how many fans you can mount? I say this because there are people fitting triple radiators to the 922, so there's enough room for some nice h2o stuff should you want it.
> 
> There are certain things I buy to last. PSU and case are two of them. The third would be monitor.
> Although I just noticed today i've got a red pixel when a certain area is black :/ It's just over a year old. Gah.. And I NEVER keep receipts



Most companies don;t accept returns over a single stuck pixel any more  you usually need more than 5 stuck/dead to be able to get a replacement.

Try massaging the area fairly lightly with a damp cloth, if that doesn;t work try searching google for a dead pixel fixing tool.


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## The_Ish (Jan 12, 2011)

It's extremely tiny (it's a pixel duh), and only shows on black And if you look straight at it. So it's doesn't really bother me. But for a monitor that cost like 730 usd you'd expect better quality. Maybe i just got a bad batch or something. I know people who've had the same model for longer times without problems.


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## copenhagen69 (Jan 12, 2011)

my sig sale has a case ....


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## freebie (Jan 14, 2011)

I want a haf 932, or a haf x, i love the nvidia haf case design, i've got a coolermaster elite 430 nice little case for the money


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## The_Ish (Jan 20, 2011)

The fans I ordered was not in stock until February. And i've had time to think. I changed my order to a HAF X for practical reasons. Plus I had no idea it was so cheap. I thought it would be much more expensive.


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## freebie (Jan 20, 2011)

Please let me know what you think of the HAF X, I'm dying to buy one but can't decide!


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## The_Ish (Jan 20, 2011)

You'll probably get more out of a review. But if you want to know something specific, let me know.

edit/ Well, I've lived with it for a few days now. First thing I've noticed is that my idle temps from a P182 open case solution to HAF X stock cooling (almost, more on that later) send both my CPU and GPU idle temps down by 8-6 celsius. Which is nice. I did replace the back exhaust with my CoolIT ALC, and since The P182 back fan is mounted to some sort of fan control, I could not remove it, so CPU temps are still with only one fan (the PULL). I only have 140mm laying around, so I could not fit a PUSH fan to it. I except my 1450 rpm GT's to arrive sometime around Feb 10th. With which I will replace and add fans as I can (I ordered six of them!) Push/Pull config first. Should do quite a lot for the temps I would imagine. The case is not the most quite I've ever owned but since I either use headphones or very loud music, this does't bother me at all.


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