Case size - How big is too big?

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What size case do you think is too big?

  • None, its all about the size!

    Votes: 16 64.0%

  • Some full towers are a bit large

    Votes: 7 28.0%

  • Anything above a mid tower

    Votes: 1 4.0%

  • MicroATX minitower

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Tiny ITX systems are as big as i will ever go!

    Votes: 1 4.0%
  • Total voters
    25
hunter315

hunter315

Champion
May 12, 2009
10,652
3
51,960
I had never realized just how big some of the full tower cases were until now. I have my system in an Antec 300, my roommate has an Antec 902. I went home over break, come back and find his friend had brought over his desktop, its an absolutely massive HAF X. Now, I had always thought that a full tower would be nice, a bit more space to work with, some better airflow, but now that i look at this beast im pretty sure i could lay my 300 in there and not have it touch the hard drive bays or the PSU.

Im curious who here has had experience working in full towers and does it justify the fact that its about the right height to serve as a spare leg for my desk?

Also, at what point do you consider the cases to be too big? It took until today for me to realize, maybe sometimes a full tower is a bit tooo big.
 



I have french double wide doors.... I can fit anything in and out of that.


But really size IS everything.


Better airfloor

Better cable management

More slots for extra stuff
 
I want a corsair 800d but the price is kinda high. A perfect tower for me would be able to hold 2. 360 rad for cooling. one on top and one at the bottom of the case under the psu in another compartment. I am thinking about just making my own custom tower.
 
I've just brought a new sandy bridge computer, and I choose the HAF X.
This is the best case I ever had, no cable cluttering, low temps, easy installation, can put the biggest heatsink, and has wheels.
 
It's only too big if you're not filling it up or making use of the airflow.

For example, I don't see the point in getting a HAF X if you're only using a single graphics card and a mainstream CPU cooler, but if you're doing triple SLI with a Silver Arrow cooler then you'll need the space.
 
I wouldn't mind a case the size of a recliner as long as it had wheels to move it.

I just rebuilt my first system a little while ago in an Antec 1200. It was hard fitting that "dead body" in there with the wires and 6950 holy crap!!! :ouch: Maybe I just need more experience.

Though, the Thermaltake PSU had a CPU power cord that was almost too short. Luckily, I got it around the cpu heatsink, with the cord touching the heatsink, so it was almost too big in my 'case'. 😉
 
I got myself an Antec DF-30 (took it over the Antec 900 Two) just because I didn't want a case weighing 9923kg that won't fit in my boot.

I LAN a lot (every weekend, easily), so case size and weight is a big issue to me. I don't have a massive setup, so I don't generally need a massive case. The mid-tower DF-30 is just perfect for me. Added some extra fans and an extra fan on the CPU cooler, so now I got probably the best ventilated case anyone has ever seen, whilst keeping it tidy and good-looking inside. Nothing as ugly as a massive full-tower case like the HAF X, you look inside and you find the poor old motherboard sitting like a lost duck in the middle of the case, with enough space to fit 9 more motherboards around it.

Rather give me a tigh, neat looking system and I'm happy.
 
Hello, I bought the HAF X and I agree that it is huge, it dwarfs my midsize Sony Vaio desktop. However, I do not need to move the case often and I wanted a superior, quiet case with USB 3.0 and would be tops at air cooling. The HAF X is all of that. The build quality is excellent. The alternate case to get would be the Silverstone Fortress, but it was nearly $100 more than the HAF X and I couldn't justify the price difference (I got the HAF X for $180 with no tax). Also the Silverstone is still USB 2.0 and I felt that it was dated for such an expensive case. My computer will be under my desk for my business and so size is somewhat irrelevant. And yes it just barely fits under my desk ha, ha.

It is really a subjective question. Practically, if you have to move the case often then a midsize case would be a better choice. In a way the bigger case is more handy because I can reach the I/O ports more easily and the optical drives. If you don't have to move your case often and are not always tinkering with your computer then the large size of the HAF X or other full-size towers doesn't really matter and has many benefits.

Also, the extra size of the case ensures that you have enough room for everything. When I researched midsize cases I constantly read warnings that a GPU wouldn't fit or a PSU. There are a lot of midsize case owners out there complaining that they couldn't get everything into their case. They also complain a lot that they don't have room for aftermarket coolers and cable management. Since I want to overclock, I need an aftermarket cooler and they are very large for the most part. Buying a large case like the HAF X eliminates all of these issues and saves a lot of guesswork. Also, should you want to expand your system by adding a second video card or PCI-E card, you can do it easily as long as you were smart enough to have bought the right mobo.

One other thing to consider is that many mid-size cases just don't cool as well as the HAF X and other larger cases (read the reviews). For example, I considered the CM 932 but I would have had to buy additional fans and size issues that I have mentioned would come into play. Buy the time I bought 2 or 3 additional fans, then I would be at the same price as the HAFX anyway and not have all of the benefits of the HAFX. Both the Antec DF and HAF X are rated in the top three for stock cooling - the Siverstone Fortress is the best air-cooled case in the reviews I read. Keep in mind that the Fortress is nearly as big as the HAF X.

Everything has tradeoffs and the HAFX is definitely huge. If I could have found a mid-size that met all of my requirements I probably would have bought it. The size you will be happy with will largely depend on how you use your computer.
 


The 650D is intriguing and beautiful however, it appears to suffer from the same cooling problems of the 800D (good but not great cooling). I can't find any full reviews of its cooling yet. The one review I found in Newegg said that the case was noisy - which would be a deal-breaker form me. It definitely is a stunningly beautiful case.
 
The 800d is easily the best case on the market currently. It's really quite elegant. If you look at a case more as home decor and less as a big hunk of metal that allows you to watch youtube, bigger is fine (plus it's really nice to be able to fit a bunch of rads, a few graphics cards, and nearly a dozen hard drives if you choose)
 


Hi, I agree that the the 800D is a quality case as is the 650D probably will be. I am a big Corsair fan - they make great quality products (I have their 850 HX PSU). However, the 800D reviews show is to be only fair at cooling. Most computer experts agree that this is the most important function of a case as it ensures the longevity of all of the internal components.

Even owners of the 800D acknowledge this problem. To fix it you have to add extra fans or water cooling to an already expensive case. So you pay for the "looks" factor.

As far as looks go, I again have to agree with you that the 800D and 650D are two of the best looking cases out there. Despite its mediocre cooling, I almost would buy the 800D or 650D just because of the build quality and "elegance" that you mention. If you are displaying your computer to your friends I can readily see your point - looks matter. However, many people don't really care how their computer looks - they care about function. For those users, how elegant the case looks is not nearly as important as how well it functions.

Take a look at the Silverstone Fortress reviews and I think you will find that it is comparable to the 800D as far as aesthetics and it is the best stock air cooling case available. It is mid-tower size though.
 
Silverstone make great cases too, and I'd be happy to own one, I just think the edge goes to Corsair IF you are running a water cooling loop. I agree it's mediocre at air-cooling, but this huge case was born to be water cooled! I would think most people throwing down 300 bucks on a full tower would have intentions of water cooling, but I could be wrong
 


Great point. Some newbies to building their own computer like me don't want to go to the expense and complications of water cooling. Probably though, liquid cooling of some sort is the future and will become the norm because of it inherent efficiency.

The 2600K Sandy Bridge overclocks to nearly 5 ghz with air cooling and so water cooling becomes less important. For me, I wanted to keep my build air cooled to save money and I don't need to OC over 5 ghz anyway.

Do you use water cooling in your PC?
 
Corsair 800D is a nice case. I love how simple it looks with the huge window and nice cable mgt holes. Only thing i didn't really like about it was the front panel is alluminum brushed but the rest of the case isn't. I think the best looking case still is the Silverstone TJ07 case. Probably not the best cooling case but looks wise for me it's the best. But the down side is that it's expensive so i ended up going with Lian-li on my new build. Im actually glad that i got a Lian-li case because the quality of the case is by far the best i've seen in person and believe me i've seen alot of cases. Since i've been case shopping for about almost a year for my case. Took me a while to save up for my new computer lol.

This is the case i bought. I wanted something brush alluminum not to big but professional looking.

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://jrevlimited.com/photos/PC7FNW/pc-7fnw-01.jpg&imgrefurl=http://jrevlimited.com/lian-li-PC-7FNW.html&usg=__JeNmCRLG_LPpfeBL_TjSxiskRl8=&h=1000&w=1000&sz=360&hl=en&start=0&zoom=1&tbnid=bpBtb0DU4tyg9M:&tbnh=131&tbnw=141&ei=GO51TYvLMYGisQOTjK3HBA&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dlian-li%2B7fnw%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26biw%3D1600%26bih%3D707%26tbs%3Disch:1&um=1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=429&vpy=77&dur=5956&hovh=225&hovw=225&tx=147&ty=110&oei=GO51TYvLMYGisQOTjK3HBA&page=1&ndsp=36&ved=1t:429,r:2,s:0

 


The build quality is Flawless! All alluminum mid tower case with black brush alluminum. Has more then enough cable mgt holes also. The case is also really really light.
The case comes with a 140mm fan for intake and 1 120mm fan as exhaust. But if you want more cooling you can get a top cover from Lian-li or Frozencpu.com that has 2 140mm fans. Or even a Front bezel with a 120mm fan for intake. This case has a ton of mods made from Lian-li. Thats what i love about the case. It looks even better in person. As far as cooling it should be good enough once i get get my top cover with 2 140mm fans. But im not done with my build im still waiting on the damn sandy bridge motherboards to release lol. They have some on newegg but im not sure i want that MSI board.

Here are the upgrades i'll be getting for it.

http://lian-li.com/v2/en/product/product06.php?pr_index=468&cl_index=2&sc_index=45&ss_index=116&g=f

http://www.frozencpu.com/products/8312/cpa-261/Lian_Li_Universal_CD_CDR_DVD_DVDR_Blu-Ray_Drive_Bezel_-_Black_C-02B.html?tl=g43c241s612

http://lian-li.com/v2/en/product/product06.php?pr_index=430&cl_index=2&sc_index=29&ss_index=110&g=f

Here's a video of it on youtube. He has the older version though..Mine has a bit more cable mgt holes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPYZOGWkgmE&feature=related

Im in love with this case lol..I'll show you guys pictures when im done with the build.

 
Its a beautiful case - the only thing I don't like is the spider window. I just don't like spiders very much lol. Next build I'll research Lian-li some more.
 


yeah it was just a thought...im gonna keep my normal window
 
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