HAF912 at $40 good price for gaming build?

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rebelx

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Mar 18, 2012
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I'm going to be air cooling an i5-2500k (eventually overclocked) single video card system and I was wondering if the HAF912 at $40 is a good buy?

I would like to stress the point that I am extremely cheap when it comes to (IN MY MIND) "non-essentials" like the case. Don't flame me, it's just a habit. If it wasn't for this site, I wouldn't be comfortable spending more than $30 for a power supply either.

In any case, I don't much care about looks (as long as it's not going to cut someone because of sharp edges or look horrendously bad), but I do care about air flow. Ideally, I wanted a smaller case, but those seem to be problematic for me because I haven't decided on a video card yet and won't until mid May most likely when I assemble everything. I'd be hesitant to buy a case only realize that my PSU or GPU won't fit. I also don't want to miss a good deal and I think $40 AR with no tax might be a good price for this case (via amazon).

Thoughts or recommendations?

EDIT: A reviewer on Amazon states that the case comes with a bay for SSDs (I will be using one). I am not sure if he means that if this means I do not need any mounting brackets for my 2.5" SSD to fit in a 3.5" bay because there is a native 2.5" bay?? In addition, another reviewer says to put a 200mm fan on the top "as an exhaust" to prevent dust from entering the case. OK...? How do I set up a fan combination for exhast/entry/circulation? I need to read the forums more. Also, another reviewer says that "hopefully your PSU can work backwards to avoid dust coming in from under the case." No idea what this means. Does he mean seriously flipping the orientation of the PSU so that the fan is facing the opposite direction? Is this allowed/safe?

In regards to the fans, these are the tech specs: 120 mm fan x 2 or 200 mm fan x 1 (optional)
120 mm fan x 2, 1200 RPM, 17 dBA (can be front swapped for one 200 mm fan)
120/140 mm fan x 1 (optional)
120 mm fan x 1 (optional)

Does this mean I have to pick from one of the combinations? Can I have a 200mm fan, 120mm (multiples), and 1 140mm in there as well at the same time? If I understand correctly, it comes with two fans (120mm)?
 
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Works perfectly fine, I own one personally and just switched over to a cm 690 ii advanced (watercooling reasons) anyways, the case has plenty of room and you can have that exact same setup. Personally I had it 2x120mm intakes and 1 120mm outtake, you can do either 2x120mm or 200mm intake and any of the other options above.
 
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You are super helpful! I see you all over the place!

Do you know if it's possible to somehow disable the LEDs on the case fans? A few that I am interested in all have red or blue lights and I really don't want any lights emanating from the computer (this case is nice because there are no windows, just grills and the like for fans, but I am still sure the light would shine through). Is there a cable I can snip?
 
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Sorry, badly phrased. I meant aftermarket fans often come with LEDs. You're right in that the case fan does not have any.

The build will be as follows:

Processor: Intel i5-2500k $164.99
Mobo: Gigabyte GA-Z68XP-D3 LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX $15.99
Hard Drive: Samsung 830, 128GB SSD. $140
Optical Drive: Don't think I need one
PSU: Antec Earthwatts 650D ($59.99 - PENDING)
Aftermarket cooler: 212 $23
Video Card: No idea yet. Will wait till mid May to buy to get lowest price (maybe 6870 or 7850 depending on price? Maybe something in that range for nVidia??)
Case: HAF 912 ($40 AR - PENDING)
Wireless: will not purchase
RAM: MEM 4Gx2|CORSAIR CMX8GX3M2A1333C9 ($25 AR)

What is a fan controller? Is that something that I buy separately? Where does it plug in?
 
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212+ with these fans:
top1.jpg


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103060

They also come in red and green if you want a different color :) Cooler master sickleflow 120mm.

As for the front or top intake/exahust you will have to use the cooler master 200mm megaflow, which comes in red/blue.
 
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Yup, I was planning on getting the 200mm for top (even though it has color LED sadly), but some people are also using 2 120mm on top, so I don't know what is more effective.

What do you think about this one? Same model as your newegg link, right? Just without LED? Maybe that's why the model number is different ("C" instead of "L") http://www.amazon.com/Cooler-Master-120mm-Case-R4-C2R-20AC-GP/dp/B0026ZPFDE/ref=sr_1_2?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1334128586&sr=1-2#productPromotions
 
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Er, how many fans are enough? I'm planning on doing 2 stock fans, 1 200mm on top (or instead of this, use 2x 120mm that I mention right after this), and then 1 extra 120mm? Should it be 2 extra 120mm??
 
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