[SOLVED] Help choosing case

[usernamenobodyhas]

I’m looking for help with a new case. It’s been years since I bought one and I’m quite baffled. I’m looking for something with plenty of room to work in, sturdy construction, excellent filtration with not too many non filtered gaps, that’s as quiet as possible. I listen to music a lot. I’m considering some basic liquid cooling. It will be in the same room as a coal fire. I have lots of very fine dust, that gets in everywhere.

My old case is probably somewhere between a midi and a small full tower. Aside from being rattly, my new graphics card makes things cramped and almost hits the drive bays, and when I got a larger cpu cooler after the last upgrade, I had to remove the side fan and cut away the mount. I either need something slightly larger, or just a different shape. Current case measures: H 54 x L 47 x W 20.5

Some smaller cases claim to be able to handle large radiators, but the pictures show no hard drives. Then there are some huge towers, that will take loads of hard drives. I want my graphics card not to be shoe horned in, somewhere to put 2 hard drives, a couple of SSDs, an optical drive or two (for now, decreatly hidden if pos), and the option to be able to add a couple of radiators in the future. I don’t want it to be the size of a double decker bus, but midi would be too small. Any ideas?

So far, I’ve looked at: Phanteks Ethoo Glass & Luxe Glass, Thermaltake View 71, Be quiet! Dark base pro 900, Corsair 780t, and many others.
Hoping for some recommendations.

ASRock 970 extreme 4
AMD Fx 8350
EVGA GTX 1070 Ti
16gb
EVGA 1000 T2
Samsung Evo 250gb
2xHDD
2xOptical

 

[Deleted member 14196]

Given your unusual requirements due to the coal heated space I would get an industrial case that’s made for such environments

Computer & PC Enclosures & Industrial Cabinets - DustShield®

DustShield is the leader in industrial computer enclosures for production environments. Our products protect LCD Monitors, tower/desktop CPUs, & printers.

www.dustshield.com

Get a good case like a Phantex or something and then use the dust shield

 

[usernamenobodyhas]

Thanks for the suggestion. I've never seen those before. They are a great idea. Unfortunately, they're well out of my league, price-wise. I should have said, I'm looking to somewhere in the region £100-£200 max (130-260usd). I have a lot of hifi that also suffers. There's no way I can put everything in a box. I just need the best of the ordinary cases. I might mod the case, by adding a layer of something like vacuum cleaner filter material. I think I just have to accept that it's going to get dusty. My power amps need cleaning out every now and then too. I accept it won't be perfect, I just want something that's better than my current case.

 

[Deleted member 14196]

The problem is the coal dust is so micro fine but it will probably get through your filters

 

[usernamenobodyhas]

The problem is the coal dust is so micro fine but it will probably get through your filters

Agreed, but I don't have a spare 600 usd to spend on top of the case. If it's not too gappy, I can probably find a way to mod the filters and cut out the worst of the dust. For example, a reviewer of the View 71, said it has 0.5cm gaps all around the glass. Although I love the looks etc, it's probably not for me.

 

[usernamenobodyhas]

Mandark, you said "a good case, like the Phantek". Do you rate them, as a make, for the things I mentioned? Aside from obviously the dust aspect.

 

[Deleted member 14196]

NZXT and Phantex Both make good cases but my favorite cases are from Lian-Li. They have Percision made cases that should be pretty tight and very good filtration

 

[Deleted member 14196]

I also found this thread for you

Looking for the ultimate dust free case!

Doing a new build in January and I need a case that will be 100% dust free inside, I have a huge dust issue as I have abnormally dry skin and work from home. I really haven't been able to to find much researching. I'd like something stylish too if possible, wouldn't mind spending up to $200. Any...

forums.tomshardware.com

 

[usernamenobodyhas]

That's what I'm thinking - vacuum cleaner bag or filter material. Not the old brown paper bags. The newer, fleecy kind. I've tried breathing through them to see how restrictive they are. It wasn't as bad as I expected. But if the case is too gappy, the negative pressure will just draw air in through the gaps instead. I'm happy to block up some holes. I'm just looking at the cases you mendioned.

 

[usernamenobodyhas]

Lian Li are well out of my budget. NZXT seem to offer 2 towers. The Phantom big tower seems huge and has space for lots of hard drives, and the huge drive bays are not removable. The other, the 700i has nowhere for even a single optical drive. From one extreme to the other. The hunt continues.

 

[usernamenobodyhas]

Mandark, just thought I'd let you know I have ordered a Lian Li PC-00. I decided, as I rarely use the optical drives, just to connect them via USB 3 when I need to use them. Will order a SATA to usb adapter with 12v external psu, which is a cheap solution. I then ended up looking at the 011 and NZXT H700. I also bid on a Cooler Master C700p on eBay.

I could end up with two cases. The 011 would look tidier, but the C700p has much better access to the rear of the PSU. At some point soon, I will do is start sorting out some liquid cooling. My CPU air cooler comes out 16cm from the board, which might be 1cm too much.

I've also found that you can buy fan covers, with or without filters. I'm going to get some of those, and a cheap roll of thin hepa filter material. If need be, I can sandwich the hepa material behind the provided filter.

Thanks for your advice