I'm planning a new build sometime between now and the end of October. Could be next week. Could be October 30th. I am having a hard time making a decision on both a case and a PSU. There are many cases that look suitable EXCEPT I'm having a hard time finding one I like that also has easily accessible USB ports. My system will sit UNDER my desk basically on the floor (just off the floor on piece of metal that is attached to one of the "legs" of the desk). So finding a case that has USB ports on the upper half of the front or the nearer half of the top has been challenging. If the ports are on the top they can't be too far back or would be harder to reach than ports on the bottom of the front! I don't want USB ports that are on the sides. I want to stay under $150...preferably at $100. Prefer 120 fans. A few of the cases I've been looking at are:
Thermaltake Armor VA8000BWS $149.99
- Worried that the ports on top are too far back...especially considering the box looks tall. Case seems huge!
Antec P180B $129.99
- possible...I'd like ports higher up but at least these aren't on the extreme bottom.
Thermaltake Tsunami VA3000SWA $105.99
- Again, worried that the ports are too far back (on the top)
Cooler Master CM Stacker STC-T01-UW $144.99
- Great port location but huge side vent? Case looks huge? Noise due to side vent?
Antec Nine Hundred $119.99
- May work. Ports look close enough to front and slightly angled. Easier access than those cases with ports halfway back on the top?
Gigabyte 3D Aurora 570 $149.99
- Ports are towards the middle of the front, just under the door but at least not all the way at the bottom.
NZXT Apollo Black $69.99
Gigabyte Triton 180 $64.99
Gigabyte Poseidon GZ-XA1CA-STB $79.99
NZXT Zero $139.99
I love the placement of the ports on the CM Stacker BUT it has that HUGE side vent! What does that do in terms of noise? Does that huge side vent get me anything? Overall I seem to be leaning towards the Antec 900.
Now, on to PSU's...I have reviewed the tiered list and all the PSU's I'm considering are Tier 2. Now I just have to choose one! I'd prefer to stay closer to $100 than $150 which would mean the Antec TP3, FSP, or OCZ. On the other hand, eveyone seems to love the Corsair and Seasonic models.
CORSAIR CMPSU-620HX
SeaSonic S12 Energy Plus SS-650HT
Antec True Power Trio 650
Antec NeoPower 650 Blue
FSP Group FX700-GLN
OCZ GameXStream OCZ700GXSSLI
PC Power & Cooling 610
Thermaltake W0106RU
My build will be:
Intel Core 2 Duo Conroe E6750...probably not OC'd
Gigabyte P35-DS3R
evga 8800-GTS 320
Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2 800 Dual Channel
Arctic Cooling Freezer HS/F for CPU (since I don't plan to OC)
2 hard drives - 1 80gb for OS and 1 320gb for storage/backup
1 dvd burner - probably liteon or samsung
OS - not sure if it will be XP Pro or Vista Ultimate yet.
Does anyone have any feedback on the cases or PSU's to help me make up my mind?
Thermaltake Armor VA8000BWS $149.99
- Worried that the ports on top are too far back...especially considering the box looks tall. Case seems huge!
Antec P180B $129.99
- possible...I'd like ports higher up but at least these aren't on the extreme bottom.
Thermaltake Tsunami VA3000SWA $105.99
- Again, worried that the ports are too far back (on the top)
Cooler Master CM Stacker STC-T01-UW $144.99
- Great port location but huge side vent? Case looks huge? Noise due to side vent?
Antec Nine Hundred $119.99
- May work. Ports look close enough to front and slightly angled. Easier access than those cases with ports halfway back on the top?
Gigabyte 3D Aurora 570 $149.99
- Ports are towards the middle of the front, just under the door but at least not all the way at the bottom.
NZXT Apollo Black $69.99
Gigabyte Triton 180 $64.99
Gigabyte Poseidon GZ-XA1CA-STB $79.99
NZXT Zero $139.99
I love the placement of the ports on the CM Stacker BUT it has that HUGE side vent! What does that do in terms of noise? Does that huge side vent get me anything? Overall I seem to be leaning towards the Antec 900.
Now, on to PSU's...I have reviewed the tiered list and all the PSU's I'm considering are Tier 2. Now I just have to choose one! I'd prefer to stay closer to $100 than $150 which would mean the Antec TP3, FSP, or OCZ. On the other hand, eveyone seems to love the Corsair and Seasonic models.
CORSAIR CMPSU-620HX
SeaSonic S12 Energy Plus SS-650HT
Antec True Power Trio 650
Antec NeoPower 650 Blue
FSP Group FX700-GLN
OCZ GameXStream OCZ700GXSSLI
PC Power & Cooling 610
Thermaltake W0106RU
My build will be:
Intel Core 2 Duo Conroe E6750...probably not OC'd
Gigabyte P35-DS3R
evga 8800-GTS 320
Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2 800 Dual Channel
Arctic Cooling Freezer HS/F for CPU (since I don't plan to OC)
2 hard drives - 1 80gb for OS and 1 320gb for storage/backup
1 dvd burner - probably liteon or samsung
OS - not sure if it will be XP Pro or Vista Ultimate yet.
Does anyone have any feedback on the cases or PSU's to help me make up my mind?