*****THE OFFICIAL "SPEC ME" THREAD*****

CM932




Modified P190

 

The P180 looks ugly. I love the HAF stamped on that case.

Alas, I can't afford it Looks like I'm gonna hafta stick with the RC690. Anyway, this is getting off topic so don't reply to me I guess.

 

It's a P190...
Anyway, for those with more realistic budgets, 932, Zero, Tempest or perhaps Armor.

 

the HAF REALLY tickles my fancy, and i would have chosen it over the PC-A70B, were it nto that i am to w.c, and i need a classy look

 

The Thermaltake Armor is a very well built and easy to use case. The four stock fans cool it nicely

Also, if you want to use a tower cooler like the Tuniq, a full tower is almost mandatory. That thing is massive!

 

Ehh, I have problems with the Thermaltake Armor now that I used the RC-690 as far as airflow is concerned. If you don't get the one with the 23cm fan then the airflow is kinda iffy. The PSU is at the top and I prefer it at the bottom.

These new cases have way more options as far as airflow goes.

 

Top or bottom PSU, I don't care as long as it works. All I know is that the Armor cools better than the Raidmax Smilodon by quite a bit, which made it my choice for this build. And I REALLY like the Smilodon too. It's so thoughtfully designed...

The airflow is actually quite good. The case is set up for large dual card configs with loads of multiple drives and the like. My fans are 2 x 120mm, 2 x 90mm, plus 2 x 120mm in my PSU and cooler. The case makes little noise and surely contributed to my good temps with the Q6600.

The 23cm fan is a bit over the top. The stock fans have very balanced airflow... depending on which components you use, I suppose. I've never had any problems keeping everything cool with the Armor. And the quality of the construction warrants the high price, IMO.

Good Full Tower Cases I've seen and used:

Thermaltake Armor(my preference)
Thermaltake Kandalf
Sunbeam Transformer(cheap but surprisingly decent)
Antec 900(too many of them though)
Antec 1200
CoolerMaster Cosmos
CoolerMaster Stacker(best cooling by far IMO and the Nvidia edition looks amazing)

There are more but that's all that really comes to mind ATM.

Good Mid-Tower Cases I've Seen and Used:

CoolerMaster Centurion(seen many, own one, high quality, good airflow and layout, cheap)
CoolerMaster RC690
NZXT Appollo
Sunbeam Silent Storm(good gooling, understated but elegant looks)
RaidMax Smilodon(Raidmax seem to have released several high quality cases in the last year or so, using the same general case with different aesthetics. They are obviously designed by gamers and a dream to work with.)

Again, there are more...

 

Not necessarily, it fits in cases like the Thermaltake Soprano, which isn't that big.
Oh, and the 900 is a mid-tower.

 

It's a pretty big and well cooled mid tower then. Either way, I see them everywhere. They look cool though...

 

They're decent looking cases, after all, when they had only just been released I bought one, didn't know anyone else who'd even heard of one at the time. 6 months later, every man and his dog has one.. oh well.

 

A testament to it's quality, maybe? You dont see things everywhere because they suck. Although it IS a bit outdated now in my opinion. I'll take the RC-690 over it any day. It fits the same amount of front and back fans, more side fans, and two 120mm fans instead of one big 200mm fan which is good because one fan can deliver cold air right to the CPU and the other one can exhaust the hot air coming out of the CPU heatsink.

 

It has some horrific design flaws, but they're not immediately obvious to people who don't modify their PC on a semi-regular basis. My 900 was for use as a file server, which was bad news, as the biggest design flaw of all with the 900 is the hard disks are intolerably difficult to install/remove. The tool-less systems offered by coolermaster and NZXT are far superior.

 

edit: double post.

 

The Armor has loads of room for drives and they are easy to change out. I have a DVD-ROM, a DVD-RW, 2 seagate SATA HDDs, and a sony floppy drive. And I still have loads of room to spare

The front 120mm fan is also in a fantastic spot. It keeps both HDDs ice cold.

Also, the tool-less drive cages in the Cooler Master Centurion are excellent. It's got room for 4 HDDs, a floppy, and 4 optical drives. Plus, even with the 80mm front fan, the airflow is very good. The front panel is an open mesh with a dust filter behind it. So that helps a lot.

 

As does any other case with a 120mm front fan...
I don't mind the looks of the Armor, but it's not very well cooled without the big side fan, and then it's a little unbalanced, the 900 and 1200 offer superior cooling, as do the NZXT Tempest, Coolermaster 932 and 690, and various Lian Li boxes.

 

I've seen a few cases that, frustratingly, have the drive cages above the front fan. So it's an issue I look for when choosing a case.

I know it's not the best. But it still has fairly good cooling. It moves plenty of air and has awesome ventilation. Maybe others are better, but the Armor is still very good. Plus, yes, it looks awesome

 

the more and more i am seeing lian-li cases the more i am hating th plastic look of these antec 1200 etc cases.

 

Lian-Lis are nice, pure and simple, and they have veered me away from plastic. I still like NZXT's approach to it though.

 

I'm building a computer for the first time and I'm looking at these parts.

Country: US
BUDGET:~1500 ±$300

Processor: Intel Q9300
Motherboard: EVGA 132-YW-E179-A1
Memory: OCZ Special Ops 4GB (2 x 2GB)
Graphics Card(s): PNY XLR8
TV Card: No
Hard Drive(s): 1 (~300gb please)
Optical Drive(s): HP DVD1070i
Cooling: Yes
Water Cooling: No
Cable(s): No
Sound Card: No
Controller Card(s): No
Case: Antec Nine Hundred
Power Supply: Need help choosing

Keyboard: No
Mouse: No
Headset: No
Speakers: No
Monitor(s): SAMSUNG 2243BWX
Operating System: Vista

Uses: Gaming, Listening to music, movies, word processing, surfing net, photo/video editing
Overclocking: Maybe

 

Country: USA
BUDGET:700.00 - 800.00$

Processor: Yes
Motherboard: Yes
Memory: Yes
Graphics Card(s): Yes
TV Card: No
Hard Drive(s): 2 (one 200GB and one 600-700GB)
Optical Drive(s): No
Cooling: Yes
Water Cooling: yes
Cable(s): yes
Sound Card: Yes
Controller Card(s): No
Case: (personal choice)
Power Supply: Yes

Keyboard: No
Mouse: Yes
Headset: No
Speakers: yes
Monitor(s): 1
Operating System: Windows XP 32bit or ( 64-bit to support 8GB ram )

Uses: Multimedia, Graphic Applications, Programming, Listening to music, movies, word processing, surfing net
Overclocking: Mild