Hey All,

My first post, but have been reading for several months. Lots of good stuff here.
Never fails, can't leave without wanting to spend more money!

Anyways...

About 4-5 months ago I built the system in my sig. First build. All of my systems
before this were significantly smaller, so I thought I would be good to go with a mid tower
for this system. I think I was wrong.

Right now, my temps seem pretty high, and they are lower than usual.

CPU 30c idle 45c full load
PWMIC 35-38c idle 45c full load
Chipset 47c idle 57c full load

These temps seem pretty high to me. I haven't been able to run my system under a load
with the case closed, or it gets too hot. Even with the 80mm side fan running. This is
also witth a 120mm exhaust pushing about 73 cfm and an 80mm intake on the front
pushing 55 cfm.

My wiring is sleeved, but there is so much of it. This case doesn't really provide a way to
keep it tucked out of the way, though. I have no doubts that it is seriously impeding
airflow. The sleeved cabling from the psu and the dfi uv cables take up a ton of room in
the case and there is like 2 inches of clearance between the hard drives and the
mb/cards.

I am in desparate need of a case I can close up so I don't have to worry about my kids
bumping things and dropping crumbs in the case. I also need one with sufficient airflow
and possibly a way to hide cabling.

I have been looking at sigs here in the forum for case ideas and have been checking out
cases all day. I am not too interested in watercooling right now, unless someone has an
extremely persuasive argument. I am looking for a case that will keep the insides looking
clean and uncluttered, with a lot of airflow. The case can't be more than 22" or so high.
I would prefer something that looks semi-attractive. The more metal the better, as my
kids tend to bump the case when at the desk. A plexi side would be fine. Obviously,
(I think) I would prefer a full tower as my experience with this mid has been horrible. A
silver face would be cool, but not a necessity. It would just mean that I need to buy new
drives to match. I like the idea of a removeable tray for a quick install/slash easy mods.

I have kinda taken a liking to the CM Stacker 830, but I don't want to spend that much if
there is an option that will work as well for less, or at least sufficiently for less. Buying
new drives, fans and so forth adds another $150 to the price. Unfortunately, SVC is out
and they have the lowest price by $30-50. I have seen a lot of Stackers, and Antec 160s
and 180s. Also, Thermaltake has some cool looking cases.

Are there any recommendations out there for a case that might cool my system
sufficiently?

Thanks,
William

You could get the stacker 810 for $40 less than the 830 and it comes in silver. It is also steel so it will take plenty of punishment and there is plenty of room for water cooling in the future.

You should upgrade your hsf to while your at it. Had the same one and my temps went up like 8c going from sc to dc.

I just have to recommend the ThermalTake Armor. Awesome case.

How hot is it in your computer room...summer=hot days, do u have the stock chipset cooler on it, might want to change it with a evercool vc-re. case recommendation...mid-case...get a thermaltake armor jr.http://www.svc.com/vc3000bws.html

I thought about the stacker 810. It have seen it for as little as $110 +s/h. It is significantly cheaper. The cheapest I have found the stacker 830 is $199 +s/h at SVC, but they are out. All of the rest that I have found have been at least $240 (some including s/h and some not).

Something I should have mentioned above is that I am running dual raptors. Whatever case I get needs to take that into account. The raptors heat up pretty good and I don't want to run the three hdd to close together. So, if I go with something from the stacker series or anything else that works on the 4 in 3 concept, I kind of want to run the raptors in one rack alone and place the last hdd in one by itself. That is unlees the 4 in 3s allow enough ariflow to keep all three cool. If I need to run them in two, can I get enough airflow through the rest of the box with the front blocked up?

I just thought about it and either I will have to go with black or deal with a color mismatch as I have the X-Fi Platinum with the front i/o, which is black. So either I need to go black, deal with a mistmatch, or have a door. If it has a dront door, it will need to be able to clear the knobs on the audio i/o.

I am definitely taking care of the hsf when I do this. I was going to do this before, but then I realized that my problem is bigger than just the hsf.

Thanks,
William

P.S. Any more opinions out there?

I just looked at the ThermalTake Armor and the ThermalTake Armor Junior. The stacker 810s and the ThermalTake Armors seems to be rather similar. The ThermalTakes do have a better appearance. The price is approximately the same. (It was the old stackers that I saw for $110) Other than appearance, does one really have an advantage over another? Do the front intake fans have to be added via 4 in 3s on both?

Kandoo - You recommended a mid case. Is there a reason that you recommended a mid case over a full tower? Also, my computer room is a little warm at 80f or so during the day. I know this is contributing to the problem, but I keep my house around that in the winter too. I do have the stock hsf on my chipset, but I will be installing the vc-re when I get the new case. If I put the side of my case back on, my temps are about 5-10c warmer at idle and get about 10-15c hotter at full load, if I allow it to happen. This leads me to believe that it is more than just the hsf that I need change. Am I wrong?

Thanks,
William

You are correct...if your temps are droping that much with the side off then u have a problem with case air flow. I recommended the mid because that is what i thought u wanted. the armor (full) comes with two HDD bays, one mounts in the front that takes up three drive bays (it has a 120mm fan mounted in the front of the bay). and a second drive bay that mounts beside the PSU ( no fan on this bay but u can install a 92mm fan on the exhaust ports located next to the PSU).

Stacker T01... it has the XFlow fan

The TT Armor is a good choice too, but I think all the Stacker cases are better options. If these are too large then the smaller Centurion ones are good choices as well; front of the case are made of this mesh thing to allow ventilation thru the whole front.

Well, I just took the time to put all the stuff I need in a shopping cart to see how much it was going to cost me to go with the Stacker 830. For 7 fans, a dvd rw, floppy/card reader, the case, the vc-rf, a tube of ceramique, and the case, it comes to $457 including shipping. That is from newegg. checked with svc and it was going to cost a lot more due to higher shipping costs.

That gives me a base to work from. Something the compare the costs of the rest of the setups against.

Can anyone familiar with the stacker cases, likely the stacker 810, and the TT Armor series give me an idea of what I would need in the way of fans?

Also, what waterblocks would fit on my chipset if my videocard is in the top slot (if any), in case I should come across a water system for less that will keep it all as cool? (Probably not a likely solution right now)

Thanks,
William

If your case has only one 120 mm fan on the back, replacing it with a Panaflo 120 mm fan would be a good idea. The rest can be the ones provided with the case I guess.

I haven't built my TT Armor rig yet so I cannot commment on that since I'd only be speaking out my arse.

Like Kandoo said, if you are seeing drastic differences with the case door on/off than the case is part to blame. But your high (80F) ambient temp is going to be a big factor, I wouldn't count on a huge decrease in temps. So you're starting out @26.6C, add about ~3-5C and you should get your idle temp. So you're Idle Temp seems fine, but 45C is a bit more of an increase than you should be seeing at full load. Max increase I see @full load is 10C.

re: your sig
I wouldn't worry about Ghosting your old comp, in fact, I wouldn't even do it. Just burn the files you want and move on. Nothing beats a fresh install ...in all situations. Only time ghosting helps is if you are planning, for whatever reason, you will reinstall the software for the exact same computer (same hardware) in the future. And if that is the case, you want to ghost an image of a fresh installed computer ...not an aged one.

If your looking at the Armor & stacker you should see if people have had problems in those cases with your ps. If you put stuff in the bottom bays it can be a far reach to hook it up.

Thats a good suggestion, when I bought my Stacker T01 I was wondering if either one of the two PSU's would come short when connecting devices at either side of the case.

With the T01 this is not a big problem because the motherboard sits in the middle, and perhaps the biggest problem would be to hook a HDD in the lower 5.25" bay (with the 3 to 4 cage) to the power supply on top. My Epsilon has these REALLY long cables and this was not a problem; haha problem is to hide all the long cables

If you aren't 100% set on that case yet, there is a good deal for a black Thermaltake Tsunami Dream in the for sale section.

http://www.dfi-street.com/forum/showthread.php?t=59184

Stacker 830 all the way! Expensive, but effective..

i woudl go for the stacker, just put in a really good exhaust fan 110+cfm and dont worry about the hdd's... it comes with a fan on the cage...i have 4hdd's running in it and a thermaltake silent fan and they never get hot. also u could put in 1 of the 120mm silverstone fans there and have 1 raptor at top and 1 at bottom then you will have a nice intake fan as well as cool hdd's

Thermaltake Armor has a Rear 120mm, Rear 90mm, Front 120mm and a Top 90mm. I got the windowed version and modified it to add a side 90mm fan with a grille cover, so it blows directly on my PWM, RAM and board. Good mod

Don't forget they sell a side panel with a 25cm fan for the armor.

on my stacker i have a 120mm cpu fan (big typhoon), 120mm rear exhaust fan, 120mm blowhole exhaust, 120mm intake (in front of hdd cage), and everything stays pretty cool for me.. i can have four more 120mm (or anything up to 140mm) side fans if i really need, and more front intake fans too, but it doesnt seem necessary at this time

The Armor has the front made of this mesh thing that lets air go thru? If thats the case then the exhaust are more important than the intake and why yours has this incredible ventilation

Are all the fans on the Armor 120mm?? Or did you modded it that way?

The Armor has two 120mm fans. 1 front, 1 rear. Then it also has 2 90 or 92mm fans, one up top blowing to the rear right by the PSU, and one blowhole on the top.

Thanks everyone for the help. I've been reading but haven't written because I was busy researching.

From what I have found so far, It will cost an absolute minimum of $315 if I don't worry about matching and utilize a few of the things I already have, such as a 120 mm fan and the NEC DVD RW. To setup the cases close to the way I want them it would run a minimum of $360. To make them optimal it will run $415-475.

The other night I took some time and rerouted my cables the best this case will allow and switched a fan from exhaust to intake. Since I have done that, I have been able to keep my temps failry steady with the temps I posted above with the side of the case on. While it is still a little too warm, it gives me a little hope.

I think before I spend $400 I am going to try some case mods on the case I have now. I will begin by replacing one of the 80mm intakes with a 120mm high output intake. I might change the 80mm intake on the side of the case to a high output as well. I will exchange the rear 120mm exhaust with a high output (it is 77 cfm now, but I will try to go higher). I think I am going to put a 120mm top blowhole in too. Finally, I think I will move the video card back to the top slot and put in a pci blower card. I am debating on whether or not I want to remove the side window and mod it for a 140mm aerocool. It wouldn't push as much air into the case, but it would move it push it over a larger area with a ton less noise. I am going to do the mods with some parts that I could use in a new case if this mod doesn't cut it. That way, I won't be wasting any money. Well, the 140mm would be if I don't go for the stacker 830, but it is only $20. If I went with the armor without the 25cm fan, I could mod the window for it. Oh. I am also going to put the vc-re hsf on too.

Wish me luck. I will keep following this and report back after the mods are done. Anyone know of a 110cfm or so 120mm fan with blue leds? I can't seem to find any with leds.

Thanks,
William

120mm LED Fans - 8 pages worth so take your pick...

Edit:
Missed your req of 110 CFM. I'm sure there is more but I only know of one 120mm capable of 110 CFM - the Silverstone. I think you could get away with less, especially if you want the nice glowy ambience. I'll see if i can find more elsewhere.

Hmm, I think thats quite impossible... all the 110 cfm fans are plain black, with no leds around to make them pretty... hehe.

Check these out, I don't think anyone comes close to 90 cfm but its worth the try:

http://www.frozencpu.com/scan/se=Fans/se=1...enu_search.html

I would use a Panaflo and forget about looks and focus about performance. These are really good fans:

http://www.sidewindercomputers.com/120mmfans.html

The Smart Blue led fan 120 mm is the one closer to what you are looking for, at just 93.7 cfm at max speed (and max noise 46.5 dB)

Thanks Guys - I should have waited. A little earlier today I placed an order for 3 fans, an evercool hsf, ceramique, and a grill. I ended up buying some that I could use in any case and they would still look cool. They only hit 87-89 cfm, but they have leds. I didn't think about it at the time, but I think these only come with 3 pin connectors, and I think I only have one slot available on my mb for them. I don't have a fan controller either. I might have to try to find one locally that doesn't cost an arm and leg so I can get this done this weekend. If I can't find one, are there any tricks to make them work? Does radio shack or some place sell converters?

The fan I ordered can be seen here.
http://www.frozencpu.com/fan-197.html

Not where I ordered from, but they have the best pics.


I hadn't seen the high speed Panaflos before. Now I know why people talk about them. Those are some incredible cfms. Now if they would only sell some with leds too!

Thanks,
William

I just found some adapters at sidewinder. The adapters look simple enough. I think I'll call the computer shop down the road to see if they'll put a couple of these together for me tomorrow. I would order them from there, but it would cost nearly as much as a fan controller to get them here in time for the weekend I think. If they actually ship from Illinois, I can have them here for a couple bucks, otherwise it would have to be overnight. After I know if this mod will work or not, I'll order a fan controller appropriate for the case I end up using.

A lot of fans come with the adapter.

I called the manufacturer a little bit ago and they said that they include the adapters.

The fans should be in tomorrow, so we'll see soon enough if the mod will work.

Hey all,

The fans and chipset hsf came in yesterday. I replaced the 80mm on the front of the case with a 120mm and replaced the rear 120mm with a new one. I wasn't able to put in the 120mm top blowhole like I wanted because there just isn't room in the case. I will put the hsf on later this week.

I saw a tremendous increase in airflow in the case. Last night my ambient room temps were about 75f or so and I o'ced to 2.1ghz. Even with the o'c, my idle temps stayed at about 32c and went to about 44c during benchmarks. Regardless of the loads, the chipset stayed at about 44c and the pwmic was at 47c or so, both idle and with a load. This is with the side of the case back on.

Unfortunately, my room temps today were a cool 85-90f driving my cpu idle to about 40c with the o'c. The chipset was running about 49c and the pwmic about 45c at idle. With the room temps being so high, a minor load would drive them up really quick, so I refrained from loads today. I took the o'c off and my cpu idle was still between 36-38c and the chipset and pwmic stayed at the temps above.

This morning I bought a slightly used (like new) Tt Armor Al/Steel for $115 including shipping. That's a good $40-60 savings from new.

Although I didn't really want to spend the money, given the temp problems today, I am strongly considering wetting my case. I have seen a lot about water cooling here the last couple of days and it is starting to make me lean towards it. I think I will try the system out on air first though. I have been pricing water cooling systems, and it would run me $470-500 (including the case) the setup water. Perhaps with the extra airflow it won't be necessary? My intitial purchases and setup won't be any different either way. Why not test it without. Hopefully my air conditioner will be fixed next week and the room temp should drop back to 75f.

William