K, Im sure there is a wealth of knowlege out there on this, anyone want to discuss what would be "THE MOST VERSITILE CASE EVER!!!"
like, most ports, most space, (like i found one with 6 3x5 ports, you know, the ones dvd players go in?)
if i were shopping for the case to end all cases, what would it be? amd or pen.

Look at some of the lanboy series, or you could always go with some sort of server tower. Lilian cases are pretty good as well.

The Coolermaster Stacker seems pretty versatile.

ahhh i gotta say the Lian Li PC-75 for full tower, the PC-65 for mid tower

Well my antec server case is built extremely solid. Its heavy and doesnt have any flex in it at all. I've heard though that Lian Li cases are very sturdy, however they can be mighty expensive.

I'm with r_target here. Nothing beats the CM Stacker. Dual Power Supplies, ATX/EATX/BTX, more drive bays than you can shake a stick at, slap in some hard drives in whatever bay you want, and mega cooling.

I second that

WOW!! yea, i may go with the coolmaster stacker!!

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

I'll chime in here and agree about the CM Stacker. Got one sitting right here that I'm in the middle of building right now. In addition to what's already been said, the cooling options on this case are really amazing. You can add up to 3 120mm fans in front and one on the side. It also comes with an 80mm blowhole fan as well as the ability to add a crossflow fan that blows across the motherboard. Oh yeah- all fan intakes come with filters. Plus you can mount the PSU at the top or bottom or use both. If you don't need both PSU slots you can moubt two 80mm exhaust fans in that spot.

Pretty versatile if you ask me.

I fail to see where the air can come in through the front of the CM stacker case, wouldnt you have to sacrifice some 5.25" drive bays and remove the front cover or something??

I am guessing sacrificing some 5.25 bays, but how needs that many anyways. No loss.

Nope- there's an accessory that incorporates a 120mm fan and a 4-drive bay that slips in the front. The whole front of the case is mesh to allow air to enter. The 120mm fans sit behind the mesh.

see, what i like is the versatility, AND the minimal design....very handsome!!

I've been really pleased with my V1000, but a stacker is probably the next on my list of cases to play around with.

Also, the V2000 has room for more HDDs than the stacker, although it has fewer 5.25 bays. (You don't really need 10, do you?)

When you add one of the cooling options to the Stacker, it coverts 3 of the 5.25 bays to 4 hard drive bays. The base price is about 50% less than the V2000 as well, but it's not all aluminum like the Lian-Li.

Stacker definately. except a custom case, of course

Yeah, I know, but you can still only fit 12 HDDs with those, and that leaves you with two free 5.25 bays. The V2000 gets 12 HDDs with seven free 5.25 bays (both lose one if you want a floppy, of course). I'm assuming that you can put a 5.25 drive in the external 3.5 bay on the stacker, although maybe I'm wrong there.

I'm not saying that the V2000 is a better case, and yeah, it's definitely more expensive. Still, one of the OP's questions had to do with number of bays; I think that for most purposes, the V2000 has more. Also, I'm pretty certain that you can fit the 4-in-3 thing in other cases, although it won't look as nice, so that would be another option if you wanted still more 3.5 bays in the V2000.

lol - I'm hoping I won't need more than that!

Haha, yeah, well, that's why I got my V1000, and not a V2000. I already have way more bays than I know what to do with.

Another point in the stacker's favor is that it's a little easier to get three 120mm fans in the front with it, even using the 4-in-3 things in the V2000.

if I had the cash I'd get the new V2100, sure it doesn't have dual power supply or btx support, but btx is vapourware, only 1 board at CES, and if you have a nice psu, think new PCP&C or Beastly Zippy Dual PSes are useless, and you can't argue with the V series layout, makes things really organized. just thought I'd try to break this thread from a CM stacker thread