What sort of a case?

I'm thinking about getting a new case as a present for doing well in my A-level mocks (which will happen, I hope! If not, oh well, I'll just wait till I do well in the real thing ).

What I'm looking for is: nothing too bulky. I need to be able to move it around fairly easily for my "mobile" recording rig. And its good to be cooled well, yet quiet (again, stability and quiet for recording). I'm not looking to spend more than £70 overall ($135).

What have I got to fit in there? 3 DVD drives, a floppy, and a hard drive or two. motherboard is a Abit AN7, which has 5 slots (1 AGP 4 PCI). I've got an Aero 7+ cooler, which is quite tall so I've got to fit that in.

Also, it needs to look cool, or at least have the potential to look cool. Would be nice if you can buy factory made window panels, but if not I can make it myself, not an issue.

And let me get this straight: I don't like pre-mods! I don't mind a case which has an optional factory made window, maybe even some LEDs in it already, but I don't like gordish fan intakes and big logos on the side or the front. I don't like "themed" cases either. Might be unique, but its not me. I want the ability to mod it myself.

Think I should go with a midi case? Maybe a half-tower? A full tower?!

A cube would be great, its a bit of a shame that my mobo is too tall to allow for that, though. Also, cubes arn't great for cooling, or at least thats what I've heard. And chances are I'm going to upgrade to a beefy graphics card fairly soon, which wouldn't fit in a cube I don't think.

It is possible that I might get watercooling in the future, too. Maybe even phase, vapour, peltier ... depends how much I get for my jobs in the future! But gotta think ahead. For that reason I'm swaying towards the half to full towers.

Anyways, what do you guys think?

 

Antec cases are still one of the best for the money you buy them.

they are easy to mod, cost you around 60 pounds, have a quality psu in it and good overall quality.

I have a case a slk 3700bqe .... case temps full load stays 30-35C with a prescott 3.4.

side windows are optional in stores, or you can easy make it yourself.

very pleased with it

 

Mmm, I was looking at the Antec cases... they seem pretty good. My friend recently got a cheiftec dragon case, legendry case that it is... I could see lots of potential in it, its just a shame its so tall! And they're pretty heavy too!

Do Antec do their own window panels?

 

chieftecs are infamous...

I had one but it was heavy and no alu so everything get a bit hotter then what I have now.

they provide sidepanels of their own at 25$ or you can make it yourself.

antecs are very lite, they weigh nothing except when you want a quiet one like me...then you need to have a side window and some special anti noice reduction placks.

and what is the best with Antec: tell me...

the very best thing is you can clip ALL YOUR CABLES AWAY, so noone can see them, cooling is optimal.

and another great thing is the harddrives are special placed so cooling your case with the front fan will immediately cool your hdd too.

I love it.

 

Thermaltake is something i usually go for