In-depth case reviews are nice, but not really necessary IMO. Fortunately for us, most pc enthusiasts these days do their shopping at newegg, and newegg has a great review system with hundreds, sometimes even thousands of reviews on popular items and multiple pics of every case from every angle. For me, that was plenty of info to base my decision on (CM690).
Sure if you live in center of World called USA. But outside. Well, we don't have newegg .. in fact we don't have anything like that. So I think that Europeans are happy if they can read some case review. Yea I can jump to Newegg, read reviews/customer responses, but cause I can't shop there, why should I?
Btw. about searching for perfect case.. I suggest visiting Lian-Li webpage or Silverstones.. both create perfect cases, tough little bit expensive. I found my near perfect CM Storm Scout .. only problem it has is very stupid mounting system for anything in 5,25" bay (except CD/DVD burners, they are fine with that). Otherwise it is very good case with PSU at bottom (which I like) and mobo tray has hole for changing CPU cooler without need of removing mobo. Plus it has carrying handle at top and quite nice design. And.. its all-black case. Even window has black tint.
I had to take the two bottom fans off the side door in order to fit my Scythe Nugen 2 HS/F, but my CM Stacker 832 has such great airflow; my Sys is 40C and CPU is 29C, running my I7 920 @ 3ghz. Ambient is ~26C.
Again, the problem with user reviews, including the ones in this thread, is that they give no basis for comparison. RandyB says the CM Stacker 832 has great cooling (and actually includes figures), bp9801 says the HAF 932 has great cooling (and also includes some figures), but those figures are not easily comparable, leaving us with the question of which one has the better cooling. For people saying it doesn't matter... I don't get it. If you overclock, and you have an expensive heatsink (ala TRUE)... you should care! The TRUE is only a few degrees cooler than much cheaper solutions. Yet a well designed case can make a much bigger difference! I guess this is where my confusion comes in... people will debate the merits of which CPU HSF is better, arguing over 1 or 2 degrees. Yet people do not pay the same attention to the case. Lastly, while modding a bad case can improve airflow and cooling, fluid dynamics is complex, and getting the best design for your case is not necessarily intuitive. Or to put it another way, its not easy to tell which design is going to provide better cooling by looking.
Well, for comparison, I went from a Chieftec Dragon full tower to the CM HAF 932. Doing just that lowered my cpu temps from 55c at idle to 45c at idle with the stock cooling. When I installed the Sunbeamtech Core Contact Freezer, it lowered my idle temps another 10 degrees and that is with a higher overclock. To me, I look for a case with a lot of room (thats why I buy full towers) and that has good airflow.. both from the front and side. I have two intake fans on here and two exhaust fans. A front and side intake and then a rear and top exhaust. Personally, I won't consider a case that lacks top exhaust because heat rises. That was the problem of my old case, it lacked airflow and could not exhaust the heat fast enough. Now that I have a case that actually has good dynamics and proper ventilation, I won't look for a case for any new builds that lack it. I'm probably going to consider the HAF 932 in all my future builds because of my experience with it.
I wish I had read a few reviews on my Antec P180. The reviews on Newegg claimed it was "silent"...which it's far from. It cools wonderfully considering all the heat generated by my video card.....but that's mostly because there's an intake fan blowing directly onto the GPU cooler. I'm not new to this. I don't spend a lot of time reading case reviews. I don't pick cases based on "maximum airflow". I've never found a case that I couldn't keep components cool in. I generally go down to the local pc shop and look through their inventory and choose a case I'm comfortable with. I don't spend a lot of time organizing cables either. I've managed to get every Athlon processor I've owned to idle at or below 42C with little to no effort at all, regardless of the case chosen. I ordered my Antec P180 purely because it was supposedly "silent"...airflow wasn't even a consideration. If you've built enough computers, you should be able to judge the effectiveness and efficiency based on the layout of the case...without the need for a review. The few case reviews I've read that Hilbert has put together, without spending anymore time than he does, I manage to get every bit of information I need to decide if I want to spend the time and money putting parts into the case. Hilbert's excellent pictures give me just as much information about the cases he reviews, as his words do. BTW, keep up the excellent pictures Hilbert....they're the best part of your case reviews.
In my opinion I think it would be a bit better if the people that were reviewing cases would atleast do a mock-up verson on the case, to show what it might look like on the inside, once everything was setup.
If you need that...you probably shouldn't be building a computer... if you've ever built a computer, you know what it's going to look like with all the parts installed.
True, but if your trying to decied on which case you should chose, it is better to see a mock up of what your likely to get. You wouldnt start moding a car with out mock ups of how things are going to fit and look. Why start building a comp without them either? Atlest if you see a mock up of the case it gives you a general idea of what parts you should decied on if you havent chosen them yet, and how each is likely to sit in the case, no matter how comps you have or haven't built you not going to be able to tell how well somehting is going to fit if, you dont see actually in the case, you might go out and buy an expensive case and learn that your parts wont fit and then be up **** creek with out a paddle.
I am going to look over the 902 again before I buy anything,there are a few CM cases I want to check on as well. But I can not see buying the same case I have for the addition of cable routing holes,black interior and a blue L.E.D. top fan (i think the fan is lit up) The 1200 I know I can use for a long time as it has alot more room,and come to think of it I really could use more room. Decisions...meh
Again, if you've ever built a computer....you should know how things are going to look. If you can't tell whether or not your parts are going to fit, there's no reason you should be within 10ft of a computer. Nobody with any experience building computers buys an mATX case, for an ATX motherboard. That is the only case in which I can see parts not fitting, aside from some of nVidia's oversized graphics cards. But, if you're buying a high-end case....clearance won't be an issue.
There have been lots of people that have bought Cooler Master V10 and not have it fit in the case. There are a lot of parts that may or may not fit. With a mock-up you would how they would and not have to buy the parts to find out later that they wont.
Don't know about you....but I actually take 5sec to read the product specs. Tape measure also saves a lot of time. I know before I ever order a CPU cooler whether or not my case is wide enough. I know before I ever order a video card if my case is long enough. You seem to miss the fact that the manufacturers give you the dimensions for their products so that you can ensure that they will fit into your case. I can't help the fact that some people simply can't read product specs/dimensions or don't have the common sense to do so.
Even if you were to read the specs, and i do everytime, you can't use a tape measure like you suggest if you dont already have the case handy. If your trying to find a case, you cant very well measure it before hand, if you are 1. trying to buy one online, and 2. if you dont have some sort of access to it. The mock-up i was talking doesn't have to be anything speical, just a basic layout of what the parts might look like if you were to choose those parts or similar ones in size and dimensions.
Thats when you read the specs of the case online and just assume take off an inch or two from the width for how much actual clearance there will be with the motherboard and motherboard plate installed. If the case is 9 inches wide, figure you have about 7 inches to play with. Its always best to figure that you have to take 2 inches off from the width of the case to determine how much room on the interior you will have.
I read the first line of this thread. You say you have been READING reviews for cases? Try VIEWING a review. YouTube has heaps of reviews on the cases, you get to see them, hear them, and watch the guy fiddle around with the bits. I would say this guy > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvsG7AH-9c0 < has some of the best reviews in English for cases.
