POLL: How often do you buy a new case ?

Ginja_Ninja · Post by **Ginja_Ninja** » Fri Aug 05, 2005 4:18 am

Maybe the question should have been, how many case have you been through to find your ideal quiet one?

Take Care

G_N

StarfishChris · Post by **StarfishChris** » Fri Aug 05, 2005 6:28 am

I get a new one every time the form factor changes! I just bought the Sonata and modded it rather than get a new / better / more expensive(:() case.

mathias · Post by **mathias** » Fri Aug 05, 2005 8:02 am

Ginja_Ninja wrote:Maybe the question should have been, how many case have you been through to find your ideal quiet one?

Just one.

For most people, whether they buy a case for queieting more than once probably depends on if there's something they can do with an extra case.

AntecRep · Post by **AntecRep** » Fri Aug 05, 2005 9:52 am

Every couple of years. Just depends on what I'm looking for at the time. Last change was to the SLK3700BQE because I was tired of the 80mm fans in my Plus660B.

Tom Brown · Post by **Tom Brown** » Fri Aug 05, 2005 10:16 am

Once you have an extremely quiet system that you are happy with, there's not a lot of reason to change it. I don't even like experimenting with the guts of the thing anymore. My Sonatas do a job, they do it extremely well, and I'll probably run them for a few more years.

I like everything about the Sonata including the hard drive orientation. The only two faults I would give the original Sonata is the PSU fan and restrictive bezel.

I've heard people talk of cases that are 'way better' than the Sonata but how can that be? I can't hear my PC most of the time. The only time I can hear it is when I'm up at 3~4 am when there's no traffic on the street, the furnace is off, and my fridge isn't running. Then, I can hear the odd tick from the hard disk as I do a compile.

I'm sure it would be possible for me to best what I've done in a Sonata. Perhaps it would be relatively easy with a P180. The thing is, there are several very, very good cases that are well made, nice to use, and can be made beautifully quiet. There's no longer a lot of room for improvement.

Following this site has really made my computing experience more enjoyable. My office is no longer a data center with two screaming systems. I go back there and sit down to my PCs like the appliances they are and do whatever in blissful quiet.

It's neat to see new people come on this forum and talk about getting a fabulous case, a bunch of ultra hi-po parts, several fans, a sleight over clock, some extra voltage... etc., and then ask if anyone has any ideas for improvement.

The first idea ought to be reading the site and learning how to make a PC quiet. It's been done and some very generous people here have shared the knowledge.

I really can't see any revolutions in quietness on the horizon. Even solid state systems with no fans at all wouldn't be that much quieter. There's always room for incremental improvements, though.

Have a great weekend, everyone.

teknerd · Post by **teknerd** » Fri Aug 05, 2005 10:35 am

Whenever new good ones come out.
Over the last 2 years i think ive gone through 4. Shitty one my computer was in orginally, then i got a sonata, then an slk-300b, and now a P180.

Jordan · Post by **Jordan** » Mon Aug 08, 2005 2:32 am

Yip whenever something better comes out. I just went from the Sonata to the P180 and I won't change again until something better than the P180 comes out. I have 3 systems though (a SFF, a desktop P180 and an mATX).

Freelancer77 · Post by **Freelancer77** » Mon Aug 08, 2005 6:54 am

In the past 9 years I've had 7 systems in 4 cases for my own use. Farther back than 5 years ago the case I kept reusing was a horizontal Sysex brand under-monitor type.

That one initially housed a DX4-150, and got as stout as a K6II-350. When it became time to move up to a Duron 800 and 32MB AIW video card, I got an Enlight 7237, because it was the cheapest case I could find with an included 300W PSU.

Since then, until two months ago, the only other case I bought for myself was a Meridian M2105. All aluminum, removable MOBO tray, five fan mounts, it kept an XP2600 and 9700PRO running cool for less than half the price of the comparable Lian-Li of the time.

Unless BTX turns out to offer insane performance gains along with the form factor shift, I can't see changing from the P180 anytime soon.

Ginja_Ninja · Post by **Ginja_Ninja** » Mon Aug 08, 2005 8:04 am

Freelancer77 wrote: Unless BTX turns out to offer insane performance gains along with the form factor shift, I can't see changing from the P180 anytime soon.

Seems logical

Ill admit before i say the following, i have not read up on BTX as yet, but i thought (assumed) it was mearly a layout change on the motherboard. Can't imagine any performance gains. Any body know any different ?

Take Care

G_N

Jordan · Post by **Jordan** » Mon Aug 08, 2005 10:42 am

I think Freelancer may have meant cooling performance.

Qwertyiopisme · Post by **Qwertyiopisme** » Mon Aug 08, 2005 10:47 am

The only cooling performance increase one will see is that intels prescott will get nice col air, and then pipe that hot nasty air after its cooled the prescott to well, everything else. *Really* smart form factor intel. Really...

mathias · Post by **mathias** » Mon Aug 08, 2005 11:02 am

Sonata to P180 is close to what I consider the amount of improvement that it would take to get me to consider getting a new case. Let's say that a 3700 is a step ahead of a sonata,a Silverstone Temjin TJ06 is a step ahead of a 3700, and a P180 is a step ahead of a Temjin. Since I have a 3700, I guess I won't upgrade until there's something a step ahead of a P180.

IsaacKuo · Post by **IsaacKuo** » Mon Aug 08, 2005 11:09 am

I don't have anything enlightening to say here. I was the first guy to vote "Never". I've had enough cases which I acquired through various means, and I've recently taken to scratchbuilding them.

I just can't get that worked up about a computer case. Invariably, the money that I could spend on a quality case is money I'd rather put to computer components which actually DO something.

Shadowknight · Post by **Shadowknight** » Mon Aug 08, 2005 12:48 pm

mathias: there's a big ass difference between the P180 and the 3700AMB, acoustics wise. I have both stuffed with Acoustipack, there is a very very noticable difference when rapping on top of the case and side panels.

mathias · Post by **mathias** » Mon Aug 08, 2005 1:13 pm

Shadowknight wrote:mathias: there's a big ass difference between the P180 and the 3700AMB, acoustics wise. I have both stuffed with Acoustipack, there is a very very noticable difference when rapping on top of the case and side panels.

Did I say there wasn't? But to me there isn't really because my ambient volumne isn't the best. But I wouldn't mind having a P180, if only for the hassle free decoupling of up to 6 hard drives.

And there is at least one difference in the 3700AMB's favour: because the case is cheap and the stock rear fan grill is mediocre, there's not so much worry about regreting cutting out that grill.

Freelancer77 · Post by **Freelancer77** » Mon Aug 08, 2005 5:02 pm

Ginja_Ninja wrote:
Freelancer77 wrote: Unless BTX turns out to offer insane performance gains along with the form factor shift, I can't see changing from the P180 anytime soon.
Seems logical

Ill admit before i say the following, i have not read up on BTX as yet, but i thought (assumed) it was mearly a layout change on the motherboard. Can't imagine any performance gains. Any body know any different ?

Take Care

G_N

Yep, it's a form factor change, won't influence system performance directly, only airflow/cooling, and as was said, aimed mostly at separating the Prescott's from the PSU to eliminate the temperature positive-feedback loop between the two.

Basically what I was saying was the next case I buy will have to be something pretty nifty to kick the P180 to the curb.

I just can't get that worked up about a computer case. Invariably, the money that I could spend on a quality case is money I'd rather put to computer components which actually DO something.

Absolutely, the case is meaningless.

Gorsnak · Post by **Gorsnak** » Mon Aug 08, 2005 6:36 pm

I've had four cases in my life. Most recently the one I built. Prior to that, the case I got with my current system, in spring '03. Prior to that, one in '98, and one in '93. The systems in each case were upgraded to varying degrees along the way, of course. I can't see myself replacing the current case for a very long time, though it may well get modified to some extent. I'm pretty sure I could make it fit a BTX system without much difficulty.

quizzicus · Post by **quizzicus** » Mon Aug 08, 2005 7:37 pm

I'm on the second case I've ever had in my life. Back in 1990, my parents got their first PC, a 286. 2 or 3 years later, my dad had a 486 put in it and gave it to me (I was 10/11). I took the case through a few upgrades from there, first with a Cyrix 6x86 166 (performance rated at 200, but didn't perform as well as a Pentium 166... good ol'Cyrix), and late in high school I upgraded it again to a K6-2 500MHz system. In late 2002, I couldn't find any more AT motherboards on the market, so I broke down and bought myself a cheap ATX case for my Athlon 2100+. I may buy a p180 soon (my third case) if I can scrape together enough money.

BadAim · Post by **BadAim** » Mon Aug 08, 2005 7:52 pm

I have all my cases except the very first one. It was long before I ever imagined building my own. It was a Midwest Micro 486DX-66. Man, it was a performance machine back in the day.

That was back in 1991-2 (somewhere in there, I think). Since then, my main rig has stayed in a Supermicro SC750A that I bought years back. I bought an Evercase E4252 for my wife's first pc that is now housing my Smoothwall firewall system. My wife's rig moved into an Antec SLK3700AMB (which it is still in). The only other case I bought was a Cheming to put my nephew's PC (He was 9 and he liked the blue case - what can I say). So, what is that - 5 cases in give or take 14 years.

swiftynz · Post by **swiftynz** » Tue Aug 09, 2005 2:54 am

In the past 4 years I've had 6 different cases and my last motherboard went through 4 of them! My first few were just bad decisions. They were researched well enough, I just didn't know any better.

First one was one of those hydraulic cases with the sliding front. I ran out of drive mounts, and the rear fan mount was 60mm(!!).
Second was a 3r Neonlight (ugh). At least it had a 120mm fan mount in the front.
Third was the biggest waste of money, a Chieftec full tower. I was watercooling at the time with a rather large radiator and was planning to integrate it into the case. It never happened, sold it after 4 months.
Fourth was an Aopen H600B, one of my better moves. Great case, cheap, good PSU, and good airflow once the highly restrictive grills were cut out. But the fans mounts were 80mm.
Fifth was one of those Chieftec towers with a window. Only bought it because someone it was going cheap, and the servers case was crap (moved it into the H600). It's been my longest standing case so far, and my brother has it now.

The last case change I did (about a month ago), was the first to be for accoustic reasons. The Chieftec tower I had was a nice case, and I'd had it for over a year, but the 80mm fan mounts were far from ideal, and slowing them down put too much thermal stress on the PSU. So I've gone to a smaller Antec SLK3000B, with 120mm fan mounts.

I plan on keeping this case for a long time, but then I said that about the last one too. I suppose a year wasn't too bad though.

POLL: How often do you buy a new case ?

How often do you buy a new case ?

POLL: How often do you buy a new case ?

Re: POLL: How often do you buy a new case ?