Big, Quiet But SHALLOW Case Challenge- Help!

Sam Ruby · Post by **Sam Ruby** » Thu Sep 10, 2009 2:54 pm

(First post ever on this site - please be gentle!)

Embarking on a new, hopefully very quiet build. Lots of great information on this site and others, but I'm still having trouble deciding on some components. Today's question: the case.

I am planning to have at least two internally-mounted optical drives plus an internally-mounted media card reader. So the case needs to have at least two 5.25" drive bays and one 3.5" bay. Plus, although I'll start with an SSD drive for OS/apps and just one "spinner" for photo/video storage, I'd like to have room for more hard drives down the road. Plus, I might go with as much as 12GB of RAM (six DIMMS, Corsair or OCZ), and (if I can summon the nerve to try) I might moderately overclock the CPU (likely Intel i7 920), which would then seem to require a potentially large aftermarket CPU cooler (looking at the Noctua NH-U12P SE, which is said to be huge). Not planning on SLI/Crossfire, but you never know...

Here's the problem: I need a SHALLOW case (17" or so in depth). This seems to rule out almost all the quiet ATX cases I've looked at (and I've looked at a lot!). My other requirements seem to rule out a case with a smaller form factor.

So far I've only found two cases that might work for me: the Lian-Li PC-X1000 (tall, but tall is OK) and the PC-X500 (not shallow in normal orientation, but with its side-mounted bays, can be oriented with the narrowest dimension as the depth). Both have lots of space, appear to allow quiet air cooling, and look nice. Both have received some positive reviews. However, both are very expensive. I'll buy one or the other if I have to, but I would appreciate other recommendations. Maybe I missed other ATX options or misjudged the sub-ATX field, but after more than a week of looking, I hereby cry for help. Thanks!

Linnaeus Tripe · Post by **Linnaeus Tripe** » Thu Sep 10, 2009 3:47 pm

You might look at the Antec NSK 4480 - lots of room, depth is <17". Or the Lian Li PC-V351 - its cube-shaped but would meet your specs (only takes a mATX board I think.)

jhhoffma · Post by **jhhoffma** » Sat Sep 12, 2009 12:25 pm

P180 Mini is only 17.2", and would be plenty beefy for a system such as the one you are looking to use.

Sam Ruby · Post by **Sam Ruby** » Sat Sep 12, 2009 2:10 pm

I didn't think a sub-ATX MB would work for me, but it looks like the Asus makes a Rampage micro-ATX for the i7 that takes six DIMMS of RAM and could do 2xSLI. Guess I should look at micro ATX cases.

The Antec Mini 180 is pretty nice (and great price at n**egg). Reviews indicate that with a long video card you lose the lower of the two HDD cages, but maybe I could live with that. On the plus side, would there then be enough airflow to go with a passively cooled card? Especially if a fan could be added in place of the HDD cage?

Sam Ruby · Post by **Sam Ruby** » Sun Sep 13, 2009 7:09 pm

Thanks for the ideas.

The Antec Mini 180 seemed to be the best micro-ATX case. With the ASUS micro-ATX board, you can do an awful lot with it. If I had seen it first and had never seen the Lian Li PC-X1000, I would have gotten the Antec and probably would have been very happy with it (assuming that huge top exhaust fan is silent or near-silent at low speed).

However, I've decided to go with the Lian Li. Main reason is, I'm going to mount my three current HDDs (3.5" IDE) in the lower bay and run with those for a while. Down the road I'll use the upper bay for new drives but keep the IDEs in service. Justifies all the space, easier transition than buying new HDDS now. Also love the look of the Lian Li and the front panel ports, optical drives, and media card reader will be much easier to use than the Antec's (which, being so low, would have been out of reach from my chair). Still insulted by the price, though.