Replace my case! (poll for chasis replacement)

Replace My case!

  • Corsair Carbide Spec-03

    Votes: 1 50.0%
  • Corsair Graphite Series 230T

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Zallman Z3 plus

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • In Win GT1

    Votes: 1 50.0%
  • Enermax Ostrog GT

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Other

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    2

Ralph Bromley

Fantastic Member
Joined
Jun 1, 2012
Location
In the corner of your mind...
Okay so my birthday is coming this September and well after replacing my motherboard and processor i think its time for a new case as my old one is sadly falling apart, my front face plate barely latches on now with pieces snapped off due to long term wear and tear.
My old case is a In Win griffon, its served me well but its time to retire it due to how much I beat it up over its lifetime, I clean my computer a lot and most of the damage was my fault.
So new mothertboard, new processor, might as well do new case so I can have a near fresh build.
But what to choose?
Well in the end its my choice but i do like some feedback, there are at least 6 competitors to choose from and I want to keep this within a 50 to 70 American dollar budget.
If I go a little over $70 its fine such as a $75 as some good cases are in that range however $80 is out, I am not spending over $80 on a case and I dont care how good the stupid fractal design R5 is, its a $100 and I will not spend that much on something that will mainly sit under my desk.
However that also doesnt mean i want a boring old black box, I do want the case to have some personality of its own and stand out against the trend of boring black boxes.
So something with form, features and nice cooling options are at play.
I will not be using water cooling, as its a waste for my non overclocking CPU or motherboard, I have a H97 ATX motherboard so keep that in mind when using the "other" category. But I will be probably be replacing my Intel stock cooler with a cooler master 212 EVO so keep in mind side panel clearance with your suggestions.
So without further adieu here are the forerunners for this poll:
1: The Corsair Carbide Spec-03 "Bane" case:
3a71faf2-8f18-4d60-8f60-ae068b41dc9d.png.w480.png


2: The Corsair Graphite Series 230T Orange:
970d9c89-7254-4571-a8cb-252d653ccb6a.png.w480.png


3: The Zallman Z3 plus
z3plus-blueled.jpg


4: The In Win GT1 (would be a spiritual successor to my current case due to its price point)
http://www.inwin-style.com/en/goods.php?act=view&id=GT1

*note no good direct pics of this one so linked inwins website instead

5 The Enermax Ostrog GT:
pro01.jpg


6: Other

Yes you get to choose one, again please keep to my $50-70 range (though $75 is acceptable so yeah the last generation Fractal design define R4 would fit in, though I dont like its panel only swinging to the left as I keep my PC to my right)
Also USB3 ports are in my sights as my motherboard supports it, so stuff without USB3 would be accepted but I feel I could use USB3 ports on my front
Also please consider my motherboard size, no MATX cases!
 
Last edited:
InWin all the way.
I'm prejudice of course as I'm using practically the same case, only last years model.
I love the top dock and the front USB 3.0 port, as I use them all the time.
And I got an excellent price on it by shopping it around.
 
Good to know, now as for fans I intend to carry over my two 120 mm 1200 rpm Thermaltake fans that are actually quite silent with only a gentile hum, if anything that is noisy is my intel stock fan... it's okay but it sounds like a engine thus part of the reason why I intend on replacing that too
 
Well currently I only have 2 main drives, SSD is not on my list.
But I do want SSD compatbility, while now SSD's are still too much money for so little space they are going down and hopefully within the next few years they will drop to reasonable prices for something like a 500GB SSD
I do have another 1 TB drive but its there as a backup drive due to its age and speed (its a western digital Caviar green HDD with only 8MB of cache and 7200 RPMS, its a slug even in linux)
 
Off topic, ssd drive

I recently removed my back up boot from the home server (different story) and that gives me a Kingston 120g SSD to find a job for?

I’ve started using this as my file transfer drive because its small (the dive itself) and with no moving parts it stands up to being handled… the fact that it doesn’t heat up or vibrate like a standard drive means I often just leave a spare sata cable in the case and just let it sit/ hang there. Anyway, some models now come with an outside dock or just a sata sized slot to run your power/ data and thats something I'd like to add to my system in the next built.

its a western digital Caviar green
Yes it’s old but the green ones are normally nice and quiet?
 
Off topic, ssd drive

I recently removed my back up boot from the home server (different story) and that gives me a Kingston 120g SSD to find a job for?

I’ve started using this as my file transfer drive because its small (the dive itself) and with no moving parts it stands up to being handled… the fact that it doesn’t heat up or vibrate like a standard drive means I often just leave a spare sata cable in the case and just let it sit/ hang there. Anyway, some models now come with an outside dock or just a sata sized slot to run your power/ data and thats something I'd like to add to my system in the next built.


Yes it’s old but the green ones are normally nice and quiet?

To I'm unable to tell how loud the drive is as it's mostly overshadowed by the noise of my fans
 
Okay so birthday is around the corner and I have chosen, and its a surprise entry.

I am now going to be a owner of a Raidmax Viper GXII as it was on sale at the time of purchase.

I dont have any plans to do a unboxing, as i dont have the equipment for it, plus the old case will be trashed once its here because this thing is falling to pieces.
 
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