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Need help picking a case
Hey guys i need some help picking a case from this website as they are custom building my computer
http://www.ple.com.au/ViewCategory.aspx?CategoryId=227
i am trying to pick between a HAF X -http://www.ple.com.au/ViewItem.aspx?InventoryItemID=601778&CategoryID=227
Phantom 820 -http://www.ple.com.au/ViewItem.aspx?InventoryItemID=611238&CategoryID=227
switch 810-http://www.ple.com.au/ViewItem.aspx?InventoryItemID=610161&CategoryID=227
CM Storm Stryker-http://www.ple.com.au/ViewItem.aspx?InventoryItemID=610108&CategoryID=227
i am looking for a Full-Tower so i have space for a Maximus V formular , and a 7970 matrix platinum and future upgrades
i am looking to air cool not water cool so high airflow is nice
please feel free to include personal experiences with the cases ion the website
Comments
With the kind of money you putting into that beast you might as well go full board on the case too. In which I'd say just skip the rest and pick the baddest boy on the block from the cases available on that site, the Coolermaster Cosmos II. Stupid expensive but as you can see from the below link it does outperform all other tested cases (even if just slightly) in pretty much EVERY category that matters. It's also not to hard on the eyes. I used to own the Coolermaster Cosmos 1000 and while it was a BEAST of a case it was a shear thing of beauty and despite to stupid high price tag I felt it was worth every penny.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/5451/cooler-master-cosmos-ii-large-and-in-charge/7
Now with that said as an owner of the Silverstone FT-02 if the hardware you looking at will indeed fit in the Silverstone RV-03 offered on that site I have only great things to say about that particular setup. And it's actually a bit cheaper than the cases you were looking at. Again you will need to double check the specs but if you parts fit it's a GREAT case in terms of thermals temps and general silence.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/4501/silverstone-raven-rv03-streamlined-bird-of-prey
Large case check out the CM - Stacker you want good air flow to disapate heat and room to install items.
Stay with Coolmaster
MAGA
Nearly every review both personal and professional I was able to find regarding the comparison of the HAF X vs the Storm Stryker or Trooper (one is black and the other is white, there are a few other very minor difference but really it just boils down to that) gives the edge to Coolermasters "Storm" lineup over their High Air Flow models. The largest complaint I saw regarding the HAF X specifically is the fact it appears to be a "dust magnet" vs the trooper/stryker without really offering any real advantages.
i have reworked my build now incorperating the storm stryker over the HAF X and the build now costs 2381 AUD, which is great but there isnt anything that costs 19$ on the website haha
ive got all the stuff i have wanted (and more) in this build which is great 
CPU: i7 3770k
GPU: Asus Rog matrix platinum 7970
Motherboard: Asus Maximus V formula ( im gonna OC and love the features of this board)
Cooler: Hyper 212 Evo
RAM: GeIL 16gb 2x8gb evo veloce c9 @ 1600Mhz (not sure if i can OC ramas this will be my first time overclocking)
Keyboard: Razer Deathstalker or steelseries 6gv2 mechanical i dont know which one is better
OS drve: 120GB SSD silicon power velox v30
HDD: 2tb toshiba @ 7200 RPM 64mb cache
Monitor: asus 21.5" 1080p LED or 23" Acer 1080p LED ( i dont know which one is better)
OS: Windows 8 OEM
Wireless networking: TPLINK-951N PCI adapter
Case: storm stryker as above ^^^
i dont know whether to chuck in a blue or green LED strip or 2 to go with the white LEDs on the fan
If you are going the mechanical keyboard route I would HIGHLY recommend you skip the "big name" gaming brands and go for professionals who specialize is just that, mechanical keyboards and nothing else (given the money you would be spending anyway). I'm a huge fan of both Ducky (current keyboard is a Ducky Shine II), Das and Deck. Also the Vor Tex brand offer some SERIOUS space saver keyboard with literally no extra space wasted.
http://www.duckychannel.com.tw/en/keybroad.html (The site you are ordering from offers these)
http://www.daskeyboard.com/
http://www.deckkeyboards.com/
http://mechanicalkeyboards.com/ (Good site to check out all the popular brands)
Also if you have never used a Cherry MX based keyboard before I'd personally suggest you start out with Cherry MX Browns as they tend to be the perfect medium between typing/gaming keyboard. The most popular gaming ones however are the Cherry MX Blues but be warned they are also the noisiest.
Yeah, I actually swapped out my Razer Blackwidow Ultimate for this Ducky Shine II and while it meant I gave up the built-in macro capability of the Razer there is really no comparison in overall feel/build quality, Ducky wins hands down! The lack of macro's for me was not an issue as I use a Logitech 13 gamepad and a Logitech G600 mouse.
And for those who might say the Ducky is more expensive so it should be aware I purchased the Razer when it first released which was at the $129 price tag so a different of roughly $15 at that price point isn't really much a difference at all.
Antec Three hundred V2.
What's wrong with the Build I made from PCcasegear.com?
Oh well, when your quad core bogs down in a couple years you'll wish you had a socket 2011 system.
For teh monitor im going for the ASUS 21.5" monitor but theres a 23" 1080p one for 6$ extra
Really...
In a couple of years, when that quad core bogs down, he'll be wishing he had a Broadwell on whatever socket/motherboard (if they really do kill the socket), having paid $350ish for a CPU/motherboard combo now, and then again in "a couple years down the road" - not some 3+ year old Sandy Bridge antique (even if it does have 6 cores) that cost $1200+ up front, or even $500 up front if you want to get the "cheap" CPU that gets outperformed by current CPU's.
WoW
I just had to LOL at this post. Another round of bad advice avoided by the OP sounds like.
Im really thinking hard about that Noctua so many reviews say how great it is the big question is, should i ( in your opinions ) downgrade my keyboard from a razer deathstalker to a Arctosa? i should be able to grab the Noctua then
and i am looking for some substantial Overclocks on both the Cpu and the GPU.
Ive already spent more than 150 hours looking at reviews for parts that i want to use to make sure i have the best quality components but with every forum post or review i always find myself asking more questions haha
I didnt want the X79 Board because i wanted to OC i made a system on that website for 2400 including a 4gb 680, a 3930k and all of that but the shipping costs would have been substantial, whereas my z77 build that this thread and my other thread is about is going to be built by a company 20 mins from my house and deosnt have shipping fees because i can pick it up
Just calculated it the best i can get is the Noctua NH up 12
Really? the SB-E quad core hits 4.75-5 ghz reliably and is on par and ahead of the 2600k in benchmarks.
http://www.overclockersclub.com/reviews/intel_corei7_3820/3.htm
A couple years down the road who's to say a 6 core IB dosen't pop up on ebay for a few hundred.
Having quad channel also insulates him from the need to upgrade to DDR4 since he has 2x the bandwidth of 1155.
It feels like a waste to me to get all those top of the line performing parts, but skimp on the only parts you will ever notice; your output devices.
In your budget, I would definetly go for a 24"-27" monitor. The premium you are paying for a GTX680 and Core i7 can be used to pay for a better monitor.
As far as input devices, I would probably look at mechanical keyboards and a SteelSeries mouse. Durability and tactile feel to me are a bit nicer than LED lights and a bunch of tiny buttons.
As far as cases, unfortunetly that site does not have the Big Bad Brutes. Most of them are mid-towers. In those I would definetly consider the CoolerMaster's first.
http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_SPM6448695807P?sid=IDx20110310x00001i&srccode=cii_184425893&cpncode=35-26547051-2
Level 10 GT Tower. Best thing ever. I own 3 of them.
Hero Evermore
Guild Master of Dragonspine since 1982.
Playing Path of Exile and deeply in love with it.
Unless you are a "must have the best possible equipment" type person a quality keyboard/mouse will last you many builds. Which is the reason I don't hold back my pocket book on those. Even if I am able to load a program faster or perhaps it even looks better the fact still remains the number one issue is user interface (U/I) for which the keyboard and mouse play number one.
Much like a SSD, once you go mechanical you will NEVER go back to standard dome factor keyboards, PERIOD. And that statement can be confirmed over several levels of multitudes vs cost. It's just THAT much better!
I bought one of those Ducky mechanical keyboards and im loving it
my mouse is a razer Naga and i just love the mouse i have had it for a year now and have no regrets.
In terms of Monitors i am looking at the option of a bigger screen later on in the year as i am studying a certificate 4 in interactive entertainment and will be able to get a qualified job this year or next.
I am begginning to wonder if the 7970 matrix Platinum is cost effective as it costs 599$
but i can get 2 http://www.ple.com.au/ViewItem.aspx?InventoryItemID=611431&CategoryID=259 with my 750W PSU and have 87$ spare for a bigger monitor ( Dell s2340L 23" IPS monitor )
What should i do guys? as i am not 100% sure
If you can afford the top of the line single GPU card for a given generation you are most likely better off going that route than spending more on a dual/multi GPU setup.
The reason being is that the performance you will experience will vary greatly based upon the technology each type of card can/will present. Typically SLI and/of Xfire will in fact the lowest cost vs performance benefit because the market that spends that kind of money is the lowest.
Could you see better frames should you choose to the SLI route vs the AMD card, perhaps but that will be totally dependant on if the software actually cares you are using SLI versus a single GTX 660.
EDITED: for retarded spelling errors due to a LOT of beer!
it looks like the 7970 is alot better after reading this http://www.behardware.com/articles/876-19/review-nvidia-geforce-gtx-660-asus-directcu-ii-top-and-sli.html
because A) its the 660 ti TOP and not the regular which i can afford
and
there may be 2 cards but you can see the 660 sli craps out in way because it might be the Vram thats pushing the 7970 to within range of the 660 of just a few frames
And thats the stock 7970 GHz edition and not the matrix platinum
I Wouldn't of had to ask that extra question if i could have bought it today but i have to wait until the 31st for my moolah
in order for me to order the Whole desktop and monitor.
Thanks for that clarification
Yea the ROG platinum is definately a nice card but I am not sure it is worth 100$ more than the MSI 7970 Lightning.
The ROG may OC a bit more but I'm not sure I would want to run a 7970 much past 1200 core for extended periods of time on an air cooling solution.
I think a better idea rather than going for broke on the ROG card would be to get the a stock 7970 and a full coverage EK waterblock. You can OC to your hearts content and incorporate it into a full water cooling system.
Something like the HIS IceQ2 with a full nickel waterblock from EK would cost the same as the ROG and clock higher and stay cooler.
The other option would be to get a standard 7970 and an aftermarket air cooler like the Accelero hybrid but that would cost as much as a watercooling system after you factor in the CPU waterblock and such.
Water cooling a stock 7970 would net you just as much OC room as the Asus ROG. And if you go that route you can water cool the cpu as well and OC even more.
I'd give up on some of the more exotic $$$ components and concentrate on Performance only to fit in a custom Water cooling solution for the budget.
I have been looking at watercooling but i know next to nothing about water cooling
I am also trying to decide between a storm stryker and a switch 810
i did originally decide on the stryker but then nice reviews are also for the switch 810
For teh motherboard i dont really know a good board other than the maximus V formula and the z77 asrock OC formula cause i want the extra features and built in audio.
The MSI 7970 isnt included on this website and i want to stick with them as they are 20 minuites down the road but i will be taking all of your ( and other peoples ) advice and mixing and matching Parts for a z77 system worth 2400$
If i had to choose between the two i'd probably go with the NZXT Switch as the Storm Stryker doesn't have removable cages, they are both decent cases though. Although i'm not a fan of NZXT using the same style on the outside of most of their cases the Switch doesnt look too bad. You might also want to take a look at Corsair's cases if you're looking for quality.
If your choice is between those two boards and you want good built in audio then i'd stay away from the maximus as it has the supremeFX audio which is really poor. The ALC 898 on the other is pretty good, you'd be hard pressed to notice the difference between it and one of the lower end separate sound cards like the Xonar DG.
I took a closer look at the ASRock Z77 Extreme4 144$ and it looks to be an incredible board for the value matching anything the top boards can offer at a fraction of the price. Also has the high end ALC 898 sound, And dual VRM heatsinks.
Review here
Take a look at the SilverStone Raven RV03 150$ Very good cooling performance and a 90 degree rotated layout.
Review here
of the 2 7970's on that website the ROG is overpriced for the performance and the XFX is functionally a piece of garbage. It might be worth it to have it built in Melbourne at Pc Case Gear and have it shipped to you from there. The price difference will pay for the shipping, And you would have a much better part selection.
I built the same system on both websites and the Melbourne one was 200$ less. And with a better part selection that could drop even further. You could end up spending less money on a better set up that has water cooling.
I'd call and see if they will ship within Aus. The other company overall has higher prices and seems to charge like 300$ to build it.
just sayin^^