New case, £60 budget!

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Eltocliousus

New Member
Hi, I'm about to purchase a new case in a day or two but I'm having trouble making my final decision. I have a budget of upto £60 (so that means anything from £0 to £60, no more!) but even in that price limit their are a lot of options.

This is what I want from my case;

Great cooling (I'm using fans for cooling).
Great cable management.
Full or mid is fine, although full towers tend to be more expensive but if it's around £60 I won't disregard it!
A side panel would be nice, but not a priority.
Black interior! Needs to look sexy.
Good quality lights aren't a must, but only if they're classy!
Able to fit my 6870 (10.5")
Able to fit my huge CPU cooler, some Antec blue very big square cooler.
Bottom mounted power supply would also be nice, not a priority

So far I've wittled out a few cases which are;

Coolermaster CM 690 II Lite
http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/prods/components/cases/cases/Coolermaster/RC-692-KKN3.html

HAF 912 Plus
http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/prods/components/cases/cases/RC-912P-KKN1.html

Although I haven't made my decision and if there's a better case I'll definitely go for it! Any suggestions or thoughts would be greatly appreciate, thankyou.
 
Aastii said:
690 II is your best bet, even if your budget went up a bit higher, it would still be your best choice.

I would, however go to scan for it, to save a few £ on P&P and on the product itself. You also get better support and faster shipping (always got stuff faster from Scan than Novatech)

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/coolermaster-cm-690-ii-lite-black-mid-tower-case-w-o-psu
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The 690 looks like a great case although I was worried that without stocking it full of fans (which I will do given a couple of weeks once I collect some more money) I'd be stuck with sub-par cooling. Although if noone suggests anything else I'll go for it, I just wanted to cover my bases before I lay down my money and made sure I made the right decision rather than regretting it later down the road.

Although I did check the prices and scan is £65 inc. shipping where as novatech have £2 shipping (3-4 days) or free shipping (5-6 days) and I'm willing to wait an extra 2 days to get this thing for £60! If I go with the free shipping I can also pick-up a 140mm fan so I can have two at the top (only come with one) which would be a nice bonus for the same price, although I'd have to wait an extra day or two though.
 
Both are good cases. The HAF has a bit better airflow and more room, but the 690 II has some cool features as well. If you don't want to add fans, keep in mind that the 690 II lite comes with a front 140mm and a rear 120mm, while the HAF 912 comes with a front 200mm, top 200mm, and rear 120mm.

Honestly, I'd just pick the one that looks better to you aesthetically.
 
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Drenlin said:
Both are good cases. The HAF has a bit better airflow and more room, but the 690 II has some cool features as well. If you don't want to add fans, keep in mind that the 690 II lite comes with a front 140mm and a rear 120mm, while the HAF 912 comes with a front 200mm, top 200mm, and rear 120mm.

Honestly, I'd just pick the one that looks better to you aesthetically.
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I honestly think the HAF looks better, it's got a few annoying parts to it but, I like the logo a bit more. Current case;

stock.jpg

(I'm aware that it's horrible, when you're 15 those lights really appeal to you)

I had a quick look inside and it has a few fans I might be able to take out and use, it has a front 120mm, a rear 120mm and a side 120mm, although they're white, plastic, tacky and have horrible red LED's I can hopefully disable the LED's (have a little look at them once I pull them out) and use them in my CM 690 until I have a little more cash to put out for some good looking 140mm's.
With that said, I think I'll go with the 690, atleast I have breathing room to upgrade it if I want to get a bit beefier with my setup. Thanks again.
 
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Can anyone recommend or can mention something about the NZXT Hades?

NZXT-Hades.jpg


Something about it being named after a Greek god makes me want it, badly. I'm resorting to my 15 year old self again hehe.
 
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It's a pretty good case. Plenty of airflow, good cable management.

It's very similar to the Beta EVO, but has a 200mm fan on the front and side, a different drive cage, a fan controller, rubber grommets in the cable holes, and (obviously) a very different front and side panel.
 
Eltocliousus said:
The 690 looks like a great case although I was worried that without stocking it full of fans (which I will do given a couple of weeks once I collect some more money) I'd be stuck with sub-par cooling. Although if noone suggests anything else I'll go for it, I just wanted to cover my bases before I lay down my money and made sure I made the right decision rather than regretting it later down the road.
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The cooling in it is excellent to say the very least, cable management is to the same standard, as are features.

Between the 690 and the Hades, I know which I would take, and it wouldn't be the Hades. Both are decent cases, but the 690 looks better (imo), has better features and has a more "professional" feel to it, it is a serious case, rather than focusing on aestheticsto please young boys
 
jamesd1981 said:
how about this case on sale at mo ?

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/150295
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deffinately not, it is extremely overpriced. It isn't all that big, has poor cable management, top mounted PSU (so bar accross the top that makes cable management even worse), not a lot of room for long video cards, especially with the hard drive cage as it is, not side facing in a small case, thin, cheap aluminium, you can get a hell of a lot more case for your money
 
Aastii said:
deffinately not, it is extremely overpriced. It isn't all that big, has poor cable management, top mounted PSU (so bar accross the top that makes cable management even worse), not a lot of room for long video cards, especially with the hard drive cage as it is, not side facing in a small case, thin, cheap aluminium, you can get a hell of a lot more case for your money
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Eltocliousus said:
Can anyone comment on this? It looks a bit.. cheap to be honest. Seems like a good deal price wise but, just looks poorly made and silly.
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You are absolutely correct ;)
 
Ahh well, there you go.
So far I'm down to the NZXT Hades, CM 690 II Lite, HAF 912+ and the Antec DF-10.

I'm leaning towards the Antec DF-10 (I think it just looks great, I love the harddrive bays aswell, looks clean) and the NZXT Hades (It's called Hades!). Hopefully all four are great choices and I won't regret my final choice!

DF10_o.jpg

That's the Antec DF-10, I just look how roomy it looks inside! Although it comes with a poor amount of fans which is off-putting.
I can't seem to find any reviews on it though, just one user review on newegg and that's about it.
 
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Eltocliousus said:
Ahh well, there you go.
So far I'm down to the NZXT Hades, CM 690 II Lite, HAF 912+ and the Antec DF-10.

I'm leaning towards the Antec DF-10 (I think it just looks great, I love the harddrive bays aswell, looks clean) and the NZXT Hades (It's called Hades!). Hopefully all four are great choices and I won't regret my final choice!

DF10_o.jpg

That's the Antec DF-10, I just look how roomy it looks inside! Although it comes with a poor amount of fans which is off-putting.
I can't seem to find any reviews on it though, just one user review on newegg and that's about it.
Click to expand...

Cable management isn't all that great, unless you mod it, because you can't slip wires behind and pass them through the holes that would be on the backplate/motherboard tray on a better case (see the inside of the Hades and 690 II to see what I mean).

Of the 4 listed, I would go for 1 of the CoolerMaster cases. The other 2 have downsides, where as the CM don't, their downsides are just that they aren't the biggest, they don't have the most features etc, they don't lack vitals or have flaws like the other 2 do, they just aren't the best. For the price though, they are absolutely the best
 
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