We'd like to remind Forumites to please avoid political debate on the Forum... Read More »
We're aware that some users are experiencing technical issues which the team are working to resolve. See the Community Noticeboard for more info. Thank you for your patience.
📨 Have you signed up to the Forum's new Email Digest yet? Get a selection of trending threads sent straight to your inbox daily, weekly or monthly!
Recommendations for decent cooling PC case?
Options

vyle
Posts: 2,379 Forumite


in Techie Stuff
I have a Dell desktop which I bought reduced and stuck a lovely graphics card into it (ATI 5850) and it's been running well for my gaming, but seemed to underperform for some games, such as Witcher 2 and Skyrim (with the mods ramped up), and skyrim kept crashing.
When I looked at the temperature readings on my card, I realised that it idles at about 50degrees, when others report it idling at 40ish.
Anyway, long story short, it turns out that I completely forgot to consider the airflow in my case, and my graphics card is creating a hot-pocket if you like, at the bottom. Oops.
So I'm going to lift everything out and dump it into a tower that doesn't suck where air-flow is concerned.
I don't really want to go the liquid cooling route, because I have a friend whose cooling tubes leaked and broke everything, and I can't get my head around "liquid" inside computers, however awesome it's reported to be.
I've looked at a number of cases, but it's not a market area I know much about, and would like some pointers if possible.
Criteria:
Front-mounted headphone out.
4 USBs on front if possible (pref USB3)
SD card reader
Plenty of ventilation
1x optical drive slot.
Possibly sound muffling but not too fussed.
My budget isn't set in stone (within reason...probably £200 max but might be able to go further), because I just want something that will keep my computer ice-cool, and with any luck this case will stay with me as I upgrade in the future.
Thanks
When I looked at the temperature readings on my card, I realised that it idles at about 50degrees, when others report it idling at 40ish.
Anyway, long story short, it turns out that I completely forgot to consider the airflow in my case, and my graphics card is creating a hot-pocket if you like, at the bottom. Oops.
So I'm going to lift everything out and dump it into a tower that doesn't suck where air-flow is concerned.
I don't really want to go the liquid cooling route, because I have a friend whose cooling tubes leaked and broke everything, and I can't get my head around "liquid" inside computers, however awesome it's reported to be.
I've looked at a number of cases, but it's not a market area I know much about, and would like some pointers if possible.
Criteria:
Front-mounted headphone out.
4 USBs on front if possible (pref USB3)
SD card reader
Plenty of ventilation
1x optical drive slot.
Possibly sound muffling but not too fussed.
My budget isn't set in stone (within reason...probably £200 max but might be able to go further), because I just want something that will keep my computer ice-cool, and with any luck this case will stay with me as I upgrade in the future.
Thanks

0
Comments
-
Ooh that looks tempting and at that price I may be able to get a nice powerful power supply.... In fact I think this is the winner as far as cases are concerned. I was considering this chap:
http://www.ebuyer.com/222943-coolermaster-haf-x-case-rc-942-kkn1
or
http://www.ebuyer.com/291428-coolermaster-cm690-ii-white-with-600w-silent-pro-gold-psu-eb-692a-wwg600
But no.1 seems a bit....gimmicky in some ways? While I'm concerned about the size of the second, but like that it comes with a psu.0 -
I've decided to go with the antec and a 500w psu off ebay. Total came to £126. Hopefully this will get my pc running to its full potential. Thanks for the advice.0
-
Good luck with that. Don't Dell (and other PC makers) use non standard motherboards and header connections, meaning you can't simply move them into other cases (or other mobos into their cases)?0
-
Good luck with that. Don't Dell (and other PC makers) use non standard motherboards and header connections, meaning you can't simply move them into other cases (or other mobos into their cases)?
Umm.... didn't think of that. My flatmate just moved an acer into another case..... if not, I guess I'll be sending the stuff back under DRSs...
The Mobo doesn't look unusual to me... how would I be able to tell?0 -
The Mobo doesn't look unusual to me... how would I be able to tell?
This link shows the standard mounting holes spacing for an ATX motherboard and case:
http://img816.imageshack.us/img816/513/mobotray.jpg604!0 -
It's quite fiddly to get in and measure, but I think the holes are in the right place. I guess time will tell.0
-
I guess the holes will be in the right place, I was more worried about the pins that you connect wires to for the power switch, light, reset switch, HDD light etc. These are pretty standard on mobos and cases that you buy, but I've definitely seen an HP that has a completely non standard single connector for all these things, meaning that the mobo is stuck with that case, and that case is also stuck with that mobo. You'll have to watch out for the power supply too, even if complies with standards, a few extra connectors have crept in over the last few years with extra connections for motherboard, CPU or graphics card. Depending on how powerful your PSU is you might have been looking at changing it anyway...0
-
SilverStone Raven RV03 ?0
-
This discussion has been closed.
Confirm your email address to Create Threads and Reply

Categories
- All Categories
- 350.9K Banking & Borrowing
- 253.1K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
- 453.5K Spending & Discounts
- 243.9K Work, Benefits & Business
- 598.8K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
- 176.9K Life & Family
- 257.2K Travel & Transport
- 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
- 16.1K Discuss & Feedback
- 37.6K Read-Only Boards