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I would like to find a new case . something that would house a regular ATX motherboard , and a GTX 970 Vid card . Would prefer a window , Have usb 3.0 support , but be the smalest case that would house all these .
I would apreciate any suggestions thanks

Do you really need a full-size ATX motherboard, or would micro-ATX be sufficient? I researched and calculated a few volumes and footprints for this post.

On the assumption you're keeping your existing full-size motherboard, Lian-Li and Silverstone make a huge range of cases with interesting, alternative layouts that can end up cramming full-ATX boards into small-footprint or short-depth cases.

Otherwise, more conventional options:
Corsair Graphite 230T comes half-windowed and is a reasonably compact full-ATX option that is a pleasure to build into.
NZXT Source 200/300 series cases are a little smaller still but at the cost of losing all your external bays.

There are smaller full-ATX cases on the market, but I think if you go any smaller than those above you will really struggle with build quality, cooling and cable management.

JustAnEngineer wrote:

Do you really need a full-size ATX motherboard, or would micro-ATX be sufficient? I researched and calculated a few volumes and footprints for this post.

this is for a board i alreay own

what do you guys think of this one http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6811139040

brothergc wrote:

what do you guys think of this one http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6811139040

I think it's ugly, but that SPEC03 is just a chubby cousin of the Graphite 230T I mentioned.

Both of them are based on the Carbide 200R chassis, which I'd have mentioned if you didn't want a window.

Chrispy_ wrote:

brothergc wrote:

what do you guys think of this one http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6811139040

I think it's fugly, but it's exactly the same chassis as the 230T I mentioned, just with a bulkier front panel and side panels. This one and the 230T are based off the 200R chassis. The only reason I didn't mention the 200R is that it doesn't have a window option that I know of.

ok
I saw that case you talked about , over 130 clams ( eeek ! ) LOL open for ideas

over 130 clams? Nah! That's just some crummy seller trying to rip people off. it's a budget case and the list price is only only $79.99 even on Corsair's own website!

The 200R that it's based on is only fiddy bucks after MIR, but you give up the side window

I think I nailed it , tell me what you think ..
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6811108465

will fit a foot long vid card and has good looks and cooling

edit just ordered it , I looked at cases till I am blue in the face but this one just jumped out at me . I even went to my local frys looking at cases the corsair cases were kinda Meh , but this one is a looker with the brushed alumium and red and black theme

It is totally up to you, I just do not like side windowed cases that you can not add side panel fans.

If I had to have a side panel window I would get this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6811119263

It has a window and below that window 2 120mm fan mounts:) But I am not crazy about the carrying handle, I wish they made it with no carrying handle.

I just built a computer for a friend using a Fractal Design R5. Noice. I have project coming up that will require a tight space, so I'm thinking of a Phanteks Enthoo Evolv for that one.

Anyway, I think something a little larger and a little quieter will be fine for you. Not to mention that a larger case also means less skinned knuckles.

apreciate all the replys/help
I am sold on the In Win case as I already have some 120 mm case fans I can add . It is not the smalest mid tower but itshould do . I personaly Like window cases , I have a gigabyte windforce 970 GTX with the lited windforce logo , 8 GB of of crucial tracer ddr3 1600 , with the led lights on them ( cool looking ) a red LED light stick , and a real nice red led 120 mm fan so I have a lot to show off here . One of the things that caught my eye on the In Win was the red trim with the alumium black front . So the case matches my theme at a reasonable price .
Again thanks to all here apreciate all of the cool suggestions ! I post back when I get the case , I ordered from new egg with free shipping so I expect it will be awhile as that egg saver is slow .

I did find a review on the case , the guy sems unimpressed with the case but here it is anyway
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqCEfKiAOsM

In Win make great cases. Nothing wrong with that choice and as others have said - as long as it fits your cooling requirements cases are largely about the looks and personal taste.

if anyone is interested here is a real nice review of the In win 703
http://www.eteknix.com/win-703-mid-towe ... is-review/

I see in this review that their is a reset button although very tiny it is their , I like this idea , as their have been times I acedenty hit the reset button by mistake on my curent case .


I am also having another thought , how hard is it to paint a case a black mirror finish ? Like in a car just off the show room finish ?

A little off topic. But this guy built a pretty intriguing silent DIY case - with some very interesting and functional design/cooling features. If you had the time/skill/desire to do it yourself you could probably have a very custom case that suited you perfectly (modify his design to suit your needs/desires). He also has a build log showing how he did things if you search his channel.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZoX7glIAS4

HorseIicious wrote:

A little off topic. But this guy built a pretty intriguing silent DIY case - with some very interesting and functional design/cooling features. If you had the time/skill/desire to do it yourself you could probably have a very custom case that suited you perfectly (modify his design to suit your needs/desires). He also has a build log showing how he did things if you search his channel.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZoX7glIAS4

umm , no . not even close to what I am thinking more like doing something like this
http://case-mods.linear1.org/case-mod-1 ... se-part-1/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjVgfHkWbcE

Does the OP have a budget in mind?

I've personally got nothing bad to say about the Corsair Obsidian 450D I am using to house the AMD beast. It sufficiently houses and keeps cool a trio of R9 290X's + a FX-9590. I like the minimalistic industrial look of all the Obsidian cases personally, and for just £100 it's in that price sweet spot for price Vs. quality.

OP's budget is now zero (he ordered the InWin on Friday)

Chrispy_ wrote:

OP's budget is now zero (he ordered the InWin on Friday)

lol.

I will say, I'm really becoming impressed with Fractal Design's cases, especially micro-ATX. For larger, I think they, and Corsair have nice stuff, though I think the In-Win the OP chose is nice, and I'm also willing to look through Antec, Cooler Master, and a few others.

Brothergc, I hope that In-Win turns out to be a good one for you. It looks nice.

I do not know what you plan on mounting in that case but it looks like the type of case that if you use a powerful open air GPU like a AMD 290x or even a Nvidia GTX 770 along with a hot tower or OEM cooled CPU with just the single 120mm front intake and the single rear 120mm exhaust fan it could get toasty inside that Box.

Whatever you plan on installing inside the case I suggest you put another 120mm intake in the front and even use the 120mm bottom fan mount also and have 3 intake fans to make it a positive pressure case with just the single 120mm exhaust fan to exhaust the heat. Note that the SPU will also vent some heat also.
As for a GPU I would go for the blower design since they exhaust just about all the GPU's heat out the back of the case, also Blower style cooler will work better in a positive pressure system.

BTW I like the look of the case, enjoy it. Also the english chap that did the video review of the case is a boring guy, I have seen him before and he needS to go:)

LoneWolf15 wrote:

Chrispy_ wrote:

OP's budget is now zero (he ordered the InWin on Friday)

lol.

I will say, I'm really becoming impressed with Fractal Design's cases, especially micro-ATX. For larger, I think they, and Corsair have nice stuff, though I think the In-Win the OP chose is nice, and I'm also willing to look through Antec, Cooler Master, and a few others.

Brothergc, I hope that In-Win turns out to be a good one for you. It looks nice.

Thanks ! It should fill the bill . I wasnted just a basic case that had some looks to it , with out a bunch of bells and whistles . I just run 2 HDD drives and one cdrw drive , and I am still on air . I think water cooling has its place but the days of 100 w CPUs is long past for Me, and I do not overclock, so water cooling is useless to Me .
I do plan on painting the case on the outside to a high gloss black using a automotive paint then a clear coat . I should be able to wax this thing just like a car . Ithink that will be cool . Been doing a lot of reasearch on the subject , and it does not look hard , just time consuming with all the sanding , primering ,sanding again , coats of paint , wet sanding , clear coats , wet sanding again , then using a rubbing compound to top that off . I should be able to comb my hair in the thing ! Probally take me a month to get thru .
I should have the case this tuesday night

It'll be fine - 2x120mm intake and 1x120mm exhaust is enough to keep a single 290X happy - that's 290W of heat being dumped into my Silencio550 which is very similar to the InWin 703. In fact, even with two 290X cards in there, it was okay as long as I used Powertune to cap the TDP of each card - at -33% power, two 290X cards would have probably dumped about 375W of heat into the case, and whilst they throttled a tiny bit they both spent the vast majority of their time at almost 1000MHz, occasionally dipping to 920MHz or so for brief moments. I thought it was an acceptable compromise in order to keep them both cool and quiet because I can't stand loud fans. I'm almost looking forward to getting old and going deaf

The point of these cases is not to be an airflow beast, it's to keep the dimensions and noise down to a sensible level.

I'll agree that if the graphics card gets too hot, to either add a third 120mm fan in the bottom as an intake blowing onto the GPU from below, or to just block it off, so that all the fresh air from the intakes has to go past the GPU before it can leave the case.

vargis14 wrote:

I do not know what you plan on mounting in that case but it looks like the type of case that if you use a powerful open air GPU like a AMD 290x or even a Nvidia GTX 770 along with a hot tower or OEM cooled CPU with just the single 120mm front intake and the single rear 120mm exhaust fan it could get toasty inside that Box.

Whatever you plan on installing inside the case I suggest you put another 120mm intake in the front and even use the 120mm bottom fan mount also and have 3 intake fans to make it a positive pressure case with just the single 120mm exhaust fan to exhaust the heat. Note that the SPU will also vent some heat also.
As for a GPU I would go for the blower design since they exhaust just about all the GPU's heat out the back of the case, also Blower style cooler will work better in a positive pressure system.

BTW I like the look of the case, enjoy it. Also the english chap that did the video review of the case is a boring guy, I have seen him before and he needS to go:)

My components I am installing are these ...
Asus sabertooth z77
Intel 3770k cooled with coolermaster 90mm x2 cpu cooler ( forgot the model # name)
Gigabyte G1 Gaming GTX 970
1 DVDRW drive
2 western digital sata 6 , 250 gb raptors ( upgrading these soon to ssd )
2x4gb crucial 1600 mhz tracers red led ram 8-8-8-24
corsair modular 850 w psu

I will most likley rip out the stock fans in favor of some high air flow corsair fans , 3 of them I am thinking the red led ones for the bottom and rear and 2 standard for the front panel.
If it does get too toasty inside I could mod in a side panel window wih out too much trouble , frozen cpu has what I need
Yes I agree that guy on the U-tube vid guy did not realy inpress me with his review , need some better shots of the inside and He missed the fact that it does have a reset button which makes me think if he missed that fact then what else did he miss ? I got the impression He prejudged the case as cheep theirfore just blew it off as such

Looing for case fan suggestions

need a total of 4 fans , 120 mm , high air flow without being a hairdryer( but the don't have to be dead silent ) 2 of them will need red LEDs
what do You guys think of the corsair line ?

I have been unimpressed with my Corsair fans. $15 or $17 will get you a PWM 120x25 mm fan with red LEDs from Newegg. When you run out of PWM controllers, you might look at this one for $17.

JustAnEngineer wrote:

I have been unimpressed with my Corsair fans. $15 or $17 will get you a PWM 120x25 mm fan with red LEDs from Newegg. When you run out of PWM controllers, you might look at this one for $17.

thanks for the reply ! I am looking at the 14.99 fans you suggested and they do look like a good choice
ok I will order a couple and try these out

I think you should get rid of your current CPU cooler and get a Corsair H80i with a 37mm thick radiator for $89 or the Brand new and 12mm thicker radiator at 49mm CORSAIR H80i GT Water Cooler for $99 and set it as a intake since they do not throw any heat off the radiator pretty much. with the intake at the rear of the case set up the bottom 120mm fan as a intake and the 2 front 120mm fans as exhaust. I know it sounds Unorthodox but it will work great since the 3770k is such a hot ruining chip and you will be pulling fresh air into the radiator allowing a decent OC and that air flow blowing towards the front of the case will gather the heat from your gigabyte 980 and push that to the front also mixing with the bottom cool air from that 120mmbottom intake fan then exhausting all heat out the front of the cases 2 120mm fans.

As for 120mm fan choices I highly recommend Black or florescent orange Cougar Vortex fans. their build quality is fantastic I own 4 and they blow tons of air with very minimal noise. Cooler master Silenco fans would work well along with any of the Noctua 120mm fans, the ugly tan and maroon or the industrial light and dark grey ones and i think they make some blackish one now also. I think you would be satisfied with any of them.
COUGAR CF-V12HPB Vortex Hydro-Dynamic-Bearing (Fluid) 300,000 Hours 12CM Silent Cooling Fan with Pulse Width Modulation (Black)
14.99 each

Noctua NF-S12B redux-1200 PWM 120x120x25 mm Case Fan 17.99 each BTW these have light gray frame with darker gray blades

ENERMAX MAGMA UCMAA12A 120mm Case Fan 13.99 each I also had these and they are very quiet also.

Plus Many Many more choices at your disposal more then I can count. Plus I do no know what kind of noise levels you are looking for. If you do not mind a bit of noise and want as much cooling as possible you have a ton more choices of high flow 120mm fans. Noctua now makes 2000 and 3000 100+CFM 120mm fans now.......the choices are endless with the 100s of different fans out nowadays .

vargis14 wrote:

I think you should get rid of your current CPU cooler and get a Corsair H80i .

uhhh no , happy with my curent cooler , does what I need . Using a liquid setup would mean loosing my rear case fan , and why spend money to fix what is not broken ? no, no, no, . no liquid cooler , no way , shape or form , but thanks anyway

edit : my corent cooler under prime 95 full load is only 59 deg C good enough ! I dought spending 100 bucks for a few degrees in cooling is worth it . at least not to me anyway , I am sure some would disagree but just am not interested in spending money on liquid coolers , now is I had a AMD setup with some 140w cpu then yea ! LOL
edit #2
I found the old cooler model it is a coolermaster n520
http://us.coolermaster.com/product/Deta ... -n520.html
yea I know it is OLD ! LOL but it works I upgraded the fans years ago and it still kicks some butt ( ok you can quit laughing now )

well this sucks , got my case in today , came complete with a big fat crack in the side window , bummer we will see what new egg says....

Unlucky.
Hopefully they can just ship you out a replacement panel rather than the whole case so as not to delay your build.