I need a nice mid to full atx case, minimum 7 expansion slots, minimum 2x80mm front, 2x80mm back, preferably no fans on the side panel, don't care if it has a window, don't care about looks that much but I don't want something flashy and terrible (like macs or the Neo Classic, which I detest. I don't care what kind of grills it has because I will be removing them regardless, noise isn't as serious a consideration as usual because the components will for the most part be sufficiently quiet. I will be adding coasters (wheels) to the base of the case, so it can't have anything that will prevent the drilling of a few holes in the base. (That doesn't come up as an issue often, anyway.)

Any suggestions?

Nobody?

Hello Andrew:

I bet there are several cases -- Antec, Chieftec, & Chenming leap to mind, that meet these specs. And their grills are pretty decent and might not need to be removed.

But you should consider cases with one 120mm front and one in back as well: you get 10%+ bigger openings and a 120mm fan can move more air with less noise than two 80mm fans, as well.

Any particular model numbers? Most of the antecs and chieftecs at which I have looked have crappy plastic fan holding things that rattle on the Antec which I own now, and removing them introduces complications.

I will be removing grills because I don't need grills, and they are a noise generator and airflow impeder, however slight.

I bought six 80mm panaflos recently, so I would prefer to use those, as opposed to having to go buy a pair of 120mm panaflos and having these six lying around.

If only 120mm cases come to mind, suggest those too, and if nothing in the 8mm category appears, I will buy one of the suggested 120mm and a pair of large panaflos.

I will go look at chenming cases now to see if any match my spec.

thanks

What complications? That you have to drill mounting holes for the fans? Big deal. If you're going to cut out the grills any way just drill new holes at the same time. It's a great idea to get rid of those plastic fan holders anyway, they're noisy. Drill a new set of mounting holes and use those elastomer fan mounts and you'll have a much quieter setup.

The reason I didn't reply to this post yesterday was that you specced it out to include "a minimum of 7 expansion slots" which I took to mean 7 PCI slots. I don't know of a motherboard or case that has over 6 slots so I didn't comment. Do you really need 7 PCI slots or did you mean something else?

7 expansion slots means seven slots on the back of the case into which cards can be inserted. This includes AGP and typically one ISA.

Drilling holes isn't the main concern: the main concern is that there is no spot to drill them unless I offset the fan a few centimeters to the right (I already did this with my current antec) and then the fan blowing on the hard drive has to be on the exterior of the case, or has to be in a rattly little plastic fan holding piece of crap.

A neat tip: A 92mm fan fits real nicely into the HDD cage on these cases once you've ditched the plastic holder. Hold it in place with a little GE Silicone and you're good to go. Run a 5 or 7-volted L1A Panaflo for your drive cooling.

On the Antec 3700 and I image on any clones (D8000), there are actually some space to drill the holes. Right next the plastic fan holder screws used to be. No need to rotate or move the fan sideways.