Recommend Full Tower Cases?

Thunder9 · Post by **Thunder9** » Tue Sep 16, 2003 7:58 pm

Thanks I just read ALL the posts for this case forum.

This site is superb, as is the people who contribute.

Looking for some advice on this type of system case:

Preference is black.
6 exposed 5.25" bays.
Cool and quiet features.
A front door to close to silence the DVD/CD.
User friendly features is a plus.
Front mount USB, audio, firewire is a plus.
No PSU is a plus.

Intended to be used mostly for multimedia with P4 2.6+ GHz. I might underclock.

A primary feature of this system will be its ability to swap out the hard drives quickly and efficiently so I can essentially have more than one computer by changing one or more hard drives, totally isolating one system from the other. This might be through the use of a bunch of removable trays from the front, or maybe just via easy access and rails / cages.

Funky cube style systems can be suggested, though I'm thinking of a more traditional tower design.

Regards,
Thunder9

Thunder9 · Post by **Thunder9** » Wed Sep 17, 2003 4:30 pm

Ok to make this a better thread with interest for everone... let's just say we focus on any tower with 6 5.25" bays, ok?

The only two cases that I found, that seem to be in the "approved" list of manufacturers, (these pretty much meet all my prior requirements) is

Directron/Chieftec Matrix MA-01BD
http://www.directron.com/ma01bd.html
This is the same as the "Black Dragon" but it has holes in the door to promote air flow. Click on the inside views in the link above to check it out.

The other one is the Aopen 700 Series
http://www.aopen.com/products/housing/h700-series.htm

Anyone have any experience or opinions with either one of these? Can these be made into the gentle giant that I so desire? I'm really leaning towards the Chieftec.

Am I right in assuming that doors will help with buffering the sound of the optical media drives?

Regards,
Thunder9