What Is Your Ideal High End Mid Tower?

[Lian Li Tech]

What is your ideal high end mid tower? What are its hardware holding capabilities? Are you looking for a silent or heavy cooling chassis? Style or Functionality? And most importantly for everything you want, what would you pay for it (Other than free )?

[ktosi]

"What are its hardware holding capabilities?"
- motherboard up to e-ATX, 2-3x 5,25" bays, at least 5 HDD bays, 8 expansion slots

"Are you looking for a silent or heavy cooling chassis?"
- balanced, something in between... I have Silverstone Fortress 01; I bought it because of positive pressure cooling. It has sturdy frame and it's also quiet enough.

"Style or Functionality?"
- as for the style, what do you mean by that; simple vs. extravagant? I'm quite conservative about style & design; definitely not something like this terrible thing: Thermaltake - Global - ARMOR REVO GENE Snow Edition - VO800M6W2N

"what would you pay for it (Other than free )"
- not more than 200 €

It's not, that I'm dissatisfied with my FT01, but: If I was to buy new case now, I'd consider these two:
Silverstone Fortress 02
Lian-li PC-90

When I bought my FT01, PC-90 wasn't produced yet. If it was, it's likely, that I would have bought it; I really like the idea of HDDs being installed in such way, that the airflow from front fans is not obstructed (well, FT02 is conceptually similar, bur aslo much more expensive). Something similar is multi heat zone in e.g. x2000fn, but we're discussing mid tower here...

I hope you'll find my view at least a bit useful. :-)

[najiro]

"Are you looking for a silent or heavy cooling chassis?"

I prefer heavy cooling where there's a powerful front fan intake (either 2x120mm fans or 1x140mm or 1x200mm fan). Top mounted fans are also essential wherein I can at least mount a 120x240mm radiator. An optional side panel fan is advantageous. The back side must have a fan slot obviously.

"Style or Functionality?"

A mixture perhaps. I see that most Lian Li case side panel aren't windowed side panels. Based on how me and my friends select a chassis, having a windowed side panel is more preferred where you can view the cool hardware inside specially when you have watercooling. Most of the time I see Lian Li users mod the side panel, cut a hole and install an acrylic sheet. Well that's for pro modders, noobs can just stick to what the case looks like. For function, it would be nice to incorporate better front panel access on fan filters. These are usually done on bottom and top fan mounts wherein the filter can just slide in and out but not on the front panel. Most cases require one to remove the front panel just to access the fans and the filters. Kinda annoying job. Example, the PC-7H. I really like that particular case since it has 2 massive fans for front intake but you need to remove the front panel to access them, clean the filters and so on. I did have a case with a similar disassemble requirement, in the long-run the joints of the front panel was so loose, you can just tap at the front panel a little and the front panel gets loose. I see the PC-7H have a huge wire mesh on the front fans. I'm thinking it would be better to have the wire mesh alone be removed for access and not the entire front panel. It would be less bulky when cleaning and should improve durability of the case.

what would you pay for it (Other than free )
Depends on what the market has to offer, as long as it was prices reasonably and competitive enough compared to other brands, then why not :)
Hope that helps

[jackjack]

What is your ideal high end mid tower?
not to Big and not to small in size, easy to move around, and good looking chassis.

What are its hardware holding capabilities?

motherboard up to e-ATX, 2-3x 5,25" bays, at least 5 HDD bays, 8 expansion slots

Agree plus add's more support install CPU Cooler hybrid corsa*r H100 on top side with push-pull configuration

Are you looking for a silent or heavy cooling chassis?
Silent, heavy cooling chassis is plus functional upgrade.

Style or Functionality?
Style so can draw attention to all family members and friends :p Functionality is a plus.

And most importantly for everything you want, what would you pay for it (Other than free )?
US$200 max

[Gadgety]

Actually the PC-90 is pretty close as it is. What really attracts me is a) small chassis with HPTX format support b) light weight c) very good cooling even on air d) nice solid design. Bring out a revised PC-90 II or similar. I'm about to invest in a 2xXenon 5650 with the SR-2 motherboard HPTX form factor. What makes me hesitate ( = improvement points) is how good will it be for an over clocked dual cpu set up that is likely to require liquid cooling? The PSU space is probably too small (it's going to take 1200-1500 watts) in the up top space, and where can I fit in the LC radiators. In addtion the PC-90 has been criticized for very poor cable management. I find that you could make the chassis slightly wider to enable rerouting of the cabling behind the motherboard (as on the PC-100), make the mobo support cover the whole of the SR-2, and acoustically dampen the chassis. Styling wise you are very close to what I want in the PC-90Silver version. The intake screen could look sleeker. I would pay at least +25% for these features, even up to 50% more.

Finally, I think Lian Li could do better marketing!! Provide more info with performance scenarios. Show numbers with the PC-90 on liquid cooling, and where you put the radiators. It might not need a PC-90 II, but help me remove my doubts!