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[nenjin]

Situation: I haven't built a new, new PC for myself in over 10 years, and I think it's time. So I'm starting with a new case. I <3 my current case something fierce, but I offered to give the whole PC to someone else once mine's built and the company that made this case no longer exists.

So I went to NewEgg....and man, it is hard to find a full-size tower case that doesn't a) have a ton of stupid crap all over it, and b) doesn't have a lot of poor design decisions.

What I need:

-Full-size ATX tower. I'd consider midsize but I really like the additional working room and not having to sweat dimensions.

-Durable. A case that can be moved without breaking shit, and has solid interior support.

-See-through side panel. Locking handle for quick/screwless-access strongly desired but not absolutely required.

-A front panel cover with a hinge. I like my drives and ports and stuff concealed, I think it looks better. I also move my desktop around a bit, so I don't want to be grabbing on to the front of the case. and sticking my fingers through fan meshes and stuff.

-No stupid, frilly, over the top exotic molding. Some examples of what I mean. Simple and elegant looking is what I want.

-The less extraneous junk it has internally, the better. I don't really know what's involved in water-cooling but if a case comes prepped for it, my assumption is it will just get in the way somehow and I don't want it.

-Quick-swap hard drive bays. Seems most cases in the upper range have these.

-No dumb design decisions. These are harder to describe, but for example, if you're going to have multiple fans in the front face of the case, don't then cover them up with a front panel that you either do or don't snap into place. That's just asinine. If you're going to put plexiglass in the side panel so people can see inside, don't then cover half of it up with stupid molding, or only expose half the plexiglass because it "looks edgy and cool." That defeats the point of having a see-through side panel in the first place. Don't put interior enclosures for stuff like the power supply. It just makes that much more of a pain in the ass to handle and connect those parts.

-I'm willing to spend up to $200 if it's a really nice case.

In truth I just want my old case but bigger and newer. I've spent over an hour on NewEgg and didn't really find anything that made me go "YEAH!" I have some alternatives, since I just built a couple PCs with a few months ago, but those cases lack most of the things I know I want, so they're a last resort. If anyone has any suggestions, I'd appreciate it.

Spoiler: My case for reference (click to show/hide)

[Thief^]

It sounds like you want one of the high-end Lian-Li or Antec cases, but several people do imitations. Personally I vouch for coolermaster cases for the fact that they actually put vents in front of the front case fans, but I like having drives accessible, not a door, so they may not be to your taste.
(Although I'm beginning to wonder if my next build will even have an optical drive)

I'd recommend you just sort newegg's cases section(s) by highest price first, and then scan through to find something that fits your fancy.

Alternatively, you could just buy a case for your old pc and keep the one you like

[gimlet]

If the see-through side panel is a must, then I can't help from experience 'cause I hate those.  And I compromise, 'cause I hate to blow $100+ on a case - I could spend that on better performance instead, heh, and unless it's egregiously awful internal clutter doesn't bother me 'cause I don't usually mess around with it much once it's installed.   And if something is really annoying there's always Dremel

You have real specific desires, so you might try asking your question on someplace a bit more case-focused like Hardforum's case/case-modding forum http://hardforum.com/forumdisplay.php?f=13

And yea, I usually end up with Lian-Li, Antec or lately Fractal Design cases when they're on sale. Coolermaster Centurions used to be pretty decent, I haven't bought any of them for a while though.  I have a few of their big HAF cases, the disk caddies were kind of hard to get used to (as in I broke one, and I'm usually pretty good at not permanently breaking stuff) but they're decentish and the price was right.  I think they changed the design of the caddies on the newer models too.

[Thief^]

Heh my last case was a Coolermaster Centurion
(my latest pc is an ex-work-pc, which is a nice perk of working for a game studio, but means I didn't choose the case)

[nenjin]

Man the Lian Li are so expensive though. Shit doesn't start any cheaper than $200.

And yea, I usually end up with Lian-Li, Antec or lately Fractal Design cases when they're on sale.

I just built two PCs using Fractal Design cases, and I really liked them. They just didn't have the side panel, otherwise they were pretty much what I wanted. Sadly, those models are out of stock now on NewEgg, so I'm guessing the line has been discontinued. I've avoided the HAF cases because a) lots of unnecessary vents and fans. I'm building a computer, not a vector thrust jet. And b) I don't really want some proprietary or hard to replace 200mm+ fan gaping the front, sides or rear of the case.

Alternatively, you could just buy a case for your old pc and keep the one you like

I thought about it, but my case lacks a lot of nice features of newer cases.....plus it's fucking filthy and I'd rather not have to rebuild two PCs. I built that back when I didn't know as much, and so I made some poor choices I'd like to right this time.

I'd recommend you just sort newegg's cases section(s) by highest price first, and then scan through to find something that fits your fancy.

Yeah, done that for about 2 hours total now. There's just nothing on the website that doesn't feel like a compromise.

Thanks for the link though, maybe I'll stop by there and see if anyone has any leads.

[Blargityblarg]

This is the window'd, white version of the case I bought a couple months ago. Solid, heavy, not loud at all. Couple issues with the fan controller on the front; you don't want to be switching fan speeds while the PC is running, though it's more a potential issue with the PSU than the fan controller itself. Couple bays for optical drives up top, not that I'm using them, and plenty of cooling. It's in stock here in Oz, though I doubt you're going to want to ship from Australia. Fractal Design's website doesn't seem to imply they're out of production, at least.

[nenjin]

I have one question: Does it come in black?

I'm familiar with the fan speed controller issues from the last builds I did (actually had two different models with two different fan controllers.) Like I said, just built two Fractal R2's.

I'll go tool around Fractal's website. Thanks!

edit

Hrm. Midtower. That's why I never saw it. And they don't make the full tower with a side panel window. Hrmmmmmmmm. Well I'm essentially back to where I was before, I knew the Define XL R2's were good cases because those are what I just built. I'm wondering if there's something out there with its qualities but with a few more options.

Lol. As I type in "ATX full tower see through side panel with handle" into Google, I get this thread as the first result.

edit

I'm going through Google image results for that and....I think my case may have been one of the few to do this. I've found a couple others like it, which totally fit my criteria, and all of them are out of stock/discontinued. Guess it was just a fad everyone moved on from.

[Thief^]

Why do you want a full tower?

They were only ever really useful for having lots of 5¼" bays. If you have lots of internal drives, there are plenty of mid-tower cases with 5+ 3.5" bays.

[nenjin]

Like I said, I like the extra working room. Having built all the way from small towers to mids to full, I prefer full towers.