Anyone have a hands on of the CM Storm Trooper? I don't like that the disk fans are attached the the drive cage, but I understand why they did it that way. It looks like just as good of a case as the HAF X, isn't quite as ugly, and seems modular enough for whatever I feel like tinkering with for future upgrades.

I went with a Lancool by Lian Li midtower for my current build. The case itself weighs 20 pounds. Add all of the parts and the weight comes up to nearly 40 pounds. In my weakened condition, I could barely lift the completed system. Fortunately I have a computer cart with casters on it, and I got it from the table where I built it, to where it is now that way.

WOW!!!!  Like is it made of gold or something?  Can't tell now cos it's full of parts, but my Thermaltake [all steel] case weighed nowhere near that when empty... like I could pick it up on my little finger. 

Even now it wouldn't quite weigh 40lbs with everything in it, I wouldn't think.

A LianLi case won't be 20lbs....they don't even come with a PSU...and they're all-aluminIum .....;)

I still have the box somewhere....it'll have the content weight listed...including packaging....;)

Doesn't have the weight of mine on their site...A6010 ... but a PC60 is about the same size mid tower and weighs 5.56kg.

http://www.lian-li.com/v2/en/product/product06.php?pr_index=222&cl_index=1&sc_index=25&ss_index=62&g=q 

My case...;)

My CoolerMaster Centurion 5 specs:

Dimensions(L x W x H)18.90" x 7.95" x 17.13"

Weight 21.4 lbs.

Steel, aluminum and very little plastic.

I am assuming they mean empty and without the box, but it didn't feel that heavy to me. 

Mine... 6.29kg before I put anything in it.

Now... well I'm not carting upstairs to the bathroom scales to weigh it.

In the future... I'm considering this as my next case...

Another Thermaltake but flat instead of a tower... reason being, I have a pigeonhole on my desk it would fit perfectly in.  Yes, it is a bit pricey, compared to regular cases, but it is designed as a media centre, with several additional functions [including remote] and I feel it would be perfect for our multi-media needs downstairs, where we have the projector and big screen, etc.

Next year sometime.... probably later in the year, but it's near the top of my get list... along with a Mac Mini. I tentatively priced the latest model with my fave PC store and can get it for $499 as of now... $200 down on what I can get it from the Apple store itself.  Pretty amazing, really, considering the price when I first looked into a Mac Mini a year or so ago.  Back then they started at $999.00 to $13,000, so they've never been more affordable here in Oz than now.

As I said, mine is a Lancool by Lian LI, not a Lian Li case. This one is steel. My fulltower is a Lian Li and is Aluminum, and weighs less than my Lancool.

I have a Fractal Design R3 Black Pearl sitting waiting for me to build my next rig in it. I'll be modding it on the side panels, and I'll possibly be cutting a hole in the side of the hard drive cage directly behind one of the front fans, so I can put a vent in there for better airflow. I've already bought the USB3 upgrade kit for the top. Not sure if I'm going to keep the hard drive sleds in there or if it will be possible to suspend a 3.5" drive with bungee cord. I'll also be braiding all the cables and spray painting the fans to work with my colour scheme (black and purple). If all goes as planned and I don't slip with the dremel/jigsaw while modding, she'll be nice and unique and practically silent to boot.

Hello 1. should the case be silent...
2. whats your budget
3. Aircooled or watercooled ?
4. Aluminium Steel or Plastic ?
5. What size do you prefer...

Im building my own rigs for years and i have tried many cases personaly what i recommend is -Lian Li -as first choice case bc of quality quaity quality.
2. silverstone very good airflow cases no cheap stuff ( ugly plastic parts )
3. is shared beetween cubitek and coolermaster ( since they both have plastic normally )
4. corsair
5. Antec series

Personal tastes also matter. Do you like a case that is lit up like a christmas tree inside and outside, or do you like something less fancy?

1. Quiet is better, but as long as it's reasonable then I don't mind.

2. No limit. I'm not going to spend $600 on a case that is only slightly better than a $200 case though.

3. Primarily aircooled. I don't overclock to insane levels and can't see myself using more than 2 GPU's before just buying a better card, so efficient air cooling has always been preferable to liquid. The option to do it is a plus, but not necessary.

4. The less cheap plastic the better. Plastic doesn't inherently bother me unless it's the "bendy" type, but super cool and hipster case designs are a big turn off as well. I don't care about Steel or Aluminum. I do not need it to be light, easily movable, or survive a roundhouse kick from Chuck Norris.

5. Full size. It would be a hard sell for me to buy a mid or otherwise small case.

 I've looked at some Lian Li cases are they appear to be made much better than many run of the mill cases available, but don't seem to offer anything anything of great importance for the added price that I care about when compared to the "flagship" cases of other major brands. The cases that I've looked at are smaller by an inch or two in depth and width as well.

 I haven't looked into detail at the Silverstone cases though, so I'll have to add that to my list.

 Less fancy. I don't care about LED's or windows. I'm not in a dorm anymore and have outgrown the need to show off the expensive things I own. Except my cars. 8)

I sure wouldn't Recommend Suspending your Hard Drive with bungee cord, that would be asking for your HDD to fail

I'm intrigued. Why do you think that suspending my HDD with bungee cord would be asking for it to fail. Especially considering that I have two HDD's suspended by bungee cord in my present case, and I've never had a problem with them, despite the fact they run practically 24/7.

I would venture a guess that it has a bit to do with the physical stability of the drive. Movement and jostling is bad for the mechanical disk drives; not being securely held in place does not mean they will fail, but it is definitely a concern.

It's more a case of over-kill with regards to vibration/noise reduction....particularly when fans and their airflow are the real culprits anyway....;)

My drives are perfectly stable, and stability is only going to be an issue if you're frequently moving the case with the drives in it, which I don't. I'm a member of SPCR, a site devoted to quiet computing, and they've been advocating for years that one of the simplest and best ways to help quieten a hard drive is suspending it. To my knowledge they have had no complaints that employing this method has shortened the life of a drive. In fact, I think suspending the drives was started by Antec when they released the Solo case, which had suspension for hard drives built in.

That depends on the fans your using. I have three Nexus Real Silent 120mm fans (1000rpm max + or - 10%). One for intake, one for exhaust and one on the cpu. They're all controlled by a fan controller and have been running at about 7volts for the last few months. The noisiest component in my rig is the Asus 6850 DirectCU graphics card. I have no issues with heat, and airflow is great because I cut out the fan grills, which can also help to reduce noise caused by air being pulled in/pushed out. I sleep with my head about 1.5 metres away from the computer.

I also keep things dust free by cleaning my rig every month or two. I find a large blusher brush is great for cleaning out fans, heatsinks and even giving the motherboard a quick going over. I advise you don't steal the wife/girlfriends blusher brush though. Just ask them nicely to get you one.

Now I'm going to go and deal with a couple of small flies that are annoying me. I have a can of deodorant I don't like and a lighter, so I'm going to get all James Bond on their asses.

Answered it good.

@ Starcandy, Do you have the bungee cord(s) pulled really tight ? as so they don't move 

I just pictured in my mind the drive(s) jolting about and thinking it can't be good for them 

Love my Lillys.

Lot of room, superb build quality and excellent air flow. Of course it dont come cheap.

CM's line up is pretty solid, like the cosmos II.

@DisturbedComputer

You don't want to have it pulled too tight because the vibrations will pass through it, which defeats the purpose of suspending it in the first place. It should have a bit of flex in it, but not too much.

Here's a couple of pictures of one of my drives suspended. It's kept stable by using washers and thumbscrews, top and bottom, to lock it into place on the cord.  

oh ok I see now. I had it picture wrong.

cool

Thanks for the help folks! Was wondering on a new case and I have chosen one. Cooler Master Centurion 5.

Link

Now for a sound card... HECK YES AMAZON! link usually 200$ but got it for 120$ NICE! PCI Express Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium Fatality Champion Series!

Great choice. I'm very happy with mine, sturdy, clean and lots of room to "grow"