Looking for a nice "cube" case

[reactorman]

Hey all,


Just joined this site. Looks like there's a lot of great information here! Anyway, I wanted to start planning my 1st build for my step-daughter. She's mainly a gamer and not a huge fan of PCs, but starting to turn around after seeing that PC games are just as good; if not better; than game system games. I want to try to build a semi-powerful computer with a small footprint. I already know she's not a fan of large computers. I really like the look of the "cube" computer cases, but wanted some advice from those who may have built using a "cube" and how it came out. My budget is pretty tight; I can probably max out at $600 - $650 tops. I know that I can't get top of the line components for that amount, but I'd like to get the best that I can for what I can afford.

Any suggestions as to what brand "cube" case I should go with and maybe a good list of components to get?

Any and all suggestions, advice, help, etc. is greatly appreciated!


Jim - reactorman

[reactorman]

Just looking around online and found what I think is a nice looking case; Aerocool QX-2000. I like the look of it, but I'd really like to hear from anyone who used this case for a build. Anyone?

If anyone has any other suggestions for a case, please respond. I'm looking for a case around the size of the above mentioned. Thanks!

[OvRiDe]

Welcome to TBCS! That looks like a case that will fit right in with your plans. Some other good options, in my opinion, would be to go with a MiniITX motherboard as opposed to a MicroATX. There are some really nice MiniITX cubes and cases out there, such as...

Cooler Master Elite 130 - Mini-ITX

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/91SkH%2Br8jPL._SL1500_.jpg

drag.n.drop did a sweet mod with the Cooler master Elite 120 in this thread..

http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/forum/showthread.php?34911-Project-Moab

http://i1030.photobucket.com/albums/y363/pscherer88/Mobile%20Uploads/IMG_20140611_131445.jpg

Cooler Master Elite 110 - Cube Style Mini-ITX

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/91kMXra54tL._SL1500_.jpg

Rosewill Legacy V3 Plus-B Black Aluminum Alloy Mini-ITX

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/711jJNDbjQL._SL1500_.jpg

There are lots to choose from out there. Do you have any preferences on case size? If you are not looking for something on the smallish side there is always the Cooler Master Half XB ...

With some slight modification.. I managed to fit a Gigabyte G1-Assassin EATX motherboard in there along with a 1200W PSU, Nvidia GTX 670, and a Corsair H-100 in there for cooling.

http://i.imgur.com/aQJ8lsk.jpg

There are several other examples of HAF-XB mods in the Works in Progress section...

TGS's Miracleman mod -- http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/forum/showthread.php?31477-Project-Miracleman-XB-completed

SXRGuyinMA's Circuit Box -- http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/forum/showthread.php?30499-Circuit-Box-HAF-XB-Mod

Lots of options out there in all sizes, keep us posted, would love to see what you end up with.

[reactorman]

Hi OvRiDe and thanks for the warm welcome! I might consider going with a m-ITX format, but I'm not sure if that would be "powerful" enough for decent gaming. I think that's why I was leaning towards an m-ATX build. I guess that would be another good question. Are there any m-ITX boards capable of decent gaming?

As always, I greatly appreciate any suggestions, advice, help, etc.!


Jim - reactorman

P.s. By the way, I do like that HAF-XB case. Are they really that large?

[OvRiDe]

mITX isn't really less powerful than an ATX or mATX. They still use the same chipsets, processors, and RAM as the others. The big difference is size, but to get that size they usually have less stuff, for the lack of a better word. For instance.. instead of having 4 RAM slots, they might only have 2, instead of having 4 PCIe slots they have just the one, instead of having 6-8 SATA ports, they may only have 2 or 4, it just depends on the model and manufacturer. At CES many of the "SteamBox" preview machines were mITX, and they were plenty powerful enough for gaming. So, say you're just going to use 1 full size graphics card and no other add-on cards, you really don't need a big board with extra PCIe slots. With 2 RAM slots you can still affordably put 4-8 GB's in there, even 16GB's isn't outrageous. 2-4 SATA ports is more than enough to provide storage for gaming, etc etc.. Its all about what your requirements are going to be. MSI, ASUS and Gigabyte all have some very nice gaming mITX boards. I would check the reviews at Newegg, Amazon, and TigerDirect. They can give you some insight on issues and benefits. Also one of my gotos when evaluating hardware is YouTube. There are lots of great video reviews out there. Just search for a make and a model on Youtube, and most of the time there will be several videos.

The Half XB isn't huge, but its not small either. 17.4" x 16.7" and 13" tall. It does have alot of nice features.

Hope this helps!

[reactorman]

Thanks again, OvRiDe! I think I'll start looking up some info on m-ITX cases and see what type of components I could get. Options.....options.


Jim - reactorman

[TheMainMan]

Welcome to the site!

Another useful tool for putting together a complete build is PC Part Picker (http://www.pcpartpicker.com). It's nice as it gives you price comparisons from a few different sources so you can get the best price on the components you're buying. It will also check some of the obvious issues, such as picking the wrong frequency RAM or a motherboard that is too big for the case, but it's not perfect.

If you're thinking m-ATX, you might want to check out the Bit-Fenix Prodigy-M, Phenom-M, or Colossus-M as they are all cubes with a variety of different styles.

As far as help with parts, do you have a preference for Intel/AMD and ATI/Nvidia?

[reactorman]

Hi MainMan and thanks for the welcome! As far as processors go, I'm leaning towards AMD simply for a better price point. As far as video cards go, I'm not sure yet considering that it would depend on which motherboard I get and also the size of the case.

I have visited PC Parts Picker. That is a great site for helping people decide on which components to go with. Right now, I'm trying all different kinds of options between cases, motherboards, processors, and graphics cards. The biggest thing I'm trying to achieve is to get the biggest bang for the buck. Right now, it looks like I can only put between $600 - $650 altogether, but I might be able to put a little more towards it as time goes by.


Jim - reactorman


P.s. I've been looking around on this site and I'm amazed at how people can mod their case or even make a case from scratch! Unfortunately, I really don't have any tools or knowledge for that matter to do that sort of thing, so my hats off to all of those who can! Simply amazing work!

[OvRiDe]

Just out of curiosity I threw some parts together on Newegg last night. It came out to just under 680 bucks, but there are probably better deals to be had, so 650 it pretty doable.

ASRock FM2A78M-ITX 84.99

AMD Athlon X4 750K Trinity Quad-Core 3.4GHz
Socket FM2 100W Desktop Processor - Black Edition 79.99

CORSAIR Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin
DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1866 92.99

SanDisk Ultra Plus SDSSDHP-256G-G25 2.5" 256GB
SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) 109.99

COOLER MASTER Elite 110 RC-110-KKN2
Midnight Black Steel / Plastic Mini-ITX Tower 49.99

Cooler Master Extreme Power Plus - 600W Power Supply 59.99

SAPPHIRE Vapor-X 100364VXBF4L Radeon R9 270X
2GB 256-Bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 199.99

Total 677.93

But you can see there is lots of places to save, I didn't really spend any time comparing pricing.

Good hunting, and looking forward to what you come up with.

[reactorman]

Hey OvRide, that's a pretty nice list there! And considering that you weren't even really looking for savings, this build is looking very promising indeed! Thanks!


Jim - reactorman

[reactorman]

Hey all,

I think I found a case that she would love! I think it's a really nice looking case, but I'm not sure if there will be good enough airflow for gaming. Any thoughts?

http://www.minicase.net/product_E-D5S.html


Jim - reactorman

[OvRiDe]

Nice! Airflow looks pretty decent. Just make sure you spend the extra time on the cable management to make sure there isn't a wad of wires obstructing the bottom to to top air pathways. One thing to keep in mind for that case is the length of the video card. It looks like you only have about 10 inches of depth, so make sure your video card of choice doesn't exceed that. Also be mindful of where the power plugs for the video card are located. Some are on top, some are on the back. If you get a card that will just barely fit, and the plugs are on the back, you will render curse words.

Good luck and keep us in the loop!

[reactorman]

Hey OvRiDe, thanks for that head's up! I would have never thought of that with the video card. Do you think that on the manufacturer's sites they will have information as to where exactly their power plugs are located?


Jim - reactorman

[msmrx57]

Pics on the manufacturers site should be good enough to see where the plugs are if they don't specifically say.

[OvRiDe]

Most of them should have pictures, if not Newegg and other vendor sites are usually pretty good about having pictures available.

[reactorman]

I've got good news and bad news. I'll start with the bad. My wife's car is out of commission and that's going to take up the budget for the build :-(
The good news is that I got the case in! :-) Well, I'm not really sure if that's really good news considering that I've got no money for components. I figure I can still go on with the build, it's just going to be a looooong term project. But, also if I'm going to buy 1 component at a time over an extended period of time, I can probably raise the budget a bit.
I did have 1 problem with the case though. One of the USB 3.0 ports is crushed. I sent an e-mail with pictures to Realan and hopefully they will replace that part. Other than that, I'm starting to look at CPUs and motherboards. I might go with an FX-8320, but having a little trouble finding a decent matx mobo with USB 3.0. I'm sure I'll find something...somewhere...hopefully. Anyway, just wanted to give an update.


Jim - reactorman

[OvRiDe]

That is a real bummer about the wife's car. As for the project, speaking from experience, I don't think buying a piece at a time is your best bang for the buck. You would be better off just putting the money aside until you have enough to buy what you need. As you start accumulating pieces that sit waiting unused, depending how long, new technology will be released and the prices will start going down. The problem is you have locked yourself in at the higher price by purchasing it, not to mention the chance to get better equipment for the same price. (ie... When they released the GTX770 it was the same price as the GTX670.) Had I waited until I was ready to by it all, I would have had better or the same equipment for less money.

Just my $.02.. hope this helps....

[reactorman]

Hey OvRiDe,

Wow, I never thought about that. I guess you are right :( Well, at least I can keep looking as I'm saving and try to stay on top of all the latest, greatest things coming out. Hey, maybe while I'm waiting I could do something anyways. I could possibly.....dare I say.....MOD THE CASE!!!

I really have no clue what I would do.....or how to do it for that matter.....but maybe I could find a site that specializes in that sorta thing and ask for some advice, help, and suggestions. Would you know of such a site that modifies cases? Hmmmm???


Jim - reactorman

[OvRiDe]

Hmmm.. maybe... :D

[reactorman]

I think I got an idea! I'm not sure if it would work, but if it did I think it would add a little pizzazz to it. The computer is for my step-daughter and I know her favorite thing is anime. I couldn't think of anything along those lines, besides her favorite anime changes from week to week. So I know her next favorite thing is dancing.

The case only has 1 exhaust fan on top. What if I got one of those LED fans and made a little stand for a small disco ball so it could hang slightly above the LED fan? I thought that maybe I could get a reflective pinwheel (if they exist), break off the blades and paste them around the disco ball so the ball could spin. Do you think that could work or is that stupid? In my mind, the lights would hit the disco ball and shine all over the room, but most of the time what's in my mind and in reality usually aren't the same. I know it would be a really cheap mod, but I have to go the cheap route.


Jim - reactorman

[reactorman]

I've been looking around on various sites looking at all kinds of lighting mods and I found some sound activated lights. I think that would be really cool if I can use that on her case. The only thing is that all of the sound activated lights that I could find were cold cathode lights. Does anyone know if anyone makes sound activated LED light strips? You know, something flexible so I can go around corners and such. Does anyone make those sorta lights?


Jim - reactorman

[OvRiDe]

Yah... there are lots of kits for LED strips out there. Here is an example of one...


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6l4gg14Ttc

When looking for kits, you might include automotive in your search, since those will be 12V also.