opentoe Posted June 21, 2015 Share Posted June 21, 2015 Anyone from the US recently purchase a case that was able to fit three hard drive cages? All the cases I have seen so far are loaded up with crap inside, not designed for slipping in hard drive cages. Link to comment
BRiT Posted June 21, 2015 Share Posted June 21, 2015 I was just going to start a search for something similar, so I'll be interested in anything you find. I haven't found anything that strikes my fancy, yet. Link to comment
garycase Posted June 21, 2015 Share Posted June 21, 2015 This has 9 5.25" bays, which will let you mount 3 5-in-3 cages: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119297 This one has 12 5.25" bays, so you could actually mount 4 of the cages: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811112412 Link to comment
opentoe Posted June 21, 2015 Author Share Posted June 21, 2015 This has 9 5.25" bays, which will let you mount 3 5-in-3 cages: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA0AJ3404502 This one has 12 5.25" bays, so you could actually mount 4 of the cages: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811112412 Just viewed both of them and doesn't look like either will work. It's not just how many 5.25 bays they have, it's if they are empty inside or not. If you view the internal of those cases they both look like they have structural internal parts that are permanently inside so installing a hard drive cage would be impossible. I don't want to start cutting the aluminum framework out of a $200 case soon as I get it. I haven't been lucky to find one that's empty enough for full HD cages. While you may be able to install 12 cd rom drives, you still can't install an hd cage. Hard to find these days, a fully empty case. I'll read up on both. To see if any of that internal framework comes out without a chainsaw. Link to comment
garycase Posted June 21, 2015 Share Posted June 21, 2015 Not sure why you think you can't use either of these. The CoolerMaster actually comes with 2 4-in-3 racks that can be removed, or even rotated to face sideways; and there's nothing "in the way" of adding a 3rd or replacing those with 5-in-3's. The only thing the pictures of the interior show that you'd likely have to remove are the two side fans. The Lian-Li is VERY open ... I've used a version of this same case in the past. This specific unit has 3 drive racks that are included that you can easily remove (a couple thumbscrews) if you prefer hot-swap cages. The included racks hold 3 3.5" and 2 2.5" drives each. Link to comment
SSD Posted June 21, 2015 Share Posted June 21, 2015 Did you look at the Antec 900 and Antec 1200 cases? I am running a 900 with 3 5in3s, although it is a v1 case and I think they are up to v3 now. The 1200 should similarly support 4 5in3s. Link to comment
opentoe Posted June 21, 2015 Author Share Posted June 21, 2015 Did you look at the Antec 900 and Antec 1200 cases? I am running a 900 with 3 5in3s, although it is a v1 case and I think they are up to v3 now. The 1200 should similarly support 4 5in3s. Thanks garycase! I was just looking at the Antec 900 and the 1200 on their site. The Lian-Li looks very nice, a big increase in price but it must be a tank. Link to comment
opentoe Posted June 21, 2015 Author Share Posted June 21, 2015 I was unaware you could remove all those internal parts. I do have some cheap chinese made cases sitting around and all those brackets inside are built-in and can't be removed. I guess the more expensive and well known cases are much more manageable. The only issue I see is I have a high performance Nvidia video card. GTX-970 I think or 960 and that card when installed sticks all the way out and most likely would hit the hard drive cages. It is very long. Options would be to find a deeper case and hard drive cages that aren't as deep. Figuring out which is more likely easier to find. Link to comment
garycase Posted June 21, 2015 Share Posted June 21, 2015 I was just looking at the Antec 900 and the 1200 on their site. The Lian-Li looks very nice, a big increase in price but it must be a tank. It is indeed a VERY nicely done case. I've used several of their upper end cases over the years, and they are all superb. In fact, my favorite Lian-Li full-tower case was the P80N, which is unfortunately no longer available. This case not only had enough room for 4 5-in-3 drive cages, but the front door had 3 140mm fans, so there was SUPERB airflow across all the drives. I used it for a build about 3-4 years ago, and we mounted 3 5-in-3 cages and removed the small 80mm fans from the rear of those cages, as the designed airflow from the case was FAR better than the cages provided. There was plenty of room for a 4th 5-in-3, but it simply wasn't needed. Actually, I had tried to talk the guy I built it for into just using the excellent cages that it came with -- there were 3 cages already installed that help 10 3.5" drives and a pair of 2.5" drives. I though all we needed to do was add a single 5-in-3 cage at the top; but the guy I was building it for was adamant that he wanted hot-swap cages, so that's what we did. The only complaint I've ever heard from anyone who's used Lian-Li cases is that they're expensive ... that's certainly true for their higher-end units (the P80N was ~ $400), although they now make a few less expensive cases that are still very well made. The Antec 900 and 1200 cases are nice inexpensive units ... you won't mistake them for a Lian-Li in build quality; but they certainly do the job Link to comment
garycase Posted June 21, 2015 Share Posted June 21, 2015 ... The only issue I see is I have a high performance Nvidia video card. GTX-970 I think or 960 and that card when installed sticks all the way out and most likely would hit the hard drive cages. I doubt that's an issue with these cases. The GTX-960 and GTX-970 are 10.1" long; the higher-end GTX-980 is 10.5" long. That's indeed a big card, but the cases are almost 24" deep, and a typical 5-in-3 cage is about 8.5" deep, so there should not be any problem at all. It's probably an issue with the Antec 900, however, as it's only 18" deep. But certainly not with the CoolerMaster or Lian-Li units I suggested. Link to comment
SSD Posted June 21, 2015 Share Posted June 21, 2015 My Antec 900 was a workstation leftover repurposed for backup server duty. It hold 3 5in3s, but is a bit depth challenged. My Areca ARC-1231 card was too deep and forced the 5in3 to be slid out a little to accomadate. Since the server lives in the basement, beauty is not a primary concern. My other case is a Sharkoon which I bought to mount 4 5in3s, but wound up having to do surgery to fit the 4th 5in3 so can't wholeheartedly recommend it. But I do like the case and have no regrets. I bought it from Amazon Germany and the price including shipping was very reasonable. Link to comment
opentoe Posted June 22, 2015 Author Share Posted June 22, 2015 I was just looking at the Antec 900 and the 1200 on their site. The Lian-Li looks very nice, a big increase in price but it must be a tank. It is indeed a VERY nicely done case. I've used several of their upper end cases over the years, and they are all superb. In fact, my favorite Lian-Li full-tower case was the P80N, which is unfortunately no longer available. This case not only had enough room for 4 5-in-3 drive cages, but the front door had 3 140mm fans, so there was SUPERB airflow across all the drives. I used it for a build about 3-4 years ago, and we mounted 3 5-in-3 cages and removed the small 80mm fans from the rear of those cages, as the designed airflow from the case was FAR better than the cages provided. There was plenty of room for a 4th 5-in-3, but it simply wasn't needed. Actually, I had tried to talk the guy I built it for into just using the excellent cages that it came with -- there were 3 cages already installed that help 10 3.5" drives and a pair of 2.5" drives. I though all we needed to do was add a single 5-in-3 cage at the top; but the guy I was building it for was adamant that he wanted hot-swap cages, so that's what we did. The only complaint I've ever heard from anyone who's used Lian-Li cases is that they're expensive ... that's certainly true for their higher-end units (the P80N was ~ $400), although they now make a few less expensive cases that are still very well made. The Antec 900 and 1200 cases are nice inexpensive units ... you won't mistake them for a Lian-Li in build quality; but they certainly do the job You are starting to get me hooked on that Lian-Li case - (LIAN LI PC-A79B Black Aluminum ATX Full Tower Computer Case). I like the simple look of it and how spacious it is. I finally purchased my last pieces of hardware and will hopefully be migrating my current desktop to my unRaid. Intel i7-3930k processor, 32GB XMP memory, still don't remember what video card it is, but I think it is a GTX-960 or similar. Now I can run a few VM's and not worry about resources! Yea, I dumped some cash on an X99 board with the M.2 connection and Intel 750 PCI-E SSD. Four times faster then your current "fast" SSD's out there. I can now do some video editing, photo touch ups with no latency at all. Not to mention 64GB of DDR4. Really blows though Asus makes you buy the damn M.2 card for $22. Amazing. Link to comment
garycase Posted June 22, 2015 Share Posted June 22, 2015 ... You are starting to get me hooked on that Lian-Li case - (LIAN LI PC-A79B Black Aluminum ATX Full Tower Computer Case) ... All I can say is it's a superb case. It definitely makes you feel like you're getting what you paid for. ... 750 PCI-E SSD ... Drool !!! :P Link to comment
opentoe Posted June 23, 2015 Author Share Posted June 23, 2015 ... You are starting to get me hooked on that Lian-Li case - (LIAN LI PC-A79B Black Aluminum ATX Full Tower Computer Case) ... All I can say is it's a superb case. It definitely makes you feel like you're getting what you paid for. ... 750 PCI-E SSD ... Drool !!! :P Was reviewing and tried to view that Coolermaster one you recommended but the link doesn't work now. Link to comment
CHBMB Posted June 23, 2015 Share Posted June 23, 2015 ... You are starting to get me hooked on that Lian-Li case - (LIAN LI PC-A79B Black Aluminum ATX Full Tower Computer Case) ... All I can say is it's a superb case. It definitely makes you feel like you're getting what you paid for. ... 750 PCI-E SSD ... Drool !!! :P Was reviewing and tried to view that Coolermaster one you recommended but the link doesn't work now. The Zalman in my sig is worth a look, I've got 3 x 5 in 3 Cages and a 5.25 - 3.5 hotswap bay in mine for a total of 16 drives. Was reasonably priced as well. Link to comment
Bigdady92 Posted June 25, 2015 Share Posted June 25, 2015 I bought this one: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119297 I have 3 5n3 icy dock's shoved into it. Not a problem. I had one of these: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA4CP1GG1098 While it worked it was a battle tank. Then the power button 'broke' on it and for the life of me I couldn't repair it without ripping the whole thing apart. Link to comment
garycase Posted June 25, 2015 Share Posted June 25, 2015 The CoolerMaster above is the same one I had linked to in my original post -- but the product # has changed at Newegg (which, I suppose is why the link stopped working -- I've updated it to the new #). Link to comment
opentoe Posted June 25, 2015 Author Share Posted June 25, 2015 Just grabbed the Antec 1200 (twelve hundred V3) at Newegg. It dropped from $170 to $119 with a $20 rebate card and was free shipping. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129100&cm_re=antec_twelve_hundred_v3-_-11-129-100-_-Product Link to comment
garycase Posted June 25, 2015 Share Posted June 25, 2015 Just grabbed the Antec 1200 (twelve hundred V3) at Newegg. It dropped from $170 to $119 with a $20 rebate card and was free shipping. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129100&cm_re=antec_twelve_hundred_v3-_-11-129-100-_-Product Hard to go wrong at that price. Link to comment
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