Tower / case that will fit my motherboard & GFX card.

[Danis[h]]

Hey guys, I'm fairly new to creating my own builds when it comes to Tabletop PCs however I've been looking into getting the Asus P6X58D motherboard along with the core i7 950 processor and the MSI GeForce PCI-E GTX580 graphics card.

Now my problem is that I need to find a case that will fit my motherboard and graphics card. The dealership I am buying the computer from has a long list of towers available, but they don't list any specifics about their dimensions or anything else for that matter.

I have considered to just order all the parts separately and then buying a tower from a different dealer. However I still don't know what tower to get, so that would not solve anything.

Here I've included the list of towers the dealership I am getting everything else with has to offer, although please recommend something different, if these can't fit the parts I need.

• Antec Micro Fusion Remote 350W Media Center Case
• Antec Nine Hundred Two Gamer Case
• Antec NSK1380EC MICRO ATX CUBE 350W
• Antec Performance P183 Black
• Antec Solo Piano Black - miditower - (ATX none)
• Antec Solution Series NSK 1480 Desktop 350W
• Antec Sonata 3 Earthwatt 500Watt HD +eSata
• Antec Twelve Hundred EU Gamer Case
  
• Aopen H360B 300W Slim Desktop mATX Black
• AOpen H360C 300W desktop mATX Black/Silver
• Aopen H450B 400W Black mini tower
• Aopen H450Y Black/Silver
• Aopen HS-S152DT Cube mini ITX case
  
• Arctic Silentium 1 PRO Eco 80 Air Guide
• Chieftec Smart 5H-01B-B-SL
• Cooler Master Elite 332
• Cooler Master HAF 912 Plus miditower
• Cooler MAster HAF 922 miditower
• Cooler Master HAF 932 AMD Edition (I am guessing not this one since I am getting an intel processor)
• Cooler MAster HAF X Full Tower
• Cooler Master Sileo 500 Silent Midi Towerr Case
  

 

[Nenad]

I have this one and it fits a MSI 250 GTS + Asus P5B. Barely. I would recommend getting something bigger than that for you're monster card, especially since it's going to take two PCI slots. I would also eccomend cooler master, since i have never had problems with these cases, they have good airflow. Remember, you also (probably) need a gigantic power supply. From the list there, i would probably go for the Cooler Master HAF 922 miditower, its a bit bigger than mine and also seems to be well designed.

Another argument i must make with the Cooler Masters is the no-tools needed. You have no idea how easy it is to maintain the computer, two hand screws in the back pop open, clean, screw back 5-7min~ of work at most.

 

[Danis[h]]

Thanks for responding in regards to the first issue (about what case to get). I ended up getting the "Cooler Master HAF 932 Black steel full tower" since it seemed like it was good quality (looked up online) and because being a full tower I assume it would be a bit bigger, also I cross-referenced its dimensions with that of my GPU and motherboard.

In regards to PSU: I've chosen to exchange the stock with this one called "Chill Innovation 1000W Silent ATX2.3 Modular +85%" mostly because the stock was only 650W or so.

I'm not very well informed on the topic of how to calculate the power supply of a rig, so could anyone confirm for me that I won't need more than 1000W?
I don't want to be faced with all those pesky BSODs because I haven't enough power to run my system. These are the specs:

Motherboard: Asus P6X58D
Processor: Intel core i7 950 3,06 GHz quad-core
Ram: Kingston Value RAM DDR3 12GB (3x4 GB)
HDD: Hitachi Deskstar 7K3000 3TB SATA6 64MB 7200RPM
Cooler for the cpu (in addition to the 3 fans in the tower/case: Zalman CNPS10X Extreme
GPU: MSI GeForce PCI-E GTX580 OC 1536 MB DDR5
DvD Drive: LG GH22NS 22x DVD-RW
Speakers: Logitech x-140 speakers
Net Card: Linksys WMP600N Wireless-N PCI Adapter
sound card: Onboard

and as stated, my chosen PSU: Chill Innovation 1000W Silent ATX2.3 Modular

I fiddle in rendering and graphics sometimes, mostly on a hobbyist level, but I assume that when my computer will be rendering graphics, I will gain a 100% workload, or at least closer to it than from just average use.

 

[Romek]

You won't need more than 1000W. The 650W would've probably (barely) sufficed, though without much left over for any additional power requirements.
1000W will definitely be enough.

 

[codemonkey]

1000W?

To reiterate what Romek said, even 750W would be overkill. Hell, you could get away with 550W. And don't buy from "Chill Innovation", pick a reputable brand [SeaSonic, Silverstone, Corsair, Antec, etc.]

Also before you spend $90 on some subpar air cooler consider the Corsair H50/H70 or a better air cooler such as the Noctua NH-D14.

Getting a new Sandy Bridge processor would also probably be your best bet, the Core i7-2600K tends to outperform the Core i7-950, not to mention that you could probably overclock it to 5GHz+ with one of those coolers. (People report getting 5.3GHz with $30 coolers) It overclocks so well because of its 95W TDP (as opposed to 130W on the Core i7-950) and its 32nm technology instead of 45nm.

Spending $500 on a graphics card for 'fiddling around' seems like overkill. I recommend you wait until the GTX 560 comes out (expect it to be ~$220), buy one, and if you find it's not adequate, buy a second one for SLI. Two 560s in SLI should outperform a single 580 anyways.

What is your budget for the case? Most mid towers and all full towers would work.

 

[Danis[h]]

I'm pretty lucky in the case with money for building this pc, since that is a non-issue for me unless it reaches totally unrealistic prices.
but to put a number on it, I'd be willing to spend at most $3000 on it, which I think should be enough to build a pc that is more than adequate for the things I need it for and the games I play.

EDIT: I thought you asked what my budget was for the entire pc. For the case, well I don't know. As long as it's good quality it doesn't really matter much if it's a little more expensive than the next model

 

[codemonkey]

Well here's some recommendations:

Corsair 800D
SILVERSTONE RAVEN RV01-BW
Cooler Master HAF X
Antec 1200 V3

 

[Danis[h]]

Thank you for all the comments and suggestions guys. You've certainly done much to help me figuring out not just what I wanted, but also to ease some of my doubts!

Much appreciated everyone! (Also for the money you've saved me by me buying something sub-par for my needs and then having to replace parts. )