Post your gaming setup!

[Organoth]

A dedicated GPU fan is all good (I have one too in my Lvl10GT, and I can say with a straight face its fan is better than HAF X), but the damned fans in HAF X have ridiculously short cables.

Pissed me off to no end. They used molex connectors to make the cable longer, sure, but that is a rather moot point in my opinion. It wasn't necessarily a problem finding mobo fan slots in range for the fans though, but the sidepanel was a real pain in the ass when the cable for its fan barely reached the nearest fan slot.

I like the Lvl10GT's door, where the fan on it is connected to the case by a contact surface that it meets when the door is shut. Prefer how the HAF X's other sidepanel is though, but I'd moreso love ala 650D/800D's panels even more.

My 140mm rear fan and both 200mm top fans (yes I have the extra one installed) all easily reach the fan headers on my MOBO. I could plug my 200mm side GPU fan into one of the mobo fan headers but then I would see the cable through the side window. Only that side fan and the front fan are connected directly to the PSU but my PSU has molex -to- 3pin adapters.

The cable for the side fan really is short but my guess is that is done on purpose so you can easily connect or disconnect it when ever you remove the side panel. I have the cable tucked down under the bottom of the HDD cage so it's out of the way and not visible through the window at all. My MOBO has a total of 6 fan headers, 4 of which are along the top so I guess that's why I had no issues with all my exhaust fans and CPU cooler easily reaching a fan header.

I would like to know how the side fan on your Lvl10GT is "better". It's the same size, same speed, same air flow. The only difference, and it's in the HAF X's favor, is the HAF X side fan has an air duct that helps channel that air directly onto the GPUs. An open fan like in the Lvl10GT does blow air on the cards but with out that duct the air has the chance to dissipate before reaching the cards.

If for what ever reason you don't like that air duct it is removable. Just to compare fan options between the two cases

Lvl10GT: Front Intake 200 x 20mm; Rear Exhaust 140 x 25mm; Top Exhaust 200 x 30mm (single only); Side Intake 200 x 30mm; Optional Bottom Intake 120 x 25mm

HAF X: Front Intake 230 x 30mm; Rear Exhaust 140 x 25mm; Top Exhaust 200 x 30mm (with option for a second identical fan); Side Intake 200 x 30mm; Optional VGA Fan Duct 120 x 25/38mm; Optional VGA Bracket 80 x 15mm.

So in comparison the Lvl10GT has fewer and in some cases smaller fan options when compared to the HAF X. The only thing I will give a nod to is the optional bottom in-take fan. But the HAF X has a larger front intake fan and an option for a second top exhaust fan and that space can be used for a radiator allowing you have have a radiator but still keep the stock exhaust fan in place. The HAF X also has the option to have a total of 3 different fans blowing air directly onto your GPUs. Those extra GPU fans do not make a huge difference but if you are running an SLI set up every little bit can help.

[BicycleMafioso]

I would like to know how the side fan on your Lvl10GT is "better". It's the same size, same speed, same air flow. The only difference, and it's in the HAF X's favor, is the HAF X side fan has an air duct that helps channel that air directly onto the GPUs. An open fan like in the Lvl10GT does blow air on the cards but with out that duct the air has the chance to dissipate before reaching the cards.

The Level 10 GT have as near an air-duct it needs, via its directed air flow. In fact, it's a bigger advantage as it directs air flow, but does not suppress its spread.
Not to mention that you're able to angle it yourself.

Honestly, you come off very strong on the fanboy-side, and feel the need to defend and justify your purchase. I get that. But the rest of us might have very differing opinions. I'm glad your HAF X works out for you. It's by no means a bad case. In fact, it might even be above average. But it's nowhere near a fantastic or near-perfect case.

[DeltrusDisc]

I'm glad your HAF X works out for you. It's by no means a bad case. In fact, it might even be above average. But it's nowhere near a fantastic or near-perfect case.

Going to go ahead and say I agree with tetrisGOAT here, someone who has been using a HAF X for a good 9 months now and has had to open it up more times than he'd like to remember, it's a great case, it has its features, but it also has its flaws.

[Cyanotical]

HAF-X: ugly case, cheap feel, low build quality
Level10GT: also an ugly case, good feel, decent build quality

if i had to pick between the two, i choose the CM Silencio 550

one of the machines i use for folding has the HAF-X, let me go over what I find wrong with it:

cheap metal/plastic
no refinement
still uses thumbscrews

the Level10GT fixes those issues, but has it's own:

tiny side window
minimal watercooling support
looks like an ugly stepchild compared to the original Level10

[BicycleMafioso]

I notice I came across a bit wrong about the HAF X. I meant to say it isn't jaw-dropping - it can still be fantastic to some.

As for the Silencio 550, I'd rather have the Define than some watered down case with design-flaws :> I'd rather have the HAF X, actually. Not to say the Silencio 550 is thoroughly bad, it hardly is, but I find similiar flaws too glaring and overshadowing. (And seriously, quick-mounts. This is the 2010s, not the 2000s D: )

[Cyanotical]

I notice I came across a bit wrong about the HAF X. I meant to say it isn't jaw-dropping - it can still be fantastic to some.

As for the Silencio 550, I'd rather have the Define than some watered down case with design-flaws :> I'd rather have the HAF X, actually. Not to say the Silencio 550 is thoroughly bad, it hardly is, but I find similiar flaws too glaring and overshadowing. (And seriously, quick-mounts. This is the 2010s, not the 2000s D: )

I found that the Define also has a few issues, mainly the same ones as the silencio and the HAF X, and like you said, it's 2011, even Dell has a better quality case on their Optiplex business machines then all three of those cases combined

[Drunkenvalley]

Organoth, it's cute of you to go rambling like a loon, but...

a. The fan connectors reached fine. But they were extremely short and you can only barely not lay away the sidepanel without pulling the cable off. That pisses me off to no frigging end. The Level 10 GT on the other hand has a genius contact surface, so I can remove or reattach the door without any hassle. None. Zip. Nada. No fucking around trying to reach a 3pin back onto its header while you're holding the sidepanel.

b. tetris already pointed out this for me, but the Lvl10GT (god, I need a better name for this case, something annoys me about the whole term) has a dedicated 200mm fan with a grill. That grill is easily redirected to either CPU or GPU, though I'm keeping it pointed at the latter. (Although I'm still trying to remember how to set it right. Trying to remember which direction it points from outside is tricky.)

c. Fan options are a pisstake. I already removed the 140mm fan in the rear and the 120mm from the NH-D14, and temperatures didn't even go up. The three 200mm fans are easily able to maintain a really good temperature level. Unless you mount a 360 radiator or two 200mm radiators in there I'm not the least impressed.

d. You're being an idiot if you're fixed merely on fan performance, as opposed to comfort of building in.

The HAF X gets quite a few points. I like being able to hide the cables from the PSU behind that cover-thing, and the ATX size standards being printed in the case the way they are was interesting. Additionally I strongly prefer the door-panels of the HAF X. Also, the fan options are nice, at least for watercooling. On the other hand, its motherboard-tray cut-out is outdated and poorly planned and the cables of the HAF X are annoyingly short.

Looking to the Level 10 GT, the biggest drawback is that the sidepanel on the right "slides in," and by gods does the case remind me of that whenever I manage the cables in any way. Cables can fairly easily snag with the panel, or just generally make the panel struggle to fit on. It also easily bends at the corners when trying to fit it on, so you're trying to fit it on with two hands and some toes. Additionally, while the case does have 3 200mm fans, the positions of the fans do not make for a good watercooling system. While the HAF X does have dustfilters, the convenience of removing them can't hold a candle to Level 10 GT's.

If you think I'm being biased about these I'm gonna go out and say right now I'm not. The Level 10 GT does not satisfy me entirely, and that bugs the daylight out of me. I've toyed around with other cases for that purpose, but for frequent toying around with I think I'd need a Corsair case. (Or maybe they're made of suck? Sadly, haven't been able to play with them yet.)

[DeltrusDisc]

While I have not worked with a Level 10 GT and I don't particularly plan to, unless someone has me build them a computer with that case, I can say I agree with Drunken on every point he made about the HAF X. EVERY. Not at all biased or anything, he said it like it is.

[Drunkenvalley]

And tetris, I have to admit that I found the Define very flimsy and shoddy in build quality. Is that just me? I mean, the watercooling outlets in the back have their grommets fall into the case if I touch them by accident.

[Asera]

I still can't manage to finish off the Dragon Age: Origins download because doing so would consume my entire months bandwidth (Rogers 30GB cap fail and having 2 other users who are YouTube addicts in my house)

Why the hell is internet service so atrocious elsewhere in the country? :|

[Drunkenvalley]

Because, as we all know, the USA is awesome.

[Deleted]

i7-950 stock
ASUS P6X58D-E
6GB Corsair XMS3 1600 CL9(running @ 1333 7-8-7)
Corsair H70 cpu cooler
120GB Vertex2 SSD
1GB Samsung F1 HDD
ASUS 6970 DCII 2GB
Coolermaster Cosmos S
Thermaltake 775XT
3x Dell U2311H in portait mode 3240x1920
Logitech G15 keyboard
Cyborg R.A.T.7 mouse
Logitech Z10 2.0 speakers

Wish I had spent a bit more on a bigger SSD back then.

[Ghâzh]

d. You're being an idiot if you're fixed merely on fan performance, as opposed to comfort of building in.

Just had to voice my opinion even though it wasn't pointed towards me:P I don't get people who are putting too much weight on ease of building. Personally I'd take a case with good fans instead of something "easy" to work with, if it came to picking between the two. To be quite honest I couldn't care less if it took me an hour or eight to build if it's going to look good and it works otherwise. I'm not one of those who upgrades something every other week, I mean, I could understand it if you had to constantly take your system apart but is that honestly happening?

Other thing would be hard drive quick mounts and thumb screws, seriously, is it so hard to use a regular screwdriver?:P

[Asera]

Because, as we all know, the USA is awesome.

Rogers is a Canadian cable provider! /bonk

[BicycleMafioso]

And tetris, I have to admit that I found the Define very flimsy and shoddy in build quality. Is that just me? I mean, the watercooling outlets in the back have their grommets fall into the case if I touch them by accident.

Which Define is this in particular? The USB2.0 version of the Define R3 rubber grommits are a tad on the.. flimsy side, yes. The Define XL has fixed this, as well as their other cases, so I'm guessing by Define R4 we'll have them fixed.
But the case itself? I would definitely not call them flimsy, since they don't flex anywhere. And I find them quite sturdy indeed. The plastic feet, I suppose can be broken, but the rest of the case looks quite sturdy to me.
Could you highlight me whereupon your experience differs? I'm quite curious in finding this out. And I hope I don't come off as defensive when I offer my side.
I personally would consider the Fractal Design Arc and the Corsair Carbide(-series) as superior cases to anything listed thus far (when factoring in price:Performance). The Arc is leaps and bounds ahead of the Define, for instance. And with the Carbide, you know you get Corsairs superb quality.

The latter still has LEDs and and mesh, so you can view it in from the side, which are obviously BIG minuses (minii?), and I also don't like the bulging design on the other side panel.
The remedying fact to the LEDs is that at least they are white. And the case is pretty amazing aside from that.

As for the Arc, it still does have one glaring and fairly annoying issue, as well as one or two smaller ones. The big issue being that if you have a video card installed (and most of us looking at cases in those pricepoints have), you are not going to have the possibility to use the furthest left display-output (in the case of the TwinFrozr II GTX 560Ti, this was the mini-HDMI) since it's blocked by steel. That you can remove, but hey. Whipping out the hacksaw is fun, eh? Minor problems include the fan controller they provide is flimsy, and that the rubber stands that the PSU should stand on have horrible glue and can come off.

Obviously, these two cases can't compete with the likes of cases that are waay more expensive, but I would call these very, very good for value, seeing how the Arc comes out at the same price as the HAF 912plus (and the mini being even less), and Carbides coming out at a higher, but still reasonable price.

</opinion>

[Organoth]

The Level 10 GT have as near an air-duct it needs, via its directed air flow. In fact, it's a bigger advantage as it directs air flow, but does not suppress its spread.
Not to mention that you're able to angle it yourself.

Honestly, you come off very strong on the fanboy-side, and feel the need to defend and justify your purchase. I get that. But the rest of us might have very differing opinions. I'm glad your HAF X works out for you. It's by no means a bad case. In fact, it might even be above average. But it's nowhere near a fantastic or near-perfect case.

Not at all a fan boy, but when people make baseless statements that are not backed up by the facts, and are basically telling me I am wrong, I will present the facts to back up my point of view. The duct on the HAF X helps to keep the air forcefully blowing directly on to the GPU, which is the sole purpose for that side intake fan. And as I said, that duct can be removed for people who incorrectly think it's not good to use it.

This all started with people bashing the HAF X, I am simply pointing on the flaw in their arguments. People can of course not like the case, but to make false claims about why it's not a good case is something that only hurts other users who may be trying to deiced on which case to get. I rather people be able to form their own conclusion based off the facts and not someones prejudiced towards a certain product. For example, I personally feel Thermaltake parts are not has high of quality as CM or Corsair, but I did not use that bias as one of my talking points because it's based on opinion, not fact.

I also never said it was a perfect case and pointed out early on things I would change on it. But when it comes to fan options and air cooling, there is no case on the market that offers more fans, or better placed fans, then the HAF X, and that is a fact, not an opinion. Some people may find other things more important then the best possible air cooling options but people have been falsely trying to say that other cases have better air cooling and that is just not true.

[BicycleMafioso]

I also never said it was a perfect case and pointed out early on things I would change on it. But when it comes to fan options and air cooling, there is no case on the market that offers more fans, or better placed fans, then the HAF X, and that is a fact, not an opinion. Some people may find other things more important then the best possible air cooling options but people have been falsely trying to say that other cases have better air cooling and that is just not true.

No, you see, this is the statement that's not true. You are claiming there can be no better, out of the box air cooling than what the HAF X offers. This is nowhere near true, and you just have to take a look at Silverstone cases to see that.
Most other cases do not need as many fans to achieve what the HAF X does with its many fans as well.

The HAF X is decent. But it's nowhere near as "far ahead" as you'd like to believe.

[Adappy]

Which Define is this in particular? The USB2.0 version of the Define R3 rubber grommits are a tad on the.. flimsy side, yes. The Define XL has fixed this, as well as their other cases, so I'm guessing by Define R4 we'll have them fixed.
But the case itself? I would definitely not call them flimsy, since they don't flex anywhere. And I find them quite sturdy indeed. The plastic feet, I suppose can be broken, but the rest of the case looks quite sturdy to me.

IMHO the HDD trays are flimsy and a pain to use. (at least compared to the ones in my CM690 II Advanced) Half of the ones I got in my Define XL had to be bent so the clips would actually catch and hold the thing in place. Also, the first Define XL I got shipped to me every plastic pin holding the front of the case on broke so the only thing attaching it to the rest of the case was the front panel connection wires. I will say that I prefer sitting next to my Define XL than I did when my PC was in the CM690II, it's nicer to use on a day to day basis and is quieter... even though it was slightly easier to build in the CM690. My next machine (Ivy Bridge + 7000/600 series if I have a new job by then, if not then the next generation) will most likely be M-ATX though, so I'll have to see what I'll get then.

[BicycleMafioso]

IMHO the HDD trays are flimsy and a pain to use. (at least compared to the ones in my CM690 II Advanced) Half of the ones I got in my Define XL had to be bent so the clips would actually catch and hold the thing in place. Also, the first Define XL I got shipped to me every plastic pin holding the front of the case on broke so the only thing attaching it to the rest of the case was the front panel connection wires. I will say that I prefer sitting next to my Define XL than I did when my PC was in the CM690II, it's nicer to use on a day to day basis and is quieter... even though it was slightly easier to build in the CM690. My next machine (Ivy Bridge + 7000/600 series if I have a new job by then, if not then the next generation) will most likely be M-ATX though, so I'll have to see what I'll get then.

(Warning: I'm drunk by now)
Really, the hddtrays? I wouldnt have figured. Seeing as they are quite rigid. Sorry to hear about the front. That's a fault of shipping and not the case itself, though. As mine is still intact.

I would recommend a FD Arc Mini for mATX tbqh. I'm coloured and impressed by it, I admit. But it is a fantastic case /shrug
The GTX 600 series are also looking quite amazing.
If Nvidias words are true (= don't count on it. Afterall the GTX 580 was what the GTX 480 was announced to be in terms of CUDA cores enabled and TDP value and performance, before they had to strangle its performance) the GTX 660 equiv will be quite a significant improvement over the GTX 580.
Seeing how nVidia are slated to build their Kepler bottom up, it's a very very good move by them.

I will wait until mid june or whenever and try to go for the GTX 680 in SLI if the funds continue to tick in at the pace they currently are (ie, I got a job. And in Sweden, you get paid to study rather than pay to. Even if it's only 1200 USD a month)

[Drunkenvalley]

This all started with people bashing the HAF X,

Where was this? It's a mess navigating the page with the iPhone so I have trouble finding said bashing.