Which case is best for portable build?

[jclaydon]

I have a slight problem in deciding which way I want to go for a case. For my first build, I thought I'd make myself a portable karaoke machine for my business. I have most of the components needed picked out in my mind, but just can't decide on the best case.

I need something that is very durable, stands up well to being moved around a fair amount and is good at dampening vibration.

The shuttle cube type of cases would be ideal for this requirement BUT they aren't very upgradable, and I really don't want a lot of extra external equipment taking up space. I'm also worried about the power supplies that come with these cases, as I've heard a few horror stories..

The ideal solution would be something that is easy to carry/ transport, durable and can support two optical drives, at least two hard drives, and enough exansion slots for a video card, sound card and an extra video crd for editing. I guess it would also be nice if the case was roomy enough that i could put in an extra fan for cooling.

Can anyone suggest a desktop type case that would allow me to upgrade a little more, but still be small enough that carrying it around won't be a huge hassle?

thanks in advance,

-James

[Jamie Nixx]

Right got two cases for you.

First one is the coolermaster ammo, very nice case and quality, its a gaming case, designed for lan parties so its got a heavy duty handle on top, overall the case is not very heavy, no PSU though.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119098

However this one may interest you more.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811144162

This is an awesome small form factor case, temp gauge on the front, firewire ports USB ect, takes two optical drives and a few harddrives easily and it has a handle on it as well, it also comes with a PSU, and its a decent one, i have had this case before so i can vouch for how good it is.

I'll keep looking around and post anymore if i find them.

[jclaydon]

Thank you so much for the input. I've decided to go with the cooler master. I really like how smart the case looks, it has more upgradability than I'll ever need and I don't mind buying my own power supply.. I also like the fact that I can add an exhaust fan.

As a matter of fact, if I had gotten the other case, i probably would have bought a 500w power supply anyway, because of the two graphics cards I want to put in.

Most people wouldn't think it, but to run karaoke on a machine is actually quite a graphics/cpu intensive job. You absolutely MUST use high quality, durable parts or there is just no point in bothering.

thanks again for the wonderful input

-James

[Jamie Nixx]

Good choice, what components are you putting in this case?

[jclaydon]

letsee here's what I was thinking of:

Asus M2N32-SLI Wireless motherboard
AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ EE w/ 2x512K Cache processor
Corsair XMS2 DHX 2048MB Dual Channel PC6400 DDR2 800MHz Memory (2 x 1024MB)
Corsair 520W power supply *i changed this after reading all the rave reviews in this formun*
Two Western Digital 400 GB Caviar SE drives for RAID 1 config
ATI Radeon HD 2900 for main graphics
ATI TV Wonder 650 for video editing
Sound Blaster Platinum with I/O drive upgrade
Zalman CNPS9500 AM2 for the cpu cooler with the silver compound mentioned here
I don't remember the model numbers at the moment but I am going to get one Plextor CDRW
and 1 DVD writable optical drive for guarunteed Karaoke/CDG compatibility.

If i happen to find a lightscribe drive that I know is going to be CDG compatible, then I'll get one of those instead.

The only thing I haven't found is an extra fan to put in the back for exhaust

take care,

-James