Chassis or bench?

[Atham]

Hello,

I don't know if I should get a bench or a chassis for a new setup. I will be playing games, and I will not be doing benchmarks.

I will have a Seasonic M12II Bronze 520 watt as my PSU, a HD 6950 Sapphire Toxic @ 6970, my current CPU and motherboard, maybe 8GB or 6GB of RAM instead of 4GB, current HDD.

Thanks in advance

 

[Technochicken]

The choice is entirely down to your personal preference, but there are a few things to consider. First, do you swap out your hardware all the time? If so, you might want a bench. Which do you think looks better? A decent chassis will cool just as well as a bench, so you might as well just pick the better looking one. Also, with a bench there will be more dust buildup and greater risk of something accidentally breaking your hardware.

 

[Atham]

I will not swap hardware that often. What about the security of hardware (HDD, and DVD drive and things that spin in general)?

 

[Technochicken]

I'm not sure what you mean by security. In both cases (no pun intended) they will be fastened/screwed in place.

 

[Atham]

Oh okay. No, I will not change my hardware that often. Which gets better cooling though? Which is more expensive too? Could you give me some examples of benches that are good, or is it a kinda-build-your-own thing?

 

[Technochicken]

Which one cools better depends entirely on the particular case. A high-end chassis will cool as well if not better than a test bench. As for price, there is much more variety in standard cases, so you can spend anywhere from 40-400 dollars on them, while there are relatively few commercial test benches. Here are two examples of test benches:

http://www.amazon.com/Lian-Li-Pc-T60b-Aluminum-Microatx-Professional/dp/B005HBEYHW
http://www.frozencpu.com/products/5111/cst-444/HSPC_Top_Deck_Tech_Station_Standard_Size_-_Black.html

If you are not going to be exchanging your hardware frequently, I cannot think of any good reason to get a bench station over a standard chassis.

 

[Leeky]

I'd go with a decent case since you don't plan to be changing hardware constantly.

 

[Atham]

What case would you recommend up to about 100 Euros (maybe more up to about 120 Euros)

 

[Leeky]

I've already given my recommendations on a suitable case. To be honest I'm a little concerned you feel the need to continually ask having had plenty of discussions in the past.

 

[Atham]

Sorry for that. My brother wants my PC + a new Case. He keeps on changing his mind, about what case he wants.

 

[Leeky]

If that was true you wouldn't be asking us - he'd be telling you!

 

[Atham]

My brother is 10 years-old.

 

[Leeky]

Your current case should be quite suitable. I'm sure he'd be grateful regardless of the case since he's most likely not buying it himself.

 

[Atham]

I will try to tell him that. Thanks a lot guys.