Don't forget to take a look at the Corsair 650D case. It's a great case, side mounted hard drives, etc. I personally don't like these enormous cases as they end up taking too much space and hardly ever get filled to near capacity.
My personal case is an Antec P182, and it's extremely quiet, and pretty much dust free inside (love that), but it's bigger by far than I need and my next computer will be in a smaller case for sure.
System Manufacturer/Model Number Self-Built in July 2009 OS Windows 7 Ultimate x64 CPU Intel Q9550 2.83Ghz OC'd to 3.40Ghz Motherboard Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3R rev. 1.1, F12 BIOS Memory 8GB G.Skill PI DDR2-800, 4-4-4-12 timings Graphics Card EVGA 1280MB Nvidia GeForce GTX570 Sound Card Realtek ALC899A 8 channel onboard audio Monitor(s) Displays 23" Acer x233H Screen Resolution 1920x1080
Keyboard ABS M1 Mechanical Mouse Logitech G9 Laser Mouse PSU Corsair 620HX modular Case Antec P182 Cooling stock Hard Drives Intel X25-M 80GB Gen 2 SSD
Western Digital 1TB Caviar Black, 32MB cache. WD1001FALS Internet Speed 15/2 cable modem Other Info Windows and Linux enthusiast. Logitech G35 Headset.
Don't forget to take a look at the Corsair 650D case. It's a great case, side mounted hard drives, etc. I personally don't like these enormous cases as they end up taking too much space and hardly ever get filled to near capacity.
My personal case is an Antec P182, and it's extremely quiet, and pretty much dust free inside (love that), but it's bigger by far than I need and my next computer will be in a smaller case for sure.
I'll have a look pp for those but I can't remember seeing refs to them.
I use womens anklet stockings which come in black as a filter, they come with elastic fitted to them and they just pop over the fan and the elastic holds them in place.
They are very cheap to buy and do not restrict the airflow
System Manufacturer/Model Number Self Built Custom Computer. OS Windows 8 Pro x64 CPU QX6850 Quad Extreme Motherboard Gigabyte GA EP45-UD3LR Memory 6Gig DDR2-800 Graphics Card Gigabyte GTX 550 TI Sound Card Creative Audigy SE (SB0570) Sound Card Monitor(s) Displays Asus VW222 [22" LCD] and Benq 2200w [22" LCD] Screen Resolution 1680x1050
Keyboard Logitech illuminated keyboard Mouse Logitech M950 PSU Corsair TX 750watt Case Coolermaster Haf - X Cooling Noctua NH-C12P CPU Cooler Hard Drives Samsung 840 Pro 128g SSD
OCZ Vertex 3 60GB SSD
1xWestern Digital Caviar Green 1tb
2xWestern Digital Caviar Green 2 tb Internet Speed Cable = speeds to 20Mbps downsteam and 512kbps upsteam Antivirus Avast Internet Security Browser Firefox
Hum well have just looked the review in Youtube for the HAF XM and at that price $149 (here) and the PSU bottom dust filter which seems to be the fly in the ointment - which I can leave out and place an outside filter on instead.
Oh and yep kodi there are lots of cheap alternatives to the expensive ready made ones - I just like experimenting.
Outside and accesible is the way to go. On my current case I have to remove the hdd cage to get at the front filter because its about .70mm to close the fan assembley. Pita...
I too took some pantyhose and constructed filters out of them. I used cardboard to cut out templates to put over my input areas of my case and cut out windows in the cardboard and covered them with the pantyhose. They are working very well. This is on the inexpensive case that I used for my server recently. My nicer PC's have cases with dust filters.
System Manufacturer/Model Number Self-Built in July 2009 OS Windows 7 Ultimate x64 CPU Intel Q9550 2.83Ghz OC'd to 3.40Ghz Motherboard Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3R rev. 1.1, F12 BIOS Memory 8GB G.Skill PI DDR2-800, 4-4-4-12 timings Graphics Card EVGA 1280MB Nvidia GeForce GTX570 Sound Card Realtek ALC899A 8 channel onboard audio Monitor(s) Displays 23" Acer x233H Screen Resolution 1920x1080
Keyboard ABS M1 Mechanical Mouse Logitech G9 Laser Mouse PSU Corsair 620HX modular Case Antec P182 Cooling stock Hard Drives Intel X25-M 80GB Gen 2 SSD
Western Digital 1TB Caviar Black, 32MB cache. WD1001FALS Internet Speed 15/2 cable modem Other Info Windows and Linux enthusiast. Logitech G35 Headset.
Yep another cheap material is the polyester wadding that is used for upholstery. I use it mainly in my tropical fish tank in the over top filter but it would be just as easy to get the right thickness or even split the wadding down the centre and again to get the right thickness.
It's cheap and you can get all sorts of different sized "meshs". Now you can either wash it and let it dry - real easy and quick and if you are worried re the static then just use some of that anti static fabric spray. Or just throw it away my experience it doesn't last too many washes so you eventually have to throw it away.
However my favourite is still that Organza - if only I could find it in black - no not to wear cos I know what you're thinking LOL!!
With steel cases I like to fab my own filters from fine mesh window screen materials also available in several colors. I put double face tape down then lay a sticky back magnetic strip down on all four sides and viola.
They are easily removed and then cleaned, filter well but don't impede air flow as much as a super fine mesh. I wish I could mount them on the front dual 120mm intakes but on my case it's all plastic. I was thinking of doing and dual Velcro but then you're dedicated as the Velcro is a semi permanent mount to the case.
System Manufacturer/Model Number A blend of brains, brawn and dumb luck, ask me about rig #2 ! OS Windows 7 Ultimate 64 CPU i7 3770k OC'd 4.6 @ 1.17v, still love my FX 8120 Motherboard MSI P67A-GD80 b3 Memory 16 gb Crucial Ballistix Tracer DDR3 9-9-9-27 @ 2000 Graphics Card XFX Radeon 7870 Sound Card On board HD audio with lossless 24 bit/192 sample rate Monitor(s) Displays (2) LG LED 23" 1920 x 1080 2ms Monitors via mini d-port Screen Resolution 1680 X 1050 p
Keyboard (2) Logitech Illuminated Keyboards (1) usb (1) wireless K800 Mouse Logitech G9x & T-BC21 - nano nx for the laptop PSU Ultra X4 modular 1050 watt 80% silver rating & APC 1200 RS Case CoolerMaster Storm Styker Cooling 6 case fans 140mm & 120mm, Thermaltake h2o extreme Hard Drives Samsung 256 gb 830 SSD sata III
(2) 1 tb Hitachi deskmates/sata II
(1) 1 tb WD green/sata II
(2) 2 tb WD My Book/esata
(1) 500 gb Sea. Freeagent/esata
(2) 250 gb Sea. Freeagent go's/usb
(1) WD 2 tb Green 64 sata III
(1) 120 gb OCZ Vertex SS Internet Speed Upgraded from bottom of the barrel to bareable Other Info 4 Noctua case fans + 3 Noctua in p/p on H100 cooler
Integrated hot swap drive bays for 2.5" Drives
(2) Lite-on dvd/cd optical 22X
Integrated fan controller and led on/off
HP Officejet Pro L7680 all-n-one
HP 4 laserjet (the beast)
Hot swappable 3.5" hard drive bay
Belkin Play N600 HD router
Asus USB 3 & sata 6 PCIe card
Vantec IDE to sata adptr./Ultra sata adptr
HP Probook i3 laptop