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Which of these cases you consider best for air flow cooling
- Thread starter ITAngel
- Start date
- Joined
- Sep 3, 2015
- Location
- Gardnerville, NV
What kind of hardware are you looking at putting in it. Things like # of drives, what kind of air cooler, motherboard size, etc can all play a role in the air cooling of one case vs another.
- Thread Starter
- #3
A similar mirror of what I have pretty much. Here is the thing, he likes my case but he also likes the case listed in the thread here. He wants to build a very similar case as mine with the exception he may grab another kind of motherboard depending on the style. He wants a 3 fan GPU as well, and NH-D15 because he likes how much of a monster the cooler is and how quiet it operates over AIO. So pretty much use my signature details as an example because the changes will be very minimum.
Basic setup
Intel 6700k/7700K
Cooler: NH-D15
GPU: Zotac GTX 1070 AMP Extreme or ASUS or GALAX 3 fan GPU (GTX 1070)
Motherboard: Z270
SSD: Primary OS
HDD: 1 Large one but he might want more so there is a good chance he will grab my case due to the amount of drives mine support but that is something we are still discussing.
PSU: 600w+ still working out the details.
Setup is as in my sig. I have a Corsair Carbide 500R. Over the last few weeks, I've been checking to see if there's a sweet replacement for my case, and I'm disappointed to say there isn't one. Firstly, I'm not much of a fan of "bling," so windowed-cases weren't my thing. Sure, put a fan in there, but if there was a window or if there was just a vent, I didn't really care. So the new trend of just-windows-no-fans or even worse, tempered glass, just doesn't do anything for me. I'm too busy playing games to be looking inside my case 
Then there's the issue of airflow. A covered front so that the fans take in air via the sides? Sub-optimal if you ask me! I'm sure there's someone somewhere that can calculate that the intake of air is un-changed as long as the fan has an inch of "breathing room," but I'm operating under "the less obstructions, the better." We don't see big panels in front of jet engines, do we?
I swapped my front case fans for a pair of Noctua NF-S12A PWM for quiet operations, but I'm still using the side and rear fans that came with the case. I've also added one fan on the top-rear of the case.
As you can see above, one fan cools the HDDs and the other fan brings fresh air unobstructed into the case. I've since removed my optical drive... I have two SSDs on the 5.25 bays and two HDDs on the hard drive cage. I've ordered a 140mm fan which I'll have to figure out how to install tomorrow --- this will go in front of the 5.25 bays to cool the SSDs but more for bringing even more fresh air for the Noctua cooler. Even though it looks like it's covered, the four drive bay covers are actually mesh with some foam behind it (for a bit of dust filtering perhaps?), so the top fan can still pull air easily. When I close my case, the 200mm side fan brings fresh air straight to the GPU.
Another thing I'm not a fan of is "basements" or PSU shrouds. What is it for? Even though my PSU takes air from UNDER the case and vents it out the back, I don't like the idea of having warm air trapped by a basement setup or a PSU shroud. As you can see with my setup, cable management is a breeze and the airflow is optimized as much as possible.
Speaking of PSU, I've even made a stand for my case to ensure it gets as much air as it needs...
The closest I've come as far as a replacement candidate is the Cougar Panzer Max case, but I'm a bit skeptical about the "air guide" gimmick they have.
Hope this gives you some things to consider regarding your case choice!
Then there's the issue of airflow. A covered front so that the fans take in air via the sides? Sub-optimal if you ask me! I'm sure there's someone somewhere that can calculate that the intake of air is un-changed as long as the fan has an inch of "breathing room," but I'm operating under "the less obstructions, the better." We don't see big panels in front of jet engines, do we? I swapped my front case fans for a pair of Noctua NF-S12A PWM for quiet operations, but I'm still using the side and rear fans that came with the case. I've also added one fan on the top-rear of the case.
As you can see above, one fan cools the HDDs and the other fan brings fresh air unobstructed into the case. I've since removed my optical drive... I have two SSDs on the 5.25 bays and two HDDs on the hard drive cage. I've ordered a 140mm fan which I'll have to figure out how to install tomorrow --- this will go in front of the 5.25 bays to cool the SSDs but more for bringing even more fresh air for the Noctua cooler. Even though it looks like it's covered, the four drive bay covers are actually mesh with some foam behind it (for a bit of dust filtering perhaps?), so the top fan can still pull air easily. When I close my case, the 200mm side fan brings fresh air straight to the GPU.
Another thing I'm not a fan of is "basements" or PSU shrouds. What is it for? Even though my PSU takes air from UNDER the case and vents it out the back, I don't like the idea of having warm air trapped by a basement setup or a PSU shroud. As you can see with my setup, cable management is a breeze and the airflow is optimized as much as possible.
Speaking of PSU, I've even made a stand for my case to ensure it gets as much air as it needs...
The closest I've come as far as a replacement candidate is the Cougar Panzer Max case, but I'm a bit skeptical about the "air guide" gimmick they have.
Hope this gives you some things to consider regarding your case choice!
- Thread Starter
- #5
Damn nice case and setup! Yea I removed my PSU cover for more air flow to the GPU. We are all about air flow and since my ram are tall I have to offset my front fan making it as tall as 192-193mm distance internal. This is on a Phanteks Enthoo Pro Full Tower. Now the Corsair Carbide 600C the original idea behind it was quietness withotu losing airflow performance. The front cover and no fans on top makes it so that the fan noise is masked. The issue I have with my case is the fan noise on top you can hear it during recording or when gaming once the fans decide to crank up. I have the following combinations though, 200mm main front fan, behind the cages I have 2x 120mm Static preasure fans GT. 3x 120mm on top fans and 1x 120mm on the bottom. You can hear them pretty well. Him and I were thinking that 140mm fans may help with noise levels and still provide good air flow. The cube might be to wide so we were leaning toward the tower type instead. Here is my current setup and I am debating of replacing my case with a different one. He may want to grab my case and put his current PC workstation in it which is a HP xw9400 Workstation dual AMD Opterons.
As you can see on the picture above the fan is pretty much touching the side panel due to the ram size making the fan offset by a lot.
By the way I do like how you made that stand. Do you do those to order? lol The aside 200mm fan is nice on your case not a bad option too, was also looking at the Corsair Obsidian Series Black 450D High Airflow Mid-Tower Computer Case and Obsidian Series 750D Airflow Edition. However; we are trying to stay below the $150 budget if possible personally shotting within the $100-130 range but with a max of $150.
As you can see on the picture above the fan is pretty much touching the side panel due to the ram size making the fan offset by a lot.
By the way I do like how you made that stand. Do you do those to order? lol The aside 200mm fan is nice on your case not a bad option too, was also looking at the Corsair Obsidian Series Black 450D High Airflow Mid-Tower Computer Case and Obsidian Series 750D Airflow Edition. However; we are trying to stay below the $150 budget if possible personally shotting within the $100-130 range but with a max of $150.
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Thanks for the kind words! Instead of push-push, have you thought of making the fans pull-pull on the Noctua cooler? That may solve your clearance problems. I knew the cooler was big before I bought it and I normally buy non-fancy RAM kits anyway so not an issue as you can see with my picture.
I've not really been testing fans, but when I got my Noctua cooler, I was so impressed with their fans and so that's why I bought two (three by tomorrow!) and replaced my stock case fans.
Sweet setup! What's that white rod? GPU support?
Flight simulation is my hobby and because of that, I had to learn how to work with wood a little bit as well, so decided to make one from the scrap bits lying around. Here's a shot of my sim pit.
The 500R came with it stock. It's low RPM so not very noisy. Where the 450D and the 600C fails in my opinion is that they're too short. 2 front fans vs. 3 front fans and it's clear which one has better airflow capability. Plus because of the bigger "volume" of air, I can run the fans slower so less noise.
As for the budget, well, my case is 5 years old and was £71 when I bought it, so not a bad deal. It looks like it's doubled the price since then, and the store where I got it from no longer sells it. Wow... anyway, my point is that a good case can last you a long time, so that can be used to justify buying a better, if more expensive case.
- Thread Starter
- #8
Nice setup, I love flight sim, use to do that before with Microsoft Flight Sim 98,2000, and the one after that on top of Fighter Falcon 4.0 with custom skin, features and setup were you needed to actually go over the correct setup to turn on the F-16 before flight. I did also flew real plane before in NYC.
Now my hobby is Audio production along with my casual gaming on my system.
Last picture I took been modifying my desk little by little until I custom make my studio desk.
That support road is for the graphic card it is heavy and that is what keep it from sagging. By the way do you know if there is a cooling performance different swapping the CPU fans around?
Now my hobby is Audio production along with my casual gaming on my system.
Last picture I took been modifying my desk little by little until I custom make my studio desk.
That support road is for the graphic card it is heavy and that is what keep it from sagging. By the way do you know if there is a cooling performance different swapping the CPU fans around?
No idea, sorry. Shouldn't be too far off from the push config, but the only way to be sure is to test.
- Thread Starter
- #12
Honestly I almost feel is 2 degrees cooler. Normally I was sitting at 29C to 30C in some games starting but I was actually at 27C to 29C but I need to do a solid test at the same room temperature and all to make sure it is true. Lol
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