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Looking for a new, water cooling friendly case.

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Greeny

Registered
Joined
Jun 26, 2016
Location
Adelaide, Australia.
Howdy, I'm in need of a little advice in regards to a new case.

I currently have an in win 909, which I love the look of, but, I am severely running out of space inside it and have reached a point where I'm not sure I can put up with it's shortcomings just to have a nice looking case. I have a 6850k on an X99 Deluxe II board, cooled by a EK custom loop with a 360x60mm push pull rad, which cools the CPU fine for the most part, but I just can't get air to my (currently) air cooled GPU's. I'm about to swap to MSI Gaming X cards, which given their length, has meant moving the pump as far forwards as possible, which has put it against the frame....... which now hums with the sound of the pump. Long story short, looking for new case ideas........

Case needs to have space for the 360 rad plus another large rad if I water cool the MSI cards (likely), space for 3-4 HDD's, and if possible, be quiet.

The list I've sort of narrowed down so far:

Corsaid 900D - https://www.pccasegear.com/products/23241/corsair-obsidian-900d-super-tower-case
+ Stacks of room.
- So tall it would have to live next to desk, reviews say it's a bit bendy / cheap in places?

Thermaltake Core X9 - http://www.umart.com.au/newsite/goods.php?id=30279
+ Stacks of room, can flip the sides so that the GPU's have access to air (though I'm not sure if I can mount fans near them?), half the price of the 900D, will fit under desk.
- Not sure on Thermaltake quality, thinking since it's vents everywhere it would be loud? (Unless lining parts with sound foam would work?

Thermaltake Core W100 - https://www.ple.com.au/Products/622...lack-Core-Full-Tower-Case-w-Side-Panel-Window
+ Stacks of room, wheels would make it easy to move.
- Same thing on quality /sound, and with one loop in place it seems to look super empty.

Thermaltake The Tower 900 - http://www.umart.com.au/newsite/goods.php?id=37542
+Stacks of room, Looks....... different, great separation of hot/cold zones, less vents all over so maybe quieter?
- Same issue on possible quality (but does look better made), so tall that it's have to go next to the desk (which would be ok I guess), is it a bit try hard?

Phanteks Enthoo Primo Ultimate - https://www.pccasegear.com/products/25558/phanteks-enthoo-primo-ultimate-chassis-black
+ Stacks of room, seems like it should be quiet.
- Looks kind of dated now, and no particularly good spot for a 360 that I can think of.

eVGA DG-87 or 86 - https://www.ple.com.au/Products/624...etal-Grey-Full-Tower-Case-wSide-Panel-Window-
+ Think it has enough space for the rads, looks different.
- I know nothing about these cases, reviews look mixed, still not sure on the difference between the 87 and 86.

I'd have loved a Be Quiet Dark Base 900, but I'm pretty sure that to run a rad in the front I'd have to lose the HDD bays?

That's everything I could think of, but hoping you guys might have some advice / ideas.

Thanks heaps.
 
Honestly your best choices are going to be the 900D and the Core X9 as they don't need to remove the HDD cages to accommodate 2x 360 thick rads.

Mountain mods comes to mind too, but you'll need a heavy check book for it.
 
Ended up with the Phanteks Enthoo Primo Ultimate. In the middle price wise, good number of fans, and I am hoping quiet. Overkill build coming soon :)
 
I have/had the X9 its a great case for the $$$ only reason I stopped using it is lack of room under my desk and sore knee from banging into it all the time lol.
 
I absolutely LOVE Phanteks cases! But my next build I decided to try and build my water cooling system in a Mid Tower (lets hope I dont hate that decision!)

With that said, the 900D is just a boss of a case! But, HUGE.
 
NZXT cases have pretty fun WC support.

The 240mm fans on the phantom let you use HUGE rads on top, mounted internally.

The phantom also has a few passthoughs in case you want to send the water to a super huge external rad.
 
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