Are these cases any good for cooling?

I have seen many models that look almost identical and I love the look, the problem is they dont seem to have many vents and I think they are probably bad for cooling. I'd guess these would get pretty hot because they dont have any vents in the front of the case or the top.. Most have included a side fan and room foom for a rear fan though.. I am wondering if these are bad for cooling or not.. I want my case to look nice, but I also want it to not have too much heat.

I have seen a lot of cases that look like these ones do.. These all look a lot alike except for a few minor design changes and they are from different brands. There is Something about the front with the bolts and the side windows I really like, but Im afraid that it will be a bad choice for someone who plans to overclock and wants a cool system.

here is what I mean:


This is a diamod(brand) midtower /w "UV sensitive" side window (picture taken from SVC.com)


Here is an enermax CS-3051L-B3A (picture from newegg.com)


and my favorite one- the raidmax 278WSP (picture from newegg.com)



Thanks for the help... I really love how these look, but if I can get a signifgant improvment I may just go for something like the X-Sonic case which everyone seems to be raving about.. I just dont think it's very pretty..., but hey I guess performance is mor eimportant then looks, right?

NO cooling sucks in them,I got one( the first pic), get a antec or Chieftec

well, the front intake comes from the bottom, as I'm sure there's a gap between the face and the metal case. if you were to look at a bottom view of the case, there should be a (somewhat) rectangular hole between the front of the face, and the front of the case, itself. The air is supposed to come in from the bottom, which should be a certain distance off the ground due to standard rubber "feet"(as I call them) on the bottom. Anyway, it's designed to get air from the bottom(cold air settles) and into the computer. I have one that's like this and I have a desk on wheels with a little compartment for a computer on the bottom (as most are designed nowadays) and I just hang the vent from the front so I get nice, cool air from the floor.

Soy

I have a question on those, why did they put places for four front intake fans?

I mean theres only 2 exhaust total, and another side panel intake, so why did they design it like that?

For positive air flow. If you want a positive air flow, you can have the same fan on all intakes and exhausts, and you'll have more air coming in then out. If you want (near) even air flow, you can just use 2 intake, 2 exhuast, or mix up the fans(CFM-wise) to get even airflow. And if you want negative air flow, more exhaust CFM than intake CFM. The point is, however, that you don't have to use all the vents, but they're good for positive air flow.

Soy

I dont know.. this is kinda sketchy.. I cant find much on the raidmax model I want (278) and it doesnt seem to have many vents at all.. and there are 4 front fan spots??? thats kinda odd.

I don't think there should be too much of a cooling problem with those cases if you have a good amount of air flowing through them. Although 5 intakes are a bit much, you can mod the case for a top exhaust or extra exhaust under the PSU, or you can try for good CFM fans for intake and higher CFM fans for exhaust

Soy

Those cases weren't built for good air flow. Just average air flow. The side fan interupts the flow.

It depends on what you're cooling. If it's an Athlon, I'd go with an Antec or Chieftech Tower. If it's a P4, I'd go with anything that suits you. Athlons suck when it comes to taking care of heat.

In my old Antec tower, I had 2 intakes and 2 exhasts and a ThermalTake Volcano9+ on full blast ALL the time and my temps hovered around 42C idle with my Athlon 2000+ at barely 142 FSB.

Now I have a P4 at 180 FSB, snuggly in my new CoolerMaster mid tower (same size as those with same setup but no side windw, or any intakes for that matter) and it's running at around 32-36C with NO intakes and 1 exhaust, and it's sitting right above my blistering hot Radeon 9700 Pro. My athlon was sitting above a GeForce4.

I had my P4 in my Antec case for a while and it was running at 25C! So there's a really big difference in what you're cooling. If it's a P4, I'd go with whatever case you want. Make it look cool with lights and the whole deal. Mine looks like a Voodoo PC. If it's an Athlon, well....

BTW...

nerdlogic said:

Although 5 intakes are a bit much, you can mod the case for a top exhaust or extra exhaust under the PSU, or you can try for good CFM fans for intake and higher CFM fans for exhaust.

Click to expand...

You don't have to use all the intake slots... But having more intake fans than exhaust is actually better. When you have fewer or even the same number of intake fans as output, you lose air through the nooks and crannys of the case. I mean, yeah, it's not really that much, but having more air flowing INTO your case means more cold air is going in, than hot air staying in because the 5 intakes will be pushing air out. It's not like your case is gonna gain volume and explode. The air comes out some way or another. It's just that with 5 intakes, you get more cold air into the case.

I think it is a great case for cooling, 4 80mm Intakes and 2 80mm outtakes...as for the side fan its a joke to put it there, I would take that fan out and put a DUCT there instead feeding the CPU direct outside ambient air, then it would be Ideal

Cheers

chasingapple said:

I think it is a great case for cooling, 4 80mm Intakes and 2 80mm outtakes...as for the side fan its a joke to put it there, I would take that fan out and put a DUCT there instead feeding the CPU direct outside ambient air, then it would be Ideal

Cheers

Click to expand...

hmm thats an interesting take... Maybe someone else has thoughts?

Well, I mean, to be fair, an Athlon can go upto about 50C and be "OK." So if you want somehting that looks cool, get the case you're looking at.

As far as the Tower cases looking cool, but being expensive, here's one for $65 in silver. You can get them in green, black and blue too I think. And there's plenty more at that price for that kind of case.

Also, though, and don't take this the wrong way, but I think the case you originally posted about kinda looks cheesy. It's just too much. Go with the CHIEFTEC I linked you to. It's sleek and stylish, and has great cooling ability since it's a relatively big case.

One major reason for aspiring to attain POSITIVE case pressure is so you can control dust and grime inside the case. with positive case pressure, air only enters the case at your intake fans. placing filters on those fans catches a majority of the dust that would otherwise enter your case. if you have positive case pressure, no vacuums are created around those nooks and crannies allowing dust to sneak in. over time, accumulation of dust increases temperatures inside your case.



BdK

I think if you like this case then go for it, if everyone had an Antec case the world would be boring...get that one and tinker with it and find the best way to cool it, any case can be cooled well, its just a matter of modding it to do so

I don't believe that dust theory. Dust is solid and ths will settle, if anywhere at the back of your case, or around the small parts of your computer pieces.

Having more fans will blow IN more dust, and less will be sucked out. I have FAR less dust in my system having no intakes than having 2. As air is a gas (duh) it will move through your system easily, but dust that is sucked in by the 5 fans wil just settle.

Screw it, get the first one you posted. It looks cool, and you can fiddle with adding fans until it suits your needs.

I dont think its over the top. It looks cool, I based my decision on buying a case on looks and quality, not on cooling. If I need more cooling, I simply have to mod the case.

go fer it, get the raidmax. I doubt you wil regret it.

Amino: I was merely pointing out possibilities to use the slots. If you read the whole post, I did point out that you did not have to use every slot, but that they're there if you want to.

As far as dust is concerned, it is all around the place, some more than others, and it will get into your system one way or another, even if you have filters, although they do help keep the majority of dust out of your case. IMO, the best solution for dust in your system is to open it up and blow it out every once in a while.

Soy

avoid these cases

After owning this type of case I have one thing to say. AVOID THEM. Although the window may look cool or the sleek looking front this case's airflow sucks. The front intake is absolutely worthless as it gets almost no air to blow into the case. The side intake is the only intake worth considering when dealing with airflow. I tried many ways to solve my airflow problems with this case to no solution. There will always be negative airflow in this case. there are no other good places for intake fans on this case if you plan to keep the window intact. With only one intake fan that actually pushes air you will just get high temps and dust.

I really tried to make this case work, but in the end i swapped for an antec tower, and the airflow in it is amazing. AVOID this case's crappy airflow.

*** many people have mentioned modding to make this case to suit their needs. Tried That but there is no way to increase the air intake without seriously messing up the look.
looks are one thing, but if you want cooling, look elsewhere...

I got a case which doesn't have a side window...I take it that is more preferable to the overclocker then?

Im asking because at first I was a little sad that it didn't have a see-thru side, but maybe that is a good thing? because I can easily mod the aluminum side...yet the front of the case looks good. Just trying to reassure myself