Corsair 800d Build

[Theocnoob]

As for the case.....is the 800d really that bad for air cooling? What if I got higher CFM fans than the stock fans?

It isn't the fans it's just the general design of the case. It doesn't move enough air through the entire case. It's fine if you just need to move air through rads, if they are mounted logically. For air though, it doesn't work well. There's no forseeable reason for you to need water cooling anyways except 'just because'. Why not get a nice case that's great for air cooling? If you like the design of the phantom, you can put enough fans in that thing to make it a refrigerator .

Make sure you leave money for nick nacks like a high quality mouse and mouse pad, headphones/speakers if needed, etc.

I don't get why everyone is in love with that 800D lately. There have been so many much more attractive, and better finished cases over the years. The Cosmos and Cosmos S were really beautiful

Here is the (unreleased) next Cosmos

with stuff in it and custom yellow paintjob.

and a new Cosmos is on the way. Silverstone's Raven cases are very attractive (if that is your style preference). Lian Li's higher end cases rival and match Apple's finish and precision of workmanship. There are a lot of choices that are excellent for air cooling, and even for water cooling (example, even the corsair 650D/600T will take a fairly decent thickness radiator in the roof. They're just expensive cases for what they are IMO).

Enjoy

 

[Knufire]

You can fit almost as much raddage in a NZXT Phantom or HAF932 as a 800D if you're willing to mod.

 

[EarthDog]

I'll say this one last time...if a case 'isnt good for air' how the hell do you think its good for water when the same air movement cools the rads?

Anyway, check out my review on the 800d. WHile it isnt the best air mover, it did an ok job of keeping components cool. You are not breaking clock records or anything where every 1-2C matters so the 800D is a fine choice. Very classy case.

RE: Hyperthreading and gaming... BF2, BF3 need as many physical and logical cores as possible, and I think FSX. More will use it as time goes on. With this budget there is absolutely NO reason to get a 2500k IMHO.

 

[Ducktape]

I'll say this one last time...if a case 'isnt good for air' how the hell do you think its good for water when the same air movement cools the rads?

Anyway, check out my review on the 800d. WHile it isnt the best air mover, it did an ok job of keeping components cool. You are not breaking clock records or anything where every 1-2C matters so the 800D is a fine choice. Very classy case.

RE: Hyperthreading and gaming... BF2, BF3 need as many physical and logical cores as possible, and I think FSX. More will use it as time goes on. With this budget there is absolutely NO reason to get a 2500k IMHO.

So it really comes down to only aesthetics and features since they both have decent cooling efficiency?

 

[Theocnoob]

So it really comes down to only aesthetics and features since they both have decent cooling efficiency?

Yep. You can get a ridiculous amount of cooling into the phantom if you populate all the possible fan positions. There's no sane reason you'd ever need water cooling with all that air moving around. Just get those triple slot cards. I have the Direct CU II GTX 580. I had it in an Antec 300 with a 120mm blowing cool air right on it. With the card stock with 50% fan speed my 100% load was like 40ish celsius. They just don't get hot. Get a case you like with high air flow. If you like phantom, done. And that's it. See which fans it comes with and which fans are optional (ie, has space for 5 optional 120mm fans) buy 5 120mm fans. Try to get quiet ones so you don't long for death.

And yes get a 2600K. You can afford it. 2MB extra cash and 4 extra threads could come in handy.

I'll say this one last time...if a case 'isnt good for air' how the hell do you think its good for water when the same air movement cools the rads?

I was trying to be gentle about it, but yes. I think it's a horrible case but people like it.

 

[Knufire]

With watercooling, it's how much raddage you can fit in the case.

For example, with the 800D you can fit a 120x3 on the top and a 120x2 on the bottom, and possible another in the front intake.

I've seen the same done in an NZXT Phantom, but it requires some modding.

Fans are fans, air is air, that doesn't change between cases.

 

[Theocnoob]

Fans are fans, air is air, that doesn't change between cases.

What?

No idea what you mean by this..

The design of the case itself and the number of fans sucking air in and out, where they are, whether they have dust filters, etc, all impact the temperatures of components.

A Raven RV02 cools much better with it's 3 180mm fans and 1 120mm fans, due to its design, than many other cases would with that same layout. My Antec Sonata 3, despite being torn down to essentially a skeleton, with a million fans macguivered onto it, does not cool as well as my Antec 300 did, with less fans.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119150
Cosmos S is in stock @ Newegg for 170 and 30 shipping. I'd go for it. 200mm in the side and you can put 3 120mm in the front, 3 on the top and 1 in the back. Plus nothing looks sleeker.

 

[Layback Bear]

That rad is still a joke and underperforms a cheaper air cooler.

Whether it is a joke or not I don't know. I don't have one. Just reading reviews. Just something to look at was my suggestion.

 

[Theocnoob]

Whether it is a joke or not I don't know. I don't have one. Just reading reviews. Just something to look at was my suggestion.

I didn't mean any rudeness by it. It just isn't a good solution in terms of price or performance. It just works well when you can't fit an air cooler for whatever reason, be it ram clearance, case shape, etc. Otherwise IMO it isn't a good buy.

 

[Ducktape]

Actually I was seriously considering putting an h70/h80 in an air cooled 800d. I read a review of the h80 that said that the airflow is acceptable in an 800d with one of the all in one
wc systems. Also, the 800d looks amazing IMO and would allow me to wc layer if I wanted to. Thanks for the suggestion, Layback Bear

 

[Layback Bear]

Fans are not all the same. I use Noctua when ever I can. They do cost a bit much. Spend some time reading reviews and then you can make up your mind.

 

[Tokae]

I'll say this one last time...if a case 'isnt good for air' how the hell do you think its good for water when the same air movement cools the rads?

Anyway, check out my review on the 800d. WHile it isnt the best air mover, it did an ok job of keeping components cool. You are not breaking clock records or anything where every 1-2C matters so the 800D is a fine choice. Very classy case.

RE: Hyperthreading and gaming... BF2, BF3 need as many physical and logical cores as possible, and I think FSX. More will use it as time goes on. With this budget there is absolutely NO reason to get a 2500k IMHO.

+1 for this

My office is quite warm usually and this case does an excellent job of not only keeping the dust out but keeping it cool as well..

It may not be an Antec 1200 with 45 fans in it, but Corsair has done their homework and the airflow is very impressive!

If you cannot tell, I am super happy with my 800d

 

[Theocnoob]

+1 for this


It may not be an Antec 1200 with 45 fans in it, but Corsair has done their homework and the airflow is very impressive!

Not to be rude, but I also have a Corsair case, and no, they haven't done any home work. Their cases are quite pathetic across the board in my opinion. All overpriced and under-delivering. The 700 and 800, obscenely so. The lower end cases merely suffer from a case of over pricing. Also their fans are utterly pathetic and much worse than what Antec includes in the once forty dollar 300 case. The Fit and finish of corsair cases, materials, workmanship, electronics, airflow and general design of Corsair cases does not merit their price. Their rubber grommets and the included cables (except their SATA cables which are garbage) are nice but that's not worth $200>

 

[Tokae]

Not to be rude, but I also have a Corsair case, and no, they haven't done any home work. Their cases are quite pathetic across the board in my opinion. All overpriced and under-delivering. The 700 and 800, obscenely so. The lower end cases merely suffer from a case of over pricing. Also their fans are utterly pathetic and much worse than what Antec includes in the once forty dollar 300 case. The Fit and finish of corsair cases, materials, workmanship, electronics, airflow and general design of Corsair cases does not merit their price. Their rubber grommets and the included cables (except their SATA cables which are garbage) are nice but that's not worth $200>

To each his own I guess.. I have built a couple of rigs for customers, Antec 900, 1200, HAF 932 and a HAF X. I think the fit and finish of the corsair is the best out of them. I guess it boils down to what you are happy with, thats all.

 

[Theocnoob]

To each his own I guess.. I have built a couple of rigs for customers, Antec 900, 1200, HAF 932 and a HAF X. I think the fit and finish of the corsair is the best out of them. I guess it boils down to what you are happy with, thats all.

For the sake of friendly argument, none of those cases have or claim to have a good fit and finish. Antec puts a much better fit/finish into a Sonata III/IV than they do into the 900 or 1200. The panels are thicker and tighter fit and have better paint and the gaps between panels are narrower or non-existant.

Corsairs internal is the best. I'll give it that. I don't look at or interact with the innards of the case as much as the outside, though.

 

[Tokae]

For the sake of friendly argument, none of those cases have or claim to have a good fit and finish. Antec puts a much better fit/finish into a Sonata III/IV than they do into the 900 or 1200. The panels are thicker and tighter fit and have better paint and the gaps between panels are narrower or non-existant.

Corsairs internal is the best. I'll give it that. I don't look at or interact with the innards of the case as much as the outside, though.

Ah nice, I have not dealt with the Sonatas yet! Personally I like the monolithic finish of the 800D, to me thats a part of its 'image'. Anyway I will have to check out the Sonatas!

 

[Evochuck]

If you looking for something in the price range of the 800d but with good cooling I suggest you look at the Silverstone FT02, I know im in love with mine

 

[Theocnoob]

If you looking for something in the price range of the 800d but with good cooling I suggest you look at the Silverstone FT02, I know im in love with mine

That's an excellent case. I'd argue that it is better thought out too. I definitely prefer it's airflow layout.

800D goes for 250 or 300 bucks and for that you can buy almost any case. So many cases will do just as much and more including radiator placement and so forth.

 

[kiru]

I'll have to agree with Theocnoob on the 800D.

I admit, the first time I saw the 800D, I was like admiring it from afar. But once I got up close and worked on one for a friend's rig, I quickly realized that it wasn't that great of a case especially for the price tag that is placed on it. The interior is definitely nice, but from the amount and placement of the fan holes, I can not imagine it having decent air flow.

I've worked with quite a bit of cases the past year (as a hobby so it seems alot to me lol!) Haf X, Haf 932, Antec 900 and 1200, Fractal Design (Define and Arc series), Cosmos S, Silverstone FT# series, and Corsair Osidian 650D + 800D.

Out of all those cases, I enjoyed and liked the Haf X the most. Haf 932 and even the Fractal Design Define series were actually very nice in close 2nd imo. For their price and performance wise, it was like a steal. Especially the Fractal Design cases, they were priced fairly cheap and the finish on them were very nice and they did not outperformed my expectations at the time. And that's only for the under $150 price range, as for $200+ the Silverstone FT# line is actually very nice as to how they set up their interior which is definitely great as to how they exhaust the air out for most of the heavy hardware you will be using. The only con I found with the Silverstone cases is, I couldn't fit an H80 or similar CPU cooler in there as the rad would get constricted by the mount itself unfortunately and forces you to use an air cooler (I'm biased towards an H80 over ANY air cooled CPU cooler as they have made dramatic improvements and is a great step up from their H70 model)
I'm using a Haf 932 case myself and I have done mild overclocks to my system and I can say for a cheap case on only air cooling if you are not a bencher the performance of a cheap good case is sufficient enough in cooling any of your components. My idle temperatures is around 29-32c depending on how hot my room is and load only goes up to 60c max on my CPU, and my GPU idles are 34-36c and max on load is roughly 68c. A rig isn't required water cooling at all just to maintain good temperatures, sure it keeps things alot cooler than straight air but imo not required unless your an enthusiast and doing more and beyond just gaming.

If you are mainly only looking for pure aesthetics then no one in the world can help you choose a case as you choices are quite limited to your own opinions and tastes. Though if I were to help someone choose a case, all I can say is steer away from the 800D and put the pocketed cash into somewhere else that would be of much more use such as getting better fans for the case (Scythe Gentle Typhoons, Gelid Wing 12, etc.. Getting replacement fans can add up especially when you want excellent performing fans cause stock fans are usually junk imo) or other specs for your computer. That's my 2cent, and you can take it however you like.

 

[Theocnoob]

Have you looked at Fractal, Bit Fenix, (some) Lian Li cases to see if you can find a similar sort of monolithic clean block design? I mean obviously you can but I mean one that you like. It'll be cheaper and have better air flow.