Is there an ultimate PC case for me??

[tommyp796]

Is there an ultimate PC case for me???
I found Phanteks EVOLV X. its got dust filters, (not sure about airflow), Efficient use of space, nice style and glass side panels. but it is quite expensive. Is there no-one else? Is there any other contender that can blow my mind?
ATX and/or micro-ATX size case recommendations please. I think i need at least 2 pcie slots so NO mini-ITX please.

I have some priorities and some points that i don't mind.
priorities
1. Dust filters (minimum of fine mesh panel)
2. air flow (but through the filter)
3. water cooling support. (intending to do both CPU and GPU custom cooling with 2 radiators. both rads intaking air into the case through filters. then positive pressure through the back)
4. not massive in size (efficient layout)

things that I don't mind
1. noise blocking
2. LED lighting
3. motherboard orientation

things that affects my decision but not as much as priorities
1. Stylishness
2. price
3. ability to accommodate different set ups (eg. thermaltake core v21 allows regular, laid down or upside down motherboard position)

Let me know what you think and i hope others can benefit from this too

 

[Inspireless Llama]

Phanteks P600S.

Pretty much same internals as Evolv X, outside looks different. No stock RGB mainly, and the front looks very different. I have the case, I love it.

The case is made this way that you can either go for a version with good airflow, or a silent version. Silent is with front panels on, remove them and you get a "cooled" version. It has dustfilters / meshes on front and on top of the case.

It also has frontal and top support for 360 (or 380)mm watercoolers. Front I'm not entirely sure about if it's 240 or 360, but you can place on ethere.

As in size, I think it's about the same size as the Evolv X.

 

[Rensje]

My favourite case fits your criteria:
Fractal Design Meshify C

• up to 360mm radiator support up front, filtered
• up to 240mm radiator support up top, filtered
• compact size but full ATX support
• optimised for airflow

Another great (and brand-new) case that fits the bill:
be quiet! Pure Base 500DX

There's many more that could work, but these two I like the best and both will give you great results. It's not that easy to find good cases with mesh on the front panel. It's all tempered glass or plain metal nowadays.

 

[Inspireless Llama]

@Rensje you already reacted to my post while I still was editting it

 

[Oussebon]

ATX and/or micro-ATX size case recommendations please. I think i need at least 2 pcie slots so NO mini-ITX please.

What exactly do need here? Since mini ITX cases have 2 PCIe slots at the back.

Do you mean you will be putting 2 dedicated GPUs in the system? In which case Micro ATX may be cutting it fine.

There are some other things that aren't 100% clear too - perhaps the best thing is if you post your full prospective spec as it currently stands and people can suggestion further options to house it. What components, what liquid cooling kit, etc

Corsair Crystal 680X and Corsair Obsidian 500D SE could be worth a look if going for ATX.

 

[tommyp796]

What exactly do need here? Since mini ITX cases have 2 PCIe slots at the back.

Do you mean you will be putting 2 dedicated GPUs in the system? In which case Micro ATX may be cutting it fine.

There are some other things that aren't 100% clear too - perhaps the best thing is if you post your full prospective spec as it currently stands and people can suggestion further options to house it. What components, what liquid cooling kit, etc

Corsair Crystal 680X and Corsair Obsidian 500D SE could be worth a look if going for ATX.

I meant 2 pcie cards. i have graphics card with 2.5 slot thinkness and a sound card. (surround sound)
9900k
RTX 2080 (will probably upgrade to 3080 ti or Flagship from AMD)
custom water cooling cpu with EK product. will be getting Gpu water cooled with extra radiator. i have one 360 radiator atm (extra radiator size will be depending on case compatibility)
currently have micro-ATX mother board (may upgrade when DDR5 comes out)
normal size fully modular PSU

 

[tommyp796]

My favourite case fits your criteria:
Fractal Design Meshify C

• up to 360mm radiator support up front, filtered
• up to 240mm radiator support up top, filtered
• compact size but full ATX support
• optimised for airflow

Another great (and brand-new) case that fits the bill:
be quiet! Pure Base 500DX

There's many more that could work, but these two I like the best and both will give you great results. It's not that easy to find good cases with mesh on the front panel. It's all tempered glass or plain metal nowadays.

thank you for those recommendations.
i need to jam both 360 and 240 radiators in... investigation showed that it is not possible with both cases mentioned. but if i were to go with single rad, i would've picked meshify C.
good airflow, dust filters everywhere, cool front panel. good radiator support, discreet cable routing (easy too)

 

[Rensje]

Out of curiosity, why do you need to use two radiators? Do you already own them and are you adamant about reusing them? In that scenario I can see why you would need to fit both, but if you don't own both yet I can vouch for the effectiveness of air cooling either CPU or GPU. Air cooling these days is just as effective and perhaps even quieter, depending on the quality of the product.

 

[Oussebon]

There's its big brother (though not too big), the Meshify S2

Fractal S2 Meshify Case Review - Improving Airflow in a Mid-Tower | GamersNexus

stub This is a review of a revision of the Define S2, a case which we already dismissed as nearly identical to the Define R6 (a case we liked and found of high build quality), making this the third review we’ve published of the same(-ish) enclosure. That description may not sound promising, but...

www.gamersnexus.net

Liquid cooling will be quieter on the GPU than even a good air cooler

Though 2 radiators for a 1 CPU 1 GPU system could be more than is needed.

 

[tommyp796]

I think i found the second runner up
Lian Li PC-O11 Dynamic White ATX Case

it can handle upto 3x 360 long 60 mm thick. and it is quite small. all the panels have magnetic dust filters. it is quite cheap compared to EVOLV X. front and side glass panel to top it all up.
im thinking of putting existing 360 rad on the side and when i upgrade, i can put 240 or 280 mm rad on top.
currently this is the only case that is ticking all the boxes for me!
this case has one drawback. this case is dual chamber design where rear chamber harnesses vertically mounted PSU. to minimise case getting too thick, front chamber has limited width.

 

[tommyp796]

Out of curiosity, why do you need to use two radiators? Do you already own them and are you adamant about reusing them? In that scenario I can see why you would need to fit both, but if you don't own both yet I can vouch for the effectiveness of air cooling either CPU or GPU. Air cooling these days is just as effective and perhaps even quieter, depending on the quality of the product.

i will be overclocking my cpu ram and my gpu. i'd like to get two rads so that fans can run at a slower pace.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

I mean if you want ultimate, you could check out Singularity. Ive had a thing about Parvum for a while too, but you'd need to do your own filters I think. It seems Caselabs went bust unfortunately, but you might find something second hand from them as well. Other then that I think youre on the right track with Lian Li.

 

[FreezerBurn]

I just saw a $1,500 keyboard...and now a $1,499 case LoL

I mean if you want ultimate, you could check out Singularity. Ive had a thing about Parvum for a while too, but you'd need to do your own filters I think. It seems Caselabs went bust unfortunately, but you might find something second hand from them as well. Other then that I think youre on the right track with Lian Li.

 

[Rensje]

Though 2 radiators for a 1 CPU 1 GPU system could be more than is needed.

I agree. @FreezerBurn if you feel like you must water cool everything, I'd go the custom water cooling route and hook up both the CPU and GPU to one closed cooling loop. It looks clean and saves space in your case, giving you much more flexibility.

For my money, I don't see the point of water cooling graphics cards. They might run a bit quieter that way, but you won't be able to push them any further. You will hit the limits of your graphics memory and chip long before temperature becomes the deciding factor in how far you can overclock. This is doubly true if you buy a 2,5-slot GPU with a beefy 3-fan cooling setup, which will easily let you take your baby to the limit without sounding like a jet engine.

Actually, I could say the same about CPUs. Unless you are doing extreme overclocking (at which point you would need specialised equipment anyway), there's no CPU out there you couldn't take to the ragged edge with 'only' air cooling. A be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 4, Noctua NH-D15 or Deepcool Assassin III will get you there just as easily and they may even be quieter than water cooling loops depending on the setup. People forget that the pump and the flow of coolant produce noise as well.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

I just saw a $1,500 keyboard...and now a $1,499 case LoL

Thermaltake and I think Lian Li both have cases pushing 1000 too, probably others. Lian Li actually has a desk case that goes for 2000 Euros where I'm from. Too rich for me, but there's a market for it for sure. What keyboard was that?

I agree. @FreezerBurn if you feel like you must water cool everything, I'd go the custom water cooling route and hook up both the CPU and GPU to one closed cooling loop. It looks clean and saves space in your case, giving you much more flexibility.

For my money, I don't see the point of water cooling graphics cards. They might run a bit quieter that way, but you won't be able to push them any further. You will hit the limits of your graphics memory and chip long before temperature becomes the deciding factor in how far you can overclock. This is doubly true if you buy a 2,5-slot GPU with a beefy 3-fan cooling setup, which will easily let you take your baby to the limit without sounding like a jet engine.

Actually, I could say the same about CPUs. Unless you are doing extreme overclocking (at which point you would need specialised equipment anyway), there's no CPU out there you couldn't take to the ragged edge with 'only' air cooling. A be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 4, Noctua NH-D15 or Deepcool Assassin III will get you there just as easily and they may even be quieter than water cooling loops depending on the setup. People forget that the pump and the flow of coolant produce noise as well.

I understand your position, custom watercooling is IMO more of a hobby these days, an expensive one too and there are some great dual tower air coolers . The new Intel chips sound pretty wild though, I bet you'd get a bit more out of them with a good custom loop. The big dual tower air coolers are around about the same performance as a 240mm CLC decibel for decibel, but as the power draw goes up the air coolers fall further behind especially when you add more rad area to a 280mm or 360mm. Having said that, youre talking the difference between 5.3 ghz and 5.1, say at safe temps. So little real world performance difference its true.

I also have to say though from my limited experience which only involved an EVGA 980Ti FTW with a NZXT Kraken G10 bracket with a Kraken X40. It was way quieter under load and temperatures were a fair amount better. The trade off was that at idle there was still a faint noise, because the pumps used by Coolit/Asetek in most CLC's are not the best quality, vs zero fan mode on an idle air cooled GPU which is obviously silent.

I believe if you use a D5 pump rather than a DDC based one they are basically silent, although of course if you have 6 fans running on two 360mm rads that's going to make a small hum even at minimum speeds. Again the trade off is that under a full load with that amount of rad the noise would stay the same. This part is all second hand info to be fair, I've pondered water cooling many times so I've read a fair amount about it.

 

[FreezerBurn]

DataMancer

Thermaltake and I think Lian Li both have cases pushing 1000 too, probably others. Lian Li actually has a desk case that goes for 2000 Euros where I'm from. Too rich for me, but there's a market for it for sure. What keyboard was that?