Best case with minimum 180mm clearance to fit a Noctua D15 and Trident Z ram

[Drummo]

I got a bit carried away with the my new Skylake build and need to find the best case that has enough CPU cooler clearance to accommodate a Noctua NH-D15 cooler and G.Skill Trident Z ram.

Trident Z are 44mm high and the standard clearance under the 2nd fan of the D15 is 32mm so I need to raise that fan by at least 12mm which will increase the total height of the D15 from 165mm to at least 177mm.

The cases (with clearances in mm and Perth, Western Australia prices) that seem to give enough clearance include:

NZXT H440 Black 180mm AU$138
Corsair Obsidian Series 550D 180mm AU$185
Fractal Design Define R5 180mm AU$179
Corsair Carbide 500R 180mm AU$159
NZXT Phantom 530 183mm AU189 ($149 Red?)
NZXT H630 190mm AU$199
Corsair Carbide 600Q 200mm AU$189
NZXT Phantom 630 200mm AU$229
Corsair Graphite 780T 200mm AU$259

I was also interested in the Phanteks and Be Quiet! cases but they are not available in Perth and freight makes them too expensive. I also contemplated the Thermaltake Core x9 which has 250mm clearance and amazing looks but came to the conclusion that this might be overkill!

I will be overclocking, so cooling is important but at the same time I would also like a quiet case. Within reason, overall size and price are not important factors.

The PC will have an Asus Maximus VIII Hero MOBO, i7 6700k CPU, Samsung 950 Pro 512GB M.2 NVMe; 32gb ram, a GeForce GTX 1080 (when they are back in stock and perhaps a bit lower in price) and I may re-use 2 to 3 HDDs, 2 extra SSDs, a DVD burner and a hot swap HDD dock from my existing PC.

Any advice or recommendations would be really appreciated!!

Thanks!

 

[lehtv]

Can't go wrong with the Define R5. It will fit everything you need and it's very quiet and cools well enough, but it's recommended to purchase an extra 140mm fan for it so that you have two blowing in and one blowing out. This way you ensure that dust stays in the dust filters. The second fan will also help cool the graphics card - you can remove the top HDD bay, which gives the upper front fan a direct airflow path to the graphics card.

 

[Drummo]

Can't go wrong with the Define R5.

Many thanks!

The R5 always seems to get consistently good reviews! I must just check that the 180mm will definitely give enough clearance above the raised fan on the D15 - it should, but it will be close.

What would you recommend for the extra 140mm fan?

Thanks again!

 

[lehtv]

The stock fans are Fractal Design GP-14 which you can also purchase separately, they are pretty good quality and mid priced. But they're not necessarily the best option depending on what else is available. Which store are you buying from?

 

[Drummo]

Which store are you buying from?

Probably from PLE, Austin or MSY in Perth or PCCG if online.

 

[lehtv]

Okay. The MSY site gives me a headache so I'm just going to skip that x)

PLE:
Define R5 $169
Fractal Silent R3 140mm $18

PCCG:
Define R5 $169 or Define R5 Blackout Window $189
+ one of these fans:
Nanoxia DS4 140mm $14
BeQuiet Pure Wings 2 140mm $16
Fractal GP-14 black $22
Noctua P14S Redux PWM $24 (connect to motherboard fan header with PWM support, not to case fan controller)

Austin:
Define R5 White or Titanium $179
Corsair Air SP140 white LED $22. The max RPM is 1440 which makes it much louder than the Fractal GP-14, and may not run entirely silently at minimum voltage. If you buy this, connect the fan to the motherboard so you can control its RPM independently of the GP-14 fans.
(Very bad selection here, just Corsair and Noctua, and a couple of other brands "order on request")

I would buy the R5 Blackout Window with a BeQuiet 140mm from PCCG. I know from having owned both Pure Wings 2 120mm PWM and Shadow Wings 140mm PWM that they are good quality and very quiet. Also, Pure Wings 2 140mm has a max RPM of 1000, which matches that of the stock GP-14 fans. And starting voltage is 5V so it is fully compatible with the case's 3-speed fan controller.

Put the stock fans in the front and the additional fan in the rear slot

EDIT: Also, if you're serious about CPU overclocking, you'll probably want a top exhaust fan as well. If you want to connect both the rear and top fan to the case fan controller, use a Y-cable: https://www.pccasegear.com/products/28288/phanteks-3pin-y-splitter-cable

 

[Drummo]

Thanks for your help lehtv. You are right - the MSY site can be a challenge!