Case for threadripper

[alpha88]

Anyone wanna discuss pros/cons of these cases (or make your own suggestion)?

I'm buying for a new ThreadRipper build, which will accordingly feature water cooling. I've built many computers in the past, but never a water cooling setup.

I'm considering:
Phanteks Enthoo Luxe Tempered Glass
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811854043

Phanteks Entho EVOLVE ATX Tempered Glass
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16811854039

I'm thinking I want a case that's pretty bit (to be able to set up water cooling without having too much difficulty squeezing everything in). I'll probably have it off the ground, on a shelf, turned sideways so the window faces out.

 

[nitromullet]

I personally like the looks of the Evolv, quite a lot, but if by you plan in building a custom loop, I would imagine the Luxe would be easier to the work with.

You clearly want something with tempered glass, so if you haven't already, you might want to check out the beQuiet Dark Base Pro 900 https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA68V45G2217

It's a good looking case IMO. A bit pricey, and perhaps a bit over complicated. It seems to have features no one asked for (ability to flip the motherboard BTX style, like is 2005), and foregoes some that are pretty much standard in other cases of this caliber (power supply shroud). Hardware Canucks named it case of the year for 2016, but not without some criticisms. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXjvxw92yls

 

[EXCellR8]

thermaltake X71 is under $200 right now... ridiculous space for whatever you need and has vertical GPU bracket

https://www.amazon.com/Thermaltake-...=UTF8&qid=1502811927&sr=8-1&keywords=core+x71

i might have to buy another one.

 

[alpha88]

That is a pretty sweet case (the X71).

I was leaning towards Evolv, but now I'm having second thoughts on the lack of a CD drive.

 

[fleshconsumed]

That is a pretty sweet case (the X71).

I was leaning towards Evolv, but now I'm having second thoughts on the lack of a CD drive.

How often do you use DVD drive? I finally ditched my DVD drive because I realized I never really burn anything anymore, the only time I use DVD drive is to install OS and occasionally to make backups. I just use my USB DVD drive for that. DVD drive is going the way of the floppy.

 

[lehtv]

the only time I use DVD drive is to install OS and occasionally to make backups

In addition, installing an OS is faster and more convenient from a USB drive, and backups are best taken to external or network connected hard disks - preferably automatically so you can just set it and forget it.

 

[dnavas]

Anyone wanna discuss pros/cons of these cases (or make your own suggestion)?
I'm buying for a new ThreadRipper build, which will accordingly feature water cooling.

I'm in a similar situation, I'm happy to spitball, but I'm not sure what your goals are. They are probably different from mine:
. 2-3 optical bays (3 preferred, as that's what I'm using now, however the third is really a 3-1/2)
. quiet -- currently using an ancient Antec Solo for my 1800X. Silence is golden...
. sufficient radiator space at top -- ...but the 1800X totally overwhelms the Antec under load, so an OC'd TR....
. I'm thinking specifically about the Liqtech TR4 360. I have no desire to make a mess of my computer by building my own loop :>
. As short as possible. My current case is 17", I want to add 55mm of radiator, is it too much to ask for a case to fit within 20"?! :sigh:
. Don't care a hoot about video cards (yeah, I just said that)
. Not a window guy :shrug:

I prefer the Enthoo Pro over the Luxe because of height, but I have to (I think) sacrifice the ODD tray to fit the 360mm radiator w/ fans in there. So, the Luxe is on my short-list as well.

The Corsair 750D might work if I put my 3-1/2 at top with the radiator. Not completely sure on that point. Google image search linked me here: http://cdn.overclock.net/f/f1/f16faf4b_d080b4f6_3zw7.jpeg unfortunately it links the image to a youtube page, rather than whatever thread it originally hailed from It isn't quite as large as the 900 is.

The Nanoxia CoolForce 1 has got a nice height, but it's missing one of my ODD bays, and the build quality isn't where their Deep Silence boxes are. Anyway, w/o the window, it probably misses your list.

I've also looked at the following (if that's helpful):

The Silent Base 800 doesn't have the top radiator space. You might find the Dark Base Pro 900 appealing?

The NZXT Phantom 530 is a tad tall, and it isn't a look I'm really into, and the whole mesh-look for the Source 530 is off-putting, but I'll throw both out there.

I don't expect that either the Design R5 or the Deep Silence boxes would appeal to you....

CaseLabs is totally a place I've gone to look, but the price and size is a put off. The Magnum SMA8 is amazing. The design team have done what many manufacturers should have and put their USB-yada-yada in a 3-1/2" bay and let users choose, which is awesome. [And then made the misstep of leaving the audio for the same bay -- argh!]

 

[alpha88]

In addition, installing an OS is faster and more convenient from a USB drive, and backups are best taken to external or network connected hard disks - preferably automatically so you can just set it and forget it.

I've used my DVD drive twice in the last two years (for purposes other than installing Windows) - it was to view a CT/MRI images, which are printed onto DVD. I could probably work around this by just taking the side panel off and plugging it in (or getting a portable drive)

I'm in a similar situation, I'm happy to spitball, but I'm not sure what your goals are. They are probably different from mine:
. 2-3 optical bays (3 preferred, as that's what I'm using now, however the third is really a 3-1/2)
. quiet -- currently using an ancient Antec Solo for my 1800X. Silence is golden...
. sufficient radiator space at top -- ...but the 1800X totally overwhelms the Antec under load, so an OC'd TR....
. I'm thinking specifically about the Liqtech TR4 360. I have no desire to make a mess of my computer by building my own loop :>
. As short as possible. My current case is 17", I want to add 55mm of radiator, is it too much to ask for a case to fit within 20"?! :sigh:
. Don't care a hoot about video cards (yeah, I just said that)
. Not a window guy :shrug:

I prefer the Enthoo Pro over the Luxe because of height, but I have to (I think) sacrifice the ODD tray to fit the 360mm radiator w/ fans in there. So, the Luxe is on my short-list as well.

The Corsair 750D might work if I put my 3-1/2 at top with the radiator. Not completely sure on that point. Google image search linked me here: http://cdn.overclock.net/f/f1/f16faf4b_d080b4f6_3zw7.jpeg unfortunately it links the image to a youtube page, rather than whatever thread it originally hailed from It isn't quite as large as the 900 is.

The Nanoxia CoolForce 1 has got a nice height, but it's missing one of my ODD bays, and the build quality isn't where their Deep Silence boxes are. Anyway, w/o the window, it probably misses your list.

I've also looked at the following (if that's helpful):

The Silent Base 800 doesn't have the top radiator space. You might find the Dark Base Pro 900 appealing?

The NZXT Phantom 530 is a tad tall, and it isn't a look I'm really into, and the whole mesh-look for the Source 530 is off-putting, but I'll throw both out there.

I don't expect that either the Design R5 or the Deep Silence boxes would appeal to you....

CaseLabs is totally a place I've gone to look, but the price and size is a put off. The Magnum SMA8 is amazing. The design team have done what many manufacturers should have and put their USB-yada-yada in a 3-1/2" bay and let users choose, which is awesome. [And then made the misstep of leaving the audio for the same bay -- argh!]

I think I'm pretty fixed on tempered glass - Enthoo Pro would be nice, but it doesn't come with glass. Same for the Magnum SMA8.

I do like the Dark Base Pro 900 - and if it came it Red accent, I'd like it even more.

Corsair 750D might be too small - I've generally used big cases in the past, and while the water cooling does look nice in a small case, I'd like plenty of room.

I think I'm too old for NZXT cases.

I'll look at the new Tempered glass Fractal case: http://www.fractal-design.com/home/product/cases/define-series/define-c-tg
Might be a bit on the compact side.

 

[dnavas]

I think I'm too old for NZXT cases.

I feel that -- some of them do look like they've been designed by folks who've spent way too much time watching Transformers. On the other hand, their rear IO LEDs are something I'm definitely adding. I can't do anything about the presbyopia, but at least I can get light back there to see what I'm doing.

I do like the Dark Base Pro 900 - and if it came it Red accent, I'd like it even more.

There does seem to be a lot of orange around lately. I wonder why that is. Surely that's just a paint job, though?

Corsair 750D might be too small - I've generally used big cases in the past, and while the water cooling does look nice in a small case, I'd like plenty of room.

[looking at my 17" tall case...] The 750D is cavernous, what are you talking about?! My search would have been over a long time ago if I could fit something as tall as the DeepSilence 6, or the 900D or the Pro 900 under my keyboard tray. I'm already taking up the 6' desk and the printer stand next to it with my monitors. I haven't found a double-wide/cube that's all that exciting either, which is a shame -- might double as a nice foot rest.

I'll look at the new Tempered glass Fractal case: http://www.fractal-design.com/home/product/cases/define-series/define-c-tg
Might be a bit on the compact side.

Top is max 240, which could be a problem, yeah. I'm not a fan of blowing out on the front, or radiating all the heat I've just removed from the CPU back into the inside of the case, so top or side venting is important. PSU is limited to 175mm as well -- dunno what you plan to use, but I think this case is going to be cramped for a custom loop build.

 

[alpha88]

I've been looking at those double wide's too - like the Lian Li PC-O9 - although the reviews are mixed (although I think that the price point they tend to be more critical)

 

[Interitus]

Anyone wanna discuss pros/cons of these cases (or make your own suggestion)?

....

Phanteks Enthoo Luxe Tempered Glass

Probably a little late to the party, but I have the Enthoo Luxe non tempered glass. Here's some thoughts that might help you a bit.

Pros:

• Plenty of room for AIO cooling. Push/Pull 240/280 rads work fine with standard 25mm thickness fans up top. Haven't tried 38mm thickness fans in push/pull but I imagine it would be close, possibly a no-go. A 360 or 420 rad up top, you will probably lose the optical bays, spare for a shallow depth fan controller/misc device in the bottom optical bay - unless the rad has a very tight bend on the tubes to the block. The H115i tubes don't bend sharply enough out of the way for an optical if you were to mount it in the front-most fan position (not that you would do that anyways, but just for reference).

• Supports e-ATX boards. I don't know if all full e-ATX boards would work, but the middle of the road ones (I'm wanting to say some are like 10.5-11" wide) will definitely fit fine. Case specs say e-ATX support tho, so should be okay?

• You can replace the front 200mm fan with (2) 140mm fans if that works better for you, but the included 200mm fan worked better for me and actually has decent static pressure to move air through the drive cage, especially when fully populated with drives. Most of the 200mm options out there won't be any better than the stock one. I tried the Xigmatek 200mm orange LED one and it was terrible compared to the stock one and the LED's don't really shine through the front grill like I expected anyways.

• Wiring is great in this case. Plenty of room to route things and lots of options. Especially up above the rad/top exhaust area which can be kind of a pain in some cases. I would highly recommend purchasing some 3-pin or PWM extensions if you buy the case because you will definitely need them, even if you use the built-in fan controller board.

Cons:

• One of the biggest frustrations I have with the case is vibration. I have the 3.5" drive bays full of WD Reds and when they spin up during normal use, the drive bays just don't have good anti-vibration measures. Lots of droning there. There's also a lot of droning in the top mounts for fans/radiators. Be prepared to take some measures to reduce vibration up there. The nature of the "slide style holes" to shift fans forward and back up top also make a lot of the traditional fan vibration methods not viable. My solution was to use electrical outlet insulation, cut into small washers to pad the fan screws a bit. Works okay, but not great.

• Second biggest frustration is the use of plastic. This rears its ugly head for me when the case heats significantly under load. The plastic all fits tightly which is good, but you will hear some weird creaking/popping when the case heats up as stuff expands. Might be specific to my setup, but with 6 3.5" drives and a 1080ti, when things load up it happens to me a lot. Usually just once or twice when the case reaches load temp equilibrium inside, then once or twice again when it cools down after returning to idle.

• If you plan on "framing" the window with an LED/RGB strip, the kind with sticky tape won't really work. I have a single strip around the edges of the window which won't fit up top to stick to the top of the case frame. Most strips are just too wide to fit in the channel before the side panel supports, so there's no good flat surface to sticky the strip against. I had to zip-tie my strip to keep it from falling down.

• This case is really hard to get positive pressure inside without making some sacrifices. The only way to really accomplish positive pressure is to use the top fan locations as intake, which turns into a dust nightmare.

Just some thoughts after owning the case for a few years. If you have any questions about it let me know. Rebuilt probably at least a half dozen times in this case so I'm pretty familiar with its challenges and niceties.

-EDIT-

Sorry it's early. Not sure if you meant AIO by water cooling in the OP. But same ideas apply for the rads up top. But probably a little easier to get a 360/420 up top with a custom loop and angled fittings.

 

[dnavas]

Probably a little late to the party, but I have the Enthoo Luxe non tempered glass. Here's some thoughts that might help you a bit.

• A 360 or 420 rad up top, you will probably lose the optical bays, spare for a shallow depth fan controller/misc device in the bottom optical bay - unless the rad has a very tight bend on the tubes to the block.

I'm not the OP, BUT, if you have a measurement from (internal) top of case to top of first optical bay, that would be *amazing*. I'm assuming about 35mm. A reading over 50mm would be welcome, though I'd like to stick a 3-1/2 on top, but I think I'm going to wind up being forced to not do push-pull (at least in that third of the unit). Also, I assume I'm bringing tubing down the back side of the chassis, rather than the front, so likely don't have to worry about tubing in the optical bays (I hope -- I've never down liquid, and my options are in flux right now given TRs cooling situation).

• One of the biggest frustrations I have with the case is vibration. I have the 3.5" drive bays full of WD Reds and when they spin up during normal use, the drive bays just don't have good anti-vibration measures. Lots of droning there. There's also a lot of droning in the top mounts for fans/radiators. Be prepared to take some measures to reduce vibration up there. [...]

• Second biggest frustration is the use of plastic. This rears its ugly head for me when the case heats significantly under load. The plastic all fits tightly which is good, but you will hear some weird creaking/popping when the case heats up as stuff expands.

Fortunately, I won't be putting any drives in there. But isolating pump and fan noise is going to be paramount to me. I *hate* noise. I was hoping to run a really slow <1000rpm 360mm on top with a Nemesis 360 GTS (?) to keep the case quiet, and as you state later, I'm really worried about how to feed the top three fans at high RPM with only a 200mm in front (or even 2 140mms). The good news is that the top won't be moving quite as much air through the radiators, and the front won't have to dodge HDs as they do for you. Feeding up from the carpet is not appealing, though. And I have to think about how to properly cool the VRMs.

Oh, and thanks for confirming the case heating pops -- I'd heard that, but wasn't sure how real that was going to turn out to be. I'd almost rather get a Pro and pop the side of the Pro on the Luxe (even if the finishes are a little off). And then throw some soundproofing on both sides....

 

[Interitus]

I'm not the OP, BUT, if you have a measurement from (internal) top of case to top of first optical bay, that would be *amazing*.

Sure. I won't be home for a few days but I can take a look as soon as I get back. Can probably just pop the top bay cover out and reach it easy enough.

Fortunately, I won't be putting any drives in there. But isolating pump and fan noise is going to be paramount to me. I *hate* noise. I was hoping to run a really slow <1000rpm 360mm on top with a Nemesis 360 GTS (?) to keep the case quiet, and as you state later, I'm really worried about how to feed the top three fans at high RPM with only a 200mm in front (or even 2 140mms). The good news is that the top won't be moving quite as much air through the radiators, and the front won't have to dodge HDs as they do for you. Feeding up from the carpet is not appealing, though. And I have to think about how to properly cool the VRMs.

I have done the top fans as intakes before. It's not absolutely terrible to deal with if your PC is sitting somewhere not open to the room on the top (like in a cabinet or directly under a desk) but open air was horrible. The dust buildup took days instead of weeks or months, and had to be cleaned way too often. It does do wonders for VRM's that aren't actively cooled though. When the i7 920 CPU came out, it dropped the VRM's on my EVGA X58-SLI by 15-20*C even with the fans on low speed. That board was notorious for VRM's getting in the high 90's to 100's when OC'd. I would really hate to do the top fans as intakes with a rad up there though as it would be a much bigger pain to clean out. Additional filtering may help, but imo that's just introducing more restriction to an already high FPI rad (if I'm thinking correctly, the GTS is high FPI).

I can't say I've ever tried to do a front mounted rad, but it sounds like it wouldn't help you anyways as you'd be restricted to a 280 rad if not a 240. The front intake is pretty well filtered if you could get away with it. I do notice dust buildup around the 200mm fan, but I think a lot of that is due to negative pressure and not a poorly filtered intake. A lot of the dust accumulates on the square shaped grill on the front of the case so I just vacuum it off from outside without even opening up the front panel. I find that the dust is an acceptable amount by the time I need to disassemble and make bigger changes, so I just deal with what's accumulated inside at that point.

Overall if silence is paramount, I would say that this case isn't ideal given my experiences with it and what you're looking to accomplish. Can it be done? Sure. But it's not going to be a build and forget scenario. It's going to take some TLC and a few trips to a hardware store to address the issues.

Oh, and thanks for confirming the case heating pops -- I'd heard that, but wasn't sure how real that was going to turn out to be. I'd almost rather get a Pro and pop the side of the Pro on the Luxe (even if the finishes are a little off). And then throw some soundproofing on both sides....

While the side panel may help, I've also observed that the popping seems to happen where the top plastic panel meets the front panel. It joins at a set of plastic grooves that is apparently pretty sensitive to heat warping. The side panel is far worse though. The windowed side panel on mine wobbles and warps freely in your hands with little force when you take it off of the case. Although I suspect that the tempered glass side panel may not suffer from that nearly as much.

 

[dnavas]

Overall if silence is paramount, I would say that this case isn't ideal given my experiences with it and what you're looking to accomplish. Can it be done? Sure. But it's not going to be a build and forget scenario. It's going to take some TLC and a few trips to a hardware store to address the issues.

Yeah. The alternative is to get a hyuge case, or live with a 240mm radiator. Until we get a bead on what it takes to cool TR, I'm loathe to restrict myself to 240. Hardocp's review used a 900W radiator to keep 4Ghz cooled, so until I see better, a more open case is my leaning, and I'll live with the hardware trips.

Thanks in advance for the measurement!

 

[guskline]

Heck take the dive and get a Thermaltake Core X9 and stuff 3 480mm rads in it like I did!

 

[alpha88]

I appreciate the info, Interitus. I've been leaning more and more to that case (but with the Tempered glass).
I was thinking I'd use a 360 radiator, and probably just end up doing AIO.

That Core X9 looks nice, but I'm kinda stuck on tempered glass - gotta have something to narrow my selection down.

 

[Interitus]

One thing I forgot to add and dnavas mentioned was rad orientation with the hoses at the back of the case when using a 360/420 rad AIO cooler.

While I can't say for sure with other AIO coolers, I do know that I couldn't use the rear case fan if I did it with the H115i. The hoses were just too long and they would stick into the fan because they had nowhere to bend far enough. The hoses on the H115i are a tad on the long side (again never owned another AIO to compare this against) so if your AIO has similar length hoses, that might be a pain point for you to deal with. I wasn't willing to lose the rear fan for VRM area airflow, so I flipped the H115i hoses to the front of the case.

dnavas I didn't forget about you. Looking like it will be the weekend before I can get you that measurement. Got a lot going on this week, so I'm guessing Saturday evening.

 

[dnavas]

While I can't say for sure with other AIO coolers, I do know that I couldn't use the rear case fan if I did it with the H115i. The hoses were just too long and they would stick into the fan because they had nowhere to bend far enough.

Well, hopefully I can route or cut. And yeah, I still don't know how to properly cool the VRMs on TR. I'm figuring there's ~50W to take off of those little guys when it's OC'd.

dnavas I didn't forget about you. Looking like it will be the weekend before I can get you that measurement. Got a lot going on this week, so I'm guessing Saturday evening.

Hey, appreciate it, and don't sweat it, my kid just left for college, I know what busy means. Thanks for remembering!

 

[Interitus]

Hey, appreciate it, and don't sweat it, my kid just left for college, I know what busy means. Thanks for remembering!

We just moved into a new house. New construction. Lots of fun things to do in addition to unpacking. For example, yesterday I "mowed" the "lawn" with a weed eater. And by "lawn" I mean a bunch of dirt with baby weed trees everywhere because they haven't layed our sod yet lol

Also doesn't help it's our first house and we came from a 950sq ft apartment. We bought a ton of stuff and planned ahead pretty well, but that just means we have a billion pieces of furniture to assemble and stuff like that.

 

[alpha88]

Looking at the Thermaltake Tower 900
http://www.thermaltake.com/products-model.aspx?id=C_00002974