Case suggestions

[Owls]

Hi everyone,

I'm having trouble deciphering all these case reviews. From one review to another I see varying CPU temps which doesn't really give me any solid indication of the thermal performance at all. So far I've narrowed it down to the Antec GX700 and the Nanoxia DS1 I'm looking for some feedback regarding the two about noise and thermal performance. Air filters are a must since we have two cats where cat hair is a huge problem. The only problem I see is that I can't find any retailers carrying the Nanoxia in the US.

 

[T_Yamamoto]

Nanoxia is not a US case. So your only choice is the antec one.

 

[Owls]

That stinks, will it be a case coming to the US or no? I just noticed the Corsair 550D is also very competitive and it might fit the bill better than the GX700. No fan controller but that's not a big deal. Thoughts?

 

[Carson Dyle]

The Fractal Design Define R4 looks to be very similar to the Nanoxia DS1. Filters, sound dampening, bottom mounted PSU, removable drive cages, large fans, fan controller. I'd never heard of the Nanoxia, but looking at the online photos, the two are eerily similar.

 

[Owls]

I went with the R4 with 3 Corsair AF140 fans. I also picked up a magnetic Silverstone Tek 140mm Fan Filter for the side vent seeing that it isn't filtered for some reason.

 

[Charlie98]

I went with the R4 with 3 Corsair AF140 fans. I also picked up a magnetic Silverstone Tek 140mm Fan Filter for the side vent seeing that it isn't filtered for some reason.

It didn't happen without pictures...

The magnetic filter is a good idea, I'm using them on my HAF922 and they work very well... sure beats hosing out the case every two months.

 

[Owls]

It will be here on tuesday so I will throw up some pictures! I got a 3770k, x2 680GTX, 160GB G2s in Raid 0, all in a cooler master haf 922 as well. The dust is a real problem especially with the front and bottom fans but the biggest issue is the noise. I hope I'm not giving up much thermal performance by leaving the HAF so we'll see.

 

[Charlie98]

It will be here on tuesday so I will throw up some pictures! I got a 3770k, x2 680GTX, 160GB G2s in Raid 0, all in a cooler master haf 922 as well. The dust is a real problem especially with the front and bottom fans but the biggest issue is the noise. I hope I'm not giving up much thermal performance by leaving the HAF so we'll see.

I think you will be impressed with the Fractal. My HTPC is in a Define Mini... the build quality of the Fractal makes the HAF look like a hollowed out beer can. Because there is so much open on the HAF, I think you may wind up with better thermals with the R4 and positive case pressure. I have all the openings (except the ones with fans, of course) all taped up on my HAF trying to keep positive case pressure and to help keep the dust out. I love the Fractal and am looking for some reason to dump the HAF...

 

[Owls]

Ok so I spent the last 3 hours wrestling everything from a roomy HAF 932 case into the Fractal R4.

Here is what I like:

Both drive cages are removable!
Great cable management system
Very quiet
Fan filters

Here's what I don't like:
HD Audio cable is too short. Along with USB 2.0 cables.
Almost no clearance at the top of the motherboard between the CPU cooler and top exhaust. I feel that they could have given you another half an inch at least because connecting the motherboard 8 pin power resulted in a lot of cursing

So, not bad? The lack of reaching my USB 2.0 motherboard header is a huge minus actually but I guess I can live. So far it's much quieter compared to the HAF 932. With the HAF I measured about 48 decibles but I had an antec tricool fan at the bottom sucking air in. This one is 38 decibles. I can't hear it anymore outside my office. I haven't evaluated the thermal performance since it's late so I'll update tomorrow. In the meantime here are some pictures.

http://imgur.com/a/467XB

 

[Charlie98]

That mobo sure is jammed up into the lid, isn't it?

...that's pretty clever with the SSDs on the back of the mobo bulkhead. It's funny how unconventionally you can mount SSDs vs having to secure an HDD... but there is still all that wire. It's a shame they don't have some sort of 'power through SATA' plug, maybe in the future.

The short USB cable is sort of odd... I'd be on the horn with them to see if they have a solution or retrofit for that.

 

[Owls]

I'm happy to report that the thermal performance is quite good with the fan configuration I have setup currently. Although, I think there is room for improvement.

Fan setup
1 rear (exhast), 1 top (exhaust), 2 front (intake). I have another corsair AF140 that I'm trying to decide what to do with.

I can go positive pressure by doing this

1 rear (exhast), 1 top (intake), 1 bottom (intake), and 2 front (intake)

The placement of the side intake won't actually cool anything so I am not sure it is designed well.

Any thoughts?

 

[Carson Dyle]

I'd be interested in knowing if it makes any difference at all for the cooling without the top fan.

 

[Owls]

I think for this case the use of a top fan makes for a cooler PC. I added another fan to the bottom as an intake fan and my temps considerably improved yet even with two exhaust fans I'm still maintaining negative pressure. I'm not sure why that is the case. I may end up switching the top fan as an intake as well.

 

[Zevvo]

Quiet case? R4 all the way.

Your setup is good though. I have mine at two front intake, one rear exhaust, and one top exhaust. I get great temps.

 

[Carson Dyle]

I think for this case the use of a top fan makes for a cooler PC. I added another fan to the bottom as an intake fan and my temps considerably improved yet even with two exhaust fans I'm still maintaining negative pressure. I'm not sure why that is the case. I may end up switching the top fan as an intake as well.

I'm always concerned that a top fan in the vicinity of the CPU fans and the rear exhaust fan will disrupt the front-to-rear airflow by introducing some turbulence in the stream. Try it without. You'll probably also achieve your positive pressure in the bargain.

 

[Owls]

Ugh, The new XL R2 would have been the perfect replacement for the HAF 932 I had. I'm not totally unhappy but it looks like the R2 has better cable management than the R4. I could exchange it with Amazon but I don't want to spend another 8 hours between UPS and case swaps.

 

[Charlie98]

Ugh, The new XL R2 would have been the perfect replacement for the HAF 932 I had. I'm not totally unhappy but it looks like the R2 has better cable management than the R4.

The XL looks like just a slightly bigger version of the R4...

Looking at your photos I don't see how there would have been much difference in your install using the XL vs R4.

 

[Owls]

I agree with you now Charlie. After taking another look one of the two intake fans is almost directly in front of the CPU which the R2 doesn't have the luxury of.

I also took Carson's advice and I closed off the top vents. I did replace the rear exhaust with the corsair one instead of the stock fractal fan and I wouldn't believe it but after a good hour in BF3 the temps did not rise above 60C. With the top fan occupied by the corsair before the usual temps were 67-69C.

So right now the configuration is 1 lower intake fan, 2 front intakes, and 1 exhaust. I'm very pleased with the outcome now.

edit: the lower temps allowed me to go up to 4.7GHz with a .145 offset. Temps are under 66C.

 

[Charlie98]

No, I really think the R2 will have better case thermals than the HAF... strange but true. I've also considered pulling the top fan off my HAF922 and covering that up like I did my side vent.

It doesn't look like you have a bunch of heat generating stuff in there (besides the dual GPU's... ) and nothing blocking the front fans.

 

[Owls]

Carson was right, the top fan really does disrupt airflow. If the R4 was any indication to you the XL R2 would probably be just as good. I say go for it and post pics!

 

[Charlie98]

Sizewise, I'm down to 1 SSD and 1 maybe 2 HDD's in my desktop... and only one GPU. I'll probably swap it into another Define Mini... I really like that case and the size.

 

[Carson Dyle]

I have a Define Mini and love it. One SSD and one HDD. I expect there will be an R2 version of it eventually, with both drive cages removable and more space behind the motherboard for stashing cables. Possibly also 140mm fans.