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Question Looking for a mid-tower for Ryzen 9 build

V

Venoom

Member
Hi everyone,

I am finally upgrading my current build (Xeon X5675 sitting in a Cooler Master ACTS 840).

I am not too happy with the case: it's huge and noise isolation is very poor, although I am only using Noctua fans (or I am doing something wrong)

I am finally upgrading to a Ryzen 3900X (or maybe 3950X) with a Corsair H115i RGB Platinum AIO cooler and RTX 2080 GPU, and I'll be using a normal ATX motherboard (probably a ~300$ Asus or Gigabyte or AsRock).

I don't plan to put many (if any) HDDs as I'll move those to a NAS, and no optical drive.

I have experience with the Dark Base 700 and quite like the look of it, but the user manual is awful and I am not sure I like the fan controller board. I also read many complaints about poor airflow.

I'd like a good case, not huge (mid-tower is ok), with good airflow and good isolation, preferably front USB-C, and a window side-panel.

Does anyone have any experience or recommendation with any of these?

Newegg comparison
 
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I used the R6 USB-C for my 3900X build. I like the case, but I had one heck of a time getting the radiator for the Corsair H115i PRO RGB to fit up top.
 
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daveybrat said:
This is what i have and it's fantastic. Excellent airflow, full RGB, and a nice side Window.

Are you a human?

www.newegg.com www.newegg.com

If you want good airflow, you have to go with a mesh front.
Click to expand...

Thanks, I'll add it to my shortlist!

Muadib said:
I used the R6 USB-C for my 3900X build. I like the case, but I had one heck of a time getting the radiator for the Corsair H115i PRO RGB to fit up top.
Click to expand...

would you mind elaborating on what made it difficult?
Officially, it's supposed to support 3x140mm in open layout.

and did you try to install the H115i in the front?
 
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There is a wall that separates the top making an area that has room for two fans, and a place for one fan. The problem is that with the motherboard in place it’s really tight, at least with the board I chose. I had to angle the back fan to get it to fit, and could only use 2 of the 4 screws to attach it. Lucky for me I have no window on my case.
 
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I would certainly look at the Phanteks p600s of you haven't already.
It is based on the evolv X which had fantastic reviews but with an option for mesh front/top for airflow or solid for noise dampening.
 
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Muadib said:
There is a wall that separates the top making an area that has room for two fans, and a place for one fan. The problem is that with the motherboard in place it’s really tight, at least with the board I chose. I had to angle the back fan to get it to fit, and could only use 2 of the 4 screws to attach it. Lucky for me I have no window on my case.

And no I didn’t try the front. I don’t think the hose on the 115 will reach.
Click to expand...

that's a bit worrying :-S
I planned to install it in the front 🙁
which motherboard did you use?

Metalfish said:
I would certainly look at the Phanteks p600s of you haven't already.
It is based on the evolv X which had fantastic reviews but with an option for mesh front/top for airflow or solid for noise dampening.
Click to expand...
thanks, adding it to the shortlist 🙂
 
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Metalfish said:
I would certainly look at the Phanteks p600s of you haven't already.
It is based on the evolv X which had fantastic reviews but with an option for mesh front/top for airflow or solid for noise dampening.
Click to expand...

Picked one of these up last week. Haven’t built yet.

Muadib said:
And no I didn’t try the front. I don’t think the hose on the 115 will reach.
Click to expand...

You have me concerned, I bought an H115i pro which I intend on installing in the front
Planning on getting a Asrock X570 board.
 
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Fanatical Meat said:
You have me concerned, I bought an H115i pro which I intend on installing in the front
Planning on getting a Asrock X570 board.
Click to expand...
The hose to the pump is roughly the length of the radiator. If it fits in the front, the hose will be tight.
I like my motherboard, but it has a piece of plastic in the back upper corner that serves no purpose other than to look cool.
I thought about breaking it off, but didn't because it would void the warranty. I need to see if there's a manual online for the case, as there wasn't one in the box.

After checking out the Phanteks p600s, I'm sorry I never heard of them before. That looks like a nice case.
 
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Muadib said:
The hose to the pump is roughly the length of the radiator. If it fits in the front, the hose will be tight.
I like my motherboard, but it has a piece of plastic in the back upper corner that serves no purpose other than to look cool.
I thought about breaking it off, but didn't because it would void the warranty. I need to see if there's a manual online for the case, as there wasn't one in the box.

After checking out the Phanteks p600s, I'm sorry I never heard of them before. That looks like a nice case.
Click to expand...

I can help with that.
Manual can be found here:
www.asrock.com

ASRock X570 Taichi

Supports AMD AM4 Socket Ryzen™ 2000, 3000, 4000 G-Series, 5000 and 5000 G-Series Desktop Processors; Intel Wi-Fi 6 802.11ax (2.4Gbps) + BT 5.2; Supports DDR4 4666+ (OC); 3 PCIe 4.0 x16, 2 PCIe 4.0 x1; NVIDIA NVLink™, Quad SLI™, AMD 3-Way CrossFireX™; 7.1 CH HD Audio (Realtek ALC1220 Audio...
www.asrock.com www.asrock.com

Second, I put some serious thought into bequiet 800 and a fractal r6. Phanteks edged both out due to being able to easily remove to top & front panel and easily put them back on. The panels are magnetic.
All of them are similar, some make slightly more noise, some cool slightly better.
 
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Fanatical Meat said:
I can help with that.
Manual can be found here:
www.asrock.com

ASRock X570 Taichi

Supports AMD AM4 Socket Ryzen™ 2000, 3000, 4000 G-Series, 5000 and 5000 G-Series Desktop Processors; Intel Wi-Fi 6 802.11ax (2.4Gbps) + BT 5.2; Supports DDR4 4666+ (OC); 3 PCIe 4.0 x16, 2 PCIe 4.0 x1; NVIDIA NVLink™, Quad SLI™, AMD 3-Way CrossFireX™; 7.1 CH HD Audio (Realtek ALC1220 Audio...
www.asrock.com www.asrock.com

Second, I put some serious thought into bequiet 800 and a fractal r6. Phanteks edged both out due to being able to easily remove to top & front panel and easily put them back on. The panels are magnetic.
Click to expand...
I meant that I need the manual for the R6 case. I'm sure the drive cage must come out, but then I would have no place for drives. That's not an issue with the p600s, as the hard drives are on the bottom of the case.
 
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Muadib said:
I just just reading it. The drive cage does come out.
Click to expand...

Yeah that’s one big thing I liked about the r6 set it up anyway you want.
I did read removing the drive cages didn’t significantly improve cooling but I say if you are not using them why keep them in place. Fewer parts is better to me.
If I remember correctly you can reposition the cages. You may be able to put the drives in the bottom of an r6 but I’m not sure if I remember that.
 
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Muadib said:
I have two 4TB drives I took out of my NAS that I want to install, so I need the cage.
Click to expand...

Yeah 4 drives sounds like the cage needs to stay. I’m going either with my current ssd or a PCIe drive. Not very concerned about spinning drives.
The good news is I know I read somewhere keeping the drives in the cage doesn’t change cooling that much.
 
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Fanatical Meat said:
Yeah 4 drives sounds like the cage needs to stay. I’m going either with my current ssd or a PCIe drive. Not very concerned about spinning drives.
The good news is I know I read somewhere keeping the drives in the cage doesn’t change cooling that much.
Click to expand...
That's good to know. I could install fans on the bottom of the case, but I'm glad I don't have to.
 
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Muadib said:
That's good to know. I could install fans on the bottom of the case, but I'm glad I don't have to.
Click to expand...

Per what another poster said to me is when you use a water cooler you are not putting much heat into the case. Makes sense too because a big air cooler in the center is going to be a hotspot no matter what. Radiator changes that set up and moves the hot part elsewhere even if it’s venting the same heat.
Also I’ve read front mounted radiators perform better but like the drive cage it is marginal. I wouldn’t stress about a top radiator, probably runs like 2 degrees warmer. Appears cleaning a top mounted radiator is more difficult to do, just plan accordingly.
 
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Fanatical Meat said:
Per what another poster said to me is when you use a water cooler you are not putting much heat into the case. Makes sense too because a big air cooler in the center is going to be a hotspot no matter what. Radiator changes that set up and moves the hot part elsewhere even if it’s venting the same heat.
Also I’ve read front mounted radiators perform better but like the drive cage it is marginal. I wouldn’t stress about a top radiator, probably runs like 2 degrees warmer. Appears cleaning a top mounted radiator is more difficult to do, just plan accordingly.
Click to expand...
What do you use with Ryzen to get temps. Right now Ryzen Master says my CPU temp is 38C, but iCUE says it's 31C. That's quite a difference, but I don't know which is correct.
 
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@Fanatical Meat

I haven't used iCue so I have no idea exactly what it reports. But since it's peripheral support software, my guess is that it measures coolant temp. Mostly you want to stick to Ryzen Master, HWiNFO64, or CoreTemp (which is updated to work). For the most part, the three applications agree with one another. Ryzen Master shows more granularity, and I think it's been tweaked to ignore transient temp increases during idle (watch Ryzen Master and CoreTemp on the desktop at the same time, and you'll see temp spiking under CoreTemp sometimes that won't register in Ryzen Master).
 
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