Question need advice on a case

jlo82585

Member
May 20, 2015
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so i'm building a new PC this fall but i'm having trouble finding a case that has everything I want in it. I currently have an Inwin GRone and I love it except its missing a few features I want. First off the side window doesn't go across the full case which would be nice as once all the HDD bays are removed it doesn't look too bad. second it doesn't have a PSU enclosure so any build is bound to look a bit messy in the case. I am looking for a full tower case as I want to be able to use the noctua d15 for minor overclocking, I also want to be able to use my dvd/cd burner since I still burn cd's for my vehicles. I want to be able to show off what can be done with a PC to my nephews to try to get them off consoles since they are now getting old enough to get into PC's.
so basically what i'm looking for is a case that.
has 1 5.25in bay for dvd burner
has psu cover
has full length side window
has open mesh front panel for air cooling

so far the only case I have found that fits this is the panzer max-g, but after reading negative reviews I'm questioning the quality of that case. Does anyone know of any other cases that fits these requirements? I love the look of the H500m but from the comments it wont fit a d15, but that style PC is what i'm after. thanks for the help.
 

viivo

Diamond Member
May 4, 2002
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A case with full glass panels and 5.25 bays may exist, but one which combines all your requirements probably doesn't.

There are external DVD burners as well as separate enclosures for ones you already have. 5.25 bays seems a strange dealbreaker when there are so many simple alternatives which offer the same result.
 

jlo82585

Member
May 20, 2015
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There are external DVD burners as well as separate enclosures for ones you already have. 5.25 bays seems a strange dealbreaker when there are so many simple alternatives which offer the same result.

well.... you have a point there
in that case, what cases have the best front i/o layout? all the recommended cases pretty much are minimalist designs with one or two front USB ports and I use all 4 of my current ones. again, the H500m has good front panel support but its just as pricey as a full tower so im not sure how good of a deal it is.
 

HerrKaLeu

Member
Nov 23, 2016
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well.... you have a point there
in that case, what cases have the best front i/o layout? all the recommended cases pretty much are minimalist designs with one or two front USB ports and I use all 4 of my current ones. again, the H500m has good front panel support but its just as pricey as a full tower so im not sure how good of a deal it is.

The FD Define cases have 2xUSB 2.0, and 2x USB 3 ports. One of them also adds a USB 3.1 (C). Basically the same as the Meshify, just with an acoustical panel in front of the fans. I have an older R5 with the 2 bottom fans in addition, you get a lot of airflow that way.
Alternatively you can add ports to the case. but that requires quite some skill to look good and when buying a new case, you probably want to buy one with the ports you need.
 

jlo82585

Member
May 20, 2015
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thanks for all the advice, after looking at what is all currently on the market I think im going to go with the H500m as it has all the features I want and only have to sacrifice a few things, however that brings some additional questions.
-first is case cooling, is more overall cfm on both intake and exhaust better? stock the H500 has 180cfm intake and 60 exhaust if I did my fan research correctly. I could add three 140mm fans and bring the intake up to 270 cfm and exhaust to 240 cfm.

-second is air cooler, i WAS going to run my old d15 but after looking at my current rig I realized it covers all the DIMMs and I want to show off my trident z. so after looking at reviews im thinking either the noctua u12a as the hideous but effective option or the fuma 2 as the more aesthetic option. I have never owned anything but noctua so I just want to gather what the consensus here is on the fuma 2, all the reviews seem to love it but I like hearing for people who own it and actually use it daily.

-finally ( and point me towards the right forum if this is not the one ) I want to be able to be able to sync up or at least manage all my argb devices from inside windows, the provided argb controller doesn't have enough ports for all the fans I plan on adding so I was looking into buying this,
now adding the fans to this looks simple enough, im just confused at how the mother board communicates with this device, other argb controllers plug into a usb header on your motherboard to connect everything (at least i think that's how this sorcery works), can someone give me a quick rundown on how this device would communicate with all the other rbg items namely the rgb on the motherboard, gpu and RAM? Im planning on getting the crosshair hero viii so it will have a few argb headers on the motherboard.
thanks again, last time I built a PC was 2015 and I fell out of the tech loop until a month ago when I decided to upgrade again so im trying to get up to speed on current hardware.
 

Stuka87

Diamond Member
Dec 10, 2010
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1: Plenty of arguments on positive, neutral, or negative case pressures. And it really comes down to the case. The H500m in stock form certainly has more intake than exhaust. But thats not a bad thing as the case is decent sized. The only time I have seen this be an issue is on small cases where heat can build up quickly.

2: Never seen that Fuma before. Its certainly more compact, although that thin front fan makes me think its going to have a higher pitched sound. But I have not looked at reviews.

3: There are several different LED "standards" used. And not all are compatible with each other. So just be sure to get a controller that works with your fans.

4: The RGB and the fan header are separate on the fans. So the fans can plug into the motherboard headers if you like, or the hub you posted has both the PWM and LED headers side by side.
 

jlo82585

Member
May 20, 2015
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Plenty of arguments on positive, neutral, or negative case pressures. And it really comes down to the case. The H500m in stock form certainly has more intake than exhaust. But thats not a bad thing as the case is decent sized. The only time I have seen this be an issue is on small cases where heat can build up quickly.
so then the more overall cfm, the better cooling and its just a matter of deciding if I want positive, neutral or negative pressure.
There are several different LED "standards" used. And not all are compatible with each other. So just be sure to get a controller that works with your fans.
that's what I have been reading, I guess i will stick with cooler master just to make sure.
The RGB and the fan header are separate on the fans. So the fans can plug into the motherboard headers if you like, or the hub you posted has both the PWM and LED headers side by side.
it also has a "mb argb" header and a "mb pwm" header, am I correct in assuming I plug these into any argb/case fan plug on the motherboard and it should work?
 

Stuka87

Diamond Member
Dec 10, 2010
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so then the more overall cfm, the better cooling and its just a matter of deciding if I want positive, neutral or negative pressure.

In most cases, yes. You can certainly get to a point where more fans doesn't continue to improve cooling.

it also has a "mb argb" header and a "mb pwm" header, am I correct in assuming I plug these into any argb/case fan plug on the motherboard and it should work?

Correct, that hub plugs into the motherboards headers for that. That way the motherboard controls the fan speeds even if the software isn't running to augment them.