Recommend Good Budget Mid / Full Tower case that is Quiet?

[Fallengod]

I might be considering changing from my old Antec P180 I have had for like years and years....

I want a mid or maybe full tower case under $125ish that is good with sound? I like good well made cases with good functionality and relatively quiet. I am possibly considering this because I am buying a new freesync monitor and thus need to switch to AMD and most AMD cards are like 10" long so the case needs to accommodate long vid cards.

I have been poking around last night for like an hour. I was looking at those Fractal Design Define R4 / R5 as well as some others.

Any recommendations?


*Note: I dont need flashy, windows or led bullshit either.

 

[Valantar]

The NZXT H440 is on a black friday offer at Newegg right now for $109, and is a pretty good deal. Solid case, good layout, plenty of water cooling options, well ventilated, sound dampening in all side panels.

Other than that, anything in Fractal Design's Define series should serve you well. They have great sound dampening, and aren't very expensive. The variations: R5 is the "standard", mid-tower with 5.25" bays, S is the same case with more watercooling options and no 5,25", mini S is mini-ITX, C and mini C are slimmed-down 5,25"-less designs that (ATX and mATX respectively) still fit plenty of radiators and more or less all the hardware you'll want.

I have the R4 myself, and I'm reasonably happy with it. Quiet, good airflow. The newer series has some improvements, though:
-bottom fan filter removes from the front (i.e. you don't have to move your PC a foot or more forward to remove the filter if it's up against a wall)
-some cases have more modern layouts, without useless 5,25" bays and such
-the r4 is horrible for watercooling. It fits "some" 240mm radiators in the top, but these are limited to 15mm thickness ... I can't even fit a top fan in mine.
-they have PSU shrouds. Makes for a tidy build.

 

[Fallengod]

The NZXT H440 is on a black friday offer at Newegg right now for $109, and is a pretty good deal. Solid case, good layout, plenty of water cooling options, well ventilated, sound dampening in all side panels.

Other than that, anything in Fractal Design's Define series should serve you well. They have great sound dampening, and aren't very expensive. The variations: R5 is the "standard", mid-tower with 5.25" bays, S is the same case with more watercooling options and no 5,25", mini S is mini-ITX, C and mini C are slimmed-down 5,25"-less designs that (ATX and mATX respectively) still fit plenty of radiators and more or less all the hardware you'll want.

I have the R4 myself, and I'm reasonably happy with it. Quiet, good airflow. The newer series has some improvements, though:
-bottom fan filter removes from the front (i.e. you don't have to move your PC a foot or more forward to remove the filter if it's up against a wall)
-some cases have more modern layouts, without useless 5,25" bays and such
-the r4 is horrible for watercooling. It fits "some" 240mm radiators in the top, but these are limited to 15mm thickness ... I can't even fit a top fan in mine.
-they have PSU shrouds. Makes for a tidy build.

I did look at the H440 already. My problem is I need at least one optical drive bay for my dvd-burner.

I was very interested in the Fractal Design cases only because of how highly rated they are, seem to be kind of what I like in a case and are fairly inexpensive. When you say the newer series of Fractal have improvements, what models are you referring to? What should I be looking at to tell if its the newer series? I only just started looking so I kind of dont know what I want yet. I just want good cable management, functionality, sound dampening, decent cooling and under $120.

 

[Valantar]

When you say the newer series of Fractal have improvements, what models are you referring to? What should I be looking at to tell if its the newer series? I only just started looking so I kind of dont know what I want yet. I just want good cable management, functionality, sound dampening, decent cooling and under $120.

Anything newer than the R4, in other words all the models I listed over. If you need optical bays, the R5 is your only choice. It's an excellent case too. I'd stay away from the R4, unless you never, ever plan to stick a radiator into it.

Oh, one more improvement I forgot to mention: the "moduvent" vent covers are now far easier to use. On the R4, they are on the inside, screwed into the case. On the R5 and newer, they simply pop out from the case.