Talk me out of the 800D

[RKS]

The last time I bought a case was in the 90s (Addtronics 7896). This monster case has been awesome but now I want something that has great wire management. Looks, size, and easy to work on are secondary but also important. I may move to water cooling but my 2500K does well enough on air.

I have it narrowed down to these few but the 800D is leading.

Cooler Master CM690 II

Corsair 600D

Corsair 800D

 

[aigomorla]

sorry out of the ones u listed the 800D pwns all...

lol....

ud have to talk me out first b4 i could talk you out... if you can afford that case.


Maybe a fractile? or a case labs?

But from your list.. impossible for me to tell you not to get the 800D if it fits your budget.

 

[lsv]

I remember seeing the 7896. what a behemoth. If you want a behemoth replacement get the 800D

 

[nitromullet]

For mass produced cases, the general consensus at the moment is Corsair 700/800D for easy water cooling and SilverStone FT02/RV02 for the best air cooling.

 

[Corporate Thug]

sorry out of the ones u listed the 800D pwns all...

lol....

ud have to talk me out first b4 i could talk you out... if you can afford that case.


Maybe a fractile? or a case labs?

But from your list.. impossible for me to tell you not to get the 800D if it fits your budget.

This. And the 700D is the best case I've ever owned after the TJ07

 

[Raswan]

Check out the Raven RV02-E before you pull the trigger. Someone else above mentioned it as well. Have a friend who just built with it, loves it.

 

[DisgruntledVirus]

I'm a huge fan of the FT02 personally.

Especially the way it looks with a nice water cooling setup: http://picturepush.com/public/6858102 <-- apparently the host doesn't support embedding here and I'm too lazy to dl it and rehost it somewhere

http://www.overclock.net/t/1150056/...d-conversion-updated-all-pics-in-post-1/0_100

 

[RussianSensation]

800D has poor case airflow. By that account, it's an overrated case for $250+ imho.

Prepare to be amazed by the variation in cooling performance among cases. Often, some of the most popular cases are actually average or poor at airflow.

For good airflow, Antec Dark Fleet 85, Silverstone FT-02, Silverstone TJ11, Silverstone Raven RV02 or 03 series, Cooler Master HAF X clean up the competition.

If I was spending close to $250-300, I'd much rather grab the Lian Li PC-A77F or the P-80 series or the Silverstone FT-02. Or save some $$ and go for cases with far better airflow.

The point of a large case is to be able to provide awesome airflow with 3-4 graphics cards and a hot CPU. The 800D fails on that promise. I can't stress enough how important good case air flow is. Any case that has poor airflow is a deal breaker, regardless if it costs $20 or $300.

Think about it, sometimes the difference between the best air coolers like NH-D14/ Silver Arrow and a tier below is only 4-5*C, while the difference between the top air coolers and a full-fledged watercooling system is 20*C. Now imagine that 10*C advantage is completely eliminated by getting a case with inferior air flow? Makes no sense to me since you are just wasting $$$ and not addressing good case air flow. If you want to maximize the value of your cooling systems, prioritize good case airflow. An expensive case does not equal good airflow.

Prepare to be shocked: The difference in cooling between a good case (Silverstone FT-02) and a case with poor airflow (P183) is mind-blowing

http://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articles/Vertical-vs-Horizontal-Case-Cooling-89/page2

30*C CPU temperature at load.....

 

[Elganja]

800D for water

if air, TJ07

 

[nitromullet]

if air, TJ07

I think the weak points for both the 800D and TJ07 is the lack of fresh air for the video card(s).

 

[Elganja]

I think the weak points for both the 800D and TJ07 is the lack of fresh air for the video card(s).

I'm sorry, got my silverstones mixed up... I was thinking about the FT02

 

[Corporate Thug]

800D has poor case airflow. By that account, it's an overrated case for $250+ imho.

Prepare to be amazed by the variation in cooling performance among cases. Often, some of the most popular cases are actually average or poor at airflow.

For good airflow, Antec Dark Fleet 85, Silverstone FT-02, Silverstone TJ11, Silverstone Raven RV02 or 03 series, Cooler Master HAF X clean up the competition.

If I was spending close to $250-300, I'd much rather grab the Lian Li PC-A77F or the P-80 series or the Silverstone FT-02. Or save some $$ and go for cases with far better airflow.

The point of a large case is to be able to provide awesome airflow with 3-4 graphics cards and a hot CPU. The 800D fails on that promise. I can't stress enough how important good case air flow is. Any case that has poor airflow is a deal breaker, regardless if it costs $20 or $300.

Think about it, sometimes the difference between the best air coolers like NH-D14/ Silver Arrow and a tier below is only 4-5*C, while the difference between the top air coolers and a full-fledged watercooling system is 20*C. Now imagine that 10*C advantage is completely eliminated by getting a case with inferior air flow? Makes no sense to me since you are just wasting $$$ and not addressing good case air flow. If you want to maximize the value of your cooling systems, prioritize good case airflow. An expensive case does not equal good airflow.

Prepare to be shocked: The difference in cooling between a good case (Silverstone FT-02) and a case with poor airflow (P183) is mind-blowing

http://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articles/Vertical-vs-Horizontal-Case-Cooling-89/page2

30*C CPU temperature at load.....

Great post. I have to think something is wrong with the test if they are getting temps at 101C.

 

[aigomorla]

800D will own for water... for air.. yes its not as great..

But i dont see how its that terrible...

its not like a HTPC case. and everything is quite opened up... you would just need to get your wind routes fine tuned, and probably use better fans to push the air though that large opening.

 

[RavenSEAL]

Not gonna happen

 

[badb0y]

800D is a beast for watercooling but for air I would pick the FT02/RV02/RV03,

 

[RussianSensation]

800D will own for water... for air.. yes its not as great..

But i dont see how its that terrible...

I should have clarified, for air cooling specifically, I wouldn't recommend the 800D. If going water right off the bat, then it's better since you can position a huge rad at the top like Elganja has done. However, that still doesn't necessarily resolve the lack of airflow towards the GPUs, unless you are also going for watercooled GPUs. Suddenly, you have just spent $200-300 on GPU waterblocks and another $200-300 on a watercooling system/rads/CPU block. Add the price of the case at $250, and you are looking at a $650-850 investment without any components....that's a lot of $$$ to just shave off a 15-20*C on the CPU.

Nowdays, watercooling is most beneficial for GPUs anyway where you can remove 40-50*C at load but again that hardly improves overclocking since current GPUs have an overclocking wall (Fermi prob. at about 1050 and HD6970 craps out at 1000-1030 at reasonable voltages). HD6900 series has horrible scaling beyond 880mhz when overclocked, so it's also hardly worth the effort. While GTX580 becomes VRAM limited at higher resolutions (for which you are most likely going to be running 3 of them). And also buying a $500 GPU that's 1 year old right now seems like a huge waste, 2-3 of those? Even worse.

Modern watercooled CPUs hardly gain more than 100mhz overclock advantage over the best $80 air coolers. And considering current generation of GPUs is ~ 2 years old, buying 2-3 waterblocks for a GTX580/HD6970 seems like a huge waste at the moment. If you are only going with 1 GPU, then it hardly makes sense to get a case as large as an 800D.

If you have 2 or 3 GPUs running on air, I'd get another case over 800D because it has no front air flow whatsoever.

To summarize:

1) I see no point in investing in 2-3 high-end GPUs since current generation is nearly EOL
2) It's even a worse investment to get 2-3 current GPUs with waterblocks
3) High-end watercooling hardly improves overclocking for modern CPUs such as 3930/3960 or even 2700k over a top-end air cooler such as NH-D14 or Silver Arrow vs. $300+ it costs for an good watercooling setup.
4) If watercooling isn't going to be considered for GPUs, the 800D isn't a great case for GPU airflow.

If AMD had HD7970s out right now, then 3 of those in an 800D with waterblocks would be sweet though