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Mid-full size case recommendations.

Domain16

I'll be starting a new build soon, going with a i9-9900k, RTX 2080 and a noctua NH-D15 so far. Size is no concern and I want excellent air flow. An open case will not work, it is in a fairly dusty environment and RGB doesn't really matter. Performance and build quality definitely comes before the looks. $150-$250 price range, any ideas?

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Obligatory Fractal recommendation: S2 Mesh for good airflow, R6 or S2 for decent airflow with an added fan or two.  Though I'd water cool the 9900K with a 360mm AIO.

"Do what makes the experience better" - in regards to PCs and Life itself.

 

Onyx AMD Ryzen 7 7800x3d / MSI 6900xt Gaming X Trio / Gigabyte B650 AORUS Pro AX / G. Skill Flare X5 6000CL36 32GB / Samsung 980 1TB x3 / Super Flower Leadex V Platinum Pro 850 / EK-AIO 360 Basic / Fractal Design North XL (black mesh) / AOC AGON 35" 3440x1440 100Hz / Mackie CR5BT / Corsair Virtuoso SE / Cherry MX Board 3.0 / Logitech G502

 

7800X3D - PBO -30 all cores, 4.90GHz all core, 5.05GHz single core, 18286 C23 multi, 1779 C23 single

 

Emma : i9 9900K @5.1Ghz - Gigabyte AORUS 1080Ti - Gigabyte AORUS Z370 Gaming 5 - G. Skill Ripjaws V 32GB 3200CL16 - 750 EVO 512GB + 2x 860 EVO 1TB (RAID0) - EVGA SuperNova 650 P2 - Thermaltake Water 3.0 Ultimate 360mm - Fractal Design Define R6 - TP-Link AC1900 PCIe Wifi

 

Raven: AMD Ryzen 5 5600x3d - ASRock B550M Pro4 - G. Skill Ripjaws V 16GB 3200Mhz - XFX Radeon RX6650XT - Samsung 980 1TB + Crucial MX500 1TB - TP-Link AC600 USB Wifi - Gigabyte GP-P450B PSU -  Cooler Master MasterBox Q300L -  Samsung 27" 1080p

 

Plex : AMD Ryzen 5 5600 - Gigabyte B550M AORUS Elite AX - G. Skill Ripjaws V 16GB 2400Mhz - MSI 1050Ti 4GB - Crucial P3 Plus 500GB + WD Red NAS 4TBx2 - TP-Link AC1200 PCIe Wifi - EVGA SuperNova 650 P2 - ASUS Prime AP201 - Spectre 24" 1080p

 

Steam Deck 512GB OLED

 

OnePlus: 

OnePlus 11 5G - 16GB RAM, 256GB NAND, Eternal Green

OnePlus Buds Pro 2 - Eternal Green

 

Other Tech:

- 2021 Volvo S60 Recharge T8 Polestar Engineered - 415hp/495tq 2.0L 4cyl. turbocharged, supercharged and electrified.

Lenovo 720S Touch 15.6" - i7 7700HQ, 16GB RAM 2400MHz, 512GB NVMe SSD, 1050Ti, 4K touchscreen

MSI GF62 15.6" - i7 7700HQ, 16GB RAM 2400 MHz, 256GB NVMe SSD + 1TB 7200rpm HDD, 1050Ti

- Ubiquiti Amplifi HD mesh wifi

 

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Cooler Master H500

Main system: Ryzen 7 7800X3D / Asus ROG Strix B650E / G.Skill Trident Z5 NEO 32GB 6000Mhz / Powercolor RX 7900 XTX Red Devil/ EVGA 750W GQ / NZXT H5 Flow

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6 minutes ago, PopsicleHustler said:

Cooler Master H500

That's a pretty well known case, I'm looking for anything that isn't one of the "standard" cases.

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9 minutes ago, jstudrawa said:

Obligatory Fractal recommendation: S2 Mesh for good airflow, R6 or S2 for decent airflow with an added fan or two.  Though I'd water cool the 9900K with a 360mm AIO.

A larger Noctua will cool just as well if not better.

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Just now, Domain16 said:

That's a pretty well known case, I'm looking for anything that isn't one of the "standard" cases.

Would have been nice to know in the first post :P

 

It's a well known case for a reason, cuz it's good.

"Do what makes the experience better" - in regards to PCs and Life itself.

 

Onyx AMD Ryzen 7 7800x3d / MSI 6900xt Gaming X Trio / Gigabyte B650 AORUS Pro AX / G. Skill Flare X5 6000CL36 32GB / Samsung 980 1TB x3 / Super Flower Leadex V Platinum Pro 850 / EK-AIO 360 Basic / Fractal Design North XL (black mesh) / AOC AGON 35" 3440x1440 100Hz / Mackie CR5BT / Corsair Virtuoso SE / Cherry MX Board 3.0 / Logitech G502

 

7800X3D - PBO -30 all cores, 4.90GHz all core, 5.05GHz single core, 18286 C23 multi, 1779 C23 single

 

Emma : i9 9900K @5.1Ghz - Gigabyte AORUS 1080Ti - Gigabyte AORUS Z370 Gaming 5 - G. Skill Ripjaws V 32GB 3200CL16 - 750 EVO 512GB + 2x 860 EVO 1TB (RAID0) - EVGA SuperNova 650 P2 - Thermaltake Water 3.0 Ultimate 360mm - Fractal Design Define R6 - TP-Link AC1900 PCIe Wifi

 

Raven: AMD Ryzen 5 5600x3d - ASRock B550M Pro4 - G. Skill Ripjaws V 16GB 3200Mhz - XFX Radeon RX6650XT - Samsung 980 1TB + Crucial MX500 1TB - TP-Link AC600 USB Wifi - Gigabyte GP-P450B PSU -  Cooler Master MasterBox Q300L -  Samsung 27" 1080p

 

Plex : AMD Ryzen 5 5600 - Gigabyte B550M AORUS Elite AX - G. Skill Ripjaws V 16GB 2400Mhz - MSI 1050Ti 4GB - Crucial P3 Plus 500GB + WD Red NAS 4TBx2 - TP-Link AC1200 PCIe Wifi - EVGA SuperNova 650 P2 - ASUS Prime AP201 - Spectre 24" 1080p

 

Steam Deck 512GB OLED

 

OnePlus: 

OnePlus 11 5G - 16GB RAM, 256GB NAND, Eternal Green

OnePlus Buds Pro 2 - Eternal Green

 

Other Tech:

- 2021 Volvo S60 Recharge T8 Polestar Engineered - 415hp/495tq 2.0L 4cyl. turbocharged, supercharged and electrified.

Lenovo 720S Touch 15.6" - i7 7700HQ, 16GB RAM 2400MHz, 512GB NVMe SSD, 1050Ti, 4K touchscreen

MSI GF62 15.6" - i7 7700HQ, 16GB RAM 2400 MHz, 256GB NVMe SSD + 1TB 7200rpm HDD, 1050Ti

- Ubiquiti Amplifi HD mesh wifi

 

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Fractal Design Define R6.

I have a 2080, and run an NH-D15 for my CPU cooler. Looks fantastic, and all fits nicely. My GPU is quite long, and I run hard drives, so putting it in was a little rough; but it still fits cleanly.

Primary PC: - https://pcpartpicker.com/list/8G3tXv (Windows 10 Home)

HTPC: - https://pcpartpicker.com/list/KdBb4n (Windows 10 Home)
Server: Dell Precision T7500 - Dual Xeon X5660's, 44GB ECC DDR3, Dell Nvidia GTX 645 (Windows Server 2019 Standard)      

*SLI Rig* - i7-920, MSI-X58 Platinum SLI, 12GB DDR3, Dual EVGA GTX 260 Core 216 in SLI - https://pcpartpicker.com/list/GHw6vW (Windows 7 Pro)

HP DC7900 - Core 2 Duo E8400, 4GB DDR2, Nvidia GeForce 8600 GT (Windows Vista)

Compaq Presario 5000 - Pentium 4 1.7Ghz, 1.7GB SDR, PowerColor Radeon 9600 Pro (Windows XP x86 Pro)
Compaq Presario 8772 - Pentium MMX 200Mhz, 48MB PC66, 6GB Quantum HDD, "8GB" HP SATA SSD adapted to IDE (Windows 98 SE)

Asus M32AD - Intel i3-4170, 8GB DDR3, 250GB Seagate 2.5" HDD (converting to SSD soon), EVGA GeForce GTS 250, OEM 350W PSU (Windows 10 Core)

*Haswell Tower* https://pcpartpicker.com/list/3vw6vW (Windows 10 Home)

*ITX Box* - https://pcpartpicker.com/list/r36s6R (Windows 10 Education)

Dell Dimension XPS B800 - Pentium 3 800Mhz, RDRAM

In progress projects:

*Skylake Tower* - Pentium G4400, Asus H110

*Trash Can* - AMD A4-6300

*GPU Test Bench*

*Pfsense router* - Pentium G3220, Asrock H97m Pro A4, 4GB DDR3

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18 minutes ago, PopsicleHustler said:

Cooler Master H500

Only the H500p Mesh is good, the solid front panel version has garbage airflow.

Primary PC: - https://pcpartpicker.com/list/8G3tXv (Windows 10 Home)

HTPC: - https://pcpartpicker.com/list/KdBb4n (Windows 10 Home)
Server: Dell Precision T7500 - Dual Xeon X5660's, 44GB ECC DDR3, Dell Nvidia GTX 645 (Windows Server 2019 Standard)      

*SLI Rig* - i7-920, MSI-X58 Platinum SLI, 12GB DDR3, Dual EVGA GTX 260 Core 216 in SLI - https://pcpartpicker.com/list/GHw6vW (Windows 7 Pro)

HP DC7900 - Core 2 Duo E8400, 4GB DDR2, Nvidia GeForce 8600 GT (Windows Vista)

Compaq Presario 5000 - Pentium 4 1.7Ghz, 1.7GB SDR, PowerColor Radeon 9600 Pro (Windows XP x86 Pro)
Compaq Presario 8772 - Pentium MMX 200Mhz, 48MB PC66, 6GB Quantum HDD, "8GB" HP SATA SSD adapted to IDE (Windows 98 SE)

Asus M32AD - Intel i3-4170, 8GB DDR3, 250GB Seagate 2.5" HDD (converting to SSD soon), EVGA GeForce GTS 250, OEM 350W PSU (Windows 10 Core)

*Haswell Tower* https://pcpartpicker.com/list/3vw6vW (Windows 10 Home)

*ITX Box* - https://pcpartpicker.com/list/r36s6R (Windows 10 Education)

Dell Dimension XPS B800 - Pentium 3 800Mhz, RDRAM

In progress projects:

*Skylake Tower* - Pentium G4400, Asus H110

*Trash Can* - AMD A4-6300

*GPU Test Bench*

*Pfsense router* - Pentium G3220, Asrock H97m Pro A4, 4GB DDR3

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Thoughts on Thermaltake Core X5? No ones mentioned a full size tower yet either.

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Just now, Eastman51 said:

Only the H500p Mesh is good, the solid front panel version has garbage airflow.

Yeah, I'm not a fan of the solid panels.

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1 minute ago, Domain16 said:

Thoughts on Thermaltake Core X5? No ones mentioned a full size tower yet either.

What good is a full sized tower when mediums have more than enough room for everything you need and then some?

 

Ugly case, good airflow, too big.

 

You're over thinking this, IMO.  A decent mid case, some fans and your better-than-360mm-AIO air cooler and you're set.

 

 

"Do what makes the experience better" - in regards to PCs and Life itself.

 

Onyx AMD Ryzen 7 7800x3d / MSI 6900xt Gaming X Trio / Gigabyte B650 AORUS Pro AX / G. Skill Flare X5 6000CL36 32GB / Samsung 980 1TB x3 / Super Flower Leadex V Platinum Pro 850 / EK-AIO 360 Basic / Fractal Design North XL (black mesh) / AOC AGON 35" 3440x1440 100Hz / Mackie CR5BT / Corsair Virtuoso SE / Cherry MX Board 3.0 / Logitech G502

 

7800X3D - PBO -30 all cores, 4.90GHz all core, 5.05GHz single core, 18286 C23 multi, 1779 C23 single

 

Emma : i9 9900K @5.1Ghz - Gigabyte AORUS 1080Ti - Gigabyte AORUS Z370 Gaming 5 - G. Skill Ripjaws V 32GB 3200CL16 - 750 EVO 512GB + 2x 860 EVO 1TB (RAID0) - EVGA SuperNova 650 P2 - Thermaltake Water 3.0 Ultimate 360mm - Fractal Design Define R6 - TP-Link AC1900 PCIe Wifi

 

Raven: AMD Ryzen 5 5600x3d - ASRock B550M Pro4 - G. Skill Ripjaws V 16GB 3200Mhz - XFX Radeon RX6650XT - Samsung 980 1TB + Crucial MX500 1TB - TP-Link AC600 USB Wifi - Gigabyte GP-P450B PSU -  Cooler Master MasterBox Q300L -  Samsung 27" 1080p

 

Plex : AMD Ryzen 5 5600 - Gigabyte B550M AORUS Elite AX - G. Skill Ripjaws V 16GB 2400Mhz - MSI 1050Ti 4GB - Crucial P3 Plus 500GB + WD Red NAS 4TBx2 - TP-Link AC1200 PCIe Wifi - EVGA SuperNova 650 P2 - ASUS Prime AP201 - Spectre 24" 1080p

 

Steam Deck 512GB OLED

 

OnePlus: 

OnePlus 11 5G - 16GB RAM, 256GB NAND, Eternal Green

OnePlus Buds Pro 2 - Eternal Green

 

Other Tech:

- 2021 Volvo S60 Recharge T8 Polestar Engineered - 415hp/495tq 2.0L 4cyl. turbocharged, supercharged and electrified.

Lenovo 720S Touch 15.6" - i7 7700HQ, 16GB RAM 2400MHz, 512GB NVMe SSD, 1050Ti, 4K touchscreen

MSI GF62 15.6" - i7 7700HQ, 16GB RAM 2400 MHz, 256GB NVMe SSD + 1TB 7200rpm HDD, 1050Ti

- Ubiquiti Amplifi HD mesh wifi

 

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3 minutes ago, Domain16 said:

Thoughts on Thermaltake Core X5? No ones mentioned a full size tower yet either.

Thermaltake Core is an...interesting line of cases. The stack-ability is cool, but gimmicky (imo).

 

Fractal Design Definre R6 is a full size. It is much larger than my mid-tower Corsair.

Primary PC: - https://pcpartpicker.com/list/8G3tXv (Windows 10 Home)

HTPC: - https://pcpartpicker.com/list/KdBb4n (Windows 10 Home)
Server: Dell Precision T7500 - Dual Xeon X5660's, 44GB ECC DDR3, Dell Nvidia GTX 645 (Windows Server 2019 Standard)      

*SLI Rig* - i7-920, MSI-X58 Platinum SLI, 12GB DDR3, Dual EVGA GTX 260 Core 216 in SLI - https://pcpartpicker.com/list/GHw6vW (Windows 7 Pro)

HP DC7900 - Core 2 Duo E8400, 4GB DDR2, Nvidia GeForce 8600 GT (Windows Vista)

Compaq Presario 5000 - Pentium 4 1.7Ghz, 1.7GB SDR, PowerColor Radeon 9600 Pro (Windows XP x86 Pro)
Compaq Presario 8772 - Pentium MMX 200Mhz, 48MB PC66, 6GB Quantum HDD, "8GB" HP SATA SSD adapted to IDE (Windows 98 SE)

Asus M32AD - Intel i3-4170, 8GB DDR3, 250GB Seagate 2.5" HDD (converting to SSD soon), EVGA GeForce GTS 250, OEM 350W PSU (Windows 10 Core)

*Haswell Tower* https://pcpartpicker.com/list/3vw6vW (Windows 10 Home)

*ITX Box* - https://pcpartpicker.com/list/r36s6R (Windows 10 Education)

Dell Dimension XPS B800 - Pentium 3 800Mhz, RDRAM

In progress projects:

*Skylake Tower* - Pentium G4400, Asus H110

*Trash Can* - AMD A4-6300

*GPU Test Bench*

*Pfsense router* - Pentium G3220, Asrock H97m Pro A4, 4GB DDR3

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3 minutes ago, jstudrawa said:

What good is a full sized tower when mediums have more than enough room for everything you need and then some?

 

Ugly case, good airflow, too big.

 

You're over thinking this, IMO.  A decent mid case, some fans and your better-than-360mm-AIO air cooler and you're set.

 

 

Space is not a concern, full cases are easier to work in and offer the option for upgrades/additions later. On top of that, a larger case offers more room for more fans which is better air flow.

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2 minutes ago, Eastman51 said:

Thermaltake Core is an...interesting line of cases. The stack-ability is cool, but gimmicky (imo).

 

Fractal Design Definre R6 is a full size. It is much larger than my mid-tower Corsair.

Fractal Design Definre R6 is still considered a mid-size. I'm definitely considering it, just trying to get all of the options.

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Just now, Domain16 said:

Space is not a concern, full cases are easier to work in and offer the option for upgrades/additions later. On top of that, a larger case offers more room for more fans which is better air flow.

Everyone says upgrades and additions later.  What additions?  A couch?  Table?  I mean, you can put custom loops in mid-towers.

 

Also, more fans don't equal better cooling. CFM is more important, so a few good fans in a proper airflow pattern work better than just lots of fans in a big box.

 

Something to consider.  Not saying don't get a full if you want one, but there isn't a real need for one.  I didn't need a case as big as the R6, but I wanted it :)

 

 

"Do what makes the experience better" - in regards to PCs and Life itself.

 

Onyx AMD Ryzen 7 7800x3d / MSI 6900xt Gaming X Trio / Gigabyte B650 AORUS Pro AX / G. Skill Flare X5 6000CL36 32GB / Samsung 980 1TB x3 / Super Flower Leadex V Platinum Pro 850 / EK-AIO 360 Basic / Fractal Design North XL (black mesh) / AOC AGON 35" 3440x1440 100Hz / Mackie CR5BT / Corsair Virtuoso SE / Cherry MX Board 3.0 / Logitech G502

 

7800X3D - PBO -30 all cores, 4.90GHz all core, 5.05GHz single core, 18286 C23 multi, 1779 C23 single

 

Emma : i9 9900K @5.1Ghz - Gigabyte AORUS 1080Ti - Gigabyte AORUS Z370 Gaming 5 - G. Skill Ripjaws V 32GB 3200CL16 - 750 EVO 512GB + 2x 860 EVO 1TB (RAID0) - EVGA SuperNova 650 P2 - Thermaltake Water 3.0 Ultimate 360mm - Fractal Design Define R6 - TP-Link AC1900 PCIe Wifi

 

Raven: AMD Ryzen 5 5600x3d - ASRock B550M Pro4 - G. Skill Ripjaws V 16GB 3200Mhz - XFX Radeon RX6650XT - Samsung 980 1TB + Crucial MX500 1TB - TP-Link AC600 USB Wifi - Gigabyte GP-P450B PSU -  Cooler Master MasterBox Q300L -  Samsung 27" 1080p

 

Plex : AMD Ryzen 5 5600 - Gigabyte B550M AORUS Elite AX - G. Skill Ripjaws V 16GB 2400Mhz - MSI 1050Ti 4GB - Crucial P3 Plus 500GB + WD Red NAS 4TBx2 - TP-Link AC1200 PCIe Wifi - EVGA SuperNova 650 P2 - ASUS Prime AP201 - Spectre 24" 1080p

 

Steam Deck 512GB OLED

 

OnePlus: 

OnePlus 11 5G - 16GB RAM, 256GB NAND, Eternal Green

OnePlus Buds Pro 2 - Eternal Green

 

Other Tech:

- 2021 Volvo S60 Recharge T8 Polestar Engineered - 415hp/495tq 2.0L 4cyl. turbocharged, supercharged and electrified.

Lenovo 720S Touch 15.6" - i7 7700HQ, 16GB RAM 2400MHz, 512GB NVMe SSD, 1050Ti, 4K touchscreen

MSI GF62 15.6" - i7 7700HQ, 16GB RAM 2400 MHz, 256GB NVMe SSD + 1TB 7200rpm HDD, 1050Ti

- Ubiquiti Amplifi HD mesh wifi

 

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2 minutes ago, jstudrawa said:

Everyone says upgrades and additions later.  What additions?  A couch?  Table?  I mean, you can put custom loops in mid-towers.

 

Also, more fans don't equal better cooling. CFM is more important, so a few good fans in a proper airflow pattern work better than just lots of fans in a big box.

 

Something to consider.  Not saying don't get a full if you want one, but there isn't a real need for one.  I didn't need a case as big as the R6, but I wanted it :)

 

 

My current rig has a full tower, larger fans and I love it. Plenty of room for whatever is needed and everything stays cool. I'm not apposed to a mid size tower if it covers all my check marks, I just know how some mid sized are a pain to work in, I don't have the smallest hands and best patience. I actually like the Thermaltake Tower 900, I feel it might look big with so much empty space though.

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21 hours ago, Domain16 said:

I actually like the Thermaltake Tower 900, I feel it might look big with so much empty space though.

The Tower 900 would be terrible for an air cooled build, as the main chamber has I think two fan slots total while the back is reserved for an insane amount of radiator space, and airflow from that does not enter the main chamber to the best of my knowledge. 

21 hours ago, Domain16 said:

Fractal Design Definre R6 is still considered a mid-size. I'm definitely considering it, just trying to get all of the options.

Sadly the Mid-tower and Full-tower definitions are becoming extremely askew. There's no set standard by dimensions or volume, it's based on what the manufacturer decides to call it. For example the bequiet! Silent base 801, at 83L of volume.... Is considered a "Mid tower" (and it's actually larger in volume than the Dark Base pro 900 Full tower which is 82L) the Lian Li PC-O11D is also listed as a full tower, despite only being deeper than a traditionally accepted mid tower size (Corsair 275R)

 

The Define R6/S2/Meshify S2 is still a "mid tower" but teeters on the high end to what I consider Full Tower territory at around 60L, which means you have plenty of room for anything you want to put in it, and enough room for cable management. 

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only problem with most cases like meshify c is cpu cooler clearance is 155 noctua nh15d is 165mm i have one myself just to let you know 

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