Choosing a case: Fractal Design R6 vs. C

[brobdingz]

14 minutes ago, Juular said:

Gigabyte Z390 boards are the best for the money, you could go cheaper for Gaming X If you don't mind losing one M.2 slot (oh, it has 2x M.2 too but just one heatsink), it'll be good for non-OC'd 9700k (and mildly OC'd too) but Gaming Pro are worth it IMO. Speaking of OC'ing you probably don't need NH-D15 either if you wouldn't do it, i'll see what i can recommend on that side i'd go with be quiet! Dark Rock, smaller, easier to mount probably quieter at low load too.

First - you are awesome dude, thanks so much!!

 

Making sure I understand - by "Gigabyte Gaming Pro" you're referring to the AUROS Pro, right?

 

Be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 4 vs. Noctua NH-D15 - considered exactly these two (as one would I suppose), will now revisit this.

 

Thanks again, tremendously helpful!

[Juular]

Also, for the GPU, i'd go either for ASUS Strix or Gigabyte Aorus (for the looks, even if it's just a bit worse cooling performance wise), MSI Trio are damn huge.

3 minutes ago, brobdingz said:

Making sure I understand - by "Gigabyte Gaming Pro" you're referring to the AUROS Pro, right?

Yep.

[For Science!]

If footprint is important to you then the C-series is in my opinion the best ATX mid-tower. Having built in both Define and Meshify C, I would personally recommend the Meshify since I find it better cooling per noise than the Define C. The only thing is if the system is going to be really quite (for example, custom cooling) then high-pitch noise like coil whine may be more apparant with the meshify C than the define C.

[brobdingz]

28 minutes ago, Juular said:

Also, for the GPU, i'd go either for ASUS Strix or Gigabyte Aorus (for the looks, even if it's just a bit worse cooling performance wise), MSI Trio are damn huge.

My reading up has narrowed it down to MSI Gaming Trio X vs. ASUS Strix. My bet is / was as follows:

 

The strix has a performance mode and a quiet mode (only in the latter do the fans turn off when idle), the gaming trio doesn't have this choice and it's fans-off-when-idle.

 

What I'm actually trying to figure out is which of the two targets my sort of audience better ("just work really well and quietly, a turnkey solution"). Totally speculative, quite possibly wrong: due to this configurability on the strix, I can imagine the gaming trio x is more like that, not approaching both those seeking performance and those seeking low noise levels (forcing me to choose), but rather something in between. Admittedly, I'm looking for the least choices to make after purchase.

 

31 minutes ago, Juular said:

Also look at CM MB511 and H500 cases, even though i'm not personally a fan of their aesthetics choices, the cases themselves are rather good.

Thanks! I'll take a look.

[brobdingz]

20 minutes ago, For Science! said:

If footprint is important to you then the C-series is in my opinion the best ATX mid-tower. Having built in both Define and Meshify C, I would personally recommend the Meshify since I find it better cooling per noise than the Define C. The only thing is if the system is going to be really quite (for example, custom cooling) then high-pitch noise like coil whine may be more apparant with the meshify C than the define C.

Thanks for that!

No custom cooling or similar intended, if I can get it then I'll most likely I'll go for the Meshify C.

[PurplDrank]

On 1/12/2020 at 5:46 AM, Crunken said:

What about the meshify c? fits a full size atx mobo, has good thermals and is smaller than a regular atx case. That's the one i chose for my build last year and really been enjoying it (Only issue i had is that the stock fans that come with the case are a bit loud, so i plan on changing them soon)

I have the meshify C as well. What fans are you gonna go with. I want to replace mine as well. 

[PurplDrank]

On 1/12/2020 at 4:00 AM, brobdingz said:

About to buy a new gaming PC, all parts pretty much figured out, except for the case.

 

What I care about: gaming performance (at settings as high as possible for 4K and/or 1440) and low noise levels, no need for streaming/editing. This machine won't be upgraded anytime soon (it's likely that only in a few years will I overhaul the CPU, motherboard, and GPU) and no overclocking is intended.

 

Between the Fractal Design Define R6 and C, I prefer the latter due to the smaller form factor.

 

But - is that a good choice per temps and noise? (my basic understanding: smaller case --> harder to cool --> fans speed faster --> more noise).

And also, if going with the Define C, should I add an extra fan? (which one, front / bottom / top?)

 

Here's my build minus a case, thanks for any tips!

 

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: Intel Core i7-9700K 3.6 GHz 8-Core Processor  ($339.99 @ Best Buy) 
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D15 82.5 CFM CPU Cooler  ($89.95 @ Amazon) 
Motherboard: Gigabyte Z390 AORUS PRO ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($189.99 @ Amazon) 
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory  ($79.98 @ Amazon) 
Storage: ADATA XPG SX8200 Pro 2 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive  ($289.99 @ Amazon) 
Video Card: MSI GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER 8 GB GAMING X TRIO Video Card  ($749.99 @ Amazon) 
Power Supply: Corsair RMx (2018) 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply  ($129.88 @ Newegg) 
Total: $1869.77
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-01-12 03:52 EST-0500

Meshify C has best cable management ive ever worked with. I do like the S2 version of the meshify C 

[Juular]

8 hours ago, brobdingz said:

What I'm actually trying to figure out is which of the two targets my sort of audience better

The switch there are only so you don't need to configure anything, just flick it. You still can configure fan curve on both if you wan't too, as of noise level, MSI are probably just a bit cooler on the same noise level but marginally so, i'd go with ASUS.

[brobdingz]

1 hour ago, Juular said:

The switch there are only so you don't need to configure anything, just flick it. You still can configure fan curve on both if you wan't too, as of noise level, MSI are probably just a bit cooler on the same noise level but marginally so, i'd go with ASUS.

I see, do you prefer asus due to the gaming trio x's size? Is it too large? (especially for a small case such as a meshify/define c).

 

[For Science!]

3 minutes ago, brobdingz said:

I see, do you prefer asus due to the gaming trio x's size? Is it too large? (especially for a small case such as a meshify/define c).

 

i keep two strix 2070 in my office computer. I would also recommend the strix coolers 

 

[Juular]

3 hours ago, brobdingz said:

I see, do you prefer asus due to the gaming trio x's size? Is it too large? (especially for a small case such as a meshify/define c).

MSI Trio are 33cm long, ASUS Strix are 30cm long, 33cm may be too long if you decide to install an AIO some day but otherwise it's okay, either way they perform similarly and ASUS are cheaper so no reason to go for MSI.

[Crunken]

17 hours ago, PurplDrank said:

I have the meshify C as well. What fans are you gonna go with. I want to replace mine as well. 

I'm going with the Be Quiet silent wings 3, i've heard a lot of people recommending noctua fans but they just look so bad xd even the gray ones won't fit my all black pc build, they're supposed to be really quiet as well

[VEXICUS]

First of all, I'll recommend an AMD build as if offers much more value as compared to Intel. And I personally don't like Intel's 9th gen i7 processors 8c/8t isn't worth it. A Ryzen 5 3600 makes much more sense even if it comes to gaming.

Also, yes that sx8200 pro is a pretty good drive.

 

You can swap these parts in the list that you have made. I'll also recommend to skip the nhd 15 as the included cooler is fine at stock speeds.

 

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor  ($189.99 @ Amazon) 
Motherboard: MSI B450 TOMAHAWK MAX ATX AM4 Motherboard  ($114.99 @ B&H) 
Total: $304.98
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-01-14 11:02 EST-0500

 

By doing these changes, you can even upgrade your GPU to a 2080ti.

[brobdingz]

1 hour ago, VEXICUS said:

First of all, I'll recommend an AMD build as if offers much more value as compared to Intel. And I personally don't like Intel's 9th gen i7 processors 8c/8t isn't worth it. A Ryzen 5 3600 makes much more sense even if it comes to gaming.

Also, yes that sx8200 pro is a pretty good drive.

 

You can swap these parts in the list that you have made. I'll also recommend to skip the nhd 15 as the included cooler is fine at stock speeds.

 

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor  ($189.99 @ Amazon) 
Motherboard: MSI B450 TOMAHAWK MAX ATX AM4 Motherboard  ($114.99 @ B&H) 
Total: $304.98
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-01-14 11:02 EST-0500

 

By doing these changes, you can even upgrade your GPU to a 2080ti.

Thanks VEXICUS!

 

I've gone back and forth regarding AMD vs. Intel, yeah value-per-dollar-wise AMD definitely tops Intel. Nevertheless, my mind is pretty made up about going with Intel. I can share my reasoning, if interested: (the result of reading about this over the last week or so)

 

With the i7-9700K I'm losing 8 threads compared to Ryzen 7 3700 or 3800 (but I probably won't need them anytime soon: game manufacturers are starting to utilize threads, but I should be good for the next 2-3 years, hopefully); I'm also restricting the longevity of the motherboard, as with Intel when the CPU will be upgraded the mobo will likely also need to be upgraded (but frankly, the plan is to overhaul the whole thing in a few years: motherboard, CPU and GPU -- nVidia 30x0 or whatever we'll have then).

 

With the i7-9700K, I'm gaining a few frames per second in games (and the diff in frames actually diminishes as settings go higher) and can allow myself to have memory like 3600Mhz CL18 or 3200Mhz CL16 since supposedly an AMD processor is more sensitive to RAM speed/latency, and going with AMD I would have wanted to hop up a price category with memory, taking something like 3600Mhz CL16.

 

Along with the fact that if I were to go with AMD, I would have wanted a stronger motherboard than the B450, like an X570, the price diff comes to less than $100 (with the retailers I have available here). For this particular purchase ("splurge but not way-over-the-top"), that's low enough for me to sway towards Intel per the small diff in performance during gaming.

 

That's how I look at it per the info I found. Thanks a bunch for your input, much appreciated