Case recommendation sought

[Leng]

Good evening all, 

 

First post here, have been a lurker and mostly watching the channel. You are all great guys and girls and very helpful and knowledgeable. I am about to put a build together, have not done a full one since 2012. To get any good input I will give a crap ton of information!

 

Parts wise: I am confident on MB (Asus X570-E), CPU (Ryzen 9 3900X), RAM (G.Skill Trident Z Neo 32GB 3600Mhz/CAS 16) and NZXT Kraken X73 for my CPU cooler. 

 

My old PC is build in a Nanoxia Deep Silence 1 case, which is not a bad case as such, but I'm totally over my cats closing the air chimney 4 times per day... I am also working from home now 100% of the time, after COVID-19 this might still be the case for 2-3 days per week, hopefully. Requirements for the new case:

 

• No air chimney!
• Similar size to the mid tower - Nanoxia Deep Silence 1 (H 517mm x W 220mm x D 532mm
  (20.35" x 8.66" x 20.94") without feet  
• Great build quality, steel or similar.
• Budget: AUD$500 (basically any price point considered)
• Need to be able to fit the 360mm CPU AIO
• Have space for second 240mm Radiator for doing my custom loop in 2024 or something
• Colour black or silver probably, white would not fit the room aesthetics
• Maybe somewhat cat-proof (good air filters) 

I do like the Fractal Meshify C, that could work. Maybe the Phanteks EvolvX? I will run this with an air cooled GPU which will most likely be a RTX 2070 Super, which makes me want to have awesome airflow. I am getting very hot components right now even though my case is not meant to be that bad. Whats the best air-cooled 2070 super? My current CPU and GPU approaching 90+ at times. I might actually fry them soon without really knowing the cause. There is also other Corsair and Phanteks and Fractal and other cases, NZXT may have something that fits as well.

Any little pointers and stories of your experience with a certain case and how it would suit me are highly appreciated!

 

Mainly want an upgrade because I crave having a Ryzen 9 3900X... I mean I do sometimes move 20GB files around while having a video edit running in the background and using some resource hungry programs on the side. (Not just Chrome and Windows 10 haha) Is this justification, maybe not, but it matters that I want a Ryzen 9! Really want to use DDR4 as well which my board does not support, and not a happy camper with my current GPU. Just gets way too hot. I cooked a predecessor card of the current one, a Radeon HD7850 in 2015! Yeah for luck with GPU. That is why I fancy the 2070S over the 5700XT I think.

 

This is my current PC!

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4 GHz Quad-Core Processor
CPU Cooler	Noctua NH-D15 82.5 CFM CPU Cooler	$155.00 @ BudgetPC
Motherboard	Asus P8Z77-V LK ATX LGA1155 Motherboard
Memory	Corsair Vengeance Pro 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR3-2133 Memory
Storage	Samsung 840 EVO 500 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive
Storage	Samsung 850 Pro Series 1 TB 2.5" Solid State Drive	$635.00 @ I-Tech
Video Card	Asus Radeon R9 290 4 GB DirectCU II Video Card
Case	Nanoxia Deep Silence 1 ATX Mid Tower Case
Power Supply	EVGA SuperNOVA G2 850 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total	$790.00
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-04-16 18:24 AEST+1000

 

This is a wishlist without a case and with not sure which PSU to get, hey I am in the right forum for that too!

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD Ryzen 9 3900X 3.8 GHz 12-Core Processor	$751.05 @ Amazon Australia
CPU Cooler	NZXT Kraken X73 73.11 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler	$275.00 @ Austin Computers
Motherboard	Asus ROG Strix X570-F Gaming ATX AM4 Motherboard	$398.00 @ Shopping Express
Memory	G.Skill Trident Z Neo 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3600 Memory	$333.30 @ Newegg Australia
Storage	Samsung 970 Evo 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive
Storage	Gigabyte AORUS NVMe Gen4 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive	$419.00 @ Centre Com
Video Card	Asus GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER 8 GB STRIX GAMING Video Card	$1099.00 @ Centre Com
Power Supply	EVGA SuperNOVA P2 850 W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply	$283.00 @ I-Tech
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total	$3558.35
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-04-16 18:23 AEST+1000

[Bombastinator]

I take it you don’t like the meshify c?  It’s got a bunch of competitors lately.  Nexus mods just did a review of a new silver stone which is one of them.  It may appeal to you.

Silenced cases are not the rage right now like they were in 2012.  Even finding one would require looking at older designs I suspect.  The 3900x doesn’t produce a ton of heat and ryzen2 doesn’t really overclock well so a super high TDP cooler won’t buy you much.  Generally GPUs produce more heat (and thus fan noise) than CPUs do these days. 

[Leng]

@Bombastinator

 

Nothing against the Meshify C. I am not necessarily into silent cases, I believe if the case has really good airflow then the GPU fans would usually spin slower therefore making the total sound less noisy. Not sure how big differences are with the cases that have sound dampening material and so forth, but my current case gets quite loud. I might also ask in the GPU forum for the best cooling performance to noise ratio 2070S, that might help me. 

 

Meshify C is actually one I am looking at, I think it may satisfy my needs. I read somewhere the air filters are not the easiest to take out for cleaning. So maybe the EvolvX is better, also just continuing to read up on more cases. The O11 Dynamic looks interesting as well. Looks great for CPU airflow, but how do the cases stack up in terms of dust filtering / accumulation? I think my house is more on the dusty side. 

 

Fractal Design Meshify C

Phanteks EvolvX

Lian Li O11 Dynamic

NZXT H510

 

Is what I am looking at currently. 

[Ravendarat]

The filters on the meshfy are easy to remove with the exception of the front thats a little stiff but not a big deal. Some people incorrectly said you had to pull off the entire front to get the filter out but you can pop out just the filter as long as you remove the bottom one first. Easy peasy 

[Mamonos]

 

20 minutes ago, Leng said:

• No air chimney!
• Similar size to the mid tower - Nanoxia Deep Silence 1 (H 517mm x W 220mm x D 532mm
  (20.35" x 8.66" x 20.94") without feet  
• Great build quality, steel or similar.
• Budget: AUD$500 (basically any price point considered)
• Need to be able to fit the 360mm CPU AIO
• Have space for second 240mm Radiator for doing my custom loop in 2024 or something
• Colour black or silver probably, white would not fit the room aesthetics
• Maybe somewhat cat-proof (good air filters) 

 

20 minutes ago, Leng said:

Fractal Design Meshify C

Phanteks EvolvX

Lian Li O11 Dynamic

NZXT H510

 

Is what I am looking at currently. 

 

Can't comment on the Phanteks case because I never work with those products.

 

---

 

Fractal products are great but watch out for the Meshify C, especially with your requirements because

 

-You can only mount the 360mm AIO at the front

-GPU max lenght is 315mm with front fan mounted, add the radiator to that and you are getting into really tight space.

 

Considering your requirements also for the future I would rather look into the Meshify S2 which allows you to mount the 360mm AIO at the top and mount the future additional radiator at the front.

 

Also I find the top cover for the C version of their case to be kind of cheap, but it is still ok.

 

The C is smaller than your current case and the Meshify S2 has different proportions but overall similar size.

 

---

 

O11 Dynamic is great, nothing to add.

 

---

 

The H510 can't even accomodate your 360mm AIO, despite being a very nice case it's really not versatile for cooling (280mm at the front and only 120mm back and 140mm top).

 

To get more flexibility you should look into the H710. Similar size like your current case (516 x 230 x 494 mm) and it comes with 4x fans (3x 120mm and 1x 140mm) which makes it a very valuable purchase in my opinion.

 

---

 

My additional recommendation for you is to also look into be quiet! products: Silent Base 601/801 and Dark Base 700.

 

 

 

Cheers

 

 

[TVwazhere]

8 hours ago, Leng said:

Meshify C is actually one I am looking at, I think it may satisfy my needs. I read somewhere the air filters are not the easiest to take out for cleaning. So maybe the EvolvX is better, also just continuing to read up on more cases.

The P600S airflow is is vastly superior to the Evolv X. It's the same internal frame and layout, just different exterior panels.

7 hours ago, Mamonos said:

Fractal products are great but watch out for the Meshify C, especially with your requirements because

 

-You can only mount the 360mm AIO at the front

-GPU max length is 315mm with front fan mounted, add the radiator to that and you are getting into really tight space.

Correct. GPU length with an AIO rad and fan brings you down to 287mm, which fit's OP's current 290 exactly but would be too short for the planned strix card. For these situations I always recommended the Phanteks Enthoo Pro M TG (this was before the days of the P400A and MB511 RGB)

 

IMO, The Meshify S2 or the P600S fits the premium look and feel of the build you're going for. 

(Both are good, P600S is a bit better due to less restrictive filters)

[Leng]

@TVwazhere your answer is the one I like the best at this moment, the P600S is definitely a strong contender now I have to admit. Both that and the Meshify S2 look clean and appear to have good mesh/filter parts at the front especially. Should both work very well for me, thank you. 

 

@Mamonos Noted your recommendation for the Meshify S2 as well here, it does look great but I wonder how it compares to the P600S in terms of airflow for the GPU. The P600S may just let me air through that type of filter if all the descriptions and the video are to be believed, but both of them may be better in terms of GPU airflow compared to the O11D, I wonder if there is someone who built in both the O11D and one of the other 2 mentioned ones. The O11D does also look great and very suitable. Definitely going away from considering the EvolvX now haha. The front of the O11D looks like it has the power button on it which is a great catproofing feature as well, but not sure how well airflow is as front is glass instead of mesh. 

 

The H710 from NZXT would go well with my CPU cooler, and I can see the holes and spaces at the top and side, wonder how well GPU airflows are in there. I will see if I can find a video or someone somewhere comparing this one to the P600S or the Meshify S2 or the O11D, that would be great. 

 

Thanks for all the great info so far, gained much more knowledge than I anticipated and feeling like I am getting somewhere now with this! As said before the main issues with my current case are that airflow is not as good as I hoped with front door closed and the chimney is sort of annoying as my cats like to close it (it does of course improve airflow a lot when open as I have 2 fans right under it.)

[Leng]

I'm still not 100% sure on the case, the O11D looks probably very likely at this point, I can probably still get a distribution plate for it if I want to do a full liquid cooling loop in 2 years. It looks the sleekest. Just wondering where I would put the CPU AIO as I can put in in the side and in the top on that case. If I decide to use the O11D I would maybe put AIO in the side, and have at least 1 exhaust fan at the back and maybe 1 or 2 at the bottom for intake blowing towards the air cooled GPU?

 

Just have to check that everything fits in there now, as the rad would be sorta out of the way even on the side I think the strix card would fit well, may even mount it vertical as that seems to be a very viable option in this case.