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Make case recommendations and I'll buy them!*

mao91

*as long as they're not genuinely dog-ugly and fit within my budget.

 

I've found and ordered a few cases to test already, but I'm looking for more recommendations. 

 

NON-NEGOTIABLE requirements:

- ATX midtower chassis*

- Space for a Noctua NH-D15*

- Under 450mm in height when feet are removed*

- Removable feet*

 

Functional preferences:

- Front-panel USB-C. Not required, but with new mobos supporting it, it might be nice.

- Front-Panel IO should still be fairly easy to access if the case is laid on its side.

- Side-vent intake and an enclosed front panel. This is more for acoustics performance than anything else. 

- Bonus points if it has noise dampening inside, but even if it doesn't, as long as there is room for me to apply my own acoustic material, I'll be happy.

 

And here are my aesthetic preferences:

- Fairly symmetrical appearance when laid on its side.

- Tempered glass is not a requirement. But if it has a TG option, I would prefer clear TG and not dark TG, as I will not be filling this with RGB puke.

 

Budget preferences:

- $175ish or less

 

If you recommend it, and it reasonably meets my requirements and checks a few preference boxes, I'll go ahead and order it to test out. I'll do this until Zen3 launches and I make a decision on red vs blue for my upgrade path. Cases I don't use will be returned. I must be able to get the case from a reputable source (Amazon, Newegg, Best Buy, etc.) that can ship to my door. Let's make my neighbors ask questions.

 

I will post pictures and shenanigans of cases that I end up ordering to test out.

 

Proof that I'm not joking around: someone said to try these out so I bought them. Sadly, they're both going back.



[s119523863_352041656176555_1635973044297270849_n.thumb.jpg.5de9b8257b9116de7fcdd444d2a097ea.jpg

If what I'm posting has already been posted, I'm sorry.

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I mean... I guess there is something to be said for trying to figure out what you want. But, this is just a lot of waste... All of the shipping of cases, all of the returns needing to be managed, the cost of cases for everyone going up as a result of the increased cost of goods movement/handling and the fact they have to now be sold as a used item with no margin.

 

I can't tell you have to live your life; nor is that my purgative. But, maybe don't buy things expecting to return them. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Rig: i7 13700k - - Asus Z790-P Wifi - - RTX 4080 - - 4x16GB 6000MHz - - Samsung 990 Pro 2TB NVMe Boot + Main Programs - - Assorted SATA SSD's for Photo Work - - Corsair RM850x - - Sound BlasterX EA-5 - - Corsair XC8 JTC Edition - - Corsair GPU Full Cover GPU Block - - XT45 X-Flow 420 + UT60 280 rads - - EK XRES RGB PWM - - Fractal Define S2 - - Acer Predator X34 -- Logitech G502 - - Logitech G710+ - - Logitech Z5500 - - LTT Deskpad

 

Headphones/amp/dac: Schiit Lyr 3 - - Fostex TR-X00 - - Sennheiser HD 6xx

 

Homelab/ Media Server: Proxmox VE host - - 512 NVMe Samsung 980 RAID Z1 for VM's/Proxmox boot - - Xeon e5 2660 V4- - Supermicro X10SRF-i - - 128 GB ECC 2133 - - 10x4 TB WD Red RAID Z2 - - Corsair 750D - - Corsair RM650i - - Dell H310 6Gbps SAS HBA - - Intel RES2SC240 SAS Expander - - TreuNAS + many other VM’s

 

iPhone 14 Pro - 2018 MacBook Air

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14 minutes ago, LIGISTX said:

I mean... I guess there is something to be said for trying to figure out what you want. But, this is just a lot of waste... All of the shipping of cases, all of the returns needing to be managed, the cost of cases for everyone going up as a result of the increased cost of goods movement/handling and the fact they have to now be sold as a used item with no margin.

 

I can't tell you have to live your life; nor is that my purgative. But, maybe don't buy things expecting to return them. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

That's a free market, baby.

Like I said, they have to check the right boxes in order for me to actually buy. I'm not going to be ordering hundreds of cases. The two I bought were before I realized I would have the measurement requirement. I had mistakenly figured my Define R5 was pretty big for a mid-tower chassis and most others would be the same size or smaller. It's a process of narrowing down to find the right case for a rather specific need that I have. If I have to order 5-10 different models cases to try the right one, it's not going to affect case prices. For the record, the Define 7 box wasn't even opened. I didn't even cut the packing tape, so it will not have to be sold as a used item. 

I can research, watch reviews, and compare picture and specs all day long, but ultimately's going to come down to "how well does this case actually work for my specific scenario?" If I'm not happy with it, I'm not going to waste my money on it. And I would offer the same advice to anyone looking to buy anything. Research like crazy, narrow down your options, then get your hands on those options to see how it actually is. 
 

If what I'm posting has already been posted, I'm sorry.

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5 minutes ago, B.Toast said:

That's a free market, baby.

I mean yes, but, ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

 

I have bought many cases in my day, and I have never not been able to determine if it met my needs from research alone. Heatsink support should be simple, then external dimensions are readily available from the manufacturer. USB versioning and placement is obvious via pix, as with the other aesthetics. Just saying, proper research should get you there. I know I am coming off as a total jerk, but I really have built many PC's and have never been surprised by a case... by the time I get around to order one I know more about it than any single reviewer/review out there did (besides maybe gamers nexus). Anyways, didn't mean to totally derail your case search.

Rig: i7 13700k - - Asus Z790-P Wifi - - RTX 4080 - - 4x16GB 6000MHz - - Samsung 990 Pro 2TB NVMe Boot + Main Programs - - Assorted SATA SSD's for Photo Work - - Corsair RM850x - - Sound BlasterX EA-5 - - Corsair XC8 JTC Edition - - Corsair GPU Full Cover GPU Block - - XT45 X-Flow 420 + UT60 280 rads - - EK XRES RGB PWM - - Fractal Define S2 - - Acer Predator X34 -- Logitech G502 - - Logitech G710+ - - Logitech Z5500 - - LTT Deskpad

 

Headphones/amp/dac: Schiit Lyr 3 - - Fostex TR-X00 - - Sennheiser HD 6xx

 

Homelab/ Media Server: Proxmox VE host - - 512 NVMe Samsung 980 RAID Z1 for VM's/Proxmox boot - - Xeon e5 2660 V4- - Supermicro X10SRF-i - - 128 GB ECC 2133 - - 10x4 TB WD Red RAID Z2 - - Corsair 750D - - Corsair RM650i - - Dell H310 6Gbps SAS HBA - - Intel RES2SC240 SAS Expander - - TreuNAS + many other VM’s

 

iPhone 14 Pro - 2018 MacBook Air

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28 minutes ago, LIGISTX said:

I mean yes, but, ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

 

I have bought many cases in my day, and I have never not been able to determine if it met my needs from research alone. Heatsink support should be simple, then external dimensions are readily available from the manufacturer. USB versioning and placement is obvious via pix, as with the other aesthetics. Just saying, proper research should get you there. I know I am coming off as a total jerk, but I really have built many PC's and have never been surprised by a case... by the time I get around to order one I know more about it than any single reviewer/review out there did (besides maybe gamers nexus). Anyways, didn't mean to totally derail your case search.

Think of this as the final stage of my research. This is where I like to open myself to outside input and new suggestions before I make a final decision. The final decision is ultimately made by getting my hands on my final choices and then making a permanent decision from there. Not only am I buying the case for this specific build, but I plan to use the case for future builds as well. So it's a big decision to make. I also understand case reviewers are generally biased toward their own preferences. Gamers Nexus definitely offers a ton of information, but they're very biased toward high airflow and not acoustic performance. For this reason, I can't trust spec sheets and reviews alone. I need to know exactly how a case is going to work in my environment with my hardware configuration. That's all there is to it. 

I mean, this really seems like a pretty easy thing to grasp. If research and reviews yield something about a case that I don't like, I'm not going to order it to test out. If everything pre-buy checks out, I'm going to get my hands on it and make my final decision from there.

If what I'm posting has already been posted, I'm sorry.

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I hear the Phanteks Eclipse P400A is especially good for it's price point (~$90). I don't know whether or not to order it myself though.

Maybe give that one a try?

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4 minutes ago, chippu said:

I hear the Phanteks Eclipse P400A is especially good for it's price point (~$90). I don't know whether or not to order it myself though.

Maybe give that one a try?

Hmmm. Website lists height as 465mm but that's with the feet. I wonder what it would be with the feet removed. If it's enough to knock more than 15mm off, it could potentially be worth considering, though I don't know if a full mesh front would be that high on my list of possibilities. 

If what I'm posting has already been posted, I'm sorry.

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Are there no computer stores near you that you can visit to actually inspect some cases yourself?

CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 3950X   Motherboard: MSI X570 Gaming Edge Wifi   Case: Deepcool Maxtrexx 70   GPU: RTX 3090   RAM: Corsair Vengeance LPX 3x16GB 3200 MHz   PSU: Super Flower 850W

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19 minutes ago, alyen said:

Are there no computer stores near you that you can visit to actually inspect some cases yourself?

I mean there's a BestBuy but.. I can't just drag my entire setup into there. I specifically need to test stuff with my setup. It's very specific. Size is important but so are real-world acoustics when it's laid sideways in my rack. At this point I have my two "it's probably gonna be one of these" guesses but I'm not 100% sure so I'm open to suggestions.

 

If what I'm posting has already been posted, I'm sorry.

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