Is the Lancool II non-mesh really no good?

[Ginger Penguin]

Hi all,

 

I've been flip-flopping on a bunch of cases. Each one I've considered seems to be almost right but not quite. While I like RGB, them as front case fans have never really looked that great to me but the RGB intake vents really appeal to me. I'm planning a 5900X/3060 build with either a top 240 or front 360 Enermax Liqfusion AIO. I'm going to use 3xArctic P12s as front intake either by themselves or replacing the fans the AIO comes with. Given that configuration, am I shooting myself in the foot by going with a case that doesn't have a full front mesh?

 

My other option was going with a Deepcool CL500 which I still like (the grey metal should match nicely with my B550 Steel Legend) with the same fan/rad config options. I'm just sad to lose some front RGB and I really would prefer 3 hard drive slots vs 2 (I'm intending to run it as a video editing workstation with the source media on the 3 HDDs in RAID0 with the originals backed up elsewhere of course).

[Radium_Angel]

44 minutes ago, W.D. Stevens said:

Given that configuration, am I shooting myself in the foot by going with a case that doesn't have a full front mesh?

Yes, those fans need the airflow and you will strangle them if the front doesn't provide

[Ginger Penguin]

31 minutes ago, Radium_Angel said:

Yes, those fans need the airflow and you will strangle them if the front doesn't provide

Damn, that's a shame. I thought static pressure-optimised fans would actually prove to be useful here.

[Radium_Angel]

18 minutes ago, W.D. Stevens said:

Damn, that's a shame. I thought static pressure-optimised fans would actually prove to be useful here.

I am by no means a case/airflow expert, only going on what I have read about full glass front cases starving the system of airflow from 3 large fans. Others will come around to correct me I'm sure

[Ginger Penguin]

20 minutes ago, Radium_Angel said:

I am by no means a case/airflow expert, only going on what I have read about full glass front cases starving the system of airflow from 3 large fans. Others will come around to correct me I'm sure

Oh, yeah. I've been staying away from completely solid fronts. I just haven't been a fan of the mesh designs so I thought the grille intakes would be a happy medium given they're not tiny slits way off to the side but take up an alright amount of the front panel.

[Radium_Angel]

3 minutes ago, W.D. Stevens said:

I've been staying away from completely solid fronts

I'm sorry, the case you want, all I see are either solid glass front ones, or full mesh front ones, am I missing the one you had your eye on?

[Ginger Penguin]

This is the one I was looking at. The RGB bits on the sides are gaps for intake with removable dust filters. It's nowhere near as good from a cooling perspective as having a fully mesh front, I know. GN's review of the case put it 9-10 degrees warmer than the fully mesh version under load which isn't great. Their setup was 2x front 140mm and 1x rear 120mm. I thought that maybe by having an AIO and those very good Arctic P12s, I might be able to bring the temps down just a bit.