Meshify 2 vs Phanteks P500A Digital

[StillNvidia680]

Hi everyone,

 

I nearly have all my parts list finalized, just settling on what case to get and debating between the Meshify 2 & the Phanteks P500A Digital (open to suggestions I might not have thought of, the other common suggestion of the LANCOOL Mesh is OOS everywhere, also P600S OOS most places but might be an interesting hybrid).

 

https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/list/Qs7Y7X

 

Priorities in order are general performance for the components to have enough airflow, quiet operation, good build quality, easy to build in, and aesthetics are a last consideration (but hey RGB is nice). Only other thing I can think of from what I've seen is amount of HDD bays for storage and front USB C, but both of these have plenty of drive bays and cover the USB C, not sure what other kinds of things to look out for, watching lots of Gamers Nexus content is informative but makes my head spin at times haha.

It appears that both of them come with 3 fans (no exhaust on P500A?), and I'd read a few comments about the fans being pretty loud on the P500A, but Gamers Nexus has it as a top performer both for performance and noise normalized performance suggesting it can operate at ideal temperatures quietly. I was reading a suggestion that a fan header and custom curve might be the way to go for the P500A elsewhere? The only complaint I see about the Meshify 2 other than its price and lack of flare is that the fans are a bit buzzy/noisy too, I really would love to have a near silent system and parts like the D15 & RMx PSU are all very quiet running components, but don't think I can justify the cost of a set of Noctua fans at this point, maybe down the line if the fan noise really gets to me.

 

The only other point of consideration I can think of with them both being the same price is that I have a somewhat dusty environment and pets, this PC will be on the ground with a wood panel as a base underneath it in a carpeted room, so maybe the 1mm open mesh isn't as good of an option as the Meshify 2 with an actual filter? Any advice and input would be appreciated, been reading and researching for a long time but it is my first build so I'm not sure if I'm missing anything! Thanks all!

[TVwazhere]

On 2/20/2021 at 7:16 PM, StillNvidia680 said:

The only other point of consideration I can think of with them both being the same price is that I have a somewhat dusty environment and pets, this PC will be on the ground with a wood panel as a base underneath it in a carpeted room, so maybe the 1mm open mesh isn't as good of an option as the Meshify 2 with an actual filter? Any advice and input would be appreciated, been reading and researching for a long time but it is my first build so I'm not sure if I'm missing anything! Thanks all!

Meshify 2 will be the better filter at the cost of airflow. Both fans can be tuned for lower noise, but as noted, neither will do anything to hide any whining noise form fan motor hubs, GPU coil whine, PSU coil whine, HDD clicking, etc. Usually though this isnt a huge deal as most parts dont emit coil whine regularly and most users are switching to SSD's. Fan motor hubs are something I haven't personally looked into for noise. 

 

It all really depends on how often you want to clean filters and the inside of your case (no filter will get all dust out, you will occasionally need to dust out the inside)

[StillNvidia680]

18 hours ago, TVwazhere said:

Meshify 2 will be the better filter at the cost of airflow. Both fans can be tuned for lower noise, but as noted, neither will do anything to hide any whining noise form fan motor hubs, GPU coil whine, PSU coil whine, HDD clicking, etc. Usually though this isnt a huge deal as most parts dont emit coil whine regularly and most users are switching to SSD's. Fan motor hubs are something I haven't personally looked into for noise. 

 

It all really depends on how often you want to clean filters and the inside of your case (no filter will get all dust out, you will occasionally need to dust out the inside)

Ay really appreciate the input, very helpful!  Yeah I'd seen lots of mention of things like adjusting fan curves can help a lot, and depending on case airflow in theory I'd get better noise normalized thermals.  I like the idea of quiet but didn't want to sacrifice airflow with a hotter Ryzen 5000 CPU either.  But yeah I guess it is hard to say whether one will or won't be ideal for airflow and sound until you can see if the parts you have cause noise like coil whine that would be nice to hide, meantime the Meshify 2 sounds like a good balance!  And the option of removing the one filter layer would help if I found it to be lacking airflow but from what I see the Meshify should perform very well, only trailing behind the nearly open airflow cases. With the pets and dust in my environment plus the crammed build with a D15 etc, I think it sounds like a real nice option! Thanks so much!

[StillNvidia680]

On 2/23/2021 at 10:39 AM, TVwazhere said:

Meshify 2 will be the better filter at the cost of airflow. Both fans can be tuned for lower noise, but as noted, neither will do anything to hide any whining noise form fan motor hubs, GPU coil whine, PSU coil whine, HDD clicking, etc. Usually though this isnt a huge deal as most parts dont emit coil whine regularly and most users are switching to SSD's. Fan motor hubs are something I haven't personally looked into for noise. 

 

It all really depends on how often you want to clean filters and the inside of your case (no filter will get all dust out, you will occasionally need to dust out the inside)

Just wanted to follow up and say thanks again, I'm really happy with the Meshify 2 after a month or so of use!  It was a good idea to go that route with a filter because I've already had to vacuum the front twice from animal hair and dust build up and I still see a good layer on the inside haha, the P500A would've been a bit high maintenance for me.  Temps still seem great too and sound is really not an issue even with the open design of the case, I'm pretty sure the loudest component is the case fans which I might swap out for some Noctuas down the line after I finish filling it up with drives and recoup my wallet a bit haha.  Thanks again!

[TVwazhere]

1 minute ago, StillNvidia680 said:

I'm pretty sure the loudest component is the case fans which I might swap out for some Noctuas down the line after I finish filling it up with drives and recoup my wallet a bit haha.  Thanks again!

A good budget alternative to Noctua's would be the Artic P12's, at under 1/2 the cost for the NFA12x25, they're about 90% of the performance and 95% the quietness. 

[StillNvidia680]

1 minute ago, TVwazhere said:

A good budget alternative to Noctua's would be the Artic P12's, at under 1/2 the cost for the NFA12x25, they're about 90% of the performance and 95% the quietness. 

Oooh awesome thanks for that!  I'll definitely look into those, might get me moving on that one sooner than later!  I haven't looked into how much quieter they'd be than the Meshify ones, but I recall one of the only comments against the case was the fans being a bit loud so I'm sure they'd be much quieter than the stock fans.