Which case should I get? (best airflow and build quality)

NighhhT · February 9, 2022

So, I've been wanting to buy a Lian Li Lancool 2 Mesh Performance for a few weeks now (haven't been restocked in weeks, no idea If it will).

So I'm stuck deciding between a Corsair 4000d airflow or Lian Li Lancool 205 Mesh, both are about the same price (around ~80usd and ~75usd), gonna buy one of those two next week and finish my new build.

I could also go for a Cooler Master Masterbox TD500 Mesh, but I've heard that the 4000d airflow is better.

I can use a 120mm fan from my old Lancool K62 If I decide to go for the 4000d, or I could just buy a 140mm fan and use a stock 120mm fan as exhaust.

Poinkachu · February 9, 2022

37 minutes ago, NighhhT said:

So, I've been wanting to buy a Lian Li Lancool 2 Mesh Performance for a few weeks now (haven't been restocked in weeks, no idea If it will).

So I'm stuck deciding between a Corsair 4000d airflow or Lian Li Lancool 205 Mesh, both are about the same price (around ~80usd and ~75usd), gonna buy one of those two next week and finish my new build.

I could also go for a Cooler Master Masterbox TD500 Mesh, but I've heard that the 4000d airflow is better.

I can use a 120mm fan from my old Lancool K62 If I decide to go for the 4000d, or I could just buy a 140mm fan and use a stock 120mm fan as exhaust.

I think 4000D front fant cutout only made for 120mm, you can use 140mm fans but parts of the cutout will be covering the side of the fans a bit.
Dunno if they (Corsair) have changed this yet or not.

Bombastinator · February 9, 2022

43 minutes ago, NighhhT said:

So, I've been wanting to buy a Lian Li Lancool 2 Mesh Performance for a few weeks now (haven't been restocked in weeks, no idea If it will).

So I'm stuck deciding between a Corsair 4000d airflow or Lian Li Lancool 205 Mesh, both are about the same price (around ~80usd and ~75usd), gonna buy one of those two next week and finish my new build.

I could also go for a Cooler Master Masterbox TD500 Mesh, but I've heard that the 4000d airflow is better.

I can use a 120mm fan from my old Lancool K62 If I decide to go for the 4000d, or I could just buy a 140mm fan and use a stock 120mm fan as exhaust.

“Better” is one of those almost uselessly vague words. The 4000d has been mentioned for high build quality by YouTubers who build multiple rigs a day and appeals more to them. Rolled edges, hand tie downs and whatnot. Makes their job easier. Me I build a case once every couple years at most so I have different criteria. It all depends on what better means to you. I’m not especially bothered by sharp edges and whatnot. I don’t interact with it enough to matter. My major interest is in how the thing behaves after it is put together. So better? Depends. My suspicion is they are pretty comparable. They’re both airflow cases so neither will get along all that well with a server grade mechanical HDD for instance. It’s al about criteria.

Edited February 9, 2022 by Bombastinator

NighhhT · February 10, 2022

2 hours ago, Poinkachu said:

I think 4000D front fant cutout only made for 120mm, you can use 140mm fans but parts of the cutout will be covering the side of the fans a bit.
Dunno if they (Corsair) have changed this yet or not.

iirc you can put 2 140mm in the front, but it will cover them a bit.

2 hours ago, Bombastinator said:

“Better” is one of those almost uselessly vague words. The 4000d has been mentioned for high build quality by YouTubers who build multiple rigs a day and appeals more to them. Rolled edges, hand tie downs and whatnot. Makes their job easier. Me I build a case once every couple years at most so I have different criteria. It all depends on what better means to you. I’m not especially bothered by sharp edges and whatnot. I don’t interact with it enough to matter. My major interest is in how the thing behaves after it is put together. So better? Depends. My suspicion is they are pretty comparable. They’re both airflow cases so neither will get along all that well with a server grade mechanical HDD for instance. It’s al about criteria.

With better I meant airflow and build quality wise, which isn't vague at all. I was wondering If anyone here has a lancool 205 mesh, since there aren't many reviews of that case out there.

As you said they probably are comparable, I would think that the 205 mesh would have better out of the box thermals because the 2 140mm front intakes and 1 120mm exhaust but since Gamers Nexus didn't test it I can't compare it to the 4000d or td500 mesh.

Bombastinator · February 10, 2022

Airflow cases didn’t used to be a thing. For cause. HDDs were just really loud and there was no way to control when they might burp or fart at you. Just a lot of odd noises. The solution for that was a noise damping case which meant small openings and sound insulation. Then SSDs came along and make no noise at all, so boom. Airflow cases. Low speed fans are very quiet and with an airflow case you could get away with them so quiet power for cheap. Consumer grade HDDs are fairly reasonably quiet now (it will still be the loudest thing in the case) but industrial grade stuff isn’t. Reds and iron wolves and such sound like they’re refugees from the 1990s. So basically if you want anything but a quiet consumer HDD you don’t want an airflow case for something loud.

The thing about whitebox thermals is airflow is fluid dynamics and fluid dynamics is both fearsomely complicated and suffers from butterfly effect. So there’s probably no way to even guess till the thing is built. It was sort of an axiom that with an oem prebuilt if you took off the side panel the heat level would actually go up because they actually were designed from the ground up and degreed engineers would actually work out the fluid dynamics on them. With whitebox stuff it’s mostly fumbling about and the result is it is not uncommon for temps to go down on a whitebox if you take the side panels off. There’s really no great way to determine which would be better in your use case that I know of I’m afraid.