Calling all 350D owners

[OhNoesItsDobby]

So in doing some research/shopping for a planned summer build, I had decided a while ago that the 350D was the case for me. Then along came the 450D which impressed me even more, but sadly it's just slightly too tall for my desk. After looking around some more, I've come full circle and pretty much decided on the 350D again. Every review I've read for it is absolutely glowing, but there are just a couple of nagging questions I still have about it:

 

1.) Given how the front panel is just a solid plate, and the air is drawn in from around its edges, how good is the air cooling performance? My plan is to replace the stock fans with Be Quiet Silent Wings 2 fans; a pair of 140mm fans at the front, and a 120mm at the back.

 

2.) Regarding the front plate again, in Linus' unboxing video for this case he mentions that it's very easy to permanently mark the brushed aluminium surface with things like fingerprints. Is this true, or can it be kept reliably clean? I'm aware you can buy a replacement front plate on its own, but who would want to solve the problem by continually throwing money at it?

 

If only the 350D had the same nice front grill as the 450D does, it'd solve both problems with a single stroke. (hint hint, Corsair)

 

Any kindly 350D owners willing to elaborate on these?

[Butterfish]

The Fractal Arc Midi R2 looks better imo. Have you considered that case?

[OhNoesItsDobby]

The Fractal Arc Midi R2 looks better imo. Have you considered that case?

I hadn't, but having had a look I think I still prefer the 350D. Thanks for the recommendation but I just love how clean Corsair Obsidian cases look. Saying that though, another case I was considering was the Air 540 because I also think it looks awesome, but it's just too bulky. There's also Fractal's Node 804 which is basically a mATX version of it, but there's still that awesome, sharp look of the Obsidian series that makes me want one over anything else.

[Butterfish]

I hadn't, but having had a look I think I still prefer the 350D. Thanks for the recommendation but I just love how clean Corsair Obsidian cases look. Saying that though, another case I was considering was the Air 540 because I also think it looks awesome, but it's just too bulky. There's also Fractal's Node 804 which is basically a mATX version of it, but there's still that awesome, sharp look of the Obsidian series that makes me want one over anything else.

That's fair enough

[Akolyte]

So in doing some research/shopping for a planned summer build, I had decided a while ago that the 350D was the case for me. Then along came the 450D which impressed me even more, but sadly it's just slightly too tall for my desk. After looking around some more, I've come full circle and pretty much decided on the 350D again. Every review I've read for it is absolutely glowing, but there are just a couple of nagging questions I still have about it:

 

1.) Given how the front panel is just a solid plate, and the air is drawn in from around its edges, how good is the air cooling performance? My plan is to replace the stock fans with Be Quiet Silent Wings 2 fans; a pair of 140mm fans at the front, and a 120mm at the back.

 

2.) Regarding the front plate again, in Linus' unboxing video for this case he mentions that it's very easy to permanently mark the brushed aluminium surface with things like fingerprints. Is this true, or can it be kept reliably clean? I'm aware you can buy a replacement front plate on its own, but who would want to solve the problem by continually throwing money at it?

 

If only the 350D had the same nice front grill as the 450D does, it'd solve both problems with a single stroke. (hint hint, Corsair)

 

Any kindly 350D owners willing to elaborate on these?

1: 

The Airflow is actually not really different than without it.  It does slightly limit the airflow but I see no higher disk temperatures.  The front plate also keeps the noise down.

 

2:

Its not the front panel, its the aluminium.  You can get fingerprints on it that cant be removed easily but honestly idc and it doesn't look bad after my greasy fat fingers rubbed all over it.

 

 

NOTE: the drive cage does make a loud noise if you use an HDD with it, its vibration.  You should be able to fix it but if you hate noise and plan to use an HDD I advise removing the cage and sitting the hdd on a dry sponge, foam etc on the bare bottom.  

 

However, after this I've decided to switch to all SSD.  Honestly you should its much faster but not as much space.  I prefer it though. 

[Trail Mixorz]

The front aluminum plate doesn't restrict airflow much at all. I'm using the stock 140mm and it works great even with just that.

 

Touching the front panel definitely leaves marks and fingerprints, but just wiping it with your shirt or a cloth wipes it away. I have no marks on my front panel.

 

I also agree with what Mike said above about the hdd cages, also they restrict airflow just a tad. I removed both the one for the hdd and sdd, although the sdd one is small. I actually bought an adapter to put my hdd in my 5.25" bay, and put my ssd behind my mobo tray.

[OhNoesItsDobby]

The front aluminum plate doesn't restrict airflow much at all. I'm using the stock 140mm and it works great even with just that.

 

Touching the front panel definitely leaves marks and fingerprints, but just wiping it with your shirt or a cloth wipes it away. I have no marks on my front panel.

 

I also agree with what Mike said above about the hdd cages, also they restrict airflow just a tad. I removed both the one for the hdd and sdd, although the sdd one is small. I actually bought an adapter to put my hdd in my 5.25" bay, and put my ssd behind my mobo tray.

Ok, the first 2 are good to hear, thanks.

 

As for the HDD cage, I'll be using 1 SSD and 1 HDD, and my initial plan was to take the SSD cage off completely and just use both HDD trays. I'll be using a disk drive for the Windows install but I won't be keeping it in permanently as it spoils the aforementioned clean Obsidian look on the front. If the HDD cage turns out to be noisy I suppose I could even put both drives in the 5.25" bays with adapters and save even more space.

 

Thanks for the advice, I'll see how the HDD cage behaves when I do the build in a month or 2.

[OhNoesItsDobby]

another minor thought on this; I've read that because the air flowing through the front plate of the 350D goes through a tight space and a dust filter, it can cause some fans, even quiet-optimised ones, to become noticeably louder because of the extra effort required. Is this true, or is it not very noticeable? (Bearing in mind I still plan on using Be Quiet Silent Wings 2 fans in my build)

[airdeano]

it is restrictive for front radiator support. when i had mine built, i was 8° warmer on

the CPU ands 5° warmer on the GPU. stuffing better fans did make for louder ops

and no change in temperatures. that is why i moved to the arc mini for better cooling

support on water cooling. for air cooling, it is not as big of a deal, but can render

problems on air intake with smallish ports and a filter.

[OhNoesItsDobby]

it is restrictive for front radiator support. when i had mine built, i was 8° warmer on

the CPU ands 5° warmer on the GPU. stuffing better fans did make for louder ops

and no change in temperatures. that is why i moved to the arc mini for better cooling

support on water cooling. for air cooling, it is not as big of a deal, but can render

problems on air intake with smallish ports and a filter.

Well for one, I almost certainly won't be doing any CPU overclocking, but I may get an aftermarket heatsink anyway just for the sake of keeping everything as cool as possible (perhaps a Dark Rock, to keep up the Be Quiet theme ). I hadn't ever planned on overloading it with masses of parts anyway, since I'll only be using a single GPU. My prospective parts list atm is:

i5 4670

MSI H97M Gaming

2x4GB Corsair Vengeance Pro Red 1600Mhz DDR3

MSI Twinfrozr GTX 780

 

With something like this I'd probably be just fine with the stock 350D fans, but I'm looking to keep it as cool and quiet as I can manage, but if it's still loud I might look into a different case. Thanks for the input.