Form vs Function

[Matimo]

Hey guys,

 

I am planning on building my first ever computer in the commencing months, and after a lot of research, I'm a bit torn. Here is my parts list:

 

PCPartPicker part list: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/ybL2zy

Price breakdown by merchant: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/ybL2zy/by_merchant/

 

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor  (£171.54 @ Aria PC) 

CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler  (£24.19 @ CCL Computers) 

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97-HD3 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  (£79.80 @ Scan.co.uk) 

Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  (£63.99 @ Amazon UK) 

Storage: Sandisk Solid State Drive 128GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  (£43.34 @ Scan.co.uk) 

Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  (£37.50 @ Aria PC) 

Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 970 4GB Twin Frozr V Video Card  (£274.99 @ Ebuyer) 

Case: NZXT H440 (Black/Red) ATX Mid Tower Case  (£87.59 @ Aria PC) | Or a Phanteks Ethnoo Pro for about the same price.

Power Supply: Corsair CX 600W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply  (£50.93 @ CCL Computers) 

Wireless Network Adapter: TP-Link TL-WN881ND 802.11b/g/n PCI-Express x1 Wi-Fi Adapter  (£9.79 @ CCL Computers) 

Total: £843.66

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-10-06 21:58 BST+0100

 

So I have no idea on whether to choose the Phanteks Ethnoo Pro (AMAZING functionality and practicality) or the NZXT H440 (beautiful, beautiful design in black and red although there's no 5.25" drive bay and has pretty bad cooling unless you have very good fans).

 

Help?

 

I just have fallen in love with the look of the H440 but I'm worried, (particularly as a first time builder) that my computer won't run properly. And being 14 and funding this from a paper round, I can't afford to make such an expensive mistake.

 

Also, I am happy to stick at the £80 mark for a case, it seems to be the sweet spot for bang for buck.

 

Thanks for your help!!!!!

 

[edit: the H440 is also appealing to me as it is nice and quiet!]

[Toddwjp]

the h440 isnt that bas at cooling,

[Matimo]

the h440 isnt that bas at cooling,

Really? I'd love to make the case work for me!

[Toddwjp]

Really? I'd love to make the case work for me!

 

how many fans you got? and do they at least have decent static pressure?

[Thorium19]

RV05 for ultimate cooling?

I would say that the H440 is a good choice, it doesn't have as good airflow as the phanteks, but it's more than adequate and will do a job. Also, you can just use an external optical drive or one of those NZXT sentry fan controllers, if that's what you want.

The phanteks is like a jack of all trades, but where I find it compromises is in looks, but that's a matter of opinion, otherwise it has everything.

[Matimo]

how many fans you got? and do they at least have decent static pressure?

 

 

RV05 for ultimate cooling?

I would say that the H440 is a good choice, it doesn't have as good airflow as the phanteks, but it's more than adequate and will do a job. Also, you can just use an external optical drive or one of those NZXT sentry fan controllers, if that's what you want.

The phanteks is like a jack of all trades, but where I find it compromises is in looks, but that's a matter of opinion, otherwise it has everything.

Here's the thing: The H440 comes loaded with 4 of NZXT's high end fans (not researched them yet) although I's assume they's be good enough as they were chosen to be included. I'm sure if I had any problems I could always take advantage of other fan mounting options, and there;s always water-cooling.

[Toddwjp]

Here's the thing: The H440 comes loaded with 4 of NZXT's high end fans (not researched them yet) although I's assume they's be good enough as they were chosen to be included. I'm sure if I had any problems I could always take advantage of other fan mounting options, and there;s always water-cooling.

 

if you put 3 120mm in the frond and swap to a AIO liquid cooler and mount that to the top youll be golden really

[HashtagMilk]

Performance > aesthetics. I would go with the Phanteks Enthoo Pro.

[Maowhree]

Had I not wanted a case that had a few 5.25" bays so badly I'd probably have gone with the H440.

You see, in my opinion it all comes down to wether or not the case could house a few optical drive-sized components, like an optical drive, a 5.25" case drawer, an SSD/HDD hot-swap bay, a manual fan controller or a card reader or a cube reservoir you got lying around or pretty much anything else. If you don't need any of those, I'd suggest you go for the H440.