Need some help picking a case

[Morkula]

Lurked around LTT for a long time but finally decided to make an account and start posting!

 

Been getting the itch to do some upgrading on my three year old rig, and I'm planning to upgrade my old 212+ to an h100i GTX since I've been dabbling in overclocking and my temps are getting a bit high for my liking. Problem is, my case is a Source 220, which can't support an h100i. There are also a few things I've never particularly liked about the Source 220, and so I'm thinking I might want to upgrade my case while I'm at it. Probably will take the 220 and swap my family's PC into it since I despise the case I picked when I built it for them a few years back.

 

I have a 3570k that's overclocked to 4.3GHz - currently pushing 80c in a very well air conditioned room, so I'm hoping that the h100i will lower that a bit and give me some more overclocking room since I'm still in negative offset voltage. My GPU is an MSI 970 that I've also overclocked a bit and runs at 70ish degrees C at full load, which is great. Full ATX ASRock Z77 Extreme4 motherboard, if you were wondering.

 

Been doing a lot of research and I've narrowed it down to a few options but I have some concerns about each, so hopefully you guys can give me some guidance so I can go ahead and make a decision. Looking to spend no more than $120ish (though less is always nice). And since I know it'll be brought up, I honestly think the Enthoo Pro is...kind of big and ugly.

 

NZXT H440 - Aesthetically, this is my favorite case of all my options by far. I love the design, the PSU shroud, the SSD and the hidden HDD mount, the back fan hub, the LEDs, the window, pretty much everything about it. The lack of an optical drive is a bummer, but to be fair I barely use it and I could just get an external for $20ish when I need one. The biggest thing that worries me is airflow - it seems well-documented that the case is pretty much an oven because it's so strangled for air and runs 10c or so hotter than others, so I'm concerned that it would negate the benefit of upgrading the CPU cooler, and would push my GPU into 80c+ territory. As much as I love the design, I worry that it would wind up defeating the purpose of the upgrade in the first place. The S340 could be a possibility since it's a similar but scaled down design with supposedly better airflow, but I worry about the h100i GTX fitting comfortably in it.

 

Define R5 - Also like the design of this one, plus the benefit of having the optical drive. From what I've seen, temps seem ever so slightly better than the H440 but not by much. It also seems like it has a more standard interior, without the PSU shroud and fancy SSD/HDD mounts, or the back fan hub. The Moduvents seem like they could improve airflow at the expense of case sexiness.

 

Corsair Air 540 - I've honestly had my eye on this case for at least a year and I adore the dual chamber design. It has an optical drive...but it's on its side, which I'm not a fan of, but not a big deal. The biggest turnoff is size - I worry that it would take a chunk out of my work space on my desk and would just look ridiculous in general. I've also heard some complaints that some of the internal components are cheap and kind of flimsy. But basically, I just think it might be a bit overkill for my needs, and it's also the most expensive of these options.

 

Corsair Obsidian 450D - This is basically just a wildcard...it's a good-looking case, but there's nothing particularly inspiring about it. It does fit my needs though, and it seems to have good airflow, so it could be a nice compromise.

 

So those are the options I've found. If anyone has any others they'd like to share, or any input on the ones I've picked, I'd really appreciate it!

[Aytex]

h fucking 440

[OAcesync]

All great cases, the S340 could easily fit a H100i GTX  in the front intake if you want to consider that but this would be more or less just personal preferences in terms of aesthetics. Personally I love my S340 because it's compact but others prefer bigger cases. But out of this I would say a H440 or R5

[Morkula]

Thanks for the suggestions...leaning more toward the H440 the more I look at it, but I'm still worried about temperatures basically cancelling any benefit of upgrading. Can anyone shed some light on that aspect? The Hardware Canucks comparison seems to show only a couple degrees difference in temps between the H440 and R5, and I'm assuming both would be hotter than my 220.

[Lethal Seraph]

NZXT S340

Fractal Design - Define S

NZXT H440

[Midnitewarrior4]

i have the h440, its true airflow is very minimal, where i cant feel air movement past the drive cage but my components stay col where my i5-4690k at 4.1 stays below 70 c while gaming with the 212 evo and my 970 strix maxes out at 71-73 degrees, if your really woried about it you could always upgrade the fans which is what i plan on doing soon or you could do a front panel mod and put a fan grill or cut out a cool design so the fan get more air which i also thought of doing and many people have done, either way all the cases you listed are nice, you might want to also check out the cooler master master case 5 if you haven't done so already, if i were to upgrade my case right now that's probably the case i would be going to.

[Morkula]

Modding the case really isn't an option. I don't trust myself to do that, and plus I think it kind of ruins the aesthetics of the case. I like the smooth, minimalistic front panel. Taking the front panel off if I'm stress testing or gaming could be an option though, I guess. Would definitely look into upgrading the fans eventually too if temps were high. I've also read that removing the unused HDD bays can get it a couple more degrees cooler.