Phanteks, NZXT or Fractal Design

[Gadddy]

Hi guys, pretty new to the forum as well as into the custom PC world, so do be forgiving!

Anyways, just want to hear your views about a few PC case from the above mentioned brands! Currently, my ideal options are as followed (order by their price, from low to high):

Phanteks
- P300 TG (~S$85)
- P400s TG (~S$125) 

Fractal Design
- Define Mini C (~S$140)

NZXT
- S340 Elite (~S$160)

However, as I'm unable to decide as of now which to get, I would like to ask if any of you on the forum has any experience with any of the above listed case. If so, can you please share your "mini review" on performance of each case, especially on areas about the case's acoustics, cooling performance/airflow, cable management, or even the aesthetics of it. 

Thank you!

[xdeathshot20]

22 minutes ago, Gadddy said:

Hi guys, pretty new to the forum as well as into the custom PC world, so do be forgiving!

Anyways, just want to hear your views about a few PC case from the above mentioned brands! Currently, my ideal options are as followed (order by their price, from low to high):

Phanteks
- P300 TG (~S$85)
- P400s TG (~S$125) 

Fractal Design
- Define Mini C (~S$140)

NZXT
- S340 Elite (~S$160)

However, as I'm unable to decide as of now which to get, I would like to ask if any of you on the forum has any experience with any of the above listed case. If so, can you please share your "mini review" on performance of each case, especially on areas about the case's acoustics, cooling performance/airflow, cable management, or even the aesthetics of it. 

Thank you!

whats your budget and is there anything specal that you want in a case?  I personally havent had any of these cases but ive only heard amazing things about the mini c.  The s340 elite is a well known case that is also really good but comprimises on cooling.  Phanteks cases are also nice and generally basic but again i beleve they usally have issues with cooling

[EunSoo]

I have a P400 and it's a lovely case. Phantastic build quality and a looks good imo. I don't have the 'S' version but paired with Pure Wings 2 and a Cryorig H5, I can't hear it at all over my AC and barely when its quiet and not a thing with headphones on. Cooling is also great again with that setup. Cable Mangement is phenomenal, I've built in a P400 three times and all three times were super easy to get good cable management with room behind the tray. And I think the aesthetics give it a nice not-seeking-attention yet handsome look.

Spoiler

some of the pics are a couple years old and I did a better job the most recent time building in it

 

overall, wonderful case and I think Phanteks did a great job with it. I'm sure NZXT and Fractal's cases are also good too but I have no experience with them

[Ryujin2003]

I don't have any of those cases, but I stick with NZXT. I've had great support from them. I have a NZXT Phantom, full sized tower. One of my 200mm fan bearings was going out, and was trying to RMA. They didn't have green fans in stock, so they expressed mailed me 2 blue ones. I just swapped the LEDs myself. I also had the HDD LED die after about 2 years. I emailed them about buying a new one because I thought I was past my warranty. They express mailed me a new harness, lol.

 

They have always been quick to respond, quick to address an issue, and even followed up afterwards to make sure everything was good. My good experience with them had made me a dedicated customer. Fans and LEDs die. I wasn't upset. But they definitely went out of their way when they didn't have to.

[Gadddy]

1 hour ago, xdeathshot20 said:

whats your budget and is there anything specal that you want in a case?  I personally havent had any of these cases but ive only heard amazing things about the mini c.  The s340 elite is a well known case that is also really good but comprimises on cooling.  Phanteks cases are also nice and generally basic but again i beleve they usally have issues with cooling

Of course my budget is for it to be as cheap as possible. But also, I wouldn't want to compromise on cooling performance. So yup, a balance between cooling performance, aesthetics and price is what I'm looking for!

Yes, I've read about the cooling issues regarding both the NZXT and Phanteks. So I was wondering if anyone has actually have a big issue with it? Or is the drop in cooling performance negligible?

 

1 hour ago, SCGazelle said:

I have a P400 and it's a lovely case. Phantastic build quality and a looks good imo. I don't have the 'S' version but paired with Pure Wings 2 and a Cryorig H5, I can't hear it at all over my AC and barely when its quiet and not a thing with headphones on. Cooling is also great again with that setup. Cable Mangement is phenomenal, I've built in a P400 three times and all three times were super easy to get good cable management with room behind the tray. And I think the aesthetics give it a nice not-seeking-attention yet handsome look.

  Reveal hidden contents

some of the pics are a couple years old and I did a better job the most recent time building in it

 

overall, wonderful case and I think Phanteks did a great job with it. I'm sure NZXT and Fractal's cases are also good too but I have no experience with them

Hey there! Awesome build you have there with great cable management! However, just to check, are you running a ATX or mATX mobo? The case looks really oversized at the front tho..

[SpencerC]

28 minutes ago, Ryujin2003 said:

I don't have any of those cases, but I stick with NZXT. I've had great support from them. I have a NZXT Phantom, full sized tower. One of my 200mm fan bearings was going out, and was trying to RMA. They didn't have green fans in stock, so they expressed mailed me 2 blue ones. I just swapped the LEDs myself. I also had the HDD LED die after about 2 years. I emailed them about buying a new one because I thought I was past my warranty. They express mailed me a new harness, lol.

 

They have always been quick to respond, quick to address an issue, and even followed up afterwards to make sure everything was good. My good experience with them had made me a dedicated customer. Fans and LEDs die. I wasn't upset. But they definitely went out of their way when they didn't have to.

I'm not going to disagree about your RMA experience (they did send me a new Sentry 3 fan controller after I spilled Coke on it - long story), but why would you spend near $100 on a $50 case that slapped tempered glass on it?

[Gadddy]

29 minutes ago, Ryujin2003 said:

I don't have any of those cases, but I stick with NZXT. I've had great support from them. I have a NZXT Phantom, full sized tower. One of my 200mm fan bearings was going out, and was trying to RMA. They didn't have green fans in stock, so they expressed mailed me 2 blue ones. I just swapped the LEDs myself. I also had the HDD LED die after about 2 years. I emailed them about buying a new one because I thought I was past my warranty. They express mailed me a new harness, lol.

 

They have always been quick to respond, quick to address an issue, and even followed up afterwards to make sure everything was good. My good experience with them had made me a dedicated customer. Fans and LEDs die. I wasn't upset. But they definitely went out of their way when they didn't have to.

Great to hear about the awesome customer support from NZXT! However, in my country, the NZXT S340 Elite is one of the most pricier case and since there might be some cooling performance issues with it, I was wondering if the issue is negligible for the premium I am paying

[SpencerC]

OP, for what it's worth, I would go for the P400/P400S. I currently have my main rig in that case and it is really nice. The extra space you noticed is due to Phantek's system of adding more drive bays if you need them. The P400 is the most compact ATX case that I know of that gives ample GPU clearance and potential drive expansion (keeping in mind, I also have a Fractal Design Define C, and that case is even shorter than the P400. Both are awesome cases).

[EunSoo]

24 minutes ago, Gadddy said:

Hey there! Awesome build you have there with great cable management! However, just to check, are you running a ATX or mATX mobo? The case looks really oversized at the front tho..

atx

[Gadddy]

1 hour ago, SpencerC said:

OP, for what it's worth, I would go for the P400/P400S. I currently have my main rig in that case and it is really nice. The extra space you noticed is due to Phantek's system of adding more drive bays if you need them. The P400 is the most compact ATX case that I know of that gives ample GPU clearance and potential drive expansion (keeping in mind, I also have a Fractal Design Define C, and that case is even shorter than the P400. Both are awesome cases).

Yup, I do know that the extra space is for the flexibility of adding more drive bays. But if that is not utilised for the drive bays, personally I think the case is slighlty too big for my mATX mobo. Ahh what a dilemma in choosing a case ahahah

 

51 minutes ago, SCGazelle said:

atx

ahhhh

 

Oh to add on, will any of the case greatly affect the cooling performance? I'm afraid my MSI GTX 970 4g might be a tad too hot in any of those mentioned case 

[EunSoo]

14 minutes ago, Gadddy said:

Oh to add on, will any of the case greatly affect the cooling performance? I'm afraid my MSI GTX 970 4g might be a tad too hot in any of those mentioned case 

it will probs greatly depend on your cooling setup but my cpu max hits 40c cooled with a cryorig h5 and gpu hits 60c cooled with an evga acx 2.0 cooler and air supplied by 2 pure wings 2 fans. this is while staying pretty quiet too.

[SpencerC]

22 minutes ago, Gadddy said:

Oh to add on, will any of the case greatly affect the cooling performance? I'm afraid my MSI GTX 970 4g might be a tad too hot in any of those mentioned case 

Your GPU shouldn't get too hot at all if you add ample cooling. Put in a few good Phanteks, Noctua, beQuiet, or Corsair fans and you should be fine. The 970, especially if it is the Gaming model with the TwonFrozr cooler, shouldn't be getting too hot at all.

[Gadddy]

So all in all, as long as I get some reliable fans for the front of the case, I shouldn't be facing much of an issue even with those case mentioned atop? especially the phanteks and nzxt

[mrmonmon2]

motherboard box is always the best case Kappa

[TVwazhere]

10 hours ago, Gadddy said:

So all in all, as long as I get some reliable fans for the front of the case, I shouldn't be facing much of an issue even with those case mentioned atop? especially the phanteks and nzxt

What hardware do you plan on using? A Full build list would help  

[Gadddy]

3 hours ago, TVwazhere said:

What hardware do you plan on using? A Full build list would help  

I'm currently thinking of the following build list!

- i7-3770 (non-k variant)

- Asus P8H77-M Pro

- Cryorig m9i

- 16gb DDR3 1600 ram (4x4)
- MSI GTX 970 4G
- 2tb Seagate Barracuda
- Samsung 850 Evo 250gb or Sandisk Plus 240gb

I'll be using the build for some light video editing (just getting into it recently), and I'm planning to play some games like GTA 5 etc. Might not be the best specs that complements one another, but on paper, the specs seems to suffice 

[Doc.1027]

Fractal Design are boring. Don't go for them. NZXT, however, do great cases, but they just don't feel as premium as Phanteks. If you want a clean build, NZXT any day, but I think the Enthoo Evolv would be perfect.

[TVwazhere]

16 minutes ago, Doc.1027 said:

Fractal Design are boring. Don't go for them. NZXT, however, do great cases, but they just don't feel as premium as Phanteks. If you want a clean build, NZXT any day, but I think the Enthoo Evolv would be perfect.

The Evolv has some of the worst airflow on a case that I've seen. I completely disagree with this ideology of aesthetics over performance.

[TVwazhere]

32 minutes ago, Gadddy said:

- i7-3770 (non-k variant)

- Asus P8H77-M Pro

- Cryorig m9i

- 16gb DDR3 1600 ram (4x4)
- MSI GTX 970 4G
- 2tb Seagate Barracuda
- Samsung 850 Evo 250gb or Sandisk Plus 240gb

PSU? That actually does matter, because the length of a PSU like EVGA G2 or Corsair RMi series are actually too long to fit in cases like the Define C Mini

 

Otherwise though,  your components wouldn't put out so much heat that a S340 Elite or P400 TG wouldn't be able to properly mange the cooling. I myself would go for the Define C mini for it's better cooling performance and sound dampening foam, but honestly any of these three would probably do you just fine.

[Gaming_Groove]

Really happy with my Define Mini C. It cable managed itself and has great build quality. Airflow is fine for my components and it is very quiet. 

 

Phanteks and NZXT also make great cases for ATX builds, but if you are going mATX, I'd recommend the mini c. 

 

 

 

[Gadddy]

6 hours ago, TVwazhere said:

PSU? That actually does matter, because the length of a PSU like EVGA G2 or Corsair RMi series are actually too long to fit in cases like the Define C Mini

 

Otherwise though,  your components wouldn't put out so much heat that a S340 Elite or P400 TG wouldn't be able to properly mange the cooling. I myself would go for the Define C mini for it's better cooling performance and sound dampening foam, but honestly any of these three would probably do you just fine.

Oh yeah, regarding the PSU, I'm actually currently unsure of which to get (?). From what I know after using Cooler Master's PSU Calculator, all of my components will run at <400w @ 90% tdp. Currently, I have a FSP 500W 80+ bronze from my prebuilt. However, after doing some research, some people recommended to get a bigger PSU because capciators wears out over time and may no longer hold their full charge..

Thus, is it recommended that I too should change into a bigger PSU (in terms of watts) and if so, how much more bigger should it be/ is recommended? I'm currently aiming for a semi-modular/ful-modular PSU that's not to overkill in terms of price and performance though... Am open to some suggestions!

[Gadddy]

2 hours ago, Gaming_Groove said:

Really happy with my Define Mini C. It cable managed itself and has great build quality. Airflow is fine for my components and it is very quiet. 

 

Phanteks and NZXT also make great cases for ATX builds, but if you are going mATX, I'd recommend the mini c. 

 

Wow that looks really amazing! I too have a acer prebuilt, particularly the Predator G3620!

I'm actually currently deciding between the P300 TG and the Define Mini C TG. IMO, both of the cases are very functional and nice but what sets them apart is their price in my local community. I think the cost of one Mini C can purchase two of the P300 TG