Best case under $100

[Charkel]

Hello my fellow LTT fans

 

I am SICK of my case. The components are 7 years old now and I'm sick of cleaning this case anymore!

 

I need a case with

• Full dust mesh on all the intakes
• 3x 3.5 slots
• 5.25 slot would be only a bonus

I have been checking out the Fractal Design Meshify C -TG which looks really sweet and I can get it for but it says it only has 2 3.5 slots and no 5.2

 

If you give case suggestions please also suggest a list on how many 120 and 140mm fans I need.

And also CPU cooler and thinking about buying one of those complete blocks.'

 

UPDATE

I think I'm going with the Fractal Meshify for optimal airflow, filters and esthetics. I just need to figure out how many fans I need and what CPU cooler. Maybe I should continue my old Hyper 212?. But does that 7 year block still have the fluid's left in the tube or am I running dry? I honestly don't know temps are pretty alright but the dust and airflow is ruing it.

[STRMfrmXMN]

There are very few cases with 5.25" bays anymore, but the Phanteks Enthoo Pro M might be your thing.

[Guest]

http://www.phanteks.com/Enthoo-Pro-M-Acrylic.html

 

This is one of the very few "modern" cases that fit your requirements

[EarthWormJM2]

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119233&cm_re=cooler_master_haf-_-11-119-233-_-Product

 

This is the case I use currently and it is the best case I have ever owned for straight air cooling so far. I'ts big enough to fit everything without worrying about "will this graphics card fit" or "do I have enough room" and all the drive bays can be added/removed. I'm sure there is better cases for air cooling but i love this one, my CPU with a hyper 212 evo and a 1Ghz OC, it never gets much hotter then the mid 60s (Celsius). I probably could OC everything much higher, but I haven't found the need to yet, and its stable.

[Luca Rallis]

I recommend the Corsair Carbide Series SPEC-02. For only $60, it's an all around great budget case with a decent amount of room for cable management.

 

It supports three 3.5 inch drives, two 2.5 inch drive, and two 5.25 inch drives.

 

Here is a diagram showing the fan mount locations: 

 

 

There is mesh on the removable front panel and under the PSU intake.

 

You can order the case here:

https://www.amazon.com/Corsair-Carbide-SPEC-02-Tower-Gaming/dp/B00I0MKMG2?th=1

 

[Charkel]

4 hours ago, Konrad Kwasniewski said:

http://www.phanteks.com/Enthoo-Pro-M-Acrylic.html

 

This is one of the very few "modern" cases that fit your requirements

Looks pretty sweet. I can get it for which is a bit over my expectations but if its got good filters and airflow

 

How about the good old Fractal S? I can get that for like $90

[Charkel]

4 minutes ago, valdyrgramr said:

I mean superbiiz is selling an R5 for like 80.

I am in Sweden

[andrewmp6]

Honestly i would buy whatever case you like in that budget.You can get a usb dvd burner for like 40 dollars us.Less if you want just a dvd rom.

[Guest]

7 hours ago, Charkel said:

Looks pretty sweet. I can get it for which is a bit over my expectations but if its got good filters and airflow

 

How about the good old Fractal S? I can get that for like $90

Yeah it is simillar im most aspects to to the phanteks case but I think the airflow is quite a bit more restrictive.

[TVwazhere]

7 hours ago, Konrad Kwasniewski said:

Yeah it is simillar im most aspects to to the phanteks case but I think the airflow is quite a bit more restrictive.

Not that restrictive actually, since Fractal Properly designs their front panels to have ventilation space. Would probably amount to a 5º difference

[Giganthrax]

I present you my case:

 

http://www.coolermaster.com/case/mid-tower/elite-430-black/

 

It has 3 5,25" slots, a bunch of hard disk slots that can be used for both regular mechanical hard drives and SSDs (if you get them cheap SSD trays off of ebay, which is what I did), and it even has some meager cable management holes next to the PSU. There are removable dust filters and meshes all over the place. I think it looks pretty good too.

 

Oh and, it's like 50 euros in my country. I imagine it's even cheaper in the west. 

[andrewmp6]

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811352073

 

[Charkel]

On 2018-06-26 at 6:31 AM, andrewmp6 said:

Honestly i would buy whatever case you like in that budget.You can get a usb dvd burner for like €34.50 us.Less if you want just a dvd rom.

That's like half the cost of the case
 

I have to shop from amazon.de or co.uk. That was from Amazon.de with shipping. I can also get the cases for pretty much the same prices in Swedish online stores but the range of items is not as big.

 

I think I'm going with the Fractal Meshify. I just need to figure out how many fans I need and what CPU cooler. Maybe I should continue my old Hyper 212?. But does that 7 year block still have the fluid's left in the tube or am I running dry? I honestly don't know temps are pretty alright but the dust and airflow is ruing it.

[TVwazhere]

2 hours ago, Charkel said:

I think I'm going with the Fractal Meshify. I just need to figure out how many fans I need and what CPU cooler. Maybe I should continue my old Hyper 212?. But does that 7 year block still have the fluid's left in the tube or am I running dry? I honestly don't know temps are pretty alright but the dust and airflow is ruing it.

The hyper 212 is an air cooler. Are you sure you dont have your coolers mixed up? Because everything else you're talking about sounds like a liquid cooler.

[Charkel]

2 minutes ago, TVwazhere said:

The hyper 212 is an air cooler. Are you sure you dont have your coolers mixed up? Because everything else you're talking about sounds like a liquid cooler.

Liquid cooling doesn't do much gain in scandinavia so no i'm not going to liquid cool. I am asking for fan advice also.  I am however a fan of the closed CPU solutions and would like one of those.

[TVwazhere]

2 minutes ago, Charkel said:

Liquid cooling doesn't do much gain in scandinavia so no i'm not going to liquid cool. I am asking for fan advice also.  I am however a fan of the closed CPU solutions and would like one of those.

I apologize, theres probably a translation error here somewhere. 

 

The Hyper 212 is an "Air tower" CPU cooler. There is no liquid, there are no tubes. There are heat pipes, but they are solid (copper usually), there no fluid in them. 

 

Additionally, a "closed CPU" solution often means you want to use a Liquid Cooler, usually referred to as an AIO (All In One). 

 

Regardless, your Hyper 212 is still good for the most part.

 

Corsair makes decent fans (AF120's or AF140's) which are air flow focused, and theyre not very expensive.

[andrewmp6]

How much is a fractal define r6 case ?Its 150 us for a window and a little less with no window.It does have the ODD bay you want but its got a door so you won't see it.That case does have a lot of drive spaces also.

[Charkel]

On 2018-06-27 at 10:33 PM, TVwazhere said:

The Hyper 212 is an "Air tower" CPU cooler. There is no liquid, there are no tubes. There are heat pipes, but they are solid (copper usually), there no fluid in them.

 

Oh! I got explained to me by a professional that it was fluids in the copper tubes that was making them work and NOT only empty copper tubes. And that there could be problems of the copper breaking in some small points slowly dissipating the fluids inside.

 

Is this totally wrong info I got from this 60 year old computer 'expert' that had been with from the dawn of computers??

 

On 2018-06-28 at 11:42 AM, andrewmp6 said:

How much is a fractal define r6 case ?Its 150 us for a window and a little less with no window.It does have the ODD bay you want but its got a door so you won't see it.That case does have a lot of drive spaces also.

Yeh pretty much the same over here but it looks to have more metal obstructing airflow inside and is much more money.

Thinking I can use some eSATA/USB 3.0 adapter for connecting my drive separately if I would EVER need it.

[Charkel]

accidental doublepost

[andrewmp6]

watch this

 

[TVwazhere]

On 6/30/2018 at 8:32 AM, Charkel said:

Oh! I got explained to me by a professional that it was fluids in the copper tubes that was making them work and NOT only empty copper tubes. And that there could be problems of the copper breaking in some small points slowly dissipating the fluids inside.

 

Is this totally wrong info I got from this 60 year old computer 'expert' that had been with from the dawn of computers??

The 60 year old expert was incorrect. The Heat pipes are indeed completely solid. There might have been times where fluids were used in between the heat pipes to try and increase thermal dissipation, however all air coolers today using heat pipes are solid to the core.

[Charkel]

On 2018-07-01 at 9:19 PM, TVwazhere said:

The 60 year old expert was incorrect. The Heat pipes are indeed completely solid. There might have been times where fluids were used in between the heat pipes to try and increase thermal dissipation, however all air coolers today using heat pipes are solid to the core.

I'm still glad I never took that tenichian job after the test period was over. They were a bunch of morons you proved it even more.

 

But basically the heatsinks never go bad? Even after 7 years? I must have the first rev if there ever has been more

[TVwazhere]

3 minutes ago, Charkel said:

I'm still glad I never took that tenichian job after the test period was over. They were a bunch of morons you proved it even more.

 

But basically the heatsinks never go bad? Even after 7 years? I must have the first rev if there ever has been more

Yes heat pipes never go bad, because solid copper itself never decays or corrodes (it oxodizes, but I believe that affects its electrical conductivity more than it's heat anyways.)

[Charkel]

2 minutes ago, TVwazhere said:

Yes heat pipes never go bad, because solid copper itself never decays or corrodes (it oxodizes, but I believe that affects its electrical conductivity more than it's heat anyways.)

That's great. I think I just upgrade the fans then.

 

Questions till remains. What fans should I get? 4-5 140mm for the case and 2x 120's for the cooler?

[TVwazhere]

7 minutes ago, Charkel said:

That's great. I think I just upgrade the fans then.

 

Questions till remains. What fans should I get? 4-5 140mm for the case and 2x 120's for the cooler?

For the Meshify C, it's probably best to just do 2 fans in the front and one in the back. There's a point of diminishing returns to case fans, as well as sometime having too many case fans hurting performance! Also just one fan for the air tower since the rear fan as exhaust will help pull air through the air tower anyways.

Personally I would grab Noctua's for their legendary performance. If those are too expensive for you (they do have black ones finally so you woudn't have to deal with tan + brown) Corsair makes a decent fan.