LF a case that will fit my AIO cooler

[papajo]

I have an arctic liquid freezer 360 AIO 


The dimensions in your preferred metric system are on the site https://www.arctic.ac/eu_en/liquid-freezer-360.html under the tab "specs" 

The case needs to be preferably standard or midi ATX 

 

The price should be relatively cheap (uner $150 or euro) 

NOTE that the distance between CPU and cooler must be under ~30cm because the tubing is about 32CM 

Thank you. 

 

EDIT: I forgot to mention that the case should preferably should have a mesh in front and up of the case for easier air intake and also it should have removable dust filters. 

[TVwazhere]

3 minutes ago, papajo said:

I have an arctic liquid freezer 360 AIO 


The dimensions in your preferred metric system are on the site https://www.arctic.ac/eu_en/liquid-freezer-360.html under the tab "specs" 

The case needs to be preferably standard or midi ATX 

 

The price should be relatively cheap (uner $150 or euro) 

NOTE that the distance between CPU and cooler must be under ~30cm because the tubing is about 32CM 

Thank you. 

There are a LOT of mid tower ATX cases under $150 that can fit a 360mm AIO at the front OR top.

 

Fractal Design: Define C, Meshify C (NOTE, GPU's longer than  275mm will not be able to mount a front rad without modifying the front panel slightly), Define R6

Phanteks: Enthoo Pro M TG

Corsair: 270, 460x, 500D, 570x

Coolermaster: MC500, H500, H500P Mesh

Lian LI: PC-O11D

NZXT: H700

 

[papajo]

19 minutes ago, TVwazhere said:

There are a LOT of mid tower ATX cases under $150 that can fit a 360mm AIO at the front OR top.

 

Fractal Design: Define C, Meshify C (NOTE, GPU's longer than  275mm will not be able to mount a front rad without modifying the front panel slightly), Define R6

Phanteks: Enthoo Pro M TG

Corsair: 270, 460x, 500D, 570x

Coolermaster: MC500, H500, H500P Mesh

Lian LI: PC-O11D

NZXT: H700

 

Its not any AIO its a particular one that is thicker... and I dont know about "a lot" since many I have checked out including my current one (Aerocool aero 800) do not because either the mobo VRM is on the way or the bay area is on the way or the PSU cover is on the way... There are some ultra ATX cases or full ATX that will fit the particular AIO for sure but quite a few of them have too much of a distance between the place designated for the fridge and the CPU socket location (I presume because they mainly designed it for custom cooling for which tubing is a non issue)  e.g Thermaltake Core X71

 

 I wouldnt make a topic for that if it was that obvious... I basically hope that people owning the same cooler tell me what kinda case they have (if its on the pricetag I am looking for) or people to measure their case front or upper area to see if it can fit and tell me..

[TVwazhere]

5 minutes ago, papajo said:

I basically hope that people owning the same cooler tell me what kinda case they have (if its on the pricetag I am looking for) or people to measure their case front or upper area to see if it can fit and tell me..

ANy of the front mounted RAD's ive mentioned can probably hold it, especially the PC-O11D and Fractal Design Define R6

[papajo]

1 minute ago, TVwazhere said:

ANy of the front mounted RAD's ive mentioned can probably hold it, especially the PC-O11D and Fractal Design Define R6

I did not notice your recommendations Ill check them out thanks. 

[xriqn]

I'd recommend a Thermaltake Versa H18, they're decent for airflow, spacious and can fit larger AIO's in them.

[papajo]

33 minutes ago, TVwazhere said:

ANy of the front mounted RAD's ive mentioned can probably hold it, especially the PC-O11D and Fractal Design Define R6

You did not notice the importand details of my post it seems... 

The AIO has three  fans on each side of the radiator  each fan thickness is 25mm  (25mm +25mm) and the rad itself is 27mm so 50mm+27mm = 77mm or almost 8cm or about 3.14 inches thick...

 

 

I will display that to you in one of your recommendations 

the NZXT H700

 

 

It wont fit it infront since as you can see you need two sets of fans (as thick as the ones provided and are shown in the picture) and you need to add the thickness of the rad. then there is the tank and tubing area I doubt it has enough height (blue line) without touching the bay area... 

I don't know if it will fit on the upper side though it seems thick but without having measurement I couldn't tell I can tell about the front side because there are already some fans there which are about the same thickness 

 

And also this case cost almost 200 euro....  I am looking for one preferable under 100 with 150 being like the max I would pay for. 

The lianli has the space but lacks a front bay area (I have a bluray combo drive)  and I am not sure if the tubing will be long enough since the radiator fits in parallel with the mobo so the tubing has to curve and the go all the way back... I am not sure if the thickness will allow it to be mounted on the top...  but its a "better than nothing" candidate thanks 

 

The phanteks ones you mention cant fit the AIO for sure... they barely could fit the 240 version...

And generally thanks for your time but it seems that you randomly put cases that you like at that price point and did not pay attention to the dimensions or the particulars in general. 

[papajo]

30 minutes ago, xriqn said:

I'd recommend a Thermaltake Versa H18, they're decent for airflow, spacious and can fit larger AIO's in them.

not even a chance it could fit in that small case it barely can fit 2 fans in the frontside... Thanks for the help though!


Rule of thumb for any other guy or gal that would like to help. 

If it cant fit 9 fans sandwiched together in groups of 3 then it cant fit the AIO I am talking about. 

 

What I mean with the groupings above is this: (pretend each box is a fan) :

[][][]
[][][]

[][][]

[TVwazhere]

2 minutes ago, papajo said:

You did not notice the importand details of my post it seems... 

The AIO has three sets of fans on each side (25mm +25mm) and the rad itself is 27mm so 50mm+27mm = 77mm or almost 8cm or about 3.14 inches thick...

 

It wont fit it infront

Pause. Yes it will

 

77mm is not actually that big. NZXT lists it WILL fit a push/pull setup like yours

https://www.nzxt.com/products/h700-matte-white

 

Think I'm still full of crap? Here's two push/pull completed build with 27mm RADs mounted in the front of this case (technically the enermax is only 25mm)

https://pcpartpicker.com/b/7BzYcf

https://pcpartpicker.com/b/X7GG3C

11 minutes ago, papajo said:

And also this case cost almost 200 euro....

Did you check to make sure it's the non i version? That version comes with a intergrated smart fan hub and RGB controoler that adds about 50USD/Euro to the price tag. The non I should just hit the 150 euro mark

13 minutes ago, papajo said:

The lianli has the space but lacks a front bay area (I have a bluray combo drive)

Something you did NOT mention at all in your OP

13 minutes ago, papajo said:

I am not sure if the tubing will be long enough

You can mount that rad in Three (four if you get the Air version) different spots. There is very few limitations with mounting radiators in this case. However your best bet is probably top, as the bottom mount would look ugly with tubes crossing over the GPU, and the side mount might ot allow enough room for a push/pull, because it would contact with the GPU (see second example)

https://pcpartpicker.com/b/3cmqqs

https://pcpartpicker.com/b/fgpG3C

19 minutes ago, papajo said:

The phanteks ones you mention cant fit the AIO for sure... they barely could fit the 240 version...

Well then I guess I should tell my buddy who put a 360 AIO in this case to return it because it definitely doesnt fit the 360mm aio he has in it right now. TO BE FAIR THOUGH, you have to sacrifice the 5.25" bay completely in order to use the 360mm spots. The case is simply too compact to allow for both to co-exist...

 

https://pcpartpicker.com/b/wddXsY

https://pcpartpicker.com/b/W8jypg

https://pcpartpicker.com/b/VFKBD3 (Dont ask me why this guy didnt remove the plate to install the 3rd fan because I really dont know...)

28 minutes ago, papajo said:

If it cant fit 9 fans sandwiched together in groups of 3 then it cant fit the AIO I am talking about. 

Also I would like to mention it's only six fans on the AIO, not three.

 

Look I'm not here to waste your time, I'm here to SAVE you time in trying to decide the best case for you. I did not just read "360mm AIO", close my eyes and pull out random cases. I will admit I missed the fact that your AIO actually comes with six fans, but the cases I've selected are water cooling ready anyways, so all but the C series are still valid. Course, technically NON are valid with the addition of the 5.25" bay being a requirement. I understand not everyone is willing to part with those yet, and if you're one of those people, well there's only one other case I can think of that will do it all. The Corsair Air 540

Now I initially didnt list this case because while Height and Depth wise its similar to most cases, it's almost double as wide due to it's layout, making it kind of more along the volume of a traditional full tower. Additionally, mounting a 360 in push/pull is usually done with custom water cooling setups by putting one of the sets of fans between the frame and the outer panel, it will fit ( first example below) OR if you have a standard length GPU (the builder did a crap job taking a decent photo showing the whole system, and i cant find the other photos, heres the link to the Air 540 discussion http://forum.corsair.com/v3/showthread.php?t=173837)

 

I hope this doesnt come across as too disrespectful, I just dont like it when people tell me I'm not trying, because I put effort into this. Why? Because I'm passionate about cases. I WANT to find that perfect case that fits your needs if I can. I dont like telling you "that case doesnt exist" and I definitely make sure I'm selecting cases that will match what you need to the best of my ability (though I do make mistakes from time to time)

[TVwazhere]

4 minutes ago, TVwazhere said:

I hope this doesnt come across as too disrespectful, I just dont like it when people tell me I'm not trying, because I put effort into this. Why? Because I'm passionate about cases. I WANT to find that perfect case that fits your needs if I can. I dont like telling you "that case doesnt exist" and I definitely make sure I'm selecting cases that will match what you need to the best of my ability (though I do make mistakes from time to time)

Also I spent an hour doing the research and writing this response. If you find my level of obsession for this insane, I would agree with you  

[papajo]

12 minutes ago, TVwazhere said:

Also I would like to mention it's only six fans on the AIO, not three.

You mean not 9...

And you would be correct. but I was establishing a rule of thumb for people not good with numbers and measurements. 


You have 6 fans like this

[][]

[][]

[][]

 

but also the RADIATOR IT SELF has thickness (and to be exact its thicker than the fans but again I wanted to establish a rule of thumb and not a very accurate measurement) 

 

so we have this (the striked boxes are where the radiator would have been) 

[][][]

[][][]

[][][]

 

This is a side view

[TVwazhere]

1 minute ago, papajo said:

You mean not 9...

 

To your point, I now understand your reasoning. However most people would probably understand "Push/Pull with a total thickness of 77mm" better. (At least I'd hope) For example though the H700 does support a top 360 AIO, it does not support a push/pull config of it. 

[papajo]

25 minutes ago, TVwazhere said:

Well then I guess I should tell my buddy who put a 360 AIO in this case to return it because it definitely doesnt fit the 360mm aio he has in it right now. TO BE FAIR THOUGH, you have to sacrifice the 5.25" bay completely in order to use the 360mm spots. The case is simply too compact to allow for both to co-exist...

 

https://pcpartpicker.com/b/wddXsY

https://pcpartpicker.com/b/W8jypg

https://pcpartpicker.com/b/VFKBD3 (Dont ask me why this guy didnt remove the plate to install the 3rd fan because I really dont know...)

I ment in the front because as you see in the picks it barely could fit one set of fans up if he had an other set then the RAM would have been in the way. 

I did not know you can remove the plate though that's why I thought it couldnt take a 360 one 

 

Now that this has been cleared I think I found my next PC case  

[TVwazhere]

2 minutes ago, papajo said:

I ment in the front because as you see in the picks it barely could fit one set of fans up if he had an other set then the RAM would have been in the way. 

I did not know you can remove the plate though that's why I thought it couldnt take a 360 one 

 

Now that this has been cleared I think I found my next PC case  

Dont forget though! If you want that 5.25" bay, it wont fit with a 360mm AIO (top or front) but if you're cool with that, personally I think the Enthoo Pro M TG is one of the best (and most underrated) cases under 100. Construction is good, Cable management is good, hardware support is good, aesthetics are good (subjective but most people agree), and it's sad that most people miss this real gem of a case. You'll definitely be happy with it.  

[papajo]

4 minutes ago, TVwazhere said:

Dont forget though! If you want that 5.25" bay, it wont fit with a 360mm AIO (top or front) but if you're cool with that, personally I think the Enthoo Pro M TG is one of the best (and most underrated) cases under 100. Construction is good, Cable management is good, hardware support is good, aesthetics are good (subjective but most people agree), and it's sad that most people miss this real gem of a case. You'll definitely be happy with it.  

meh I just found out that you sacrifice the two HDD shelves as well  I could maybe live without my bluray drive and use it as an external device with a casing but having to make a nas as well (since I can't fit my storage HDDs ) is too much so Im still looking  (I did not finish cheking out the rest of the stuff you mentioned so maybe I find there something) 

[papajo]

12 minutes ago, TVwazhere said:

Dont forget though! If you want that 5.25" bay, it wont fit with a 360mm AIO (top or front) but if you're cool with that, personally I think the Enthoo Pro M TG is one of the best (and most underrated) cases under 100. Construction is good, Cable management is good, hardware support is good, aesthetics are good (subjective but most people agree), and it's sad that most people miss this real gem of a case. You'll definitely be happy with it.  

Actually do you know if you can move  the 2 HDD shelves one spot to the right?  because I see two screws there, could you ask your friend to check? that would be great

[TVwazhere]

3 minutes ago, papajo said:

meh I just found out that you sacrifice the two HDD shelves as well  I could maybe live without my bluray drive and use it as an external device with a casing but having to make a nas as well (since I can't fit my storage HDDs ) is too much so Im still looking  (I did not finish cheking out the rest of the stuff you mentioned so maybe I find there something) 

Check the 570x or the Define R6 (open layout configuration if you want to front mount the AIO, otherwise it should fit on the top even in the standard configuration). Both of those cases put the HDD trays behind the motherboard tray (limiting your count to two, but it works)

 

The Define R6 is VERY flexible when it comes to radiator options