Case advice with small clearance area (Midi R2 vs 200R vs ???)

[fldash]

Need an ATX case that will fit in a 18 1/8" opening that my computer cabinet has. This is not really negotiable per my wife.

The Fractal Midi R2 is 460mm (18.11"). I believe this is without the feet.

The Corsair 200R is 428mm (17.25").

Those are the only two highly rated cases I see that will fit. I prefer the R2, but am I going to run into any cooling issues with their being so little clearance on the top and not using the feet?

The other issue is I have a 390X already with plans to get another one. The Asus STRIX 390X is 11.8" long. I don't believe two will fit in the 200R, nor will my preferred cooler (Noctua NH-D15). The R2 will fit two STRIX by removing the top hard drive bay (which I won't need) and it also fits the NH-D15.

Anyone have any advice or can perhaps recommend another case I'm not seeing?

Also can't be wider than 10.5"...

 

[synphul]

Is the opening restricted only by height? Not sure if this would work for you, it's 16.34" tall, 13.07" wide and 18.03" deep (cube style case) with room for the nh-d15 and the gpu.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811139022

 

[fldash]

Is the opening restricted only by height? Not sure if this would work for you, it's 16.34" tall, 13.07" wide and 18.03" deep (cube style case) with room for the nh-d15 and the gpu.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811139022

No, there is also a width limit of 10.5". I had forgotten about cube cases. I'll edit my topic. Thanks.

 

[synphul]

I would try the fractal you mentioned, the midi r2. The case height should include the feet, measured from the surface (such as desk) to top of the case. So long as you have good airflow front to back and ventilation out the back of the cabinet where you're planning to use the case, cooling shouldn't be too bad.

Just for comparison I looked up my case on newegg to find the dimensions for height. My case also has feet and the dimensions given are for the top of the case to the surface it sits on. The feet don't add additional height, overall height takes feet into account. Measuring from the desk to the top of my case matches the height specs on newegg so you should be good with the fractal.

 

[fldash]

I would try the fractal you mentioned, the midi r2. The case height should include the feet, measured from the surface (such as desk) to top of the case. So long as you have good airflow front to back and ventilation out the back of the cabinet where you're planning to use the case, cooling shouldn't be too bad.

Just for comparison I looked up my case on newegg to find the dimensions for height. My case also has feet and the dimensions given are for the top of the case to the surface it sits on. The feet don't add additional height, overall height takes feet into account. Measuring from the desk to the top of my case matches the height specs on newegg so you should be good with the fractal.

Yea, I asked on NewEgg Q&A about this case and this guy was nice enough to help me quite a bit. He says it's 18.75" with feet and 18 1/8" without feet. 🙁

 

[synphul]

That's unfortunate, glad you got a solid answer on it though. Not sure why one case would measure with feet and the other without, that makes it really confusing and difficult for users to judge fitment.

I've been searching through a number of cases trying to find one that fits the bill. You definitely have a challenge ahead with the case size restrictions and wanting to work with a larger air cooler and 2 good sized video cards. Especially with a fairly open front for good airflow. Not sure which cpu you're cooling with an nh-d14 but coupled with plans for 2x 390x in crossfire that's a fair amount of heat to shove in such a small area. Like trying to wedge an 8 cylinder engine in a prius.

 

[fldash]

That's unfortunate, glad you got a solid answer on it though. Not sure why one case would measure with feet and the other without, that makes it really confusing and difficult for users to judge fitment.

I've been searching through a number of cases trying to find one that fits the bill. You definitely have a challenge ahead with the case size restrictions and wanting to work with a larger air cooler and 2 good sized video cards. Especially with a fairly open front for good airflow. Not sure which cpu you're cooling with an nh-d14 but coupled with plans for 2x 390x in crossfire that's a fair amount of heat to shove in such a small area. Like trying to wedge an 8 cylinder engine in a prius.

Yea, it's definitely a challenge... I'm going for the 6600K CPU. Maybe I should just choose the 200R, remove the bottom drive cage, and us the NH-D14 instead of the NH-D15... That may be the best solution.

 

[fldash]

I may have found one...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811352044

I'm not sure about the GPUs in this case though...

"Support Graphics cards up to 430mm. One or more 3.5" hard drives may interfere with side-mounted power connectors on graphics cards longer than 255 mm".

Does the GPU sit on the other side of that vertical plate? It looks like that vertical plate could interfere with the width of the GPU.

Ugh. So frustrating... Following link says height with feet is 18.34" (466mm) with the feet... So can I use it without feet? http://www.fractal-design.com/media/25b7ab0c-874b-4555-b78f-cda5a6e2949e

 

[synphul]

Going by the info given on the core 3300 I think it should work. Looking at the pics of it the vertical panel looked like it should have hard drive trays that slide into it, but I didn't see any. A review showed how the hard drives mount and accounts for why the odd spaced holes are on that vertical panel. 3.5" hard drives apparently mount not flat like typical cases but on their edge with the 'bottom' of the drive flat against the inside of that vertical panel. That would shrink the open space between the motherboard side and the vertical panel for a longer video card.

Have a look here, it shows what I'm talking about with the hard drives (the panel out of the case with a hdd installed).
http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/cases/2014/08/01/fractal-design-core-3300-review/2

The gpu, if it's a long one, would extend past the edge of the vertical panel closer to the front of the case yes. That means you may see most of the video card but some of it may be hidden behind that vertical panel. The way a 3.5" hdd sticks out to the left of the panel when installed it may bump into the power connector on the gpu.

Sorry for the poor diagram but this is the conflict they were talking about.
http://prntscr.com/9aksc8

The distance that a 3.5" hdd sticks out beyond that vertical mounting plate is shown with red arrows. A theoretical large gpu marked with orange (passing behind the hard drive) and the green shows how it might get in the way of a pcie power plug. In that situation the hdd would have to be moved to a different location and it looks like it only holds 3 hdd's. It also holds 2 or 3 ssd on the outside of that vertical tray so those should be a non issue.

As for the feet I don't know if they can be removed or not.

 

[fldash]

Thanks so much for your help... I decided to go with the Fractal 2500. With the feet it's 17.5" tall. It has no issues with CPU length, and while it won't fit the NH-D15, I figured the NH-D14 is good enough.

 

[synphul]

The nh-d14 is also a good cooler, very similar in performance to the nh-d15. Not really what I would consider much of a compromise there. Hope it works out for you, you definitely had a challenging situation to deal with.