Corsair Carbide Air 240 vs Fractal Design Meshify C Mini

[bobertthethird]

Hello Folks,

I'm working on a build, I originally decided on the Meshify C Mini as it had the ideal mix of features for me: high airflow, side panel, good cable management, and small form factor. However another user *Ahem* Lucky *Ahem* pointed out that the mini-itx board I want to use the Strix 370i would look dumb in a micro-atx case. I stubbornly ignored Lucky, but it nagged on my mind, so I looked up a few builds that used mini-itx in the case and ... it looks horrible, mostly because the gaping hole behind the mobo is exposed. So I'm considering switching to the corsair carbide air 240 which is still micro atx, and still will have a lot of open real estate, but no gaping hole, and there are grommets near the board. Question is, is that really a huge visual difference? Should I stick with the meshify, switch to the carbide air, or abandon them altogether for the Define Nano S (which I loathe to do because of poor airflow)?

 

[herrwizo]

So, you are worried about aestetics mostly?

I own regular Meshify C (mid-tower), and can only say that they made the tempered glass quite well tinted and only slightly transparent - you won't be able to see much stuff from the outside unless you put some lights inside, and even then mostly the lights themselves will be visible. In fact, I like that a lot.

It is a great case - I don't have experience with mini version but it is likely also great. Your pick.

If you are still unsure, go to a shop and take a look at the real case, maybe even with mobo inside - you will get a better idea.

 

[zoltan.boese]

I just googled a mini-ITX build in a 240, here you go

 

[zoltan.boese]

Here are some mini-ITX intended cases:
Thermaltake Core V1
Thermaltake Suppressor F1
Riotoro CR280
Fractal Design Define Nano S

The NZXT H200i has more of a premium pricing, but if you like the looks, you can go for that one too.

Or why not buying a micro ATX board after all?

 

[bobertthethird]

So, you are worried about aestetics mostly?

I own regular Meshify C (mid-tower), and can only say that they made the tempered glass quite well tinted and only slightly transparent - you won't be able to see much stuff from the outside unless you put some lights inside, and even then mostly the lights themselves will be visible. In fact, I like that a lot.

It is a great case - I don't have experience with mini version but it is likely also great. Your pick.

If you are still unsure, go to a shop and take a look at the real case, maybe even with mobo inside - you will get a better idea.

I'm going to be using Kraken radiator (with RGB infinity mirror) replace its fans with MLxxxRGBs and occupy every other fan slot with LLxxxRGBs (size omitted as it will be case dependent), also using G.Skill Trident Z RGB ram, and a few RGB strips. The Case will be lit AF even with the dark tint. Also the Asus z370i board has RGBs on the back that will light up the motherboard plate and make the hole very obvious on the Meshify.

I just googled a mini-ITX build in a 240, here you go

I love the corsair, but it is going to make my graphics card a very tight fit (currently 980ti, if I upgrade it will be to at least 1070)

Here are some mini-ITX intended cases:
Thermaltake Core V1
Thermaltake Suppressor F1
Riotoro CR280
Fractal Design Define Nano S

The NZXT H200i has more of a premium pricing, but if you like the looks, you can go for that one too.

Or why not buying a micro ATX board after all?

I looked at all those cases. The Core V1 has good airflow, but poor water cooling support which nixes the kraken, also with most RGB fans being in the 120 or 140 size that entire case will leave my build rather lackluster. The Suppresor, Define, and H200i all suffer from the craze for solid front panels and noise suppression, resulting in seriously poor airflow. If I were to bite the bullet on one of those it would be the Define Nano (Maybe I'll get lucky and by the time I get to building this thing there will be a Meshify Nano ... one can only hope). The Riotoro has a pretty solid design, I saw that earlier too, it was a glimmer of hope that quickly faded, the lack of grommets made is less appealing, all the open holes also leave nowhere to mount the corsair RGB stuff behind the tray. The front panel also appears to be unfiltered.

As far as not upgrading to the micro boards, there are a variety of Reasons: As I intend to use an M2 drive, M2 cooling is important, the only manufacturer to pull off a decent solution was Asus, MSI's heat shields actually make them hotter, Gigabyte occasionally uses a similar solution to MSI (with similar results), but for the most part manufacturers just crammed them in where they could, often underneath the PCIE slots (and thus under a super hot GPU in a completed build) and also choked from airflow by the southbridge heatsinks. Asus put heat sinks on the primary M2 slot on most of their boards, But Asus didn't apply that cooling solution to their z370-g, that same board also has 0 rgb, and performed super poorly in overclocking (I've seen one benchmark where the z370-g pulls ahead of the z370-i, but the majority of them show the z370-i trashing the z370-g and climbing to take a spot in the middle of the Maximus boards, I can only assume that the one benchmark that showed differently was prior to Asus fixing the Vdroop issue on the strix boards) Oddly enough the Mini Asus also offers more USB ports than many of the larger boards (sadly not 3.1 gen 2, but I'll live).

Also sorry if I sound harsh. I know I do. It's a problem, I'm working on it. I do value your input.

 

[zoltan.boese]

Hello bobertthethird!

I am flattered by your detailed answer. I can see what your concerns are. Motherboard design seems to be the real choking point of your system. I´d rather go with a uATX case with good airflow and a fitting board with some extra investment into SSD cooling.
Would an M.2 PCIe card influence gpu airflow much combined with a uATX board?
Have you considered an heatsink for that M.2 SSD, something like the EKWB EK-M.2 or an SSD that comes with an acceptable heatsink? Maybe the Plextor and Adata models are for your liking.
I hope you find a ways! Have a nice one!

 

[bobertthethird]

I didn't even realize there were 3rd party M2 heatsinks. I'm going with either a Samsung 970 Evo or Pro. So I'll look at those EKWBs. Thank you ... Now if only MSI had done an RGB micro board.

 

[bobertthethird]

whelp back to the drawing board. The only Micro z370 boards with wifi are the asus strix, msi gaming pro, and evga ... none of them have RGB, MSI is even worse because it has solid red LED (I hate red). And in any case none of them perform well. I could technically continue using my asus AC68 expansion chip, but I'd rather not (It doesn't do bluetooth, also will clutter the build). I'm also kind of loathe to try a Gigabyte board as I had a bad experience with a board that fried an entire system due to a short on the board, from reading reviews their quality control hasn't improved any, also from reading those same reviews they'll return the defective board several times when you RMA before actually giving a fix or replace, and shipping ain't cheap.That leaves the Asrock which is also RGB free.

I'm trying to simulate the build in the Corsair case now. It seems the biggest problem is video card width (the length is actually fine). I normally do EVGA video cards (and my 980ti would fit), however I was thinking of upgrading to something flashy like the Asus strix cards and those are all too wide. In any case it would be a particularly stick limit in future builds as Nvidia could very well design the base chipset too wide based on standard mid-tower clearances and I could very well be completely incapable of upgrading to that gen of chipset.

I'm thinking of getting the Define Nano S and dremeling out the front and inserting a mesh screen, as I've seen some modders do ... granted I have zero machining experience ... I don't even have a dremel XD.