Question Good Case For Air-Cooling

[lukemurtagh1995]

Hello all,

I am looking to upgrade my PC case as I've been disappointed by the build quality of the one I have now. It is a Corsair 780T and although it gives great cooling performance the build quality seems rather bad. The plastic from which the case is made out of seems flimsy and there are uneven gaps in the panels. The "doors" of the case are especially bad as they have warped somewhat after taking them off just a handful of times. The case I am looking to upgrade to is the Fractal Design Meshify S2. It is mesh which I like as it should give superior air cooling to a case which isn't mesh and it is large enough for my components without being overly huge.

Are there any other mesh cases you would recommend? The Phanteks P600S has caught my attention as well. The only reason why I prefer the Meshify S2 to the P600S is simply its aesthetics. I've looked at the CoolerMaster H500 as well but, again, I think the Meshify looks better. I'm sure I'm missing other good air-cooled cases though.

Thanks!

Specs:
CPU: i7-9700K.
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D15.
Motherboard: Asus ROG Maximus XI Hero (WiFi).
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4-3200
Storage: Samsung 970 EVO 500GB M.2 SSD and Samsung 860 EVO 1TB SSD
GPU: EVGA GeForce RTX 2080TI 11GB FTW 3 Ultra
PSU: Corsair RM1000i 1000W 80+ Gold
Case: Corsair 780T

 

[AdmiralDonut]

The Meshify would certainly be the better case of the ones you listed. That being said, given that you are air cooling and not watercooling, I think the Enthoo Pro M TG from Phanteks would be a better option. It's just as good in terms of build quality and internal layout, while having a smaller footprint, and being far, far cheaper.

 

[lukemurtagh1995]

The Meshify would certainly be the better case of the ones you listed. That being said, given that you are air cooling and not watercooling, I think the Enthoo Pro M TG from Phanteks would be a better option. It's just as good in terms of build quality and internal layout, while having a smaller footprint, and being far, far cheaper.

Thanks for the reply. I've had a rethink and now have two ideas in mind - one that is air cooled with the Meshify and the other would be water cooled with the NZXT H500. I've seen reviews of the H500 and the temps are surprising good for a none-mesh case. If I went down the route of watercooling would the H500 in your opinion provide okay temps? I know it certainly won't be as cool as the Meshify but as long as they are within safe parameters I don't mind it running slightly hotter.

Edit: The CPU AIO I would be using would be the NZXT Kraken X62.

 

[AdmiralDonut]

I don't think the H500 is a good case at all. Certainly not something I'd put such a hot CPU and large GPU in to. As to watercooling, that would be an even bigger nope. No AIO under 360mm is worth buying in my experience (and I've had a lot with AIO's), and you'd want to have the best airflow possible for that, which the H500 is utterly incapable of providing.

NZXT cases have always been, and likely will always be, about form over function, and in a way that would stop me from ever buying another one. No, the Enthoo or the Meshify would be the only two options (short of looking at much larger cases like the Lian Li 011 Dynamic Air) if you want to use an AIO for anything, or have decent levels of airflow.

EDIT: I should clarify that I currently own two NZXT S340's, a Phanteks Enthoo Pro M TG, a Phanteks P400, and an InWin 101 that my current rig is in, and which has a 360mm AIO to cool the CPU, so I am speaking from current experience.

 

[lukemurtagh1995]

Interesting. The only reason why I even looked at the H500 (apart of the aesthetics) was the temperatures others have reported. There are many completed builds on PCPartPicker, for example, which have a similar setup to mine and their temps don't seem too bad. Examples:

https://pcpartpicker.com/b/LKbXsY

R9 3900x - 2080 TI FE - First timer rig

Check out Ghost_GxG's completed build on PCPartPicker! Ryzen 9 3900X 3.8 GHz 12-Core, GeForce RTX 2080 Ti 11 GB Founders Edition, H500 ATX Mid Tower, ...

pcpartpicker.com

https://pcpartpicker.com/b/Bdhypg

Don't get me wrong, I don't disbelieve you, I'm just curious why some people are getting okay(ish) temps with similar setups to mine.

 

[lukemurtagh1995]

I think on second thoughts I probably will go with the Meshify S2. I think it will probably be the safer option. For cooling I will probably go with three Noctua NF-A14 fans at the front and one at the rear and top rear for exhaust. My CPU cooler will also be a beQuiet! Dark Rock Pro 4. Is that a good setup in your opinion?

 

[AdmiralDonut]

I think on second thoughts I probably will go with the Meshify S2. I think it will probably be the safer option. For cooling I will probably go with three Noctua NF-A14 fans at the front and one at the rear and top rear for exhaust. My CPU cooler will also be a beQuiet! Dark Rock Pro 4. Is that a good setup in your opinion?

That sounds perfect. The BeQuiet coolers are amazing. My wife has the Dark Rock Pro 4 in her rig, and I gotta say, if it weren't for the fact that I prefer liquid cooling, I'd have gotten one myself. As for the Noctua fans, I am (no pun intended) a big fan myself. I've got 3 of their Redux fans in my InWin 101, and I'll be ordering some of the static pressure versions to replace my AIO fans. Sounds like you're ready to go Have fun with the build.

 

[lukemurtagh1995]

That sounds perfect. The BeQuiet coolers are amazing. My wife has the Dark Rock Pro 4 in her rig, and I gotta say, if it weren't for the fact that I prefer liquid cooling, I'd have gotten one myself. As for the Noctua fans, I am (no pun intended) a big fan myself. I've got 3 of their Redux fans in my InWin 101, and I'll be ordering some of the static pressure versions to replace my AIO fans. Sounds like you're ready to go Have fun with the build.

Sorry to ask again but what is your opinion on the CoolerMaster H500 Mesh? I’m looking on Scan and Overclockers for all of the mesh panelled cases I can find and that one has been reviewed quite a lot.

 

[AdmiralDonut]

The 500 Mesh is a fairly decent case. If you want a professional opinion, GamersNexus on YouTube have done multiple videos on that case, and they are well worth watching.