[SOLVED] Looking for case recommendations

[tworley4125]

I'm currently shopping for components for my new personal desktop build and I'm looking through cases. I'm wondering if anyone has any recommendations. Some of the things I'm looking for:

• Good airflow is a must. While I've never personally used one before, I'm not crazy about the idea of a solid front panel. Would much prefer mesh or grated.
• Good cable management options is also a must.
• Looking at mid and full sized towers (my board will be ATX).
• Needs to be able to accommodate a two fan radiator liquid CPU cooler (a Corsair H100i 240mm to be specific).
• A clear side panel would be nice, but not necessary.
• Trying to stay around $100.

Any suggestions?

 

[siaan312]

h510i from nzxt.
it does have a solid front panel, but it includes 2 front fans that are high quality and an exhaust at the back.
(i think it includes 2. i have the h700i and it included 3)

it has some of the best cable managment ive seen and it fits atx.

 

[geofelt]

What components will you put inside?

My first requirement would be to buy a case with looks that you love.
Cases are a long term deal and you will be looking at it for a long time.
Bust your budget for a good one if you must.

I also like at least two front 120/140mm intakes that are filtered.

I am a M-ATX person, but looking at full tower cases, I like the cm H500p mesh:
https://www.newegg.com/cooler-master-mastercase-h500p-mesh-white-atx-mid-tower/p/N82E16811119341
It comes with two 200mm fans that are going to be very quiet and move a lot of air.
Yes, that is over your budget, but, I have another suggestion:
A good twin tower air cooler is going to cool about as well as a 240mm liquid cooler. I am thinking Noctua NH-D15.
The air cooler will cost you less than the H100 and the difference can be applied to the case.

My canned rant on liquid cooling:
------------------------start of rant-------------------
You buy a liquid cooler to be able to extract an extra multiplier or two out of your OC.
How much do you really need?
I do not much like all in one liquid coolers when a good air cooler like a Noctua or phanteks can do the job just as well.
A liquid cooler will be expensive, noisy, less reliable, and will not cool any better
in a well ventilated case.
Liquid cooling is really air cooling, it just puts the heat exchange in a different place.
The orientation of the radiator will cause a problem.
If you orient it to take in cool air from the outside, you will cool the cpu better, but the hot air then circulates inside the case heating up the graphics card and motherboard.
If you orient it to exhaust(which I think is better) , then your cpu cooling will be less effective because it uses pre heated case air.
Past that, A AIO radiator complicates creating a positive pressure filtered cooling setup which can keep your parts clean.
And... I have read too many tales of woe when a liquid cooler leaks.
Google "h100 leak" to see what can happen.
While unlikely, leaks do happen.

I would support an AIO cooler primarily in a space restricted case.
If one puts looks over function, that is a personal thing; not for me though.
-----------------------end of rant--------------------------

Your pc will be quieter, more reliable, and will be cooled equally well with a decent air cooler

 

[tworley4125]

What components will you put inside?

My first requirement would be to buy a case with looks that you love.
Cases are a long term deal and you will be looking at it for a long time.
Bust your budget for a good one if you must.

I also like at least two front 120/140mm intakes that are filtered.

I am a M-ATX person, but looking at full tower cases, I like the cm H500p mesh:
https://www.newegg.com/cooler-master-mastercase-h500p-mesh-white-atx-mid-tower/p/N82E16811119341
It comes with two 200mm fans that are going to be very quiet and move a lot of air.
Yes, that is over your budget, but, I have another suggestion:
A good twin tower air cooler is going to cool about as well as a 240mm liquid cooler. I am thinking Noctua NH-D15.
The air cooler will cost you less than the H100 and the difference can be applied to the case.

My canned rant on liquid cooling:
------------------------start of rant-------------------
You buy a liquid cooler to be able to extract an extra multiplier or two out of your OC.
How much do you really need?
I do not much like all in one liquid coolers when a good air cooler like a Noctua or phanteks can do the job just as well.
A liquid cooler will be expensive, noisy, less reliable, and will not cool any better
in a well ventilated case.
Liquid cooling is really air cooling, it just puts the heat exchange in a different place.
The orientation of the radiator will cause a problem.
If you orient it to take in cool air from the outside, you will cool the cpu better, but the hot air then circulates inside the case heating up the graphics card and motherboard.
If you orient it to exhaust(which I think is better) , then your cpu cooling will be less effective because it uses pre heated case air.
Past that, A AIO radiator complicates creating a positive pressure filtered cooling setup which can keep your parts clean.
And... I have read too many tales of woe when a liquid cooler leaks.
Google "h100 leak" to see what can happen.
While unlikely, leaks do happen.

I would support an AIO cooler primarily in a space restricted case.
If one puts looks over function, that is a personal thing; not for me though.
-----------------------end of rant--------------------------

Your pc will be quieter, more reliable, and will be cooled equally well with a decent air cooler

Food for thought, I'll admit. The biggest thing that was leaning me towards an enclosed liquid cooler, like the H100, was the space of the cooler. For example, in my current tower, admittedly a mid sized Theraltake case, I'm running a CM Evo2 for the CPU. It works well, but it's huge. It barely fits in the case. I've never personally used the double stack coolers, like you're talking about, but I have to think that they take up a huge amount of real estate, not only in the case, but also on the board itself.
Is my thinking off on this?

 

[geofelt]

What is the cpu that you need to be cooled?
Will it be overclocked?
What is your tolerance for noise?
I ask because coolers with high rpm fans are efficient but noisy.
Intel processors that are not overclocked need minimal cooling as a rule.
ryzen processors seem to do fine, even with the stock coolers.
While they can all be overclocked, the reality is that they do not overclock well, regardless of the capability of the cooler.
That leaves the processors like the 9900K which generate lots of heat when they are utilized to the fullest.
Even a dual stack air cooler or a 240 aio may not be as good as you want.
Large air coolers do take up a lot of room above the motherboard, but they are designed to fit.
The usual problem, if any is interference with fancy ram heat spreaders.
Using low profile ram fixes that at no performance penalty and usually at a cost savings.

 

[tworley4125]

The CPU I'll be using is a Ryzen 7 2700 3.2Ghz 8 core. May do a little overclocking at some point down the line, may not. It's never been a major requirement for me in my builds.

In going back to my original question, the only other components going into the build at this time:
*Gigabyte Geforce GTX 1660 with 2 90mm fans on it.
*a couple of SSDs (just standard 2.5" form factors)
*most likely an ATX board (haven't picked one out yet)
*the PSU, RAM, and whatever cooling I decide on.

I understand that the stock fan with the Ryzen CPUs is supposed to be pretty good, but I personally have never put much faith in stock CPU coolers, which is why I'm looking at other options.
Would prefer to keep the case as quiet as possible.

Really I'm looking for performance over pretty RGB lights. I want a well built case for this. Like I said before, good airflow and cable management options are a must. It's sounding like the $100 budget may not be high enough, but that's ok, I guess.