Question Looking for high quality case (maybe big / full tower?)

[mk53v3n]

Hi guys, after some very bad experiences with my last case (Fractal Design Define 7 which had very bad temperatures under heavy load and also inferior build-quality in my opinion) I am now looking for a better case.

I have alread read countless of case reviews on various websites, but after my last experience I do not fully trust those anymore.
So, I would rather really appreciate some advice from your own personal experience.

I have an Intel i7-12700k, ROG STRIX Z690-E motherboard, and a Noctua NH-D15 air cooler for the CPU (so no AIO).
I am still using my slightly outdated GeForce RTX 2060, but plan to upgrade it at some point in the future (maybe to an RTX 3080 should prices drop).

I have three Noctua 140mm PWM case fans that I could install into the new case, but this is purely optional, so if the case comes with pretty good pre-installed fans I am happy to use those.

I am also thinking about buying a big / full tower, because I read that those have many advantages over the smaller towers (like better temperatures and more room to work).
Since I have plenty of space under my desk size should probably not be an issue.

I don't care about optics to be honest, so as long as the tower has an excellent build quality and keeps my components cool, I don't care how it looks

The price is also not that important because I saved some money and plan to use the computer for a long time, so it's a good investment for me to have a great case that I can hopefully use for many years.

Any advice from your own experience would really be appreciated.

 

[Lutfij]

I saved some money
I'm assuming that amount is still finite, which constitutes as a budget. Can you please state your budget, location and your preferred site of purchase? You could look into Be Quiet! Coolermaster or Lian Li or perhaps contact Fractal or your seller for a return and a replacement of the chassis?

Can you also state the exact model for your Noctua fans? They have a lot of fans listed on their site.

 

[mk53v3n]

I saved some money
I'm assuming that amount is still finite, which constitutes as a budget. Can you please state your budget, location and your preferred site of purchase? You could look into Be Quiet! Coolermaster or Lian Li or perhaps contact Fractal or your seller for a return and a replacement of the chassis?

Can you also state the exact model for your Noctua fans? They have a lot of fans listed on their site.

Thanks for the suggestions! I will definitely look into the brands you mentioned! Would be much easier if each brand would not sell so many different cases - very hard to choose the right one 🤔

I don't have a preferred site of purchase to be honest. I mostly buy my stuff on Amazon ^^ But any recommendations would be very appreciated. (I'm living in Germany by the way)

In terms of budget, I'm really quite flexible here. I think something between 150 - 300 € should be reasonable, but I would also be willing to pay more if it is worth it.

The fans are Noctua NF-A14 PWM chromax fans, but I could use them for my wife's computer as well, so I don't necessarily have to install them. (Although the are probably better than many pre-installed fans)

PS: I already sent back the old case to the seller today. But unfortunately it can take a while until I receive a replacement, and I cannot wait that long because I need my computer for my daily business. So I decided to buy a new case in the meantime and sell the replacement on ebay when it comes back.

 

[dwd999]

Hi guys, after some very bad experiences with my last case (Fractal Design Define 7 which had very bad temperatures under heavy load and also inferior build-quality in my opinion) I am now looking for a better case.

I have alread read countless of case reviews on various websites, but after my last experience I do not fully trust those anymore.
So, I would rather really appreciate some advice from your own personal experience.

I have an Intel i7-12700k, ROG STRIX Z690-E motherboard, and a Noctua NH-D15 air cooler for the CPU (so no AIO).
I am still using my slightly outdated GeForce RTX 2060, but plan to upgrade it at some point in the future (maybe to an RTX 3080 should prices drop).

I have three Noctua 140mm PWM case fans that I could install into the new case, but this is purely optional, so if the case comes with pretty good pre-installed fans I am happy to use those.

I am also thinking about buying a big / full tower, because I read that those have many advantages over the smaller towers (like better temperatures and more room to work).
Since I have plenty of space under my desk size should probably not be an issue.

I don't care about optics to be honest, so as long as the tower has an excellent build quality and keeps my components cool, I don't care how it looks

The price is also not that important because I saved some money and plan to use the computer for a long time, so it's a good investment for me to have a great case that I can hopefully use for many years.

Any advice from your own experience would really be appreciated.

I have a Fractal Design Define 7. The case holds 9 140mm fans (or 7 if you have an optical drive) and you seem to indicate that you only have 3. Perhaps you should consider more fans.

 

[Deleted member 362816]

For air cooling the Fractal Torrent is the best case I have ever had my hands on.

As for Water-cooling the Define 7 was also really good.

 

[mk53v3n]

Thanks a lot for the recommendations.

It seems that you are quite happy with your Fractal cases.

I could certainly try to improve the temperatures by using more fans.
@dwd999: May I ask how/where you placed all these fans? Did you put 3 in the front, 3 in the top (with the open top panel), 2 in the bottom and 1 in the back?

Howerver, my biggest issue was honestly that the case made a very annoying whistling / buzzing noise when the case fans ran in a certain RPM range. I discussed this with Fractal support and they confirmed that it is most likely caused by some vibrations within the case. They advised to return it to the seller.

Therefore I thought about buying a higher quality case from a different manufacturer, because I don't want to have the same issue again with the replacement. ..

And additionally I thought about switching to a big/full tower, because I read that those have many advantages. But not sure if that's really the case, because I never had one myself.

 

[dwd999]

Thanks a lot for the recommendations.

It seems that you are quite happy with your Fractal cases.

I could certainly try to improve the temperatures by using more fans.
@dwd999: May I ask how/where you placed all these fans? Did you put 3 in the front, 3 in the top (with the open top panel), 2 in the bottom and 1 in the back?

Howerver, my biggest issue was honestly that the case made a very annoying whistling / buzzing noise when the case fans ran in a certain RPM range. I discussed this with Fractal support and they confirmed that it is most likely caused by some vibrations within the case. They advised to return it to the seller.

Therefore I thought about buying a higher quality case from a different manufacturer, because I don't want to have the same issue again with the replacement. ..

And additionally I thought about switching to a big/full tower, because I read that those have many advantages. But not sure if that's really the case, because I never had one myself.

I do have an optical drive so I have 7 of the Noctua 140mm fans in all of the available slots. The 2 on the bottom and 2 on the front pull cool air into the case and the back and 2 top fans exhaust it out. I just turned them all up to full speed and I don't have any whistling or buzzing, just the sound of the fans running at full speed. Normally my fans runs at around 500 to 550 rpms which is adequate for my environment. But if you're not happy then a mesh style case would be better especially if you maximize the number of fans. After all, they're the least expensive parts of the computer.

 

[mk53v3n]

I do have an optical drive so I have 7 of the Noctua 140mm fans in all of the available slots. The 2 on the bottom and 2 on the front pull cool air into the case and the back and 2 top fans exhaust it out. I just turned them all up to full speed and I don't have any whistling or buzzing, just the sound of the fans running at full speed. Normally my fans runs at around 500 to 550 rpms which is adequate for my environment. But if you're not happy then a mesh style case would be better especially if you maximize the number of fans. After all, they're the least expensive parts of the computer.

Thank you very much for testing this and for your feedback! I really appreciate that!

Interestingly, I also didn't have this issue when the fans were running on full speed. It only occurred in a specific RPM range.
I even captured it on video and also had a different thread here on the forum opened for that (Question - Pulsing whistle / buzzing noise - faulty case? | Tom's Hardware Forum (tomshardware.com) )

When the fans (2 front, 1 back) were running at around 850 RPM, the case made this very annoying pulsing sound. It immediately disappeared then I decreased the RPM to around 350 - 450 RPM or when I increased it above 1000 RPM.
It was very strange and I wasn't really able to identify the precise source/location that caused this.
So in the end, I returned the case to the seller after speaking to Fractal support and receiving their confirmation that this is definitely not normal.

 

[dwd999]

Thank you very much for testing this and for your feedback! I really appreciate that!

Interestingly, I also didn't have this issue when the fans were running on full speed. It only occurred in a specific RPM range.
I even captured it on video and also had a different thread here on the forum opened for that (Question - Pulsing whistle / buzzing noise - faulty case? | Tom's Hardware Forum (tomshardware.com) )

When the fans (2 front, 1 back) were running at around 850 RPM, the case made this very annoying pulsing sound. It immediately disappeared then I decreased the RPM to around 350 - 450 RPM or when I increased it above 1000 RPM.
It was very strange and I wasn't really able to identify the precise source/location that caused this.
So in the end, I returned the case to the seller after speaking to Fractal support and receiving their confirmation that this is definitely not normal.

One other consideration I forgot to ask about: were you using the rubber connectors provided by Noctua to mount the fans? If you were using metal screws that might affect vibration. Something to keep in mind when mounting fans in your next case.

 

[mk53v3n]

One other consideration I forgot to ask about: were you using the rubber connectors provided by Noctua to mount the fans? If you were using metal screws that might affect vibration. Something to keep in mind when mounting fans in your next case.

Thanks for mentioning that, but yes, I used the rubber connectors. Unfortunately, they didn't make any difference.

I really think that something in the case was slightly loose - probably a design flaw - which caused it to vibrate and to produce this annoying noise. Fractal's support had the same assumption.

However, I'm still unsure if I want to try the case again when I receive my replacement, or if I should really look for a new one now.
I find it actually quite difficult to pick the right case because the selection is simply too big, which is why I was not able to pick a new one yet.