Made a noob mistake, bought a case too small for components, could use some help finding the right one.

[likwidsolutions]

First sorry for the length, just want to be crystal clear. Also, I've never built a computer that wasn't just something standard so this is the first PC where I've wanted to be specific about individual parts and making sure everything is not only good quality, but will last, is expandable, all that good stuff.

One of the the problems that I ran into which caused all this I used PcPartPicker.com to make sure everything would work together and it didn't say there were any problems (I know now that I should've double checked that myself). I kind of went overkill on the MB but I'd rather have enough slots and (space lol) for future expansion, plus it just has a ton of great features. Besides the GPU, which is NVIDIA GTX 970, I can't really return/exchange the CPU or MB because that time has expired (it was from Microcenter which has a 15 day return policy on those, 30 days for everything else); but I got my GPU on Amazon, My budget is about ~120-140 max, the CPU Cooler I have can just be exchanged (for some reason the H80i was the same price at Micro Center so as long as I'm not paying more than that I can just exchange, well the H100i is 100 so I can do that as the H80i was 90 with a 10 dollar mail in rebate (hate those; I have 40 dollars worth of Mail Ins), and that was actually MORE expensive until I did a price match.

I do plan to overclock so I need a well ventilated case (which begs the question why didn't I make sure to have more than enough room rather than JUST enough because this case will work, but I'd be sacrificing a nice CPU Cooler, which I can also return. The Case and CPU Cooler are really the biggest concerns as to space, everything else fits). So here is what I have:

- Intel i5 4690k

- ASUS Maximus VII Formula MB

- EVGA GeForce GTX 970 SC+ ACX 2.0 (I paid 350 on Amazon, which I am thinking I may be able to shave 25-40 bucks off given the right card/shop, but unfortunately I bought it with Amazon Gift Cards for the most part so I kind of HAVE to go through them, but honestly I may be able to call them and get them to price match just by sayning I plan to return it and what not, they usually are pretty lax about that stuff; Also I don't know much about AMD Cards, I know they work with Intel CPUs which is why I am willing to go with a Radeon, I just don't really know what is comparable to a GTX 970....so suggestions on that appreciated, if it would make a difference in savings, but not performance which I want to keep at this level)

- Corsair Vengeance Pro 2400MHz 8GBx2 DDR3 plan to upgrade to 32GB eventually

- Corsair RM750 Power Supply (I want to have this bottom mounted so there is plenty of headroom for my ATX MB and a nice cooleer like the H100i)

- WD Black^2 120SSD/1TB HDD Dual Drive (I believe the HDD part is 5400RPM)

- 1 TB WD Black 7200RPM HDD (and i have a few 500GB/750GB 2.5" drives lying around)

- 2 x Corsair fans but this case really only has spots for 5 while my MB supports up to 8, and that includes a CPU cooler. So I would like to take full advantage of the 8 fans (or at least be able to add some in if I can't get all of this right now, also helps if case includes 2-3 fans if they are decent)

If I am forgetting something it's probably not going to pertinent to this problem so I will just stop there. I didn't mention the CPU Cooler because if I change cases, I will probably change that). Oh yeah no optical drive I have an external DVD Burner I can use when necessary (I might get the ROG LCD Front Panel eventually though which is 2 DIMM).

Here is the problem:

Obviously the case just isn't enough to hold the H80i with my other components (which is what I have (even if I put 1 fan out the outside since it has 2 it just still gets in the way). I have 3 spots for the Cooler, and 1 is just unbelievably difficult to fit the MB in after installing the CPU Cooler (or the other way around) that's the back fan vent; the top fan slots would either cover the power connectors for my MB or hit my RAM since it's Higher Profile (it might even ht regular sized RAM)

So the only option is to get a smaller CPU Cooler, which I'd rather not compromise on, and/or a new Case (which I definitely shouldn't have tried to compromise on). While getting a new case, uninstalling the components I have in there already is a hassle, it just needs to be done though. I would LIKE to get the H100i (also what is the difference between the H100i/GT/GTX?; I think those are the letters on the end, if it's substantially better, I would probably go with one of those).

So can I could use some help choosing a different Case and CPU Cooler, any help would be greatly appreciated. I would prefer a case that has enough open room and fan slots (up to 8) for ventilation, future expansion, a windowed panel (or at least one that I can partially see through) but that's not necessary just very preferable. This is preference too but less important so don'y worry about this unless it's an easy option to find, but I really like blue lol, so if you find one that has Blue LED Fans (ones that are worth keeping, otherwise I will just pick up my own case fans), that'd be nice; like I said though NOT like a dealbreaker or anything, just a preference. At the time I bought the case I was just hitting my limit, and although I am still somewhat budget constrained, I CAN spend a little more on a case now than before, so that's why I went with the minimum, which ended up not being enough, never will make that mistake again!)

Sorry for such a long post for such a simple subject, but I feel like PC Part Picker screwed me over lol, but I should've prepared for it to begin with so yeah...just need to fix that mistake, and I'm golden.

 

[logainofhades]

What case did you buy?

 

[0x1eef]

I'm biased towards Fractal Design because they're the best cases I can buy at my place.
Find Linus' / HardwareCanucks' reviews of FD Define R5/R4/XL R2 on Youtube. Those are damn good cases. They mention the dimensions of front/top radiators in those reviews, too.
From what I've heard, HXXXi aren't the best water AIO coolers. Swiftech is a nice manufacturer.
I'm not fond of water coolers because they are less quiet. If you decide to go air, the best 3 on the market are Cryorig R1 Ultimate (the new cat in town everybody likes), Noctua NH-D15 (i find them Noctuas sexy, though most people don't) and be quiet! Dark Rock PRO 3 (PITA to install)

 

[likwidsolutions]

Hey thanks for the answers. I was kind of in a rush (this computer, laying around waiting to be put together cuz I needed a little more money as I was replacing the case, cpu cooler, and getting more fans as I would have a bigger case). So I ended up getting one in time anyways that worked out as I did my research. I made the mistake (which obviously in retrospect i will never make again) I basically overlooked the Case's importance just because in the past the PCs I've built were just to do standard things, as I was never much of a PC gamer, so never had to buy a GPU or a CPU Cooler other than a small one, but this was the first Gaming PC, so when I realized my mistake, I wasn't going to sacrifice the performance after all the money I spent, and I did wan't something that would last.

I went with the Corsair Vengeance C70 Military Grade (or is it still called that with the black one, because I got a black one, that puke green just didn't do it for me. and a H100iGTX Watercooler, and I got it all installed. Basically I carefully went through PC Part Picker while at Microcenter, since it said my build was okay the first time when I bought the Corsair R100 Case with a H80i CPU Cooler. I wanted to check the dimensions myself. Unfortunately I couldn't find the Head Space over the Motherboard, but I could tell that it would fit my CPU Cooler just by looking at it, as it has some decent Headroom (I still got rather close to my motherboard when I got the fans on, cuz I went with push instead of pull, as I wanted easy access to clean the radiator. I think I am going to mod the window side though because it has spots for two extra fans but my MB only uses 10 and the guy at MicroCenter that was also helping said he owned the case and the fans would wheeze and sound weird anyways but it's kind of pointless to have them there to begin with, so I'm going to replace it with my own custom clear acrylic or plexiglass window cut to size, or p

It was definitely a great choice though (I had to take out out the radiator to put the fans on first, but other than that, installation went smoothly). I didn't finish with all the connectors cuz I was pretty worn out at the time (like I said the stress of over 1500 in parts and this crappy little laptop to use, just has been eating at me especially since I sold my perfectly good iMac to do it (but did that because it's not exactly built for gaming obviously.)

I definitely have checked Linus' videos on the stuff I have, not so much the case. I was overlooking the cases' importance (in retrospect I obviously know to never make that mistake again), but in the past when I've built a computer, it was just something simple, just to do normal things I am not really a PC gamer but lately with the ease of being able to use a Controller with most games, even the indie games it's just easier for me as I hate KB/M.

Speaking of the Keyboard and Mouse (which I already owned a SteelSeries APEX and a Logitech G502 which is just amazing (the latter, but the APEX is good, but I still can't justify the use of the KB for gaming, at least not with what I play. I just wish it had custom RGB and especially optional wireless), I know and understand the PC gamers' perspectives on why KB/Mouse is better but I'd disagree on the KB part, just not the Mouse which is truly superior, so I wanted the best of both world's and was trying to figure a way to use a Joystick/Mouse on my consoles as there are already KB/Mouse devices which are cheap, like the CronusMax which I also own, but the one I am talking about is the XIM4, which is a


Sorry talking about stuff not petinent to the topic, kind got ahead of myself. I am curious if any of you know if NVIDIA's deal for buying a 900 series card (I have a 970), which comes with the Witcher 3, although I haven't read the details, will need to be redeemed before it's release instead of after? Just in case I can't get it done in time for one reason or another?)