Question PC case recommendation for Arctic LF II 420 ?

[eljoantonyn]

Do I need to send it back?

Edit

I bought it from Amazon. So it's easy to send it back.

 

[eljoantonyn]

Ok, I would be sending it back.

Now, I'm thinking I should get the best case for the money and stop worrying about moving it around. So, please suggest the best case around £150 for the best graphics card temps. As for CPU, I have the Arctic Liquid Freezer 420.

 

[eljoantonyn]

this is the problem with 420mm rad cases ( or so claimed ) first the arctic freezer ii is a rare beast running a thinker than normal rad so you going to have issues ..

I bought the fractal define 7 mid tower one same issue claimed it would fit a 420mm rad but the 3nd fan fouled with ram luckly i was able to return it and ened up with the thermal take ceres 500 case arctic freezer ii 420 fitted ( was a tight fit but fitted none the less )
the ceres 500 is kinda like that larger side mid tower !!

So, Ceres 500 still not roomy enough for an easy install?

 

[thestryker]

You could just pull the fan until you do the new build as I can't imagine anything on AM4 actually needing maximum cooling capability out of a 420.

The Ceres 500 requires mounting it in the front if that matters, but there's nothing in the way there.

 

[Phaaze88]

So, please suggest the best case around £150 for the best graphics card temps.

There's too much guesswork/speculation involved in that...:
-The fans used.
-Custom fan curves.
-Catch 22 of AIOs: Generally speaking, in a typical case, a front installed AIO would reduce the air intake to the gpu vs a roof installed one, which reduces the air exhausted by it. A front installed cpu AIO doesn't introduce as much heat energy into a case, unlike a gpu cooler, of which one would think should be removed as fast as possible... but it doesn't apply to every case.


So I guess that's still a no on the Meshify 2?

If I ignore whether or not a case has a glass side panel to expand the options:
Thermaltake's CTE 750 and 700 are heavy.
Phanteks' G500A and Be quiet! Shadow Base 800 look to be contenders.
A little older - Phanteks' Enthoo Pro and P600S.

So, Ceres 500 still not roomy enough for an easy install?

The following build found on PCpartpicker suggests no: https://pcpartpicker.com/b/Jdgtt6
See the first image.
That's a 27mm thick rad. LF II is another 11mm on top of that. I don't see it fitting.

 

[thestryker]

So I guess that's still a no on the Meshify 2?

Don't think the Meshify 2 is going to work any better than the LCIII without moving up to the XL.

The following build found on PCpartpicker suggests no: https://pcpartpicker.com/b/Jdgtt6
See the first image.
That's a 27mm thick rad. LF II is another 11mm on top of that. I don't see it fitting.

Ceres 500 only fits 420 in front.

 

[Phaaze88]

Don't think the Meshify 2 is going to work any better than the LCIII without moving up to the XL.

Ah, the unmentioned too tall ram.

Ceres 500 only fits 420 in front.

Nothing wrong with a AIO in the front. This underdog option gets a lot of hate for really minor reasons.
There's just not enough room for a rad as thick as the LF II's in the Ceres 500.

 

[thestryker]

Nothing wrong with a AIO in the front. This underdog option gets a lot of hate for really minor reasons.
There's just not enough room for a rad as thick as the LF II's in the Ceres 500.

While I'd never put an AIO in the front that's not what I meant. There's enough room to fit it in there unless you were trying to go push/pull.

 

[eljoantonyn]

There's too much guesswork/speculation involved in that...:
-The fans used.
-Custom fan curves.
-Catch 22 of AIOs: Generally speaking, in a typical case, a front installed AIO would reduce the air intake to the gpu vs a roof installed one, which reduces the air exhausted by it. A front installed cpu AIO doesn't introduce as much heat energy into a case, unlike a gpu cooler, of which one would think should be removed as fast as possible... but it doesn't apply to every case.


So I guess that's still a no on the Meshify 2?

If I ignore whether or not a case has a glass side panel to expand the options:
Thermaltake's CTE 750 and 700 are heavy.
Phanteks' G500A and Be quiet! Shadow Base 800 look to be contenders.
A little older - Phanteks' Enthoo Pro and P600S.



The following build found on PCpartpicker suggests no: https://pcpartpicker.com/b/Jdgtt6
See the first image.
That's a 27mm thick rad. LF II is another 11mm on top of that. I don't see it fitting.

Meshify 2 XL is too pricey on Amazon UK. I'm trying see if I can get it under a deal.

BTW, my favorite case is the CTE line from TT. But I'm concerned about the graphics card orientation. Some people say it would affect its vapour chamber operation.

 

[ilukey77]

So, Ceres 500 still not roomy enough for an easy install?

its not but it still fits better than not fitting at all

 

[eljoantonyn]

So I asked the graphics card orientation question in the PCMR discord and some people had issues when their graphics card were 'rotated'.

 

[eljoantonyn]

So, I was thinking about returning the Lan Cool but since it's the fan that it's hitting tht RAM, can I solve it by replacing the middle fan with a slim fan?

The interference is like 4mm. So I'm guessing it would be enough.

 

[thestryker]

As I said before some video cards have a problem with vertical orientation and some don't. You'd have to basically find someone with the exact model you're using who's tried it or hope the manufacturer could provide you the info.

Most slim fans seem to be 15mm, and standard are 25mm so yes that'd do it as well.

 

[eljoantonyn]

As I said before some video cards have a problem with vertical orientation and some don't. You'd have to basically find someone with the exact model you're using who's tried it or hope the manufacturer could provide you the info.

Most slim fans seem to be 15mm, and standard are 25mm so yes that'd do it as well.

I'll stick with the Lan Cool 3 and slim fan for now.

Any recommendations apart from Arctic P14 slim?

 

[thestryker]

Scythe is the only other one I could think of but they don't do 140mm versions of their slim fans.

 

[eljoantonyn]

So, I managed to fit everything! It was really difficult and frustrating!

I had to invert the front case fan frame as it was hitting the tank of the radiator. Then I tried to fit the fan on the outside but the mesh cover was hitting the bottom fan. I solved it by fitting the fans to the inside of the fan frame which I found sub-optimal. But that is the only way!

BTW, the middle fan on the 420 rad is an Arctic P14 Slim until I upgrade to a new mobo and RAM.
.
Wish the Lan Cool 3 was like 10mm longer and 5mm taller. It would have made everything so easy!
Anyway, it's done!
Thank you guys for the support.