Question What's the difference between a case with a mesh front, a glass front, and a completely enclosed front?

[barkersofgeraldine]

Hi Tomshardware community,

I need advice choosing which TYPE of case provide for the best airflow from the front of the case (i want the fans at the front of the case to pull air inside)

pls tell me if my assumptions below are correct and provide any additional info that i may have missed. any advice is appreciated!

I currently use a 'mesh' type (like below) case with small round grilles that lets air to be sucked in inside. it seems to be the best option out of the three because of the holed grilles that allows air to freely be sucked in:

I also have a glass front type case, which doesnt seem to provide any benefits apart from to display rgb fans. i have noticed, however, that the 'glass' is cold to touch, which may help pull in colder air ( i feel glass is a good cold conducter). there are also grilles on the side, which, i think, is where the air is coming from (?)

There is also an enclosed type of case. ive never owned one. i feel they provide the worst airflow. i dont know how air comes in at the front for these:

 

[DRagor]

i have noticed, however, that the 'glass' is cold to touch

Movement of air forced by fans behind glass makes it cold.

there are also grilles on the side, which, i think, is where the air is coming from (?)

True. Which means fans have to work much harder to get the same airflow because the intake area is smaller then in mesh panel.

There is also an enclosed type of case. ive never owned one. i feel they provide the worst airflow. i dont know how air comes in at the front for these

Simple - it doesn't

 

[Lutfij]

Meshed front panel has access to cooler ambient air easier than the a case with a closed off front. In the latter the air needs to be dragged in to the chassis with vents on the side. Most scenario's the fans are actually pushed up against the front solid panel, meaning less air intake. I take it that you own this case;

Cooler Master MasterBox MB511 ARGB Mid Tower Case

With the MasterBox MB511 ARGB ATX PC case, systems built for high demand gaming can breathe easy through the Fine Mesh front panel. Along with the aggressive intakes in front, there is also ventilation on the top panel for added thermal support.

www.coolermaster.com

at this moment of time? If so, you're fine with what you've got. Steer clear of the cases that have the fans mounted very close to the front panel and are tempered glass at the front.

 

[lvt]

There is also an enclosed type of case. ive never owned one. i feel they provide the worst airflow. i dont know how air comes in at the front for these:

There is a gap for air intake at the bottom of the case.

 

[geofelt]

What are the parts you are planning to put inside?
A hot overclocked processor and a strong graphics card will need more than minimum cooling.

A mesh front with large intake fans will provide the best airflow.
A couple 140mm intakes or even 200mm is good.
If you need it.

I like having a strong front intake that has a washable front filter.
That will keep the case cleaner.
Airflow will not be quite as good as a mesh front because a filter can be a bit restrictive.

Glass is for show.
Looks count so buy a case that looks good to you.
You will be looking at it for a long time.

Another factor is the type of cpu cooler you plan to use.
AIO coolers come with a catch 22 decision as to where to mount the radiator.
Best cpu cooling has the radiator in front, but at the expense of gpu and motherboard cooling.
Top mount gives the radiator warmed case air to work with , hence not as good cpu cooling, but motherboard and gpu do better.

Cases with solid fronts are for those which value quiet.

 

[Sonic6731]

A mesh front will let air in easily, great for cooling. It also won't be as quiet as a solid front but if the front is solid then fans will have to work harder to drag in air from the sides or wherever else a vent was placed and fans working harder will be nosier.

 

[Dean0919]

Sorry if I'm necroing a bit old thread, but I wanted to put my info about this thread so if someone googles and this thread shows up, they can see my input about this subject:

I don't recommend cases with solid plastic/glass front panel. Yes, they look pretty, but parts inside don't have good temps. Here's clear example why those cases are bad:
Me and my friend have absolutely same GPUs - Asus TUF RTX 3080 10GB and same CPU cooler - Arctic 34 esports, however I got old case CoolerMaster HAF 912Plus and he has this new Zalman Z7 Neo. His video card on idle has 55 degrees & 69 on load, while mine has 37 on idle and 63 on load. We did small test - we removed the side panel of his case and his temperature for GPU went back to normal 37 just like mine and his CPU temperature also went down from 81 to 74. We put his side panel back and temps went up high again. So, it's very obvious that such cases with solid glass or plastic front panel have bad airflow inside, because very small air gets inside from the sides, while my case for example has mesh front where air gets inside the case easily. Plus his computer has solid side panel, while mine has holes just in case I decide to add one more fan on the side too. However his case is all this fancy shmancy RGB lights and etc... But as this example shows, those cases fail when it comes to cooling & my HAF 912 plus might be old, but still much better with great airflow.

 

[barkersofgeraldine]

Sorry if I'm necroing a bit old thread, but I wanted to put my info about this thread so if someone googles and this thread shows up, they can see my input about this subject:

I don't recommend cases with solid plastic/glass front panel. Yes, they look pretty, but parts inside don't have good temps. Here's clear example why those cases are bad:
Me and my friend have absolutely same GPUs - Asus TUF RTX 3080 10GB and same CPU cooler - Arctic 34 esports, however I got old case CoolerMaster HAF 912Plus and he has this new Zalman Z7 Neo. His video card on idle has 55 degrees & 69 on load, while mine has 37 on idle and 63 on load. We did small test - we removed the side panel of his case and his temperature for GPU went back to normal 37 just like mine and his CPU temperature also went down from 81 to 74. We put his side panel back and temps went up high again. So, it's very obvious that such cases with solid glass or plastic front panel have bad airflow inside, because very small air gets inside from the sides, while my case for example has mesh front where air gets inside the case easily. Plus his computer has solid side panel, while mine has holes just in case I decide to add one more fan on the side too. However his case is all this fancy shmancy RGB lights and etc... But as this example shows, those cases fail when it comes to cooling & my HAF 912 plus might be old, but still much better with great airflow.

hiya thanks for giving me a perspective!! i like mesh type cases but i do notices that dust is hard to remove from the mesh. ive opted for the glass front type, but at the cost of temps for sure