Good computer case to buy?

Was thinking about getting new RGB fans. I can cheap out again and go for Deepcool or I can spend a bit extra and get the Corsair LL fans. Was thinking of adding 3 LL to the rad and 1 120 LL to the back of the case. I think 4 fans can work without the need to go for Commander Pro nonsense. Wdyt? Will cost me about 550 dirhams vs Deepcool at 300 dirhams. I am not too fussed about the extra 250 (about 65 boners).

nvm: ordered the LL120s.
 
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After reading this thread and seeing everyone's input, I found that my own preferences are completely different from most (or all) of yous.

I've decided on the Fractal Design Define 7.
https://www.fractal-design.com/products/cases/define/define-7-dark-tempered-glass/black/

Review: https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/fractal-design-define-7

Many thanks to PC Part Picker for helping me filter things down.

+1 5.25" bay.
+3 included 140MM Fans
+No RGB.
+Mesh top is optional.
+Excellent dust filtration.
-A bit expensive.

I don't think there are any pitfalls - it looks like a very well designed case. Now I'm just waiting until I feel froggy before making the jump and ordering.
 
The biggest pitfall of such cases in my region is that it becomes a complete heat box in the summers.
 
Your region doesn't seem to have issue with keeping things cool.

ski-dubai-indoor-ski-resort-34963.jpg
 
Crawdaddy79 said:
After reading this thread and seeing everyone's input, I found that my own preferences are completely different from most (or all) of yous.

I've decided on the Fractal Design Define 7.
https://www.fractal-design.com/products/cases/define/define-7-dark-tempered-glass/black/

Review: https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/fractal-design-define-7

Many thanks to PC Part Picker for helping me filter things down.

+1 5.25" bay.
+3 included 140MM Fans
+No RGB.
+Mesh top is optional.
+Excellent dust filtration.
-A bit expensive.

I don't think there are any pitfalls - it looks like a very well designed case. Now I'm just waiting until I feel froggy before making the jump and ordering.
Click to expand...

I like the new Fractal Design Define 7's a lot. My company builds workstations with them. Only thing I'm not too into is cases with front doors. When closed temps can go up pretty significantly, and with it open it just looks dumb. Its really the only thing that's stopping me from wanting it.
 
I've been thinking about transferring to a new case for a while. I'm just too lazy to do it though. Maybe if i thought it would make some magical difference in thermals but i seriously doubt it would.

Just not worth the effort. I'm still fine with what I've got. Basically the opposite thinking as you KAC. :p
 
Fractal Design Define 7 arrived this morning. Played around with it, getting it set up. Cat must have thought I was hunting a mouse because he was right in there with me the whole time.

I'm not a fan of how many larger parts just "pop" off/on (the front panel filter, the front panel/door assembly, the top panel, some internal plastic panels). Would rather captive thumbscrews on everything. Of course, if they made everything 100% durable then I'd never be in the market for a new case.

This is my first experience with a PWM fan hub. Should be interesting. They say I can plug it into the CPU fan, but since I'm using a stock cooler and I'm always folding I think that would cause my case fans to run at 100% constant. Going to have to go into the BIOS and make sure my Sys Fan X (which ever one is more convenient when I get it put together) is in PWM mode.
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Now I just have to get froggy again and shut down, transfer, and power up.
 
KAC said:
That case is like a box with no mesh.
Click to expand...

The front grille has decent enough gap to allow enough air through. Mesh fronts will be better for airflow, sure, but not everyone wants a mesh-front case.
 
Yep - the front door is separated out about an inch from the grille, which is wide open except for a screen filter.

Also it comes with a mesh top. I'm going to use the solid flat piece instead though, to minimize dust especially when powered down.

Regardless it's an upgrade from what I have, which is no place to mount SSDs, USB 2.0 in the front, 120mm fans, and little room for cable runs.
 
Just wanted to mention some changes I made last night. I had been considering swapping to a new case since my Corsair Obsidian 650D is pretty old now, and had some issues.

Firstly, it was a noisy case at times - I was occasionally hearing a constant rattling sound which for a long time i thought was just the case fans vibrating the side panels of the chassis. I previously tried remounting the fans to make sure they're secure, and put some rubber on them. Didn't help. But last night turned out there was a loose daisy chained SATA power cable that was vibrating and causing the noise. So just turned out to be messy cable management and now the chassis is quiet again.

Also, I finally bit the bullet and bought another 1TB SSD to replace my old spinning file storage hard drives. The big benefit to that was i could finally remove the hard drive cage that was blocking the front 200mm intake fan and just velcro the SSDs to the bottom of the case. And wouldn't you know, my GPU load temps dropped 5c. :) I was seeing 71c in Cyberpunk, now it's 66c. I also just ordered a Noctua 200mm to replace the Corsair stock fan which not sure will further improve temps but should make things even quieter. Not bad and saved me from the pain in the ass job of swapping the whole system to a new case.
 
Moved everything over to the Define 7 today. Was a bitch getting the CPU power cables stretched out. Had to flip the PSU to give it an extra inch+, and even then there isn't enough slack to secure them en route.

So far, no difference in thermals and it's actually a bit louder than the P182. Fan hub seems to prevent me from seeing the system fan RPMs; shows at 0 constant, but suspect they're running at double the speed of the old case.

I had to install RGB software because the default rainbow **** MSI had on my motherboard is too distracting.

I do really like seeing what's going on in there without having to take the side off though.
 
I take back what I said about thermals. Internally, temps are the same but clocks average a bit higher (GPU prev 2045, now 2065). This is because reasons most of us know.

Externally, it's a massive difference. Scratching my head on where the heat is going or why, but my desk thermometer read 77F before now reads 73F. (EDIT: Should mention that it's been folding CPU/GPU overnight)

The sound... Another correction. I've learned 90%+ of the sound is coming from the CPU fan. Somehow with that, it's louder than my previous case despite much more effort in soundproofing. Right now I can hear it over my air register when my HVAC is pumping. This wasn't possible before.
 
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You want sound proofing, get a Phanteks case. Those gays really did well sound proofing the P500A.
 
So am thinking about getting a Lian Li XL as it is available now. Also the fans are available. It will be quite a costly endeavor. About 240 for the case and another 300 for the fans. What kind of temperature delta can I hope to achieve with such a case?

My current GPU and component temps are fine but the CPU routinely hits 80 C in games like Immortal Fenyx Rising (which I finished and uninstalled), Death Stranding and COD BOCW. Other games hover around the 74-75 C mark such as WDL, Cyberpunk 2077, Forza.

Really torn between completely doing the rebuild vs. keeping what I have. Best case scenario I will be able to salvage about 145 for the case and another 200 for the fans I have so net cost is about additional 200 bones give or take.

Wdyt? Worth the trouble?

Other option is to spend that extra 200 in a custom loop setup but for that net cost would be much higher. About 300-400 additional (not cooling the GPU).
 
What do you need the XL for? It's far too big and unnecessary IMHO. I have the OG version and everything fits just fine with room to spare. Personally think it makes for a better looking build too.

Your CPU is hot because rad is top mounted and sucking all the hot air from the GPU through it, and you should probably lower voltage a bit at those temps. I would have left it at the front, it's the lesser of two evils.

If I was you I wouldn't waste more money on a case, just get that one running well. For starters, set CPU back to default and enable PBO. Secondly, front mount the rad.
 
This is stupid and you know it's stupid.

Will it drop temps? Sure, I think it would. Ask yourself; is that really worth the cost investment for something that is running fine?

Leave the rad top mounted and just stop touching it. The CPU hitting 80c doesn't matter. Having the GPU run as cool as possible to keep clocks up is the better of the two.
 
80c is too hot. With older GPU's I would say top mount, but Ampere GPU's throw out so much heat it's not funny - in this case I would front mount the rad.
 
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