What do you think of the Cooltek W2 case

Phil2008 · 11 Jul 2016 at 03:47

Hi guys, I have the black Fractal R3 case, but I'm thinking of changing it as I need a much smaller case, and in silver to match my monitor.

I've been looking for the past week, and for small size the best I came up with is the Lian-Li PC-A05FNA. But I'm not sure if my XFX R9 290 Black Edition would fit? If so, would I have heat problems?

I then considered the Corsair Air 540, but to my amazement it's as tall as a mid tower case.

So now, I've just come across the Cooltek W2 in Aluminium silver. It's much smaller then my Fractal R3 and might do the job nicely, as it's extremely minimalistic, small and comes with a side window panel version.

What do you think of the Cooltek and have any of you have got one? Is it possible to have a row of 3 harddrives sitting beneath the motherboard?

Legend · 11 Jul 2016 at 11:32

I have the W2, it's great. Super easy to work in and very versatile. I can't answer your question about the HD's as I have x2 120mm fans in the bottom of mine, but I think x3 HDD's might be too tight. Plus they wouldn't be the most attractive thing to look it in my opinion. SSD's may fit however, and look better, although you can pretty much mount an SSD anywhere in a case. There's lots of space around the back due to the dual chamber design. I can thoroughly recommend it. I think you can get a tempered glass side panel version now which looks even better.

Phil2008 · 11 Jul 2016 at 12:54

Thanks for answering my questions, I have 2hdds, 1 ssd and looking at the corsair 540 air builds the drives doesn't look too bad underneath the motherboard and I was thinking all 3 might fit nicely with gaps inbetween, so they look like there ment to be there. I will have to have a play, as you say its a roomy case so Im guessing the drives can go in a few places.

Its the smallest case I have come across so far for a atx motherboard and its very subtle too. The glass side panel version looks very nice because all of the side panel is glass, there no cut out, but I cant find that version to buy anywhere?

Phil2008 · 14 Jul 2016 at 23:41

I have 2 more questions about the case....

What is the full rpm of the stock fans and are they quiet? Also the floor of the motherboard side, whats the measurements, as I still wouldn't mind having my drives there, with white velcro straps to hold them in place?

Legend · 15 Jul 2016 at 02:14

I didn't even use the stock fans in mine, I put in Parvum F1.0 fans bottom and rear (bottom as intake, rear as exhaust), with a 240mm AIO up front on intake.

As for the 3.5" HDD mounting on the motherboard side, I know you can mount one drive on the bottom right, as there are rubber anti-vibration mounting points for it. You can see this in the pics below. As you can see though, there is no way to mount another drive unless you did some kind of significant mod. It's not impossible but would require some thought, and drilling! HDD's aren't like SSD's which you can pretty velcro anywhere lol! You'd also need to think about where you would run your cables to the drives, as the only proper and correct cut out is the one you can see on the far right on the bottom pic. You'd need to get your dremel out to create another one further along. As I say, not impossible, but it's a lot of effort if you ask me.

FYI, you can fit x2 HDD's in the back providing you don't use a 5.25" device (which would be odd if you did in this case), and that would be (and is) my preference. SSD's mount in the rear as well, in a separate cage.

By the way, that glass side panel version of the case is available from a UK seller, at least that's the picture they are using on their website.

Phil2008 · 23 Jul 2016 at 13:03

Well I have ordered the case and a silver cherry keyboard to match, but I might have to cancel the order as the place isn't that great on reviews (something nation). But I'll give it till Wednesday, then I'll prob cancel... I should have checked it out before hand.

Slam · 24 Jul 2016 at 08:13

Would this case work for the 307 mm long Sapphire Fury Nitro?
I understand that I'd have to take out the bottom front fan to get the full 320 mm space so what cooling solution would you design?

I'm air cooling at the moment, would the top front, cpu and rear case fans be enough? (core i5 2500k @ 4.2). If not, maybe add two 120 mm fans at the bottom?

I'd be willing to try watercooling. A 240 mm radiator along the bottom with fans blowing up? Or will that heat up the gpu too much?

Finners · 24 Jul 2016 at 09:36

I have the w2 and honestly got frustrated with it to start with. I'm watercooled and you run out of room very quickly.

I couldn't have a rad at the front and bottom blowing inwards without the whole case turning into a hot box! I saw hdd temps in the mid 40's as the case just filled with hot air as the sole rear fan couldn't remove it fast enough.

Settled with front as inlet and bottom as exhaust, the solid front panel is also restrictive, I get about a 2 degree drop if I remove the front panel.

You can just about get 3 hdds in if you don't need a 5.25 drive. 1 in the front section like the image above, one in the back section and if you brought a 5.25 to 3.5 adapter you could get one where the disk drive would go.

EDIT*

Can't see why the fury wouldn't fit, should be able to keep the lower fan in place to. I have about 75mm left to the edge of the case from the end of my reference 290

Slam · 25 Jul 2016 at 19:19

Thanks Finners. It seems that it would be great for air cooling but a little work to get right with water cooling.
Now I need to find somewhere decent that sells it and get the recent comment out of my mind which was that the silver w2 glass looks like a hotel fridge!

Scottland · 26 Jul 2016 at 15:02

I've got a W2 as well, I really like the look of it, and the cube nature meaning I can hide the hard drives and cable clutter in the other side it it. It does seem to get pretty toasty in there, with little room for exhaust. Contemplating another case more suited for a custom water cooling loop, but haven't found anything I like (yet).

Slam · 26 Jul 2016 at 16:22

Good looking build, really tidy

That looks like the optimal air cooling solution for this case, there are definitely no areas of unmanaged air!

You've given me pause for thought with your gets pretty toasty comment. With such direct airflow through the case I was hoping for great cooling performance. The other case I'm considering is the Corsair 540 Air. It's larger and better ventilated front and top but it doesn't look nearly as good.

Decisions, decisions.

Scottland · 26 Jul 2016 at 18:26

So, with the above setup - after a long gaming session case temperatures see mid 40's. I could get them down, but tend to keep fan speeds as low as possible to keep the noise down. The highest I have the case fans go is around 900rpm, the loudest fan's by far are the GPU and even they're relatively quiet topping out around 1100rpm.

Phil2008 · 26 Jul 2016 at 20:27

Whats the maximum speed of the case fans, as I am hoping the fans will run at quite a low speed, so I wont have to use speed controls?

Slam · 26 Jul 2016 at 20:36

That doesn't sound terrible. Mechanical drives might not like 40c very much but with the extract fan set to work a bit harder then that should drop several degrees.

Scottland · 26 Jul 2016 at 21:32

The built in fan controller allows for 7v/12v or off. At 7v they're inaudible to me, and I'm quite sensitive to noise. They're only 3 pin though

Phil2008 · 26 Jul 2016 at 21:47

Im going to try and stack my drives in the front of the case, longways so theres space to hide the drive cables at the side of them, or they could go straight through the bottom grommet. Then the drives will get air from the bottom 140mm fan. Then in the other side I will only have the psu and all the cables, but my idea probably wont work.

Anyway might be making a start at planning and transfering the hardware over tomorrow, as the case should be arriving tomorrow

Phil2008 · 27 Jul 2016 at 17:29

I received the case today, someone made a bobo, as they have sent me the one with tempered glass side, so I am well chuffed.

I am hopefully going to be starting swapping over the hardware tomorrow, so fingers crossed I will be able to get it looking tidy.

Legend · 27 Jul 2016 at 17:46

Phil2008 said:
I received the case today, someone made a bobo, as they have sent me the one with tempered glass side, so I am well chuffed.

I am hopefully going to be starting swapping over the hardware tomorrow, so fingers crossed I will be able to get it looking tidy.

Pics or it didn't happen!

How much did you pay for it? Perhaps the tempered glass is replacing the acrylic version.

Phil2008 · 27 Jul 2016 at 20:35

Legend said:
Pics or it didn't happen!

How much did you pay for it? Perhaps the tempered glass is replacing the acrylic version.

Hehe.. I paid £103 for the case, I dont really trust myself with the glass panel incase I break it somehow, as Im not too steady with my hands. So I got my mum to rap it up and put it in the box until the build is completed.

With the glass panel version, the side doesn't just clip on, but screws on with 4 thumbscrews.

I would start transferring the stuff today but because my hands are not awfully steady, I need a extra pair of hands..

Heres the glass panel in the box, and you can tell its glass as its got the glass warning sticker on...

Edit: That hole in the box was on the glass panel side and it looks like its had quite a hit in transit, lucky it didnt smash it.

Phil2008 · 29 Jul 2016 at 01:56

Day 1 of the build and I am knackered.. Sorry about the flash.