Best cases in the current market?

PeteSouthgate

PeteSouthgate

PeteSouthgate

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I'm planning on building a new gaming PC within the next month or two. I haven't had the opportunity to upgrade for nearly a decade so very much looking forward to it!

What's the consensus on the best mid towers right now on the market? Main priorities are good airflow/noise handling (budget up to 300), I'm anticipating my build will be an Air Cooled (Noctua Fan which I believe it fairly large) or AIO if that matters? I don't want the hassle of having liquid cooling rig from what I've read and don't want to waste part of my budget on that aspect of the rig. I've had a little browse around on You Tube and it seems some of the Corsair cases could be best, but there are just so many options out there...

So far I've got the Corsair 5000D, Lian Li Lancool III and the O11 Air Mini shortlisted as cases I like the look of. I realise the O11 Air Mini isn't a mid-tower and I've never had a small case, but I do like the idea of having something compact. If I did decide to go with an Air Mini would I'm guessing I'd have to go down the AIO route and possibly not be able to kit it out with larger parts?

FWIW I've got a budget of up to around 2500 for the gaming PC (I'm not planning on RGBing the thing out and prefer spending the budget on better performing GPU/CPU etc). Any advice is greatly welcomed for this first-time builder, my first port of call is to get the case sorted and then I'll be going on PC Part picker to experiment on what parts to combine.

Thanks
 
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I’ve got the Fractal Torrent, it’s more expensive then the others mentioned. I paid £158 for mine excluding VAT including GST at 5% and DPD delivery at £12.99 excluding VAT.

Sometimes you get what you pay for, I wonder how many other people have imported this case into Jersey from the UK.

At ocUK it’s £183.29 excluding VAT + delivery which is £29.76 DHL Economy so £213.05 + GST at 5% so £223.70.

I saved £65.70 from a competitor but they have now raised there prices but can still be had at another well known store for £184.99 including VAT with free delivery.
 
I think i have 5 cases in my house, the phanteks p600s is the best one build quality wise. It is clearly better made than my high end corsair one for example
 
The Fractal Torrent seems really well reviewed from what I've seen this afternoon on YouTube, looks like it will comfortably fit a Noctua Fan too!

Initially, I was drawn to a smaller case just for freeing up a bit of extra desk space. Though could very well regret that if the new range of components that come out won't end up fitting in properly.
 
dave28 said:
I think i have 5 cases in my house, the phanteks p600s is the best one build quality wise. It is clearly better made than my high end corsair one for example
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This.

The Phanteks 600S is simply a superb case, great to build in, offers more SSD/HDD storage than any other case in its size/price range, with great rad support as well, if WC is your thing.

Also allows you to prioritise air or silent cooling, though TBH, I've opted for maximum air throughput and it's still quiet.

Will be the last case I'll ever need, frankly.
 
PeteSouthgate said:
The Fractal Torrent seems really well reviewed from what I've seen this afternoon on YouTube, looks like it will comfortably fit a Noctua Fan too!

Initially, I was drawn to a smaller case just for freeing up a bit of extra desk space. Though could very well regret that if the new range of components that come out won't end up fitting in properly.
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If you want something a bit smaller than the standard Fractal Torrent you could look at the compact version. Both will fit the Noctua NH-D15 which is their biggest CPU cooler.
 
You've mentioned the 011 mini - any reason you're not considering the regular sized 011 dynamic? They're lovely cases (though pretty much all of the ones mentioned above are).
 
[HB]Rugrat said:
You've mentioned the 011 mini - any reason you're not considering the regular sized 011 dynamic? They're lovely cases (though pretty much all of the ones mentioned above are).
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I wasn't too sure how good the airflow is on the Dynamic compared to the Air Mini...that's the reason. Size wise I'm fine with a Dynamic too but think I may choose another case.
 
Appreciate all the replies I've narrowed it down between the Fractal Torrent (Possibly the Compact!) or the P600s. Think I'm going to wait for the new CPUs to come out before going ahead with the build. I'll get a pic uploaded here once it's all good running!
 
Tried 2 different Fractal Torrent and as I'm really picky about fan noise, had to return them.
First one the bottom fans, the second one the front fans.
Bottom fans can be sorted using some spacer, as it was due to clearance from bottom of the case.
The O11 Air Mini is great, just plan well, as vertical mount would require a M-ATX motherboard.
Plenty of very good cases at 100-150 pounds range, some very good cases even cheaper.
Just go for some cases, specially the ones with huge included fans if planning on using them, as they'll be big part of the cost of the case.
Phanteks P600S gets recommended very often/
The jack of all trades, O11 is quite a brilliant case, just be aware off cooler clearance depending on which variant of the case you go to. My favorites are the XL and the Air Mini. The Evo was stuck in between. Not as spacious, clearly an upgrade over the regular O11, but I rather go with the XL.
For aircooled system, as for any other mid to high-end system I would avoid cases covered in glass panels (the O11 is an exception as the side intake and the bottom intake works wonders).
One case I really like and is quite cheap considering the performance and the quality is the Corsair 4000D Airflow. The 5000D Airflow will allow some more flexibility, and the 7000D Airflow some proper watercooled setup.
I was able to use a Noctua NH-D15 with its second fan clearing the tall 8Pack 3600MHz RAM. A 1 to 2mm clearance from the glass, but would fit. The 7000D allows wasily, but not the most suitable case for Aircooler. Would work but a waste as it is huge and most setups would look like a Raspberry PI inside of it.
Just sold my O11 Evo, as I was unable to use a triple 360 rad setup, as the new EK waterblock for the MSI Suprim X 3080 is huge, was touching the side panel, vertically would cover/interfere with the CPU Block and even vertically I wouldn't be able to install the reservoir/pump.
Using the Corsair 7000D Airflow, and 2 x 420mm EK P420 rads (44mm thick). Superb case, but the metal side panel alone (PSU side) weights almost as much as the rest of the case.
 
[HB]Rugrat said:
You've mentioned the 011 mini - any reason you're not considering the regular sized 011 dynamic? They're lovely cases (though pretty much all of the ones mentioned above are).
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Agreed about the O-11. Really impressed by mine, Loads of space and many clever features and cut outs. They look great too with RGB builds. As advised though cooler height can be an issue although negated if you go for an AIO.
 
MissChief said:
Agreed about the O-11. Really impressed by mine, Loads of space and many clever features and cut outs. They look great too with RGB builds. As advised though cooler height can be an issue although negated if you go for an AIO.
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Yeah they're so good I kind of feel like I'm stuck at a dead end with mine - I change cases 2-3 times a year for no reason other than something else catches my eye but I just haven't seen anything I like as much. First-world problems I guess :D
 
This may be a bit late now but I thought I'd add my thoughts;

I have both an O11 Air Mini and a Meshify 2, both brilliant cases and I would highly recommend both of them for different builds, the Meshify 2 is quite a bit larger (depth and height) although unnecessarily so for my purposes as I am using air cooling (D15S) now for my main desktop so the ability to have large radiators isn't really an issue now, hence the Meshify 2 is currently empty, if you do want to use lots of 'radage' though then it's ideal, also if you do front mount a radiator for whatever reason on the O11 Air Mini, you will cut into the GPU space of course, with a thick rad and a really long GPU this 'could' be an issue, with the Meshify 2 you wouldn't have that issue at all though. So while I wouldn't call the O11 Air Mini particularly small, as a lover of SFF stuff I wouldn't anyway, but compared to the Meshify 2 or Define 7 it is pretty compact.
 
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