Case Recommendations

ambasta · 10 Jul 2017 at 22:44

Hi,

I have a Carbide Air 540 at the moment. However, I'm trying to run a dual push pull setup with a 360mm radiator on the front and a 280mm radiator on the top (or the other way around). I know a push-pull isn't really necessary or useful, but I really want to build this.

This case clearly lacks the amount of real estate required to do so. So I was hunting around for cases but I haven't been able to find any.

I plan on running a maximum of 4 disks (2SSD, 2HDD) and plan to add 2x Vega GPUs when they are around.

Following features are a must:
1. Clean looks. I very much liked the look of Air 540 or Enthoo but something overly gaudy is a no
2. Mount points for pump + reservoir

A couple of good to have features would be:
1. Removable motherboard tray.
2. Tempered side panel on a single side
3. Perferred Mid ATX as opposed to full tower

Any recommendations for an appropriate case would be very much appreciated!

I'd like to restrict my budget to 300USD since shipping and customs/taxes would probably end up costing me 1k USD for a case of equal value.

Radiator specs:
360GTS XFlow - 30mm
280GST XFlow - 30mm

ambasta · 11 Jul 2017 at 07:28

If it can do a 280mm rad in the top with push-pull, it definitely ticks all my boxes!

Danny75 · 11 Jul 2017 at 17:22

Top – 420, 360, 280, 240, 140 and 120 mm radiators. (A thickness limitation of 55mm for both radiator + fan applies on 420, 280 and 140 mm radiators)

http://www.fractal-design.com/home/product/cases/define-series/define-s-window

If you go with 240 rad up top, then should be okay for push/pull (depending on RAM height maybe). They don't recommend 280 up top for push/pull as you can see.

ambasta · 11 Jul 2017 at 18:33

Even with 240mm rad, I'd need 25mm(fan) + 30mm(rad) + 25mm(fan) = 80mm of clearence. Don't see how 55mm is going to cut it

Danny75 · 11 Jul 2017 at 19:33

ambasta said:
Even with 240mm rad, I'd need 25mm(fan) + 30mm(rad) + 25mm(fan) = 80mm of clearence.

Right. But a 240 rad is less wide than a 280 rad and 120mm fans less wide than 140mm fans, so you get more clearance going down. Hence why they only mentioned 55mm with 420, 280 and 140 rads.

This is a Fractal Define S with 1 x 360 (40mm thick) and 1 x 240 (40mm thick), both in push/pull:

http://www.overclock.net/t/1583861/fractal-define-s-two-360s/10

If you go for 30mm thick rads as you'd planned (only with 240 in place of 280) you'll get a bit more view of the top of your motherboard and RAM at the same time.

Danny75 · 11 Jul 2017 at 19:44

Or even 2 x 360 with just the front rad in push/pull, to get a cleaner look on the inside:

ambasta · 11 Jul 2017 at 20:00

Damn.

If only this was a little bit wider

I guess I'll have to throw away my 280mm rad and 140mm fans. Kinda hurts a little because each fan costs around 30USD here and the rad around 180 USD

Danny75 · 11 Jul 2017 at 20:19

ambasta said:
Damn.

If only this was a little bit wider

I guess I'll have to throw away my 280mm rad and 140mm fans. Kinda hurts a little because each fan costs around 30USD here and the rad around 180 USD

How about that 280 front? And 360 top?

ambasta · 11 Jul 2017 at 20:45

Danny75 said:
How about that 280 front? And 360 top?

Works for me! Thank you so much!!!!

Danny75 · 12 Jul 2017 at 00:50

Very welcome. Best of luck with the build.