Case recommendations!

Drumroll said:
O11 XL will fit. Tried, works.
The second outer fan, if installed offset, to allow taller RAM, still allow installation.
Click to expand...
Yea I saw the XL fits. But I am not a fan of large cases at all. Especially when they are not filled, not a fan of the "lost hardware" look. (Hence going with the 7 Compact originally :))

I think ill try re-pad my 3090, see if that brings noise / temps down enough that I keep the Compact.
Next step would be to see if I could get filters cut into the front panel. (Have some custom design ideas... just not sure how cheap it is to get done.)

Lastly, if a re-pad and open front don't help (or I cant get an open front done) I think ill go down the route of doing a full custom water loop in an regular O11D. As often as they are done, it looks awesome with that side distro plate and 2x 360 rads.

Thanks for all the ideas so far. :)
 
Welp, decided to run a quick set of 2x tests.

First, I left the case stock with front panel on. Ran 30 minutes of Prime95 & PureRayTracing Bench on loop. (Heaven wasnt getting GPU hot enough fast enough...)

Recorded numbers. Let rig cool down for another 30 minutes, then ran the same tests again with the front panel removed. Interesting stats below:

https://ibb.co/nrHHtP4
nrHHtP4


So the GPU temps don't change much, 2 degrees on max and average. GPU fan speed drops 100rpm, so again not huge.

CPU gains a fair bit of a drop, 9 degree of max and 6 degree off the average. Nearly 10%! And the CPU fan speed drops 15% on the average.

nVME also gets a nice 5%~ drop in temps.

Im not sure why, but the chipset gets the biggest temp drop of all. Still the fan does not kick in on either run, so this one isnt so important to me.

My main goal is silence. So the much lower CPU fan RPM are the biggest welcome here.

I am still not 100% set on a case yet, but the front runners are:

Meshify 2 Compact. (Possibly wait for the white one next month?)
Silent base 802
Lancool II Mesh (Kinda annoying the USB-C is £11+ extra...)
 
Chipset temperature: Issue is the 3090.
Even watercooled, depending on what task or how close to 100% the GPU works or it's memory, more precisely, the heat around the 3090 irradiates, serious.
For benchmark, when was on air, pushing the GPU fans to "jet" mode (100%), the GPU would boost nicely and temperature for GPU Core was nice, very nice. Even the Backplate, if the airflow is excellent you can get away without throttling, but the area next to the GPU, there's only so much you can do.
At the time I was using the O11 AIR, 12 Fans, but even the airflow almost a wind tunnel, wasn't fast enough to avoid the area next to the 3090 to be affected.
I only decided to go back to a custom loop because I'm obsessed with low temperatures. For my CPU any good cooler or the excellent Arctic Freezer II was more than enough.
Sadly I wasn't too patient waiting for an AIO for GPU. Now there's few very interesting options around.

Back to the case options, specially as you need to keep your GPU nice and cool (as possible), I would recommend a case with bottom intake.
Just make sure the bottom intake allows plenty of air in, as some cases don't make proper use of it (O11 regular size) or my previous Phanteks Enthoo Primo.
The Lancool II mesh should be a great case, same for the Lian Li Lancool 215.
 
Drumroll said:
Chipset temperature: Issue is the 3090.
Even watercooled, depending on what task or how close to 100% the GPU works or it's memory, more precisely, the heat around the 3090 irradiates, serious.
For benchmark, when was on air, pushing the GPU fans to "jet" mode (100%), the GPU would boost nicely and temperature for GPU Core was nice, very nice. Even the Backplate, if the airflow is excellent you can get away without throttling, but the area next to the GPU, there's only so much you can do.
At the time I was using the O11 AIR, 12 Fans, but even the airflow almost a wind tunnel, wasn't fast enough to avoid the area next to the 3090 to be affected.
I only decided to go back to a custom loop because I'm obsessed with low temperatures. For my CPU any good cooler or the excellent Arctic Freezer II was more than enough.
Sadly I wasn't too patient waiting for an AIO for GPU. Now there's few very interesting options around.

Back to the case options, specially as you need to keep your GPU nice and cool (as possible), I would recommend a case with bottom intake.
Just make sure the bottom intake allows plenty of air in, as some cases don't make proper use of it (O11 regular size) or my previous Phanteks Enthoo Primo.
The Lancool II mesh should be a great case, same for the Lian Li Lancool 215.
Click to expand...

I keep toying with idea of doing my first full custom loop.

Id like a case with fans direct below the GPU, but those are kinda few. Lancool II Mesh is one of them, but not sure how much cool air those fans get, given the PSU is in the space right below them. Also not sure I like the glass back side. And that the USB-C is extra.

Also feel bad buying new case when I already have one... Im very lazy with selling (cant be bothered with eBay!)
Have had a decent monitor on FB market for a month and just nothing but silly offers :|
 
I think the issue with the case is that the front fans are limited by the static front cover.
For 3080/3090, regardless if on air or water, you need fresh air, plenty of it.
Not as bad design as the Phanteks P300, but I'm confident only the side openings are limiting the performance of your intake fans.
If you can remove only the front panel, I would be interested to know the results. But keep other panels, so we can track from where, if any, improvement happens.
 
Finally made a decision.
Order a Lancool 2 Mesh Performance from OCUK just now. Kind of sucks you need to buy the USB-C connector separately but eh... £108 all in isn't bad value.
 
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