Corsair 500D RGB or Phanteks P500A (Help me decide which one).

djxput

djxput

djxput

Associate
Joined
17 Jul 2011
Posts
1,788
So I narrowed down my case selection to these two.

Corsair:
200pounds~ but comes with Commander pro and 3 LL120 fans, ventilation will be slightly above average, have a 240 msi radiator to put up here, will go with 3 more LL fans to round it off for a nice rgb setup (trade off the msi ones for 2 ll ones 1 ll in back).

Off putting - Almost every negative thing I have heard about the case centers around the tight space in the back of the case ie the side when you are dealing with cable management. I also don't like the harddrive placement. I want them in-line with the front fans to help cool
them. I plan to use 2 possibly 3. (Im hoping I could use my current or bought harddrive cage in the space adjacent to the psu enclosure.)

Summary: I like the looks of this case better, Im a bit worried about temps and the wiring in the back and the hardrive cage I might have to fanagle.

Phanteks:
120pounds - but has 3 only semi decent fans (would want to buy better ones (so I am considering the price to be about even~ when I consider this. The cooling has scored at the top or near the top. I like the idea of 140mm fans and I would go with 6 140mm fans eventually 3 front 2 top 1 back. I see zero problems with cooling. Although, I would want/need a different aoi then I bought.

Off putting - While people talk about how easy it is to build in it may be too big as far as cables reaching and the size. The aesthetic looks good but the corsair looks better. I am slightly concerned about dust with just the mesh front ... but I have heard of dust issues also with the 500d also.

Summary: Top of the line cooling, slightly cheaper but sourcing 6 140mm rgb fans will be more challenging. I trade off a slightly less appealing look for better cooling.
Ive been piece-mealing my parts since mid nov., I missed a 'sale' on the corsair 500d rgb and the price has raised since so this kept me from pulling the trigger - and Im waiting for it to
drop again ... the p500a has been out of stock for how long now? And as stated above I bought a msi 240r cpu cooler for my build but totally not sure what case I would go with; and I decided Id want a 280 if I went with the phanteks (for the 140mm fans)

Only thing I need is the case before I start my build. So which one ...
 
andrewr2019 said:
The reviews aren’t wrong about the tight cable management at the back of the 500D. It’s tight definitely, but does fit. I battled getting the back door to close for a couple of hours the other day but I’m not generally good with cabling anyway.

The other issue I have with it was limitations in size when speccing up a custom water cooling loop. With a rad on the front and a pump it severely limits how big a video card you can use, although I can still fit a 3090 that fits the 3090 reference card water block so it’s all good there too luckily

On the whole though I really do love the case, but yeah. Cable management at the back is tricky!
Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply,

Hows the cooling with this case and the dust? How do you have your fans setup? more then the 3?
 
andrewr2019 said:
Luckily I don’t seem to get any dust issues inside the case. It builds up a bit on the front dust filter, but that just in clips and is easy to clean.

I’ve currently got 3 LL120 fans on the front and 1 on the rear as an intake , with 2 140 fans on top as part of the AIO cooler, although I have a 240mm rad and another 2 LL120 fans to go up there when I bother to set my loop up. I get mid 30s on an i9 9900k to 80s when stress testing. I don’t think I have the best of chips though as when I tried to overclock it I had to up the voltage way more than I’d like causing higher temps. My 3090 seems to reach 70-73 under full load.
Click to expand...

That makes sense what you wrote about the dust. You have 4 ll120s as intakes and 2 140 as out-takes. So there is more air coming in and the air doesnt need to come from the gaps at the side panels. I think the people that reported lots of dust had too much push out and thus the air had to come from the sides where they dont seal properly.

The temps seem decent; although Im not totally versed with where they should be at.
 
MikeTimbers said:
The chassis of the P500A is essentially the same as the P600S of which I have two. Fantastic chassis with loads of space and excellent cable management. The P500A's mesh front is essentially the same as on a P400A which I also have and it works very well as a filter.
Click to expand...
kidloco said:
I have a 500D as my current case and it’s a really good case. Bags of room. The only issues I had were it didn’t like thicker rads up top. And the rear cable management is tight. If you take your time though it can be done.

I have a P400a in the loft as it was my old case. Great case again. But wanted duel rads and this just didn’t handle it. Other than that it was just so easy to build in. Looked good and temps were great.
Click to expand...

You guys make it hard to decide ;)
I was looking at the p600s before and rewatched some review vids of this case. I probably like this case better then the p500a if it wernt for the missing led's in the psu shroud and the front of the case (sort of like that and I want to go for a rgb build this time).
The p600s does seem better then the p500a - some sound dampening material, more HD cages, and I like the top better; the p500a's top is similar to my current corsair 450d ie just a magnetic dust filter sitting up here. Why I sort of liked the corsair 500d (the top looks nice).
I looked to see if you can get a psu shroud led but I cant seem to find any info on that for the p600s.
Sounds like the cooling is really good with it the phanteks case.
 
andrewr2019 said:
Agree with that. You just need to cram everything back underneath that cable cover and screw it down. Life is good again then.

I also moved the commander pro and fan hub to the rear of the case too.
Click to expand...

ya if I went with the corsair 500d rgb Id want the commander pro and fan hub in back in place of the HD cages and Id like to use a HD cage from my 450d or buy a new one (I read that they dont fit but not sure if I believe it). Or I could 'jimmy-rig' it.
 
kidloco said:
It is a tricky one. The Corsair defo feels more premium. Oh and the fans on the Phantec I found to noisy so I sold them.

Cooling wise, the phantec you would think would be better with its mesh front panel. But I didn’t notice any difference and closely watch the temps. Cool and quiet come top of requirements for me.

Oh. The 500d is quieter as well.

500d it is then. I’ve just made the choice for you. :p
Click to expand...

oh so you had the p400a and now the corsair 500d ... and like the 500d for cool and quiet - (which I am after also) but want nice lights too :)
 
andrewr2019 said:
So did you make a choice? :D
Click to expand...

Well technically my case is a Christmas/bday present from my wife and I only wanted to spend X amount. Before blackfriday I could have gotten the corsair for less then 200, but hesitated and it quickly went up to 250~
So price is a slight factor considering 120 for the p500a... (but this has been oos for 2 months ~).

Long story short if the price drops again soon I'll be inclined to grab the corsair but holding a bit till it does so. I did like to hear about the cooling and quietness of the case from you guys. What I'm after. And I got a 3 pack of ll120s unopened sitting here (can return if need be).
 
rolypolyman said:
Just ordered P500A and 3 extra fans after reading and watching several reviews, price was right and triple pack of fans (on here, :eek:) was best price I could find. Was gonna go full size but this is plenty big enough. Hope it is in stock by 7/1/21 as indicated.
Click to expand...

What color did you go for? Just so you know I think this is the 2nd or 3rd date they had listed there for the p500a due date.

Not sure if they got them in and just still fulfilling people's orders or not got them in.
 
Disco_P said:
I think you made the right decision with the Phanteks P500A. The corsair is from the days when cases were designed around making fans pretty rather than functional.
Click to expand...

Just so you know thats another poster that posted about him buying the p500a ... wasnt me :) ...
 
rolypolyman said:
The satin black and also ordered some 'cablemod' red cables and the triple pack Phanteks 140mm RBG 9 blade fans. Hope the case comes or I will have to cancel, maybe have a look for a fallback, the Corsair 500D is too much money.

This may be a good backup, price is very good!

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/lian-li-lancool-ii-argb-midi-tower-case-black-ca-77t-ll.html#comments
Click to expand...

I have been checking out the phanteks p600s ... Mentioned by someone else here and saw some reviews before but rewatched a few (all :) ... I actually like the case better aesthetically then the p500a but ... it doesnt come with rgb fans and I noticed that it doesnt have a dust filter uptop (only a nylon hole one) and it doesnt have that psu shroud lighting - but otherwise I like it much better then the p500a ... why? ... could seal the case up top and front if you want, has some sound dempening material to it, comes with 4 hd cages if you need it, also the front IO panel looks better then the top p500a's one, and for me the top of the case looks much better then the p500a's just a dust filter on top.

anyways this is my take on the phanteks ... I do agree the corsair is a bit too much I actually saw the corsair for 190 on thanksgiving but then the price quickly shot up to the given price now. 190 was a nice price, and this is part of the reason I havnt bought a case yet because the corsair is sitting at 250~ ... But you got to remember you get the ll120s and the commander pro with it. IMO 190 is a good price but thats if you want that case.

The land cool 2 mesh came out about the same time as the p500a you listed a different lan cool 2 - many people liked the lan cool 2 mesh and perhaps rated it slightly higher then the p500a; the air flow is pretty much tied with the p500a even thou 120mm fans because of its setup. For me I didnt exactly like the looks of the lan cool 2 mesh but check that one out lots of good reviews on the case in general and the air flow. But do note it doesnt come with a usb c up top and needs to be bought (accessory).
 
Still no case yet ... Here are some more thoughts.

I currently have a MSI 240r aio that would go well with a 'smallish' black case.
If I would go with a bigger case I like the idea of the new phanteks aoi the 280 that is; about 130 pounds so I would need to sell by current and buy this one lets say 50 more pounds.
These are the cases I am considering:

Corsair 500d rgb - 190 (thanksgiving price)/250(currrent) case price and more led fans 70 = total 260 or 310~
Corsair 4000d airflow - 80(current price) and 6 LL fans = 130 so thats = total 210
Phanteks p500a - 120(if it comes in stock) and - new aoi 50 and 3 140 led fans 50pounds = total 220
Phanteks p600s - 125(if it comes in stock or pay a 25 pound premium from a higher priced seller) and 6 led fans 100 pounds and 50 for aoi = total 275

Even thou the corsair 4000d is quite plain; seems simple yet effective in its looks and build. And its in stock. I dont know if I will be able to get the corsair 500d se for 190 like I saw it on thanksgiving; at 250 - thats a bit pricey considering I want 6 decent rgb fans. I actually like the looks of the p600s better then the p500a but then I would need 6rgb fans to pair with it but I can work up to that.
Both the phanteks are big cases - good and bad; easy to build in but once its built it has a bigger foot-print; and I decided the small decrease in temps between a phanteks case and the corsair wont make that much of a difference considering I will have 6 fans in it 3 front 2 aio and 1 rear.

anyways thats where I am at - have all my other parts of my build (except I wanted a 3060ti but it can wait).

actually going to make one note - I saw some case fans called lyra gelid 140mm ones but you have to order from taiwan and it costs a lot to get it shipped but they still look interesting. Total cost for 6 would be about 125pounds door to door. But it doesnt come with a controller.
 
rolypolyman said:
I see the price of the 500a has gone up by £10 and that's before we know if it will be in stock tomorrow. My back-up case has also gone up in price but i hadn't ordered it unfortunately, not gone up as much. Great isn't it, covid's got a grip again, almost a year of this crap but the computer retailers are coining it in as it appears prices going up all over the place. Anybody notice the xmas/new year sales were rubbish this year. Ignore, I'm grumpy.
Click to expand...

ya I saw the p500a is supposed to be due in tomorrow ... my birthday also ;) but Im slightly leaning away from that case now; my problem is Ive seen too many videos of all the cases and I got case overload now.
I wish I could see them in person hard to get a good feel for them. I am leaning toward the corsair 500d rgb but not at 250 and like you said maybe it wont drop again since the retailers know there is a shortage going on.
 
andrewr2019 said:
It’s definitely expensive but the 500d is a fantastic case.

Finally going to be building a custom loop in it this weekend!
Click to expand...

You know Im leaning toward this case now rather then the phanteks. I do like the phanteks cases but they are big and look like a tank :) ... I use a corsair 450d here currently and it just the right size for the stuff I will put in it. I just want to be able to put a hard drive cage in the front to the right of the psu shroud. IMO the harddrives should be cooled by fans rather then sitting in the back of a case away from fans.
 
rolypolyman said:
Yeh missing the D-RGB control on top of the case but comes with 2xRGB 140mm fans and I have the 3 pack I bought for the other case so that will do me. The case is identical otherwise and like @Ree above maybe a magnetic led strip or two to finish off.
Click to expand...

Sounds like a nice build coming up, make sure to take pics and share. See your making me want a p500a again
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom