Need help choosing GPU and Case

sreeve1993

sreeve1993

sreeve1993

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Joined
9 Feb 2011
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495
Location
Central London
Hey guys,

I really need some help choosing a new GPU and Case :(. Eventhough Blackfriday is here nothing really appealed to me which I'm gutted about :(

To help you guys I'm only interested in GTX 970. I will be gaming at 1080p.I want a case with excellent Airflow. My Budget is £450 but if I can save money that'll be even better haha.

At the moment this 970 seems worthy:
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/20-p...ddr5-pci-express-graphics-card-gx-352-as.html

I have looked at the Windforce, G1 and MSI edition but not sure whats best for the money.

For the case, well this is where it gets difficult! I really don't have a clue what to go for. Two cases which I do like are Corsair Obsidian 450D and Phanteks Enthoo Pro Midi.
As I have a fully wired PSU, I want to be able to hide all the cables.


Looking forward to your opinions :)

Stefan
 
Have done a couple of 450D builds and loved them. Very nice, very easy case to work in.

I see nothing fundamentally, deal-breakingly wrong with the Phanteks one... I just think it's hideous and lots of little things would irk me in the build. Also looks less forgiving for incorporating minor mods...
 
Ive got the Phanteks Enthoo Pro M and I would say its a great case for air flow.
it has the single ODD bay which suits me as lets me keep my bluray drive.
its great for cable management and airflow
heres a few pics of mine..
H80i installed
WP_20151103_15_08_05_Pro_zpsz6ffxoof.jpg


a few with the recent set up..
Phanteks PH-TC14PE cpu cooler ( better temps than the H80i )
3 x 120mm fans in the front
140mm rear
140mm top
temporary_zps4s5zopqy.jpg


temporary_zpsntstoovj.jpg


temporary_zpscdb1ytr9.jpg
 
sreeve1993 said:
JBH thats a really nice set up!
I also like the NXZT cases as well. I like the amount of space in the Phantek Enthoo Pro M
Click to expand...

Cheers bud.

its the 970 ive got installed aswel its a great step up from my old 7950.

the space in the case is great it leave's plenty of room for future expansion or even a custom loop if you wanted to go that way through time..

I must admit ive worked with a few cases and this is my favorite case to do anything with.. Ive even thought about buying a second one to build another system up into
 
Hahaha glad you mentioned that Uther! I just compared the measurements to my ANTEC 300 (This is why Im desperate for a new case haha) and its a huge difference.
Ideally I want a case about similar height to the Antec 300 and the Obsidian 450D is similar but its the price of it but looks sweet as ****. Another issue is that my XFX PSU is fully wired and I would hope the Obsidian 450D would hide these cables. It also doesnt have a Fan Hub which tbh it should have one for the price.

Enthoo pro M looks worthy at the moment as it hides the cables perfectly and has a fan hub!

Edit: @theaterix thanks for the advise but I really want to go to nvidia as my Rig is all Intel parts. Eventhough my AMD 6850 has been a brilliant card and can run Battlefield 4 perfectly on med/high gfx
 
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sreeve1993 said:
Hahaha glad you mentioned that Uther! I just compared the measurements to my ANTEC 300 (This is why Im desperate for a new case haha) and its a huge difference.
Ideally I want a case about similar height to the Antec 300 and the Obsidian 450D is similar but its the price of it but looks sweet as ****. Another issue is that my XFX PSU is fully wired and I would hope the Obsidian 450D would hide these cables. It also doesnt have a Fan Hub which tbh it should have one for the price.

Enthoo pro M looks worthy at the moment as it hides the cables perfectly and has a fan hub!

Edit: @theaterix thanks for the advise but I really want to go to nvidia as my Rig is all Intel parts. Eventhough my AMD 6850 has been a brilliant card and can run Battlefield 4 perfectly on med/high gfx
Click to expand...

Intel and Nvidia aren't the same company, nor do they have any relevancy to one another...?
 
Yes I'm aware of that I'm sure I read somewhere that nvidia tends to be more compatible with Intel CPUs.
Nevertheless, my heart is set on a 970 haha
 
sreeve1993 said:
is this the case you've got JBH?
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/phan...i-tower-case-with-window-black-ca-031-pt.html
Click to expand...
yip that's the one ive got.
sreeve1993 said:
Enthoo pro M looks worthy at the moment as it hides the cables perfectly and has a fan hub!
Click to expand...

the ENTHOO PRO M does hide the cables brilliantly and has plenty of space in the rear for cable management but doesnt have a fan hub.. but then its £59.99
but for £12.95 you'll get the Phanteks fun hub but will put the price up to £72.94 for case and hub... https://www.overclockers.co.uk/phanteks-pwm-fan-hub-ca-009-pt.html

but even at that its still a decent price IMO.

Ive got all my fans running off my fan headers so I had no need to buy one but I did consider it.
 
Oh I thought it did, must have mistaken it for the other Phantek case. But that is still a reasonable price. How many fans do you have installed?
This has got to be the hardest decision ever!
 
sreeve1993 said:
Oh I thought it did, must have mistaken it for the other Phantek case. But that is still a reasonable price. How many fans do you have installed?
This has got to be the hardest decision ever!
Click to expand...

ive got 3 120mm at the front with my ODD bay in place, 1 140mm at the rear and 1 140mm on the roof. my bluray drive gets in the way to fit a second but 2 120mm may fit ive never tried

you can put 3 140mm at the front but you need to remove the ODD bay to do this so with the ODD bay in place its 2 140's or 3 120's
 
I just bought a "Cooler edition" 970 and an INWIN 707 case.

The card is awesome and smashes most things in 1080 without issue. Runs cool and is very very quiet, even under load. No real risk of coil whine either.

The INWIN case is massive. I mean REALLY massive. Good airflow (vented top/3fans which are decent) and looks the part too. Only complaint is the lack of a dedicated SSD drive holder.
 
Thanks JBH you've been great help!
Will be ordering my parts when I get back home from work. Think I'm going to go for Phantek case and G1 GTX 970 but still not sure about this as the Strix, MSI, kFa2 and cooler edition all look good and high reviews
 
Just ordered the Phantek Pro M with the PWM hub and 4 140mm Phantek RED LED fans, planning to have two at front and 2 on top with 1 on the rear!

I ended up buying the G1 GTX 970 and I cannot wait for it all to arrive :D
 
nice one. hope to see some pictures once you have it all built up.

I have been tempted on getting some red LED fans for my case but ive held off so far...

youll need to let me know how you get on with the G1 GTX 970 as next year im going to be looking at a different brand of 970.

the gainward 970 is a strong card but it's a bad over clocker but it does run strong on stock clocks.
 
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