Silverstone ft02, Phanteks Luxe or something else?

DJ_Switch

DJ_Switch

DJ_Switch

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Joined
12 Mar 2008
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Edinburgh
Hello,

I'm in the process of speccing my new build and could do with some help and informed opinions on a few cases.

To give you some background...I currently have a custom water cooled Cosmos S and have never particularly like the build quality of the case. I've also decided to move back to air cooling for a variety of reasons.

So....what I'm looking for is

Exceptional air cooling
Non-crass styling
Good build quality
Capable of taking and cooling an SLI set up
Full set of dust filters on all intakes (with positive pressure fan set up in mind)
No more than £180

With this in mind I keep coming back to the ft02 but not sure how it stands up to current cases with cable management etc. I equally like the Enthoo Luxe however I'm massively put off by the reports of it popping and creaking. The case will be used in a quiet environment so case related noises could be a big issue.

Has anyone got any opinions on either the ft02 or the luxe or has any other suggestions that are worth checking out. I realise the reports of the luxe could be limited so it would be good to hear personal experiences. I also quite like the graphics supports and cooler supports on the newer FT04.

Any opinions are welcome

Thanks
 
I have a Luxe and although I do think it's an exceptional case it's a tad overkill for air cooling. Given that though, it's huge, looks good, has amazing build quality, and has some nice niche features such as the fan hub, and the velcro cable-ties, as well as the LED with an array of cycling colours. There's a HUGE amount of space inside the case left over for me running on a single GPU setup, and there is absolutely enough space to take and cool an SLI setup. Temps dropped quite a lot from my old cheapo mid-tower but that's expected from a full-sized £120 case.

The case also seems to attract a LOT of dust towards the front panel where the holed grills are around the aluminium plate, although it's easy to clean off by popping off the front panel, and made even easier with the dust filter that's present behind it. There are dust filters all over the case - back/front bottom, front, and top all have good, high-quality dust filters.

Thinking about it now I probably would've gone for the little sister/brother case which is the Enthoo Pro as it has pretty much the same features apart from the aluminium plate/stealth IO and of course the size different, and is more than adequate for multi-card setups and air cooling.

I also don't recall any of the problems with the Luxe that people are saying about popping and creaking? :S Mine is fine!

Just my ten cents, hope you find the case you want :)
 
Deehjay said:
I have a Luxe and although I do think it's an exceptional case it's a tad overkill for air cooling. Given that though, it's huge, looks good, has amazing build quality, and has some nice niche features such as the fan hub, and the velcro cable-ties, as well as the LED with an array of cycling colours. There's a HUGE amount of space inside the case left over for me running on a single GPU setup, and there is absolutely enough space to take and cool an SLI setup. Temps dropped quite a lot from my old cheapo mid-tower but that's expected from a full-sized £120 case.

The case also seems to attract a LOT of dust towards the front panel where the holed grills are around the aluminium plate, although it's easy to clean off by popping off the front panel, and made even easier with the dust filter that's present behind it. There are dust filters all over the case - back/front bottom, front, and top all have good, high-quality dust filters.

Thinking about it now I probably would've gone for the little sister/brother case which is the Enthoo Pro as it has pretty much the same features apart from the aluminium plate/stealth IO and of course the size different, and is more than adequate for multi-card setups and air cooling.

I also don't recall any of the problems with the Luxe that people are saying about popping and creaking? :S Mine is fine!

Just my ten cents, hope you find the case you want :)
Click to expand...

I believe the Pro is the same size as the Luxe, they are just advertised differently
 
Ah yes sorry my bad. Never actually checked the dimensions of the Pro compared to the Luxe, I just assumed the Pro was quite a bit smaller as it's labelled as a 'Mid' tower, but after looking at the specs there's nothing really in it lol.
 
FT02 is great for air cooling, cable management can be a bit tricky as there's not a ton of room behind the back of the mobo tray.
 
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