I've been thinking maybe I should get a better case for air flow, my I have an i5 9600k with a regular air cooler & RTX 2070 super card. I have been looking at a Corsair 4000D case but maybe I should get one of these new bigger cases like the 5000D for future upgrades? I wont be buying a 40xx series card at the current prices but dont want to need to buy a new case the next time I do upgrade my system. Any advice would be appreciated as well as advice on what other fans I should look at getting.
Upgrading my NZXT H500 case
- Thread starter Jayman
- Start date
Man of Honour
Phanteks p400 air , p500 air, li lancool cases are good.
NZXT H7 Flow or H5 FLOW or the Fractal Torrent if you want to push the boat out.
NZXT H7 Flow or H5 FLOW or the Fractal Torrent if you want to push the boat out.
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I was hoping to keep to a smaller case if possible eg 450mm deep rather than these newer larger cases. Any recommendations on additional fans? I'm not fussed about rgb on the front just want it to keep things cool & not be too loud.
Man of Honour
The problem going smaller is you clear ance as your getting a 4090 so unless you which model that your just guessing., also allowing for all cooler if planned.
Fans Arctic p12/p14 pst or f12/f14 are the best value for money but may want to match the case fans .
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Yeah the corsair 4000 case looked a normal sort of size that I'd like to stick to. I have just had a couple of hours on GTA online & monitoring my temps on HWMonitor I got a CPU high of 67c & GPU high of 66c but a hotspot at 79c, not sure if thats acceptable or a high level?
Absolutely fine. A more power hungry GPU and CPU would either require faster fans to keep the same temperature. As long it is not thermal throttling is fine.
Personally I’m obsessed with lower temperatures, but you can overspend on fans and case and even water cooler and still looking for lower temperatures, when most of the time there’s no real benefit to it.
The 4080/4090, the main issue is how wide the cards are, and accommodating one plus the power cable, safely, is more of an issue than the temperature of the cards, as they seem to be running cooler than the 3000 series.
The only reason I didn’t keep the 5000d was because the top mount for AIO will be too close to the motherboard. Had the 7000d for a while, massive case, but the lack of bottom intake pushed me back to the O11 Evo.
Vertical mounted GPU, side and bottom as intake and top (AIO) and tear as exhaust. Not using the front mesh as brake at the moment, as the temperature was the same, only small gain when vertically mounting the GPU. PCH, NVME, RAM and MOSFET temperatures well below what I was aiming. GPU at 380W, at high 60’s and Hot Spot under 80C.
The Corsair cases, a while ago could be found at a great price, the 4000D airflow was under £70, the 5000D airflow under £100. At their current price, you’ll better off getting a Lancool 216 and some P12 fans. Also, the Lancool II Mesh USB C, which isn’t small, but performance is fantastic.
Personally I’m obsessed with lower temperatures, but you can overspend on fans and case and even water cooler and still looking for lower temperatures, when most of the time there’s no real benefit to it.
The 4080/4090, the main issue is how wide the cards are, and accommodating one plus the power cable, safely, is more of an issue than the temperature of the cards, as they seem to be running cooler than the 3000 series.
The only reason I didn’t keep the 5000d was because the top mount for AIO will be too close to the motherboard. Had the 7000d for a while, massive case, but the lack of bottom intake pushed me back to the O11 Evo.
Vertical mounted GPU, side and bottom as intake and top (AIO) and tear as exhaust. Not using the front mesh as brake at the moment, as the temperature was the same, only small gain when vertically mounting the GPU. PCH, NVME, RAM and MOSFET temperatures well below what I was aiming. GPU at 380W, at high 60’s and Hot Spot under 80C.
The Corsair cases, a while ago could be found at a great price, the 4000D airflow was under £70, the 5000D airflow under £100. At their current price, you’ll better off getting a Lancool 216 and some P12 fans. Also, the Lancool II Mesh USB C, which isn’t small, but performance is fantastic.
sounds like my setup is ok for now but any new upgrades would need a new case then. I guess it could be worth holding off until I do a full upgrade & then get the bigger case to be sure everything fits in nice with plenty of space rather than squeeze it into a corsair 4000d would you say?
I would suggest waiting, as case designs are changing quite fast now. From single TG panel, to dual/multiple TG panels, now mesh...
I only tried the 5000D airflow and 7000D airflow, but I believe the 4000D offers the same quality. Very solid cases. If you like the case, keep one eye if you manage to get a good deal. For some reason, despite most cases facing the same issue with price increases, the Corsair ones increased much more. A while back they were much cheaper than similar quality cases, not that they have to be cheaper, but for some reason pricing was very aggressive.
The 5000D airflow improved a lot of things compared to the 4000D according to some reviews.
The 5000D airflow should fit a standard thickness 360 AIO at the top, using regular thickness fans. Arctic Freezer (uses a thicker radiator) is doable, but fans must be installed in the gap between the top of the case and the top panel, again, regular (25mm thick) fans.
The 4000D airflow, allows a 360mm long GPU, but if using a front AIO, should be 330mm max. Seems like it is a lot, but depending on which GPU you may buy in the future, 300+mm long GPUs are becoming more common, so it's something to consider.
I only tried the 5000D airflow and 7000D airflow, but I believe the 4000D offers the same quality. Very solid cases. If you like the case, keep one eye if you manage to get a good deal. For some reason, despite most cases facing the same issue with price increases, the Corsair ones increased much more. A while back they were much cheaper than similar quality cases, not that they have to be cheaper, but for some reason pricing was very aggressive.
The 5000D airflow improved a lot of things compared to the 4000D according to some reviews.
The 5000D airflow should fit a standard thickness 360 AIO at the top, using regular thickness fans. Arctic Freezer (uses a thicker radiator) is doable, but fans must be installed in the gap between the top of the case and the top panel, again, regular (25mm thick) fans.
The 4000D airflow, allows a 360mm long GPU, but if using a front AIO, should be 330mm max. Seems like it is a lot, but depending on which GPU you may buy in the future, 300+mm long GPUs are becoming more common, so it's something to consider.
Sounds like I am best waiting until I do a full upgrade then I can be sure everything fits in the case. As long as those temps are ok (CPU high of 67c & GPU high of 66c but a hotspot at 79c) then I can hold off I guess. Will test some more games/longer time to see if it goes up any higher.
The main thing that mislead people is the peak temperature.
If your CPU or GPU are working as expected, without thermal throttling, the only benefit of more airflow or even water cooling is reach lower temperatures at lower noise levels, more on water cooled, anyway. With air coolers, specially the GPU, if you use the standard fan curve from your GPU, if you increase airflow, not necessarily you'll drop a lot your temperature. The GPU's fans will, most likely, run at a much lower rpm.
Don't know if sounded clear, sorry.
Just as an example, my Suprim X 3080, 380W at full blast, air cooled: almost identical peak temperature using the 5000D, the 7000D and the O11 EVO (with 10 T30 fans now). The main difference is that, with the O11 EVO, the bottom intake does half of the work from the GPU's fans, then the GPU's fans, which are louder by nature, will barely cross 1500 rpm.
For CPU you may see bigger differences, as most people set a fan curve to manage 150-200W, but when at 15-25W, the CPU may be very close to ambient temperature, as long you let it downclock and save energy when possible.
The real benefit of upgrading case is when, after all the possible fan locations (or the ones that actually make sense) have been populated by decent fans (don't need expensive ones, P12/P14 can do easily) and using some common sense regarding intake/exhaust, and yet you're thermal throttling. Remove the side panel, temperature improves considerably? You need better airflow.
Even at full blast the fans are struggling to keep the system cool? The cooling used is either badly mounted or not sufficient.
Setting fan curves is another long talk.
If your CPU or GPU are working as expected, without thermal throttling, the only benefit of more airflow or even water cooling is reach lower temperatures at lower noise levels, more on water cooled, anyway. With air coolers, specially the GPU, if you use the standard fan curve from your GPU, if you increase airflow, not necessarily you'll drop a lot your temperature. The GPU's fans will, most likely, run at a much lower rpm.
Don't know if sounded clear, sorry.
Just as an example, my Suprim X 3080, 380W at full blast, air cooled: almost identical peak temperature using the 5000D, the 7000D and the O11 EVO (with 10 T30 fans now). The main difference is that, with the O11 EVO, the bottom intake does half of the work from the GPU's fans, then the GPU's fans, which are louder by nature, will barely cross 1500 rpm.
For CPU you may see bigger differences, as most people set a fan curve to manage 150-200W, but when at 15-25W, the CPU may be very close to ambient temperature, as long you let it downclock and save energy when possible.
The real benefit of upgrading case is when, after all the possible fan locations (or the ones that actually make sense) have been populated by decent fans (don't need expensive ones, P12/P14 can do easily) and using some common sense regarding intake/exhaust, and yet you're thermal throttling. Remove the side panel, temperature improves considerably? You need better airflow.
Even at full blast the fans are struggling to keep the system cool? The cooling used is either badly mounted or not sufficient.
Setting fan curves is another long talk.
Thanks for the advice Drumroll. I have just checked my fan speeds from my GTA session & the gfx card peaked at 1787rpm & cpu fan at 1254rpm. I have 2 extractor fans set on the same curve as the cpu, 1 at the back of the case & 1 on top.
If going smaller check out the Fractal Nord, or one of the other mesh/airflow compact cases offered by Fractal and Lian Li. Fractal Pop and Corsair 4000D also look like good value options. The only issue with these cases is that you may have to rule out 280/360 AIOs, as the trend towards larger GPUs is making that problematic. If you don't want to compromise on that then my other recommendations would be the rather excellent Lian Li 216 or NZXT H7 Flow (which I've just ordered myself).