Case selection = SAD!

[Denpepe]

Many recent fractal design cases seem to have a windowless version, most obvious airflow-focused ones are the meshify 2 and the pop air solid. The latter even has dvd drive bays!

It's not that hard to find windowless cases, pc partpicker has over 700 of them https://pcpartpicker.com/products/case/#B=1

but estethics is personal taste, I myself think those old aluminum cases they show on these threads are amonst the ugliest cases around.

 

[Azrak]

As a fellow fan of the old Lian Li all-aluminum cases from the past, I would recommend:
Lian Li Lancool 2 Mesh Performance: https://www.newegg.com/black-lian-li-lancool-ii-performance-atx-mid-tower/p/2AM-000Z-00086
Be Quiet Pure Base 500DX: https://www.newegg.com/black-be-quiet-pure-base-atx-micro-atx-mid-tower/p/2AM-0037-00071
Corsair 5000D Airflow: https://www.newegg.com/black-corsair-5000d-airflow-atx-mid-tower/p/N82E16811139161
Fractal Design Torrent: https://www.newegg.com/black-fractal-design-torrent-atx-mid-tower/p/N82E16811352148
They all have good airflow for today's modern CPU/GPU requirements and received good reviews from the likes of Gamers Nexus and others.

 

[Deadjasper]

Funny no one mentioned the lack of HD spaces in newer cases. If you have more than 2 HD's you have to look at server chassis.

 

[emphy]

Funny no one mentioned the lack of HD spaces in newer cases. If you have more than 2 HD's you have to look at server chassis.

Perhaps that is because there still is a fair number of options that have more than two of em. The lancool iii (eight 2.5" and four 3.5") and and the define 7 (six 3.5" and two 2.5") are ones that come to mind quickly.

 

[mullet]

The small holes in the new grills, sure better air flow but the dust will be bad. That is why I went with the fine filter screen on the Corsair 4000D. I will have to make a 1/2" plate to go between the fans and the filter on the front because I think the fans are to close to the filter IMO.

 

[FlawleZ]

My biggest beef is all this glass psnel crap. How much airflow do people think makes it through that?

 

[Deadjasper]

Enterprise server chassis only have openings in the front and back. They rely on the wind tunnel effect for cooling and it works great. Can be noisy as hell tho so not suitable for most people.

 

[Randy6309]

My next build, wanted a more classic look

 

[drutman]

I would say the old cases had good air flow.

View attachment 529395

Nice cable management!

 

[mullet]

Weeeellllllllllllllll, I finally got my CPU in, so I started putting all this junk together. This is what I got.

Corsair 4000D
ASUS ROG Thor 850
ASUS ROG X570 Crosshair VIII Hero
AMD Ryzen™ 7 5700X 8-Core 65 watt
DeepCool AK620 Zero Dark CPU Air Cooler
G.Skill Flare X 16GB DDR4 3200 CL14-14-14-34 1.35V
Crucial P3 Plus 2TB PCIe Gen4 3D NAND NVMe
SAMSUNG 980 PRO SSD 1TB PCIe 4.0 NVMe
SAMSUNG 870 EVO SATA SSD 500GB
XFX Speedster SWFT 210 Radeon RX 6600

All in all it runs pretty cool and is super quiet which she loves. I made a few modifications for the fans up front because there was to man holes. LOL Yes she loves the RGB fans!!!!!
Highest temps I saw were like 60c under 100% load, I need to read up on the new Bios, big different from what I am use to.

 

[riev90]

I went matx with an Asus ap201 case. It's not aluminum but different than the tempered glass and rgb norm that I wanted to stay away from, and doesn't sacrifice much cooling.

it's a bit late, would like to say thank you for the information.
quite interesting case, based on the review it ticks all my needs.

 

[BERN75]

speaking of new designs ive been searching for a case that has a good sized front and top panel that i can use the C&C on that still looks decent for a good build the only case i have found is a phanteks evolv x wondering if anyone has found something similar

 

[WorldExclusive]

I have been out of it for almost a decade (see sig) I was thinking about some new rigs and I always start looking for cases. WHAT happened to all the awesome cases, all aluminum? All I am seeing is plastic and stamped steel junk!!! Not to mention holes and grills everywhere making it a dust factory. I guess I will keep my old all Aluminum cases then. Is there a place I am not looking? newegg, amazon, frozen cpu?

Sorry Rant over.

I agree with you....
Some wired responses here, but aluminum cases weren't surpassed by steel cases because of function or cooling.

I used to be in direct contact with case designers and they specifically said aluminum became too expensive to make cases that people will buy.
Using the story of Caselabs, ultimately the 2018 tariffs imposed on aluminum crippled their company financially. Losing the lawsuit to Thermaltake was just icing on the cake.

I bought IN WIN S-Frame for $800, multiple $400 Lian Li cases, multiple $200-$500 Silverstone cases etc.
They all stopped making these type of cases after the 2018 tariffs. You'll see some here and there but the fight is now at sub $200 price point.
Many classic aluminum cases were discontinued because the prices began to rise and people stopped buying. TJ07s went from $320 to $499.

I still own two Silverstone FT03 cases, FT04 and a few others. I'm switching over to a CM Cosmos C700, but the days of Cooler Master making an aluminum air cooling beast like the ATCS 840, are over.

 

[Mr Evil]

...aluminum became too expensive to make cases that people will buy...

I wonder if this has changed now? The PC component market has shown a lot of price insensitivity recently, with things like monitors and GPUs selling in significant numbers for >>$1000.

 

[mullet]

I agree with you....
Some wired responses here, but aluminum cases weren't surpassed by steel cases because of function or cooling.

I used to be in direct contact with case designers and they specifically said aluminum became too expensive to make cases that people will buy.
Using the story of Caselabs, ultimately the 2018 tariffs imposed on aluminum crippled their company financially. Losing the lawsuit to Thermaltake was just icing on the cake.

I bought IN WIN S-Frame for $800, multiple $400 Lian Li cases, multiple $200-$500 Silverstone cases etc.
They all stopped making these type of cases after the 2018 tariffs. You'll see some here and there but the fight is now at sub $200 price point.
Many classic aluminum cases were discontinued because the prices began to rise and people stopped buying. TJ07s went from $320 to $499.

I still own two Silverstone FT03 cases, FT04 and a few others. I'm switching over to a CM Cosmos C700, but the days of Cooler Master making an aluminum air cooling beast like the ATCS 840, are over.

Ahh now that makes more sense. Thanks for the info I didn't know the tariffs cut that deep. I am still going to do a build for me soon and I am still using my LIAN-LI PC-A70B, I will not give it up.

 

[WorldExclusive]

I wonder if this has changed now? The PC component market has shown a lot of price insensitivity recently, with things like monitors and GPUs selling in significant numbers for >>$1000.

Things haven’t changed yet. I think tariffs will be a US talking point in 2023, but once businesses start to make money they don’t want to make things cheaper. So tariffs could be softened but they’ll find a way to keep prices the same to the consumer.

PC gaming has regressed since the tariffs were implemented. Less GPU and CPU for the money. Expensive motherboards. Less case creativity, most are a fish tank type design. Unfortunately the best time to buy will always be now because later it will either be more expensive or unavailable.

 

[Zepher]

I really like the look of the Corsair 680X and came across the white 280x on sale for $112 with 2 LL120 fans and a Node Pro, it's basically a tiny version of the 680.
It was actually smaller than I thought it was. I had to put my Intel ARC 770 into it since the 3080 FTW3 was too thick, the power cables kept the glass side panel from going on.

 

[RanceJustice]

Given that over the last year or so there have been exemptions on tariffs for many computing related components so hopefully that will help. They were even renewed for 2023 which for awhile was uncertain, with some questioning if GPUs, Mobos and the like would jump 20%+ like they did the first weeks of 2020 but thankfully not the case.

 

[PilotKD]

Ah yes, the old aluminum cases. Here's a few pics of my late-90's era rig that got a few upgrades in the late 2000's. Lian Li. Don't know the model anymore. This thing sits collecting dust in my basement. It does still work and it's actually a pretty quick PC still for most purposes with an over-clocked Q6600 in it. Anyone remember Abit?

 

[schoolslave]

Fractal are the worst offenders of just plain cheap materials - so much fucking plastic. Lian Li is also just shitting out garbage these days - the O11 is an abomination.
I'll take the handcrafted aluminum Lian Lis of old over any of these new "premium" cases any day.

 

[Niner21]

Fractal are the worst offenders of just plain cheap materials - so much fucking plastic. Lian Li is also just shitting out garbage these days - the O11 is an abomination.
I'll take the handcrafted aluminum Lian Lis of old over any of these new "premium" cases any day.

I agree. Their main culprit is the Torrent case which when I used mine was more plastic than I would like for a premium price tag.

 

[TheSlySyl]

Fractal are the worst offenders of just plain cheap materials - so much fucking plastic. Lian Li is also just shitting out garbage these days - the O11 is an abomination.
I'll take the handcrafted aluminum Lian Lis of old over any of these new "premium" cases any day.

My Define 7 XL is mostly metal, The Front Grill is pretty much the only plastic part. I'm sure its the same for the normal Define 7 and Meshify variants.

I also have like 12 fans, 8 hard drives, a 420mm rad and a kitchen sink in there. With room to spare! Damn thing weighs over 80lbs though.

 

[MacLeod]

I like the new cases. I'm still using my Corsair 500R that I've had since 2008 but really like a lot of the new cases from Liam Li and Be Quiet (worst brand name tho). The Cooler Master H500 is kinda my favorite.... At first I thought kt was gawdy with the 2 big 200mm fans but the more I looked at it the more I liked it and now I want one.

 

[schoolslave]

My Define 7 XL is mostly metal, The Front Grill is pretty much the only plastic part. I'm sure its the same for the normal Define 7 and Meshify variants.

I also have like 12 fans, 8 hard drives, a 420mm rad and a kitchen sink in there. With room to spare! Damn thing weighs over 80lbs though.

Yeah we have multiple Define 7 XLs at work for multi-GPU compute Threadripper Pro systems - the Fractals are decent workhorses but IMO not in the same league aesthetically or "quality-feel" as the aluminum cases of old. The biggest positive for Fractal is that they still offer non-tempered-glass/solid side-panels. TG has to be the stupidest "trend" in case design in the last few years or so - it's heavy, fragile, and makes cases look "asymmetric" to me. I'd prefer cast acrylic panels for windows to be completely honest.

The big old Lian Li cases also felt more like a blank canvas for mods to me. These new cases are way too over-engineered and crammed full of "features" for me to consider them for my home builds. Then again, I like to tinker with everything including cases so there's that hah.

 

[wandplus]

If you're looking for an old-school look, the Silverstone Fara 311 looks like it.

 

[Niner21]

After moving the 7000X this last time to do some tinkering I decided I'm getting to old to lug that heavy case back and forth. I moved everything into the NZXT H7 Flow case that I used previously and it's plenty big enough for what I need. I said I wouldn't use anything but a full tower, but I have to go against what I said as that 7000X probably weighed 80lbs when everything was in it. The H7 is way more manageable.

 

[cpufrost]

I gave up on cases years ago especially with the constant changing out of parts.
However I rarely do that (compared to say 15 years ago).
So now I just throw it together on my desk, hook up everything and turn the key and wait for the smoke!

 

[mullet]

Round 2, finally upgraded my 10 year old junk. Used the same ole case.

AMD Ryzen 9 7900
Noctua NH-D15
ASUS ROG Strix X670E-E
Thermalright AM5 Secure Frame
G.Skill Flare X5 32GB DDR5 5600 CL30
WD_BLACK 500GB SN770
WD_BLACK 1TB SN850X
WD_BLACK 2TB SN850X
XFX Speedster Radeon RX 6750XT
ASUS ROG Thor 850W

 

[1337Goat]

I agree. Their main culprit is the Torrent case which when I used mine was more plastic than I would like for a premium price tag.

And here I am expecting my Torrent Nano to arrive any day now. Uh oh. At least it was on sale.

 

[NightReaver]

After moving the 7000X this last time to do some tinkering I decided I'm getting to old to lug that heavy case back and forth. I moved everything into the NZXT H7 Flow case that I used previously and it's plenty big enough for what I need. I said I wouldn't use anything but a full tower, but I have to go against what I said as that 7000X probably weighed 80lbs when everything was in it. The H7 is way more manageable.
View attachment 543545

As someone who just got a 7000D, I agree on the weight. This thing manages to feel heavier and bulkier than the 900D it replaced.

 

[Niner21]

And here I am expecting my Torrent Nano to arrive any day now. Uh oh. At least it was on sale.

It's a good case on sale so you did well there.

As someone who just got a 7000D, I agree on the weight. This thing manages to feel heavier and bulkier than the 900D it replaced.

The 7000 series are great cases, but the older I get I just didn't want to lug that beast back and forth for right now. I'm always tinkering with my build and the H7 is way more manageable.

 

[Fenris_Ulf]

I love the new Fractal North, but it's unobtanium right now. I just saw that Corsiar came out with this for their 5000D and I think it looks amazing.

https://www.corsair.com/us/en/Categories/Products/Accessories-|-Parts/PC-Components/Cases/4000-Series-Wooden-PC-Case-Panel/p/CC-8900679

 

[Niner21]

I love the new Fractal North, but it's unobtanium right now. I just saw that Corsiar came out with this for their 5000D and I think it looks amazing.

https://www.corsair.com/us/en/Categories/Products/Accessories-|-Parts/PC-Components/Cases/4000-Series-Wooden-PC-Case-Panel/p/CC-8900679

View attachment 551455

If they made this for the 7000 series I'd be interested.

 

[Valnar]

I'm not a fan of any modern case where I have to open some front mesh cover in order to get to my DVD Drive. I guess that makes me old school. None of the cases I've seen in this thread is something I would buy.

But then I just realized I haven't bought a case in a very long time either.

 

[Darunion]

I'm not a fan of any modern case where I have to open some front mesh cover in order to get to my DVD Drive. I guess that makes me old school. None of the cases I've seen in this thread is something I would buy.

But then I just realized I haven't bought a case in a very long time either.

And ya know, i havent opened a dvd drive in a long time either lol

 

[ND40oz]

Round 2, finally upgraded my 10 year old junk. Used the same ole case.

AMD Ryzen 9 7900
Noctua NH-D15
ASUS ROG Strix X670E-E
Thermalright AM5 Secure Frame
G.Skill Flare X5 32GB DDR5 5600 CL30
WD_BLACK 500GB SN770
WD_BLACK 1TB SN850X
WD_BLACK 2TB SN850X
XFX Speedster Radeon RX 6750XT
ASUS ROG Thor 850W

View attachment 550830
View attachment 550831

That's what I did too, 7950X in a Lian Li PC-V2120. Case is 11 years old but had no problem handling the parts with an Arctic Cooling Liquid Freezer II 360. I suspect I'll get at least another 10 years out of this HPTX compatible case.

 

[mullet]

That's what I did too, 7950X in a Lian Li PC-V2120. Case is 11 years old but had no problem handling the parts with an Arctic Cooling Liquid Freezer II 360. I suspect I'll get at least another 10 years out of this HPTX compatible case.

Nice, I will never give up this case. I love it.