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New build mid-tower case suggestions?

SinisterDev85
Level 11
Greetings everyone!

So Im working on a new build and Im trying to find a good case to fit it all in. Ive been scouring the internet, reading articles, watching videos etc. I'd like to see some of your opinions based on what Im looking for.

So here's the features Im looking for, in order of priority :
-Something in the $100 range (preferably under 150)
-has to fit at least 1x 360mm rad. (preferably in the top but front is acceptable)
-very good thermal performance, plenty of airflow
-easy to access/clean dust filters that work well at keeping the dust out!
-I've really become a fan of tempered glass.
-RGB is pretty cool too!

Ive looked at quite a few mid-sized cases. Two that I've really liked the look of so far are the Phanteks Pro M with the Halo fans, and the Fractal Design Meshify C. Leaning towards the Phanteks,but both are nice. Any other suggestions?

Thanks in advance! I look forward to seeing your ideas!
ASUS ROG Z790 Apex Encore | i9 14900ks | | G. Skill Trident Z5 8000 | 2x WD SN850x 4gb | Asus Strix RTX 4080 OC| Asus ROG Thor 1200w | Windows 11 Pro
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16 REPLIES 16

Korth
Level 14
I'm of the opinion that case selection really boils down to aesthetic (and budget) preferences.

You're gonna have to share a room for a long time, so get one you like looking at. Specs are only meaningful for compatibility, features are only meaningful if you actually use them, price is what it is but you won't regret spending a little more if it buys something you like.

You evidently prefer windowed mid-towers, hopefully to show off some of the hardware bling inside ... great if it's in a visible location, not worth paying extra and not worth excluding/trading other case options if it's just going to sit "unseen" under a desk or in a cubbyhole most of the time.

"Modular" cases are gaining traction these days, seems attractive to be able to buy exactly/only the components you want and configure them exactly the way you want. But if you buy a big brand you might find the total cost ends up being quite spendy, if you buy a lesser brand you might find yourself stuck without vital chassis parts a few years later. CoolerMaster offers some decent choices.

"Silent" cases are often equipped with overkill dust filters and internal ducting to maximize airflow efficiencies. BeQuiet cases tend to be clean (and be easy to clean), but they also tend to be costly.

Adding dust filters (mesh or foam) is an easy DIY mod on almost any chassis, with or without buying extra things. Ideally you just want "cleaning" to involve just brushing a vacuum across the surface or just blasting some compressed air or maybe even some vigorous shaking and beating the dust out ... but anything involving taking stuff apart and tools and awkward reaching and liquid washes and such is simply not going to happen as often in practice, lol, sometimes low tech is the best way to go.

Corsair Graphite/Obsidian cases are fair bang-for-buck, overkill for mounting and expanding in all the common hardware arrangements.
I avoid Thermaltake when possible, cheap knockoff junk, but that's only a personal preference. I also avoid Lian Li, excellent superior stuff, simply because it's way overpriced.
"All opinions are not equal. Some are a very great deal more robust, sophisticated and well supported in logic and argument than others." - Douglas Adams

[/Korth]

SinisterDev85
Level 11
Thanks for the detailed response Korth!
And I especially agree with the concept that you're going to be looking at your case for a long time, so you should get one you like looking at haha. After all, my last PC case was in an old Corsair Obsidian 650D that I bought the year it came out, and that same case has now been a part of 3 seperate builds I've done. In fact, when I built my Hero 8 Alpha rig, I couldn't really fit a new case into the budget, so I decided to tear down the 650D and customize it in an attempt to breathe new life into the case! I have some awesome before and after pics that I've posted in the forums here too.

After all these years, the case really started showing its age, and I found myself wanting something with more features that modern day cases have, such as usb C ports, cleaner cable management, a psu shroud, larger radiator capacities, tempered glass etc. So I splurged a bit and in what I see as a very fitting move, gave my PC a new home in the new Corsair Obsidian 500D RGB SE! Which i absolutely love and will likely use for many years to come. Continuing the cycle until it becomes obsolete. I absolutely love this new case! It was a pleasure to build in and it looks gorgeous imo. But I digress...

Onto the topic of the new case Im looking for now for the PC im currently building! Ive been looking into alot of cases for the new rig and despite it putting me a bit beyond my budget I think I may end up getting the Fractal Design Define R6 TG Gunmetal case... I simply cannot overlook how amazing this case is for the price! It's likely another case that will see multiple builds go through it as time goes on a (and my wife seems to agree that its worth the extra $ too :cool:). Im just so utterly impressed with all of its features and overall build quality. Clearly alot of R&D went into its design and the improvements they made over the R5. Im blown away.

I honestly think I would have missed this awesome case if I hadn't read your response and really took into it into consideration. At this point, what's another $40-50 for a case I will likely use for many years? So thanks for your input. I appreciate it!
ASUS ROG Z790 Apex Encore | i9 14900ks | | G. Skill Trident Z5 8000 | 2x WD SN850x 4gb | Asus Strix RTX 4080 OC| Asus ROG Thor 1200w | Windows 11 Pro

Korth
Level 14
It's still very hard to find cases with the newest/craziest ports built in (front or top panel, etc). It's really quite stupid: lots of high-end mobos have the headers, lots of high-end cases don't have anything which plugs into them.

But there are various aftermarket mods and kits and parts which can let you wire the latest-and-greatest USB 3.1 Gen2 Type-C or Thunderbolt 3 (or whatever) into almost any chassis. If you can find a chassis you (and your budget) like which happens to offer all the built-in ports you need that's great ... but many (most) people end up having to severely limit their chassis options or choosing an aftermarket approach. Fractal might sell specific kits/parts separately, or they might not, but somebody somewhere always does.
"All opinions are not equal. Some are a very great deal more robust, sophisticated and well supported in logic and argument than others." - Douglas Adams

[/Korth]

Korth
Level 14
I always wanted to get one of those "Level 10" cases ... drool drool drool ... but y'know Thermaltake, icky brand for me (we all have our hangups) ... and by the time I got around to giving the design a more serious second look it turned out that the form factor for half the stuff inside a decent PC had changed a lot, people don't build PCs around a bunch of full-sized HDDs anymore (well, at least I don't) so the simplicity and elegance of Level 10 is sort of obsolete artwork now, haha.

Just sayin' I hope you're happy with your Fractal, the next time you build you might find things have moved on so enjoy your aesthetic while you can. 😄
"All opinions are not equal. Some are a very great deal more robust, sophisticated and well supported in logic and argument than others." - Douglas Adams

[/Korth]

And ugh... What a painful sight i had to witness today! My R6 arrived and when I opened the box and unpacked it, my heart sank! It was like seeing a beautiful piece of art destroyed!

⚠ These pics might give people nightmares, cause depression, or induce a fit of rage! ⚠

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ASUS ROG Z790 Apex Encore | i9 14900ks | | G. Skill Trident Z5 8000 | 2x WD SN850x 4gb | Asus Strix RTX 4080 OC| Asus ROG Thor 1200w | Windows 11 Pro

SinisterDev85
Level 11
I definitely understand what you mean about Thermaltake cases. And some of them look very nice too, but the last two TT cases I tried ended up being big disappointments. Im getting rid of the old one that our Hero vi was in.

Im so impressed with the Fractal Design R6. And they just released new versions of it this year with the previously optional Usb C front port included. Not only is the case aesthetically pleasing, the case oozes quality and ingenuity. Its modular design is simply brilliant! It has so many features that I actually needed to watch multiple review videos to see everything the case offers because several features were completely missed by some of the reviewers.

You can fit a ton of full-sized HDD's in here, if that's your thing. Or remove the trays, and move the entire drive cage panel into the back, opening up even more room for larger rads, more fans, or custom loop cooling and more! And even after you swap the drive bay cover, u can still fit 2 HDD's and i believe 5 SSD's easily.

If you're interested in seeing what i mean, these couple videos were very informative! And like I mentioned, there are important customization features that each reviewer missed.

https://youtu.be/WWaxLG2hCgo

https://youtu.be/C3r4bIan9Vs

Even both these popular videos didn't highlight all the case's features...
ASUS ROG Z790 Apex Encore | i9 14900ks | | G. Skill Trident Z5 8000 | 2x WD SN850x 4gb | Asus Strix RTX 4080 OC| Asus ROG Thor 1200w | Windows 11 Pro

SinisterDev85 wrote:


Im so impressed with the Fractal Design R6. And they just released new versions of it this year with the previously optional Usb C front port included. Not only is the case aesthetically pleasing, the case oozes quality and ingenuity. Its modular design is simply brilliant! It has so many features that I actually needed to watch multiple review videos to see everything the case offers because several features were completely missed by some of the reviewers.

You can fit a ton of full-sized HDD's in here, if that's your thing. Or remove the trays, and move the entire drive cage panel into the back, opening up even more room for larger rads, more fans, or custom loop cooling and more! And even after you swap the drive bay cover, u can still fit 2 HDD's and i believe 5 SSD's easily.

If you're interested in seeing what i mean, these couple videos were very informative! And like I mentioned, there are important customization features that each reviewer missed.

https://youtu.be/WWaxLG2hCgo

https://youtu.be/C3r4bIan9Vs

Even both these popular videos didn't highlight all the case's features...


I'm much in the same boat as you, I'm looking to get a case to fit a new TT 360mm rad with a new Maximus XI Code mobo. My current Fractal Design Define R5 Black case is quit good, well made and flexible but I need that case for something else.

I saw your post regarding the delivery mess up with your new Fractal Design R6 you got through Amazon. What a bummer that was. That case must have gotten a very hard beating to end up like that, if the material used for the build as strong as the R5.

The only thing I found with the R5 that I have is that it had too many 3.5" HDD bays, although you could easily customize where to put them or remove some or all of them including the 2 Optical disk drive bays if you want to.

I shall check out the 2 videos you linked and see what the new fractal R6 is like. I'm hoping it has USB 3.1 gen 1 + 2 ports.

Korth
Level 14
First pic with crooked fan mounts (and no grilles?) was indeed saddening, feel bad for ya, lol.

I remember being case-obsessed not too many years ago. Gotta have something quality, something you really like and can be proud of owning. Then I learned there's just no such thing as a "perfect" PC chassis except for those you build/mod yourself. So now I'm actually into what the ROG crowd would generally consider "low-end" cases and "worthless" brands.

And it turns out in the end the vast majority of these things are all made in the same handful of Taiwan/Chinese plants, the same people and same materials and same tools/methods/workmanship, lol, same in every way except whatever branding and fans and minor tweaks and packaging the big "manufacturers" add on afterwards. Search Alibaba for things like "computer case" or "PC tower" and be dismayed at seeing at least 95% of the chassis you already recognize all over it - the "genuine" items, and the clones and ripoffs, and even variants (sometimes better than original models) - usually for about $10-$15 each (when you buy bulk of 10+ or 100+ etc, lol), often with all sorts of options to customize panels and metals and surface finishes and configurations which the "genuine" OEMs just don't offer. It's where I buy all my chassis now unless I need whatever a local vendor can sell me right now to put a box together before the day ends. I would've recommended it earlier but you seemed to have your heart set on certain products, lol.
"All opinions are not equal. Some are a very great deal more robust, sophisticated and well supported in logic and argument than others." - Douglas Adams

[/Korth]

Korth wrote:
First pic with crooked fan mounts (and no grilles?) was indeed saddening, feel bad for ya, lol.

I remember being case-obsessed not too many years ago. Gotta have something quality, something you really like and can be proud of owning. Then I learned there's just no such thing as a "perfect" PC chassis except for those you build/mod yourself. So now I'm actually into what the ROG crowd would generally consider "low-end" cases and "worthless" brands.

And it turns out in the end the vast majority of these things are all made in the same handful of Taiwan/Chinese plants, the same people and same materials and same tools/methods/workmanship, lol, same in every way except whatever branding and fans and minor tweaks and packaging the big "manufacturers" add on afterwards. Search Alibaba for things like "computer case" or "PC tower" and be dismayed at seeing at least 95% of the chassis you already recognize all over it - the "genuine" items, and the clones and ripoffs, and even variants (sometimes better than original models) - usually for about $10-$15 each (when you buy bulk of 10+ or 100+ etc, lol), often with all sorts of options to customize panels and metals and surface finishes and configurations which the "genuine" OEMs just don't offer. It's where I buy all my chassis now unless I need whatever a local vendor can sell me right now to put a box together before the day ends. I would've recommended it earlier but you seemed to have your heart set on certain products, lol.


Can you provide the exact shop which used to customize a single piece of case for you?