# Which PC Case?



## Quasar (Nov 26, 2020)

For a new build, cases seem more complicated than they used to be. I know I want:

1) Room for at least two 3.5" and four 2.5" drives + optical drive.
2) USB C on front panel.
3) Excellent thermals/airflow (more important than silence, even though it's for DAW, but don't want irritatingly loud either). And I don't want to spend much more than $100 if possible.

No desire for RGB crapola. Looking at Fractal Design, etc. Anyone find a case for a new build they can wholeheartedly recommend?


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## d.healey (Nov 26, 2020)

What size motherboard?


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## Quasar (Nov 26, 2020)

d.healey said:


> What size motherboard?


ATX absolutely. I've never seriously considered anything larger or smaller. Thanks for asking.


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## d.healey (Nov 26, 2020)

I like the Aerocool Aero500. If you were in the UK I'd send you my old one as I've just migrated to a custom built case. I think you can still buy them. They're small but spacious and have good ventilation. I only use two case fans and a single CPU fan (with a big cooler) and temps rarely go above 40 with a hexcore i7. I run the fans slow so it's almost silent.


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## Quasar (Nov 26, 2020)

d.healey said:


> I like the Aerocool Aero500. If you were in the UK I'd send you my old one as I've just migrated to a custom built case. I think you can still buy them. They're small but spacious and have good ventilation. I only use two case fans and a single CPU fan (with a big cooler) and temps rarely go above 40 with a hexcore i7. I run the fans slow so it's almost silent.


Not in the UK, but that's a kind thought, thank you.

Newegg has a deal on on the Fractal Design Define 7 ($89 + shipping, so just over $100) so I bought it.

Now I have the case and two 1 TB SSDs for a platform neutral build as I still haven't decided between AMD and Intel.


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## peladio (Nov 26, 2020)

Fractal


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## colony nofi (Nov 26, 2020)

Look up Gamers Nexus on youtube. Has extremely thorough reviews. There's too many variables to just recommend one particular case.
Things to look out for...
Making sure that the thermal concept you are going after is possible with the case. Many cases have flat front panels which make cool air intake very difficult. For that style of cooling, look for mesh cases with filters that don't stop too much air. Interesting some top to back cooling solutions seem to come out VERY well too...
Larger fans = lower RPM = (most of the time) lower noise. Some of the new cases with 2x200mm fans at the front are incredibly effective. 
Are you running a high wattage graphics card?
What type of CPU cooler are you running? AIO? Water? Heatsink/heatpipe/fan combo? This - especially for DAWS - often means looking at clearances for both RAM and the case. The noctua nh-d15 needs 160mm clearance, and not all cases give that. 
How you mount graphics cards is important as well - if you do ANY graphics work that pushes a higher end card, you can REALLY get thermal issues if a case doesn't have great airflow.

The Fractal meshify S2 (from memory - you better check) has 160mm clearance (only just!) and great airflow (allowing 2x140mm fans at the front running very low RPM's)

Even though Gamers Nexus is for - well - gamers, their reviews are really useful for DAW builders. It makes it fairly straight forward to figure out what bits of the system you need to think about more than others. They have a roundup of case reviews from earlier this year which goes thru thermals + noise levels for a bunch of cases they've looked at in the last 3 years.


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## Pictus (Nov 27, 2020)




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