Cases with good air flow

I really like my NZXT Phantom case, but in my opinion it doesn't have that great of airflow. I like the fan controller on top though. I was looking at possibly getting a Cooler Master Haf Stacker 935 and adding a Haf 915R to the bottom for additional airflow/radiators. Or possibly getting a different NZXT Phantom if the other versions have better airflow. Anyone have a different version of the Phantom or that Haf Stacker 935?

690 III good mid case !

Don't buy cases with stock 20-23cm fans?

For best airflow replace the stock ones you have inside your case into 12/14cm Corsair AF performance / Noctua NF-P fans.

For cases with bad airflow are probably the ones that got no cable management, it's really hard to fine ones, you'll have to spend less than 20$ for that.

I have this one

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119160

Pretty awesome. Most of the dust is easy to clean. It cools my PC very nicely. It's huge, so that might not be something you like, but it's great.

@PredatorRules: cable management is really good in my case only cord really that stick out is my gpu cord. It has the option of installing a 200/230mm fan on the side of the case, but read that that isn't the best option because it blows the heat back at all the components. If I got that cooler master I was talking about and added to it then I could have everything liquid cooled because it has the option to add 2 360mm radiators to the top portion and 2 360mm radiators to the bottom portion. I think that would work?

I personally look for any case that has 120mm or bigger fan options for the rear, top and front.

I don't use side fans since they tend to disrupt air flow in the case. Also bottom mounted fans are a no, no... Since that's where all the dirt likes to hide.

Removable filters for the front is always a must.

Do not put huge fans inside a case, I don't know why people think it's a good idea, it looks cool but nothing more than that.

@Truth_Hurts_U: yeah my case has a huge side fan and I heard that also that it disrupts airflow. I have 2 side 120mm fans but they mainly just blow on the hdd. Have an option for a bottom front fan but the hdd cage is still in the way. Only other options are the main back fan and 2 top 200mm fans which the case came with one on top.

I'd like to find a case with 3 fans in the front of the case one on the back top and 2 on the top of the case.

Corsair Air 540 is one of the best but it's a bit bulky having two separate compartments.

It keeps the power supply separate and the hard drives are at the bottom or second compartment so it doesn't impede airflow.

I have the case and love it.

Full tower (if you want to go this route), Fractal Design Arc XL.

140mm fans, they're quiet and has a built in fan control (nothing fancy, but it's nice to have) that runs up to 3 fans at 3 speeds. When I'm not gaming, I set the fans to low and when gaming I flip the switch to high. With the Silent Series R2 140mm fans, the noise difference between low and high is negligible.

You can remove 1 or both of the hard drive cages as well, thus clearing the area by the front intake fans. There are 2 mounting spots behind the MB to mount SSDs and plenty of room for cable mangement.

I removed both HDD cages and used a couple of 5.25" HDD mounting brackets for my 2 HDDs and I have my SSD behind the MB. The pic below shows my computer about 3/4 of the way completed (I had cable management to finish. Also I took a long time to sand and paint the case. The normal case colors are black and white).

Here's what the case normally looks like:

@RyviusARC: Wow that one is really nice so where is the power supply at?

It's a cube case, so it's behind the motherboard.. If you need a smaller one another great option is the Thermaltake v21 for microatx set ups....

@sSubZerOo: I like Full tower cases. So I know I have enough room for everything.

.... Inless you plan on going quad sli or want to have like 10 drives.. Full towers are unnecessary and are dieing out.. Midtowers and cube cases (both atx and matx) can basically fit everything easily that 99% of all users will need. This doesn't mean you shouldn't want a full tower but you shouldn't cross off midtowers.. Especially when the best cases in the industry are mid towers now... On top of the fact that the best midtowers and cube cases can house custom water cooling loops.... Take the Thermaltake v21 for instance, it can fit a dual sli configuration, a fully custom loop.. Fans/Radiator support it has 1x 200mm/2x 140mm/2x 120mm in the front.. Back 140mm/120mm.. Two sets of brackets in which you can install 2x 140mm or 2x 120mm each.. And that is just a microatx cube case.. Look at something like the Fractal R5, NZXT h440, Corsair air 540, Phanteks series cases.. The go to youtube channel to watch is Hardware Canucks.. They review in depth more cases than any one else..

@sSubZerOo: Yeah I might go with a mid tower actually. Don't really need all those hdd bays and optical drives that a lot of full towers have.

The Corsair Air 540 that I have can handle the longest video cards without issue and have space for water cooling as well.

I like my case to feel like it's getting the most use from it. With my Air 540 it feels like the space is getting used well but with a full tower it feels like there is a lot of empty unneeded space.

@RyviusARC: yea that's how I feel too I have several hdd bays and only 1 hard drive plus like 6 different optical drive bays and only I optical drive. I don't really see why a case would need 6 to be honest. Or that many hdd bays.

The problem I have with the Air 540 is it is like 10 to 20% larger than it needs to be imo.. And it lacks dust filters in some areas, such as the PSU area.. And I think possibly the top area as well?.. The Corsair air 240 fixed the problem with the dust filters part, but made the case too narrow.. This has led to them having 2 90x fan mounts which no one is going to use in the back, and trouble fitting in wider cards (like the MSI 970 gtx).. I am holding out for a Corsair Air 240 version 2.0.. That is slightly wider and taller.. Allowing for wider cards to fit in, the exhaust having a 120mm fan mount.. And if using a micro atx board, capability of using the two 120mm fans mounts on the bottom. Also I wouldn't even worry about card length being a issue with any enthusiast case out there.. Even the great ITX cases out there can fit the longest cards.. Yeah full towers are becoming a dying breed.. The pc enthusiast industry largely are moving over to midrange towers as the largest options, as well as gravitating towards much smaller microatx and itx builds.. Take my thermaltake v21 microatx cube case.. It can comfortably fit the largest card sli builds (hell even something like two fury X's with the two water cooling loops) as well as have room for 3 2.5/3.5 drives + 3 2.5 drive sleds.. Currently in my machine I have 1 140mm fan in the back, 1 200mm fan intake up front.. And I have a bracket on the top which has a 120mm exhaust in the back top, and a corsair h75 intake in push pull config... And if I really wanted to get crazy I could rotate the motherboard so it is lying flat down, for my other bracket in which I could put 2 more 120mm/140mm fans..

The PSU doesn't really need dust filters. I've used mine for almost a year and have no dust build up at all.

The top of the case also doesn't need dust filters because it's not an intake for air flow. The fans are blowing air out of the case from the top as hot air rises.

The only spot for intake fans in the front of the case which does have dust filters.

I think I'm going to go with the NZXT H440. It has really good cable management, a lot of fans for good airflow, is a mid tower so itl actually be able to fit on my computer desk, big enough for 2 GPU's, it's quiet, has filters, and looks really cool. Only downside I don't like is that it doesn't have any bays for an optical drive, but I can always plug in an external optical drive when I need to use it.

I don't think it's a downside, a friend of mine does the same thing when he needs to read or write some CD.

I don't have DVD drive installed in my case neither, I use image files and USB drives.

@PredatorRules: I mean its a downside of having to plug it up, put it up if you don't want it laying around and having to get it back out when you can just press a button when it's installed in the case. I do like that you have the option for more fans in the front of the case though to push that hot air out of the top and back of the case.

Well you can't have it all, unless you take some full tower case.

I have said H440 case and have been liking it so far. Plenty of room for easy cable management and many drive bays (not external of course). That space also lets you put whatever size CPU cooler you want in it (and Ive read its extremely easy to mount a cpu WC setup to exhaust out the top.

I've removed all the hdd mounts I dont need to free up more space for airflow.

I like my Cooler Master Silencio microATX case.

@dxmcat: yeah I added the case on PC part picker and it said il have to remove some hdd mounts for the GPU. No big deal though there are 2 ssd mounts on top of the psu case in the case and all I really need is one hdd mount anyway.

@RyviusARC: what what? Psu is where most of the dust collects on my rig.

Having hard drives next to the 2nd gpu in the air 540 isn't a good idea. I've used hard drive mounts like that before and all the hard drives there eventually died. There is a lot of temperature change based on the load from the gpu.

@JigglyWiggly_: yeah I think I'm going to go with the NZXT H440. It has hard drive bays near the front fans. And I think you can put one or 2 ssd's on the back side of the case.

I had the HAF 932 Advance which had amazing airflow. The big side fan really helped the gpu's keep cool.

After that I had the corsair 540, great case but for me I just had to much "stuff" for it and airflow wasn't good as a result.

I switched to the Enthoo Primo and all is well with the world.

Not for me.

A dust filter is only a couple of bucks anyway so it's nothing to discard a whole case over.

@klunt_bumskrint: thought the big fan on the side wasn't good for airflow because it disrupts the airflow. Isn't it best to have air flow in from the front and out from the back and top? Heat does travel up.

@Jr14: All I can say is it did wonders for my 780's

@klunt_bumskrint: hmm I might give it a shot then only like $15-20 for a fan anyway. Do you know what temp it ran with and without that side fan?

@Jr14: I can't remember

The massive 230mm fan on the side panel does not have alot of force with the air flow. it dont disrupt the gpu's cooling. Now I still use my 6 year old HAF 932 and when front 230mm fan died. I moved the side panel fan to the front. That was when I was running a GTX 560 and without the side fan temps went up only a few degrees. Now if you are running multiple gpu's the side fan will make a big difference.

@04dcarraher: Thanks that's good to know since I plan on running 2 gpu's in the future. I can see how that would help cooling off multiple gpu's by blowing air inbetween them.

@jun_aka_pekto: I'm going similar on my next build, ATX is too big and a bit too much now-a-days, even with 2 GPU's.

Check out the Bitfenix Shinobi! it´s great! i love that thing