Just gonna list them. Wanna hear thoughts and opinions. Don’t want airflow to be choked, but if as long as it isn’t serious, I’m down for a bias to aesthetics.
NZXT H400
NZXT H200
Cooler Master MasterBox Q300L
Fractal Design Meshify C Mini Dark TG
Metallic Gear Neo G Mini
They’re all pretty much the same-ish. The Fractal has the most drive bays. The Neo G would be the best display-model. But yeah. Open discussion, what do you guys think?
Since you care about looks, some of those are inherently mITX only others are mATX, this begs the question, whats your plan to visually fill the space below the GPU in the mATX enclosures, or are you happy with seeing the lower ~65mm of the mobo tray?
If you aren’t and haven’t really got a great solution yet, I’d advise either looking at pure mITX options or going up to the larger ATX cases that offer a vertical GPU mount.
Along simlar lines, whats your plan for the cables? If your hoping to run extensions for looks, the PSU shroud of the NZXT or fractal are basically a must, if your doing a custom sleeve job to the supply it may actually be desirable to be able to show off the PSU end. If your just going with the factory PSU cables, then your budget\preferences for PSU are going to decide here if its something thats needed, but its probably an advantage either way.
If dust filtration is a priority for you (carpets in room, pets ect) the Fractal would be my strong recommendation, and the Phantex would be ruled out. If your not fussed about filtration and airflow matters much more to you, note the Fractal doesn’t actually look that great up top if you remove the filter, but the Phantex NeoG doesn’t do any better due to solid glass on the front as well as the side.
The H200 is basically AIO only, you can get a simple custom loop in there but its not great, and its air cooler support is meh, so that may or may not effect your choice. IF you are going AIO, note only the H400 and Fractal support a 280mm unit, which IMO are noticeable in difference to a 240mm, especially if limited on thickness.
Really not looking to upgrading to an ATX or mid tower system. I’m going ITX and that’s all I’ll ever need. When ram capacity standards shift again, we’ll get 32gb sticks, and ITX will still be relevant. Multi-GPU is near dead except for the ultra baller stuff or virtual machines. Don’t need it.
I like my stuff to be nice and tidy and efficient. No more space than necessary, but without sacrifices(IE shoebox cases and SFX PSU’s, and their other problems). I don’t really NEED to fill the space below the GPU, as that’ll provide extra airflow, but, refer to above if possible.
My room has a carpet and I have 1 long haired cat. I think part of the reason my current PC is so bad is because dust is hurting it. I have the side panel off to keep stuff cool as there is no exhaust fan, and the GPU fan doesn’t work well anymore.
I work outside and often come in with dirt on my clothes and boots. My room doesn’t have the best filtration either since it’s a window unit A/C and I also have a dehumidifier. Both have very basic mesh-style air filters and the A/C obviously isn’t perfectly sealed from the outside, and old, so it has build up in the channels and stuff.
I’m also inherently a bit lazy and am not a fan of maintenance.
I’m going to be starting off with stock cables, but eventually moving to cable-mod cables. If I ever went and did the custom loop, it would be pretty simple with a small res and a 240 or 280. Maybe split it up into 2 120’s or 2 140’s, one for each of the two major components.
Obviously, at that stage, I’d also ball out on custom bent hard tubing, of which I’m reasonably sure I could do myself. I think I’m gonna keep the case black for lighting flexibility. I might also paint the case/do mod panels, so, IDK.
What are your recs, now? I want tempered glass for sure. No ifs, ans, or buts. Is there anything outside of my findings that would work, too?
If you have the slightest hint that you will do a custom loop I would grab a mATX case due to the space constraints of mITX. Both the H400 and the Fractal Design have good airflow, but your GPU temps will take a slight hit because of the PSU shroud. I think the Meshify Mini has better temps than the H400 according to testing done by Gamers Nexus, but I could be mistaken. Either way you go you will get a good case though.
So it’s really between the Meshify and the H400, then, since the Masterbox seems a bit small for a mATX case…
Seeing a few builds in the NZXT has me sold.
Should I be concerned with the with the white staining over time if I get the white version???
Out of those I would say I love the H400… It’s really good looking case. But honestly, Q300L is half price and is so open and customization…
No glass on it, though, the window is plastic… Also the PCI-e slots are not replacable, so you may want to get some planks with it.
Nah, I like the H400 quite a bit. Just worried about the white color staining if I go with white. Any issues??? Because I’m really liking the white as a baseline for if I never paint the thing.
Hmm, shoebox rigs can still work if you can consider spending $200 for a case. I’ve heard really good things about the Louqe Ghost S1 for instance, which allows you to have a 2080 full size card.
If you want a more affordable choice, the Silverstone Sugo SG13 allows you to fit a 1070 Ti in an 11 liter case, and still have decent airflow, but if you plan on overclocking you really need to involve water.