Best case for airflow cooling ?
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Ady6UK
Member
+1 (though I did own the HAF X and it was great air cooling).
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Feronix
New member
Yeah, the closed front panel is pretty limiting and I find that in big cases the airflow gets kind of 'lost'.
The front intakes only push air so far in for the exhaust fans to pull it out, if the case is massive like the 900D and has 'poor' front intake, the airflow will be really slow near where the components are and airflow, as the name suggests, is all about the speed that the air flows at, not so much the temperature of the air (although that does help).
That'd be a good option, so would the Arc Midi R2 or the NZXT Phantom series, but until OP tells us which size his motherboard is and what kind of looks he is after we can just keep tossing case after case at him and it's going to take a very long time.
Sadly, that says nothing about the size of it mate. Is it a full size ATX one? µATX maybe? A tiny ITX board or an extra large E-ATX board?
If it's ATX and you're going purely for airflow, you should have a look at the Silverstone Raven series or the Air 540 from Corsair.
NeverBackDown
AMD Enthusiast
Fractal Design S has great air cooling. The front intake is totally unobstructed and airflow free.
Feronix
New member
Well, there are no cages but there's still that huge closed panel at the front :lol:
Stick to cases that support 120mm fans rather than larger fans, especially 200mm. Cases that shroud the fan rather than mount it in a large meshed panel provide better airflow in my experience as it reduces flow reversal around the frame of the fan. The best case i've owned for air cooling was a Corsair 550D, leagues ahead of the 600T IMO.
As much as people like to insist that direct airflow paths and meshed front panels to reduce obstruction improve airflow the difference is really minor compared with just have a well balanced set of fans that are nicely set into the case.
JR
As much as people like to insist that direct airflow paths and meshed front panels to reduce obstruction improve airflow the difference is really minor compared with just have a well balanced set of fans that are nicely set into the case.
JR
Feronix
New member
I agree to an extend, you don't want mesh directly next to your fan though tbh most cases have this. That's more a matter of noise though and not necessarily airflow, and with noise bigger fans do help in my experience (less rotating to shift the same amount of air due to the bigger surface area that it covers).
Ideally you'd want nothing obstructing the fan and just let them spin slow. If you put a solid panel in front then make sure there's a fair bit of room between the panel and loads of open space for intake from the side for instance.
It's a matter of both, and i'd say more significantly airflow. If a fan is mounted in mid air (or in the centre of a meshed panel) then air will just circulate around the frame and go back through the fan again. If it's mounted in a solid panel, that can't happen and the pressure difference created will be better. Yay fan efficiency!
Solid panels infront of fans being an issue is way exaggerated. 140mm fans are ok, but 120mm fans are more diverse and smashing a 120mm fan in a 140mm mount would be pants, for reasons earlier discussed.
Air doesn't travel in simple easy straight lines at the pathetically low speeds we are discussing, this isn't a Veyron wind tunnel scenario. Just a little puffy cloud of smoke dithering around a box. It will go whichever way the pressure difference takes it.
JR
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Dark NighT
New member
Cant go wrong with a NZXT H440, ive got all casefans on 7 volts, its dead quiet and has enough airflow to keep my gpu and cpu temps in check and quiet.
NeverBackDown
AMD Enthusiast
Really as long as you have good fans and set them up right, it's not a big issue. Things being in front of the fans, like many FD cases with the door, don't make much a difference. Things behind the fans don't make much a difference either if you have enough pressure. It's just best without anything in the way so it's more direct. You don't need that much air/cfm, just a balanced and efficient way of getting the air in and out quickly, which is why a slightly more positive pressure is better than equal
Insurance
New member
I can recommend this case as well. Great airflow due to its "dual chamber" design.
