Finding a case..

[sosolidshoe]

OK, so I have my major components all picked out, I have a budget in place, but I still can't decide on a case.

I want to create a low-noise positive-pressure environment, and I am willing to get spendy if I have to(although I'd obviously prefer not to ). I can't stand viewing panels in the side of my cases, since I'm a function guy and I build Frankenrigs with no regard for interior aesthetics. The case also needs to be able to support an H100i set up as an exhaust, and ideally with room for push-pull.

What's most annoying me is that I swear there used to be cases which were just plain, black, Monolith-esque affairs with loads of front intake mounting points and a nice solid side panel designed for front-to-back airflow, but everything I can find now is either horribly over-designed or uses up valuable front panel space on features I'll never use like hot-swappable drive bays. Are there any cases about at the moment which have 3x120mm front intakes(to which I can mount the round 140mm Noctuas), a 140mm rear exhaust, and space in the top for the H100i? Or would I get better noise-to-airflow performance with these multi-200mm setups?

Any advice is appreciated.

 

[SPS]

I would have said Fractal R4 but that has H100 compatibility issues, although I have seen people fit it in.

So how about the Fractal Arc Midi?

 

[sosolidshoe]

I could only achieve positive pressure with that case if I used the side intake, as I said I'd prefer to stack all my intakes on the front of the case and have a closed side panel with the airflow coming in the front and exiting through the rear and rear-top. I'll only be mounting a single traditional HDD inside the case so there will be no obstruction of the front fans and thus no need for a side fan to help cool the graphics card, and if there was I'd rather mount an internal fan than open up another hole for noise to come out of.

 

[Feronix]

You could go with a 550D, which is build for silence. Use two 120mm fans in the front as intake and turn you rear exhaust fan around so that is an intake as well. Then mount the H100i as an exhaust in the top.

 

[sosolidshoe]

Hmm, thanks for the suggestion Feronix, but I've never been a huge fan of cases with swingdoors. Here's a crappy MS Paint drawing of roughly what I had in mind;

A mate sent me a link to the Antec 1200, but I'm not sure if there'd be room to upgrade the front fans to 140's(vertically there is, horizontally though..), and it has one of those vanity panels on the side(I'd make my own side panel but I have no access to tools at the moment).

 

[Feronix]

I don't think you can replace them with 140s as each fan has its own bay, I'm not sure if those 140mm fans will fit.

Other cases to consider are:

Antec One P280 (Does have a door)
Bitfenix Raider (Not build just for silence, but suits your needs)
Cooler Master Silencio 550 (Has a door)
Cooler Master Silencio 650 (Has a door as well)
Nexus Prominent R (Not a well-known brand, but a really good case, build for silence)

Truth is that you're probably not going to find a case with 3 x 140mm front intake, and if you do it sure a heck won't be very quiet.

 

[sosolidshoe]

I don't think you can replace them with 140s as each fan has its own bay, I'm not sure if those 140mm fans will fit.

Other cases to consider are:

Antec One P280 (Does have a door)
Bitfenix Raider (Not build just for silence, but suits your needs)
Cooler Master Silencio 550 (Has a door)
Cooler Master Silencio 650 (Has a door as well)
Nexus Prominent R (Not a well-known brand, but a really good case, build for silence)

Truth is that you're probably not going to find a case with 3 x 140mm front intake, and if you do it sure a heck won't be very quiet.

It will running undervolted Noctuas(one of the reasons I don't want to see the inside is all the fans will be Noctua, and while they perform great they're ugly as sin). I'll have a look at your suggestions thanks.

 

[njallday]

Any reason why you can't just get a case with filtered intakes and forget about the overall positive pressure? I don't have positive pressure but my intakes are all filtered and almost no dust accumulates in my rig. You just have to remember to take the filters out and clean them every once in a while.

 

[sosolidshoe]

Any reason why you can't just get a case with filtered intakes and forget about the overall positive pressure? I don't have positive pressure but my intakes are all filtered and almost no dust accumulates in my rig. You just have to remember to take the filters out and clean them every once in a while.

Whereas with positive pressure, I wouldn't have to bother. PC intake filters are really poor unless you spend money on the aftermarket ones that use medical-grade steel mesh, and with the amount those cost I'm as well building a positive pressure rig that I'll only have to clean once every six+ months.

I had another idea; if you remove all but the top bay in the front of the HAF X, by my calculations you would have enough room to custom-mount the 200mm top-fan that comes with the case in there - do you think I'd get a better CFM-to-noise ratio running that 200mm with the front 230mm both undervolted to 7 than I would from 3 140mm's running at the same volts, and further do you think that would provide enough CFM to give me positive pressure if the exhaust for the case was a rear 120mm fan running at 7 volts, and four static-pressure fans doing push-pull through an H100i radiator?