Recommendation and advice for a new PC case.

[trawetSluaP]

Hi,

I currently have a CM Storm Stryker case. Although I very much like this case I feel I need a change for two very important reasons.

1) I'd like a case that has a side panel fan mount as my GPU blows hot air directly toward the side panel and I'd like to be able to mount a exhaust fan there.

2) My GPU has very bright LED lights on the side which are giving me migraines so I would like to change to a case without a side window.

So far I've looked at and am very interested in the Corsair Carbide 500R.

Any thoughts and suggestions will be very much appreciated!

My budget is around £100-£150.

Thanks
Paul

 

[Wraith]

Is your GPU dust free? My GPU blows hot air out the side only when the heat sink veins are blocked, I do know that some cards will exhaust at least a small amount of heat sideways but heat rises. You should only really exhaust heat from the rear or the top of a case, adding exhaust to the side panel could have a knock on effect with the intake air flow. The Carbide 500R is a nice case though.

 

[trawetSluaP]

Is your GPU dust free? My GPU blows hot air out the side only when the heat sink veins are blocked, I do know that some cards will exhaust at least a small amount of heat sideways but heat rises. You should only really exhaust heat from the rear or the top of a case, adding exhaust to the side panel could have a knock on effect with the intake air flow. The Carbide 500R is a nice case though.

Hi, yeah it's dust free. Only a few days old. When it's got fans going at 100% it pushes hot air out the side. I assume this is normal though.

 

[Wraith]

Yeah the 780Ti Classy at 100% would be blowing out the sides, I'm pretty sure any card would at 100% fan speed. Can I ask what are you running to get the card spinning up to that speed.

 

[trawetSluaP]

Yeah the 780Ti Classy at 100% would be blowing out the sides, I'm pretty sure any card would at 100% fan speed. Can I ask what are you running to get the card spinning up to that speed.

It only hits 100% when I'm pushing it in benchmarks.

It gets up to about 75% under gaming load as I have set a more aggressive fan profile.

I was going for a side mounted fan as I thought it would help. Didn't realise it could be detrimental!

 

[Wraith]

You could go for a side panel fan blowing inwards onto the GPU that would help.

 

[NeverBackDown]

A fan blowing on the side will help a little bit. Not much though. I have found that blowing air from the bottom to the case up to the GPU gives the best results because of the cool air going straight into the the GPU fans and also the pressure will help push any hot air up as well allowing the heat to rise naturally out of the case.

 

[remember300]

with the LED's cant you just turn them down or off?

and i agree with the side mounted fan, i blocked off the side vents with a solid sheet and due to the better airflow and less turbulence the temps where better

if not good choice on a new case

 

[barnsley]

sidefans don't do much to the temperature at all. I used to have a xfx 7870. The cooler works much like the classy's and I know that a sidefan maybe did 2c of difference. If you're into benching just leave the side-panel off when you're benching. Case wise I'd recommend a fractal R4.

 

[trawetSluaP]

with the LED's cant you just turn them down or off?

and i agree with the side mounted fan, i blocked off the side vents with a solid sheet and due to the better airflow and less turbulence the temps where better

if not good choice on a new case

Unfortunaltey you can't turn them off or down. They are incredibly bright!

I looked at the R4 but it won't fit my CPU cooler.

I've decided on the Corsair 730T. Looks amazing, no side window. But after reading your collective opinions, are the small vents on the side of the case going to hinder cooling?

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/cors...r-performance-case-black-with-red-led-w-o-psu

 

[remember300]

id rather just give my gpu(s) more fresh air inwards and then use fans at the top to vent out as your not fussed about noise with those aggressive fan curves just run the fans at full, in my C70 i have 2 intakes pushing nice cool air into the area my GPU is in.
Then my exhaust is turned around to just give a little draft over the top of the card.
then the top has 2 fans blasting air out and it performs well enough i found i got less throttling from my old 560ti when i had it with the DUCII cooler with a blanked off side panel, than one with either fan vents of even mesh, and that threw out heat from the sides which is why i mention it.
i think you would get better performance air flow wise if you needed it to have a fan in the bottom of the case.
with my 780 i have not had any probs with it over heating or throwing out enough heat to warp my window
plus i think the windows look nicer so win win. if the LED's are to bright but you want to keep a window maybe try getting some window tint film and putting that over it to give it a smoked effect.

Hope this helped, and hope you see my side