Case choices - advice needed

Hi all,

I'm currently have a mini ITX system that I, er... 'liberated' from work but it's a tad limited for what I want to use it for. So my intention is to transfer the innards over to a micro ATX system so that I can add a proper sound card, be able to set up a RAID array generally sort out the cooling a bit better.
Having had a look around at the more reputable case manufacturers I've narrowed the field down to 3 options, each with a few pros and cons, and am just looking for a bit of input to help make the final decision.


So, in alphabetical order:

Corsair Carbide Air 240

Pros:

• Better fan placement than other options (IMO)
• Smallest of the three cases, by some margin
• Flexible design - can be positioned in 3 different orientations depending on system layout

Cons:

• Fairly high price - ~£75

​

Fractal Design Node 804

Pros:

• Largest number of drive bays - 12 total
• Largest number of fan mounts - 10 total

Cons:

• Poorer airflow than the Corsair (IMO) despite being able to mount more fans
• Same sort of price as the Corsair - ~£75

​

Thermaltake Core V21

Pros:

• 200mm front fan - largest fan of the three cases (helps keep noise down)
• Price - <£50

Cons:

• Largest of the three cases - nearly 50% larger than the Corsair by volume
• Poor use of space - same number of drive bays and fan mounts as the Corsair, fewer of each than the Fractal

​

Any input would be appreciated, especially if anyone's had any experience with any of these cases.

Thanks.

 

My last build was a Air 240. It's a nice case and easy do make a clean build in. I would advise against SLIing in it if you ever moved to a mATX MB.
The foot print is a nice size on a desk.

The build quality is a touch lacking on the window. Other than that pretty good. If you were in Japan I'd sell you my 2 month old case for next to nothing.

 

I don't have any need for SLI, I'm not running any games that intensive that would require it.

It's a shame it even has the window, IMO - I feel they always look tacky.
I can see why they appeal to some people but I'm not going to be trying to build some sort of ridiculous monster of a rig here, so all I want is a reasonably smart looking case.

Ah, that's a shame - not worth the shipping costs though.

Thanks for replying

 

Yeah it has a tacky quality to it I didn't dig.
Perhaps look at some of the Silverstone cases.

 

I had a look at the Silverstone range, none of their mATX cases really grabbed me.
Of the smaller, more cube-y ones, none of them seem to mount a decent number of fans or anything like that.


The thing that keeps drawing me back to the Corsair is the airflow possibilities.

According to the product page, you can sit it with the window on the top (like this) - that would mean that the 'top' and 'bottom' fans would effectively become side fans and you could have 2x120mm front intake fans with 2x120mm exhaust fans on each side to ensure a good airflow throughout without having to resort to a top exhaust fan, which I always worry will let too much dust in.
The only thing I'm not too sure about in that configuration is the cooling for the chamber the PSU is in.

 

Any chance you went with the Thermaltake v21? If so, how did it turn out?

 

Hi Ksimm,
I'm not the original poster, but saw your question and actually just finished a V21 Core build last week, so thought I'd chime in.

It's a great case, very pleased, and would absolutely buy it again. Price is great for the quality. It's going to be bigger than a Mini-ITX or even some M-ATX cases, but with that you also get tons of layout/cooling options. I was looking for something that would be different than just a basic Mid-Tower ATX like I've always used, but would still give me plenty of room to expand if needed in the future.

I went with a Gigabyte Z170MX micro-atx motherboard, i7 6700K, 16GB DDR4, Corsair H115i AiO 280mm liquid cooler and a AMD R9 390 GPU (huge card but fit with plenty of extra room). I did add a couple 140mm case fans just for kicks, but not even sure they were needed with the big included 200m fan. System is quiet and runs cool, zero complaints.

Definitely worth checking out, really nice case.

 

I just put together a microatx build myself.I used the bitfenix phenom case and really love it. It's mainly the style that I love but the build quality is great as well. Just another one that you may want to consider.

 

This. Did a build with one of these myself. Its a great case. Cable routing was decent too.