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**parsec** · 12-28-2014, 12:04 PM

Re: Which Case should I get?

Full tower cases cost more because they are larger, there is more material (steel, etc) in them so they weigh more and cost more to manufacture, package and ship. Plus they probably have more fans included with them and usually have a few more features, and tend to be the fanciest case the manufacture makes.

They also have more room for components or extra large mother boards (EATX size) and allow very long video cards to be mounted easily. They are also easier to build in because of the extra room. Bigger cases tend to be better for cooling because they will have more fan mounting positions and options, more venting to allow air in or out, and let you mount any size CPU cooler or use liquid cooling components.

You may think you can put any PC case under your table, but once you have a large full tower case in your room, you may be surprised about how much room you don't have.

Mid tower cases still have plenty of room for most people, and have plenty of fan mounting options. They are capable of just as good cooling as a full tower case, as long as they are configured correctly.

The case size you need depends upon what parts you are using, and may plan on using in the future.

You can't look at that giant list of cases and pick one without knowing what they look like. The best thing you could do is go to a PC store and look at the cases they have to get an idea of what they are all about. At least pick several manufactures, go to their web sites, and look at the cases.

In general, a Fractal R4 is a great case, can't go wrong using that one. A Corsair 500R or C70 are also good choices. The PCPartPicker list is virtually every PC case that exists, no wonder you are lost.

**ChaosTheorist** · 12-28-2014, 09:48 PM

Re: Which Case should I get?

That's like asking "which car should I buy?" The answer is driven by what you need it to do.

In general, the only reason to get a full tower is because you need space for things that won't fit into a mid tower: an EATX motherboard with 5 GPUs, a dozen drives, a cooling loop with a zillion radiators, or similar. That doesn't apply for most of us, and it doesn't sound like it applies to you.

One thing you should look for: 140mm fans. They give you better cooling with less noise, or *much* better cooling for the same noise. Plus, cases that are wide enough for 140mm fans usually have more room behind the MB for wiring than the narrower cases using 120mm fans.

I just finished the first phase of a new system in a Fractal Design Arc Midi R2. It has mounts for 7 140mm fans, can hold 2 external 5-1/4" drives (BD writer + media dashboard), 8 internal hard drives (which I will be using) + 2 SSDs (may or may not use those), and contains an ASRock X99 OC Formula, which is an oversize ATX board: same width, but the length of an SSI-CEB board. And a Swiftech H-220X CPU cooler, which will eventually be expanded with a second radiator in the back and will also cool the GPU. So you can stuff a lot of...stuff...in a mid tower. And the system is quieter, even overclocked under a gaming load, than my NAS box.

If you expect to be building your own boxes for a while, you could well be using the same case for every upgrade & rebuild you do for the next 15 years. So pick one with a future.

**sapped** · 12-30-2014, 01:58 AM

Re: Which Case should I get?

Ohh hey guys, good to see you again, thank you so much for all your replies, really appreciate all of them.

And yeah from the looks of it I will not be needing a full tower, so I'm going with ATX Mid Tower instead, this really narrows the list down!

Although I'm also wondering, what does those side panel windows do? More importantly, do they allow for better heat dissipation compared to the ones without?
(Like glass dissipate heat better than metal)

Or are they only there to look fancy? And allow the inside of the case to be viewable? (which I probably won't need)

If it indeed does absolutely nothing at lowering heat, then I'll probably buy one without side panel window, not only are these cheaper
but metal also stronger and more durable than glass as well.

Again appreciate all your comments!

**parsec** · 12-30-2014, 03:39 AM

Re: Which Case should I get?

The side panel window is strictly to allow you to view the inside of the PC. 99.9% of those windows are acrylic, not glass. Glass is more expensive and must be packaged carefully and is heavier than acrylic, so is a negative for the case manufacture. A few cases have all glass side panels, again for appearance only, heat transfer is not a factor.

While I mainly agree with the comments about 140mm fans in a PC case, if you focus on PC cases that come with 140mm fans, you'll be passing over some good cases. Chaos's point is cases that can accept 140mm fans are better. But a case may not have every fan mount able to fit a 140mm fan. They also may come with 120mm fans mounted in spaces that also accept 140mm fans.

Also, don't get the idea that 120mm fans are generally inferior, they aren't, just different. Once you go below 120mm in size, those fans are generally inferior to 120 and 140mm fans in air movement and noise levels.

**sapped** · 12-30-2014, 09:19 AM

Re: Which Case should I get?

Hey guys, was just wondering,

It looks like the Fractal Design Define R5 have recently been released:

Fractal Design

Are there reasons to get the R4 over the R5? Since some review say it's great improvement over it and the price are similar.

Fractal Design

On a side note, are computer cases similar to other components? Like those sequential ones in the same series are all improvements over the previous iteration,
and if the price are similar (which it is), the best bang for the buck would be to get the newer iteration?

**sapped** · 12-31-2014, 05:23 AM

Re: Which Case should I get?

Hey guys,

So which one of the case would you recommend to buy?

Fractal Design ARC R2 Midi for $134 AUD:

Umart.com.au | Australia's No.1 Computer Store

https://www.umart.com.au/umart1/pro/Products-details.phtml?id=&id2=211&bid=9&sid=128727

Umart.com.au is Australia's No.1 Computer Store, with the best prices on Computer Parts, Desktops, Laptops, Tablets, Gaming, Drones, Printers and more!

Or

Fractal Design Define R5 for $150 AUD:

Umart.com.au | Australia's No.1 Computer Store

https://www.umart.com.au/umart1/pro/Products-details.phtml?id=&id2=211&bid=9&sid=222811

Umart.com.au is Australia's No.1 Computer Store, with the best prices on Computer Parts, Desktops, Laptops, Tablets, Gaming, Drones, Printers and more!

Which one of the two would be a better choice?

Also from looking at the many youtube video reviews, it seems the chasis are a little on the weaker side.
Was wondering which one of them are the stronger case, since I move my PC frequently from place to place due to work.
So don't really want to accidentally damage it somehow.

Or are there another case to recommend?

**ChaosTheorist** · 12-31-2014, 06:42 PM

Re: Which Case should I get?

Originally posted by parsec View Post

The side panel window is strictly to allow you to view the inside of the PC. 99.9% of those windows are acrylic, not glass. Glass is more expensive and must be packaged carefully and is heavier than acrylic, so is a negative for the case manufacture. A few cases have all glass side panels, again for appearance only, heat transfer is not a factor.

In fact, in some situations, a window means a worse thermal solution. I specifically bought the "solid side panel" version of this case because it has, instead of a window, a mount for another 140mm fan. The Adaptec 7805 that will live under that fan requires "200LFM" of cooling according to Adaptec. I may also add a Samsung XP941 in the M.2 slot in the same area; that part gets literally hot enough to boil water. So the non-windowed case allows me to put a fan blowing directly onto those hot components.

Originally posted by parsec View Post

While I mainly agree with the comments about 140mm fans in a PC case, if you focus on PC cases that come with 140mm fans, you'll be passing over some good cases. Chaos's point is cases that can accept 140mm fans are better. But a case may not have every fan mount able to fit a 140mm fan. They also may come with 120mm fans mounted in spaces that also accept 140mm fans.

They're only "better" if air flow and fan noise are an issue. Which they are for me.

Parsec points out something you should watch for: like he says, check the shipped fans against the fan mounts. If you want 140mm fans, and the case supports 140mm fans, verify that it ships with 140mm fans; otherwise, you're paying for something you'll have to pay again to replace.

Originally posted by parsec View Post

Also, don't get the idea that 120mm fans are generally inferior, they aren't, just different. Once you go below 120mm in size, those fans are generally inferior to 120 and 140mm fans in air movement and noise levels.

Since they're both quieter and have higher air flow, I think 140mm fans qualify as "better", as well as "different". That doesn't mean that 120mm fans are "bad".

WRT <120mm; yeah, I remember when it was a big deal that makers started shipping 90mm fans in their cases instead of 80mm fans. Ugh.

**ChaosTheorist** · 12-31-2014, 07:24 PM

Re: Which Case should I get?

Originally posted by sapped View Post

Hey guys, was just wondering,

It looks like the Fractal Design Define R5 have recently been released:

Fractal Design

Are there reasons to get the R4 over the R5? Since some review say it's great improvement over it and the price are similar.

The Define R5 has at least one significant improvement over the R4: the 120mm mounting holes in the top are offset away from the motherboard. Which means that you can mount pretty much any 240mm radiator you want in the top without worrying about clearance. The R4 has the 120mm mounts going down the middle, so it has restrictions on the MB/radiator combinations that will fit.

The ambidextrous door may also be handy. The "even more stuff is toolless!"? Meh.

Originally posted by sapped View Post

So which one of the case would you recommend to buy?

Fractal Design ARC R2 Midi for $134 AUD:

Umart.com.au | Australia's No.1 Computer Store

https://www.umart.com.au/umart1/pro/Products-details.phtml?id=&id2=211&bid=9&sid=128727

Umart.com.au is Australia's No.1 Computer Store, with the best prices on Computer Parts, Desktops, Laptops, Tablets, Gaming, Drones, Printers and more!

Or

Fractal Design Define R5 for $150 AUD:

Umart.com.au | Australia's No.1 Computer Store

https://www.umart.com.au/umart1/pro/Products-details.phtml?id=&id2=211&bid=9&sid=222811

Umart.com.au is Australia's No.1 Computer Store, with the best prices on Computer Parts, Desktops, Laptops, Tablets, Gaming, Drones, Printers and more!

Which one of the two would be a better choice?

They're both kick-ass cases. If I hadn't needed easily-accessible front bays, I would have gone with the Define. If you're sure you aren't going to want external devices, the Define will be a little quieter and has a cleaner look.

Originally posted by sapped View Post

Also from looking at the many youtube video reviews, it seems the chasis are a little on the weaker side.
Was wondering which one of them are the stronger case, since I move my PC frequently from place to place due to work.
So don't really want to accidentally damage it somehow.

I'm not sure what "weaker" means here; I've carried mine back and forth to the work bench several times, and haven't noticed any flexing. WRT "which one of them are the stronger case", the Define R4 and the ARC Midi R2 are almost the same case--like, the side doors are even interchangeable between the two. The R5 is a little taller than the R4, but the construction looks to be pretty much the same for all of them.

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