Suggestions for MATX case

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kartracer

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Looking for a case to transplant my i7 MATX kit and add 2x120 watercooling radiator and block (not for overclocking but for quietness).

What I need is a front drive (I swap out SSD's for Linux, Win8, etc.), and front USB 3 ports.

As compact as possible. Not after a gamer/fantasy type case.

Any suggestions?
 
PorcupineFloyd said:
If it's not a rude question do you have a budget?

Personally I think the NCASE M1 is one of the best: https://www.ncases.com/

It's a really nice design. It's just a shame there's no European distributor :(.
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That is a nice case, very compact and ticks all the boxes. I'd prefer to have a drive slot directly accessible on the front but...

I thought price would not be an issue but that is pricey. But the Pound will soon recover?

Thank you.

P.S. But it won't take an MATX board?
 
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Opps! My mistake, I don't know why but I read MATX as MITX :facepalm:.

Hm, my initial thought would be a Lian Li case. The Lian Li PC-V358 looks like it would take a 240 radiator quite nicely.

Few other suggestions:

Fractal Designs - Arc Mini R2 (Has two 5.25" bays on the front)

Cooltek - W2 (Has a similar look to the NCASE M1, I'm not sure if the airflow would be as good though)

Phanteks - Enthoo Evolv (Bit gamer-ish looking but still quite minimalist)

Raijintek - Styx

BitFenix are quite popular and they have some less gamer orientated cases like the Pandora & Phenom (Phenom requires a low profile radiator though I believe).
 
Some good options there, thanks. It's got me thinking if its time for some new hardware too, so ITX could be an option.
 
dejongj said:
How about...

http://www.chyangfun.com/cfi-a5000.html
http://www.aio-group.com/product_view.php?id=6sWgpT7mQDM09p6lv3reIx6OYCLd
http://www.rosewill.com/rosewill-it...ot-swap-drives-5-cooling-fans-included-1.html

Or in the UK I've used https://www.xcase.co.uk a few times and have several of their 1U hot swap bay cases...
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Thanks. I'm trying to keep the case size as small as possible.

Found this one: http://www.cooltek.de/en/cubes/coolcube-maxi/13/coolcube-maxi

But it might be too small for an i7 system in terms of cooling (no overclocking)?
 
Cool, well if you are happy to give up on the requirement for front drive bays then there is lots of choice out there.
 
You could alternatively look at silent air cooling. A Noctua CPU cooler and set of case fans should do the trick. Cooling wise, My home server is absolutely silent when idle. When it's actually doing something, it's the PSU fan (a BeQuiet unit) is just audible. The mechanical HDDs on the other hand are quite intrusive.

Find a case on which you can mount at least 140mm fan, and then a handful of 120mm fans so that you can still get a decent volume of air through. If you have mechanical HDDs, then rubber HDD mountingss will be a boon.
 
afasoas said:
You could alternatively look at silent air cooling. A Noctua CPU cooler and set of case fans should do the trick. Cooling wise, My home server is absolutely silent when idle. When it's actually doing something, it's the PSU fan (a BeQuiet unit) is just audible. The mechanical HDDs on the other hand are quite intrusive.

Find a case on which you can mount at least 140mm fan, and then a handful of 120mm fans so that you can still get a decent volume of air through. If you have mechanical HDDs, then rubber HDD mountingss will be a boon.
Click to expand...

I'll give up the front bay and go for an external dock.

I have a Noctua NH-U12P with 120mm fans at the moment. The system runs cool but it is not quiet. Otherwise the noise (similar level) comes from the Antec 850 PSU (just had a look at the specs and shocked by current prices on these!). I have passive graphics card so can downgrade the PSU. Just concerned about keeping the i7 cool.
 
I've just ordered an Antec ISK-600M. It has good airflow/two compartments and 120/140mm fan ducts. It will take a CPU cooler up to 174mm and has room for an AIO water cooling if needed. Also, it has a single front slot for an optical drive (I'd mod it to fit a 2.5" hot swap caddy). Downside is only one USB 3 port at the front and there seems to be an issue with the front audio but I can deal with that. Its a compact cube at 27.3 cm x 34 cm x 29 cm. Not as sleek or as nice looking as other cases but its minimalist and at £45 will fit my needs.
 
If you want quiet then a good fan controller is worth looking at. I run an aquaero which holds the fans at 0rpm until temp sensors start ramping them up.

Few old threads on here somewhere.
 
neil_g said:
If you want quiet then a good fan controller is worth looking at. I run an aquaero which holds the fans at 0rpm until temp sensors start ramping them up.

Few old threads on here somewhere.
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Do they still make sense? Last time I looked into it, when building a i7-2600K overclocked rig, the motherboards were so good that there wasn't actually much point in a fan controller. Depends on the motherboard I guess...mine was a Sabertooth
 
dejongj said:
Do they still make sense? Last time I looked into it, when building a i7-2600K overclocked rig, the motherboards were so good that there wasn't actually much point in a fan controller. Depends on the motherboard I guess...mine was a Sabertooth
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You talking about CPU fan management and the onboard fan header?

All of my fans (except PSU and gpu) are controlled via the aquaero so are off at idle. They are set to ramp up progressively based on CPU, case, ram, southbridge and GPU temps. The fan closest to the warm component is controlled by its own profile/sensor.

Its much more tunable, plus I don't think you can hold the motherboard controlled fans at 0rpm making for a very quiet system until its pushed.
 
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And case fans....
 
I'm using a Silverstone TJ08 MATX case with only three fans: 180mm at the front, 120mm at the back and 120mm in the PSU. I have a huge heatsink on the CPU (i7 3770) that's set back so it's cooled by the rear fan. The PSU is gold rated so very quiet and the GPU is a passively cooled GTX 750Ti. It's a very quiet system.

The case has two external 5.25" bays, one external 3.5" and four internal 3.5" so plenty of expansion. Of course, it's a Silverstone case so it's a swine to build but well worth the effort.
 
FTR,

My server runs a 17W TDP Xeon 1220L v2, a Noctua NH-L9i CPU cooler and 4 Noctua NF-P12-PWM 120 mm case fans. The case fans run at ~190rpm and the CPU fan at ~400rpm. Even under stress testing, the cooling is completely silent and CPU temps barely reach 30ºC - even with an old 4 port Intel NIC in the case which seems to generate heat like billio*.

I can't imagine a build with an i5 and an i7 with one of Noctua's beefier CPU coolers would generate too much noise in typical use.
Under Linux, it's possible to control fan speed without the aid of an separate fan controller. Similar software must be available under windows?

*Too hot to touch after running on the test bench for half an hour in open air with no direct cooling
 
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