Case reviews for watercooling?

DWolvin

DWolvin

2[H]4U
Joined
Nov 13, 2002
Messages
3,523
Hey all,
Are there any new cases that are interesting in the last six months to year? Not seeing much personally (other that [H]'s reviews), and the sites that I used to go to have dried up.

I'm looking (possibly) to swap my DefineXL for somethign mid tower- are there any subtle cases (I'm more about quiet than RGB) that can handle a thick Alphacool 280 radiator inside? I know it's a stretch, but I'm not seeing anything in the line of normal browsing. But I have to admit the Bitfenix shogun looks like it might...
 
The Enthoo Evolv can handle a super thick 360 in the front, but only the top will fit a 280. Depending on your mobo / loop layout you can fit a pretty damn thick 280 / 360 up top. With my asrock x79 extreme 3 I was able to fit a 45mm 240 with push/pull fans (another 50mm or so) with no trouble, and I *think* I had the clearance to fit a 280 (ram height would be the issue). Now that I've got a R4E with full coverage blocks I can only JUST fit the 240, there's no way I'd fit a 280 up top. It's an older case (and massive!), but you can fit damn near any rad under the sun in an H630.
 
Thanks, the Enthoo is the only thing I found that I like so far. I know Caselabs makes solid stuff, but I don't like the look...
 
Actually fractal define S (I'm using it right now) is both cheap and (the most) compatible mid tower case on the market (excluding the "fancy" expensive cases) because I searched how I can replace it but found nothing.

Fractal define S can accommodate two (2) 360 rads (front and top) granted they are not super thick (EK-CoolStream PE 360 + Alphacool NexXxoS XT45 360mm fits just fine). Or whatever thickness 420 top (ram heatsinks may pose some issues) and 280 front (420 does not fit in front because case is not tall enough and 360 would bock 420 rad up top). Bassically you can fit whatever thickness 360/280 rad up front (as hard drives/ SSD's are hidden but I have no problems with temperature whatsoever, even 5TB WD enterprise hovers around 42 degrees C) and top fits any 120mm wide rad but 140mm wide rads may interfere with tall ram heatsinks.

Even found radiator compatibility info by fractal themselves – http://support.fractal-design.com/s...55188-define-s-water-cooling-radiator-options
 
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I have a Evolv ATX, I wouldn't recommend it over a DefineS in Price and Performance. Aesthetically the Evolv looks nice, but it's not exactly the easiest case to work in and you will need to mod the top bracket to prevent hot exhaust from reentering the chassis, you also may want to block the front 2 top exhaust areas since hot air will be sucked through the front intake.. The fan controller needs to be replaced as well with a proper PWM fan controller. I opted for the SilverStone PWM fan controller and it works fine. If I was to do it all over again I would have gone with the Define S.
 
Heh- at the end of the day I might be going from a Fractal to a Fractal. I have to admit that's surprising, might just keep the XL.
 
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