Best air cooled case?

n0ob3r

Limp Gawd
Joined
Oct 9, 2020
Messages
195
Hello All,
I don't think I am ready to head into the water cooled arena just yet. I looked around the forum and and I wanted to know if any one had any particular favorites of air cooled cases as of today?

I liked the idea of 2 , 200mm fans in this case, but I am sure there are cheaper knock offs. However, I really have enjoyed my HAF 912.
 
Gamers Nexus has a video from July about this. I was planning on a P500A build but they went out of stock right before I was going to get one. I ordered a P600S instead which I think will work out well. My current case is a Phanteks and I like it. I like the idea that I can either run the P600S open for max airflow or throw the front cover on and keep it quiet. I'm going to run a bunch of tests and see how much difference it really makes. I'm actually going back to an air CPU cooler as well (d15s) for the first time in a while. The case should be here today but I wont be building it until I get a 5950x.

The H500 is solid and I considered it for a bit. I had a HAF 932 two builds ago so I know where you are coming from.

 
Thank you niner21 and dragon69 for the heads up. 70$ is a pretty good deal. I am hoping that there will be more discounts as we approach Black Friday 😀.
 
Make sure you get the lancool 2 mesh as Gamers Nexus did a review on the lancool 2 and it wasn’t great. Lian Li looks to have fixed those issues in the mesh version.

I linked to the 215 case which is different from the Lancool series. If he were to choose to go with the Lancool you are exactly right though.:)
 
Open air inside a cathedral or at the north pole would work well.
 
The Lancool 215 also happened to get a review recently at gamersnexus: https://www.gamersnexus.net/hwreviews/3621-lian-li-lancool-215-airflow-case-review

Choice quote from their conclusion:
> The Lancool 215 is a good budget case for air cooling.

Seems like a nice 200mm fan-case alternative to cooler master's h500. Be aware, thought, that it is not made by lian li themselves.

I looked at the link for the Lancool 215 it didn't mention it was made by someone else. Who was it made by? Does this effect the quality relative to other Lian Li cases? It is lower budget, so I guess you do get what you pay for =).
 
I looked at the link for the Lancool 215 it didn't mention it was made by someone else. Who was it made by? Does this effect the quality relative to other Lian Li cases? It is lower budget, so I guess you do get what you pay for =).
Hmm, I can't find out who it's made by. Source for the claim that it's not made in-house is that gamersnexus article. Relevant quote:

> As we’ve already reported, Lian Li has been able to keep the price low by contracting out case production rather than making the 215 in-house (as they would for their more expensive aluminum cases).
 
Hmm, I can't find out who it's made by. Source for the claim that it's not made in-house is that gamersnexus article. Relevant quote:

> As we’ve already reported, Lian Li has been able to keep the price low by contracting out case production rather than making the 215 in-house (as they would for their more expensive aluminum cases).
Lian Li did spent a bunch of late 2019 moving a bit of their production over to a new factory in China (instead of Taiwan, where they have traditionally made all of their cases).

Of course, the interruptions for the move did wonders for case availability (/s), and the late 2019 timing was just perfect in general (/s).

Supposedly, their aluminum cases are still made in TW (so that includes the SFF cases, like the Dan A4-SFX and the Ncase M1).
 
  • Like
Reactions: emphy
like this
Hello All,
I don't think I am ready to head into the water cooled arena just yet. I looked around the forum and and I wanted to know if any one had any particular favorites of air cooled cases as of today?

I liked the idea of 2 , 200mm fans in this case, but I am sure there are cheaper knock offs. However, I really have enjoyed my HAF 912.
Rosewill Thor v2.
Top View: Gills slide open and shut with a top slider.I always wanted to modify that to open and close automatically linked to heat.
external-content.duckduckgo.com.jpg

At 129.00 the price is right too.
Anadtech review, and don't listen to that guy about build quality. This has some serious sheet metal in it. https://www.anandtech.com/show/4648/rosewill-thor-v2-the-god-of-cooling-and-silence/2
I have one in my closet, now retired. If you live in Northern California, I'll sell it to you cheap if you just pick it up:

– Front 1 x 230mm Red LED Fan (pre-installed)
– Rear 1 x 140mm Fan (pre-installed)
– Top 1 x 230mm Fan (pre-installed) or 2 x 120 / 140mm Fan (option)
– Side 1 x 230mm Fan (pre-installed) or 4 x 120mm Fan (option)
– Bottom 1 x 120/140mm Fan (option)


I used it for air cooled OCing an old i7 920 Bloomfield to 3.9Ghz with a 120MM air cooler--lol. At one point, I took the fan off of the 120mm tower and the air moving through the case cooled it just fine (The side 230mm fan blows directly on the CPU tower cooler). silent when running P95. Those 230mm fans move some serious air, and they do it at about 900RPM. If you want massive air and quite, 230mm fans are the way to go.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Nobu
like this
^^^ I had a Rosewill Thor V2 (white version) for years. It is gigantic and quiet. The only fan that crapped out on me was the rear 120mm one. All the big fans were still working fine when I got rid of it.
 
^^^ I had a Rosewill Thor V2 (white version) for years. It is gigantic and quiet. The only fan that crapped out on me was the rear 120mm one. All the big fans were still working fine when I got rid of it.
I also had the 840 Stacker case, but it takes 120mm fans. I sold it when I received the Thor for doing a review on it, and put all my stuff in the Thor. It's a really nicely designed case. I think the factory top fan is still in it, and teh front fan too. Mine didn't come with a sode fan, so I stuck a BitFenix 230mm in it back in 2012. This one:
66-c8d162a4bdec_1.058d8c8e29cf1127869d0e9f3cfbcbb5.jpg
Ha! Brings back memories.
 
Last edited:
Back
Top