Recommend me a computer case

[pistonheadforum]

Back in the build game - not built a PC for ages.

First thing on the list is a case. Looking for something simple, quiet and lacking in bling. Something that won't cut my hands to shred when assembling the rest of the build.

Not sure what a decent brand is so recommendation welcomed.

Thanks in advance.

[tommytaylor]

A biggish case or something small, I've just built one with this case, good value and good airflow.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B08C7BGV3D/ref...

[pistonheadforum]

tommytaylor said:

A biggish case or something small, I've just built one with this case, good value and good airflow.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B08C7BGV3D/ref...

Thanks - something around that side but not something that has an open/clear side.

[grumbledoak]

I am very happy with my ThermalTake S100 Snow Edition. Clean looks and lots of space. But there is a lot of choice.

Size? Colour?

Here is a good place to start -
https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/products/case/

[pistonheadforum]

Will look at Corsair range - thanks for the suggestion on brand.

[bobthemonkey]

Take a look at the ‘be quiet!’ offerings.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Be-Quiet-Pure-Base-Black/...

[nebpor]

I bought this BeQuiet! After the good recommendations on here. Like you, I wanted a classic case with no dodgy lights or glass sides

It does what it says!

be quiet! Silent Base 601 Midi-Tower Case - Orange

I also bought one of their PSUs. I already had quite a quiet CPU cooler so didn’t change that as I swapped cases

[h0b0]

I have one of these with the 3 fan AIO cooler.

[Haltamer]

Fractal design cases should tick most of those boxes, and their attention to detail is excellent for cable management / (No) sharp edges.

High density sound deadening material sidepanels, standard intake filters on my now ancient Define R2.

[pistonheadforum]

Thanks for the Be Quiet suggestions - will look into their range.

[FourWheelDrift]

Haltamer said:

Fractal design cases should tick most of those boxes, and their attention to detail is excellent for cable management / (No) sharp edges.

High density sound deadening material sidepanels, standard intake filters on my now ancient Define R2.

They do a Torrent without a side window - https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08699B69Z?tag=pcp0f-2...

[mmm-five]

Fractal Design North, in Black (with mesh side-panel)?

[donkmeister]

Fractal Design make some lovely cases. I have my file and virtualisation server running in a Node 804, it was cheap (I think about £100), and has decent airflow as well as good design touches that ease assembly.

The best PC cases I've ever used are Lian Li. I have two within grasping distance right now; a PC V1100 that is about 20 years old and looks new. Solid, nice, thick aluminium. The other is a DeBauer edition O11 XL in bare aluminium finish. Whilst I could make it look bling if I added rainbow unicorn puke accessories, without lights it has no bling factor. Those cases were each £200-250 IIRC.

Three things I would say:
1) ditch any OEM fans and replace with Noctua fans.
2) spend more on your PSU than you were planning on - go for quality over headline watts figures. Many years ago I threw together a cheap PC on a budget and used a cheap no-brand PSU that came with a cheap no-brand case, and one day flames shot out the back and the power spike took out a hard-drive in the process.
3) (OPTIONAL) if you want silence and performance at the same time then watercooling is still the only option.

Point 3 is a bone of contention for some, but with air-cooling you can have a powerful system that is quiet sometimes, but is absolutely definitely not quiet when you are using the full power of your machine. However, watercooling is still not a cheap option!

[Church of Noise]

As an alternative - if your use case allows it - you can consider a passive case.
I have an Akasa Plato X8 for my Intel NUC8 (not a self build, yet they also offer cases for form factors up to mini-ITX). The build quality of the case is exemplary and it cost less than 100GBP..

In case you will run e.g. ATX, then agree with the poster(s) above regarding good quality cases with good quality PSU and Noctua fans.
I powered up an old Core 2 Duo HTPC I have here (needed to get some data off an old BD-ROM, remember those?) that was built in a Silverstone HTPC case with 2 large Noctua fans and it was barely audible.

[dalzo]

Lian li 011 dynamic

Nzxt h9 flow

Phantoms nv7

Personally got the lian li and happy with it, plenty of room in the back to hide cables, good airflow and easy to open up and maintain inside. This is an older photo but you can see it in full unicorn vomit mode

Edited by dalzo on Thursday 3rd August 10:24

[Griffith4ever]

I bought one of these, £38, and for the money, it is absoutely superb. My buying criteria was price, glass door, easy to remove glass door.

https://pcgamingcases.co.uk/ionz-kz08-classic-blac...

[geeks]

pistonheadforum said:

Thanks for the Be Quiet suggestions - will look into their range.

Another vote for the Be Quiet range, am on my second one of their cases and still thoroughly impressed

[edeath]

I'm running the Coolermaster Q300L and like it.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Cooler-Master-MasterBox-P...

They also do a full ATX version. It's nothing fancy but I do like the magnetic dust filters.

[boxedin]

Fractal or beQuiet.

In the case of Fractal, simple designs, easy to fit components into
Come with all the screws, plates, mounts you'll never need.

An example of Fractal's beautifully boring ( setup and forget ) cases:
https://www.fractal-design.com/products/cases/defi...

[Drive Blind]

another vote for Fractal.