Not sure if a case like this exists

S

StoleMyOwnCar

2[H]4U
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Sep 30, 2013
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I upgraded my build to a 4090 recently. Housing it has been a challenge, due to the asinine configuration of the 12VHPWR connection and its limitations, combined with the fact that I decided to get an AIO.
You can view the parts list here, at least for the upgrade:
https://pcpartpicker.com/list/gCLygB

12VHPWR connectors are not supposed to bend until 40+mm away from the socket, and preferably mostly upwards or downwards. I couldn't achieve this in my current Lian Li Lancool II Mesh case, at least not while closing the door. So I just left it open. I decided to get this kit from Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BN89YW8R
And simply cut out some custom mesh extensions for my case.

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It's been working great, no dust gets in and the temperatures are really good... but it is a bit jank.
So in order to accommodate this GPU normally and comfortably I need a case with a width of at least 8-9 inches from my reckoning, via where the tubing meets the door. So I have the following criteria:

1. 8-9 in clearance from motherboard to side.
2. At least 6 3.5" HDD bays.
3. Obviously great airflow.

All I could find with a search was this:
https://www.microcenter.com/search/...icelow&N=4294964318+861+4294821207+4294819796
But I don't want a $400 upgrade to a case that looks like a larger caveman tower case. I'm not sure if anything else exists, though.
 
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How the heck did this get posted, I literally did not click the submit button... well, hold on, editing...

Edit: done....
 
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StoleMyOwnCar said:
https://pcpartpicker.com/product/V6...fully-modular-atx-power-supply-220-p2-1200-x1

It's this exact model, I believe. Even if I swap PSUs, I don't really want to bend the tubing too much and put unnecessary pressure on it, so I don't think swapping to a native PSU will help... not that I really want to.
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I'm not very good at being cautious with this kind of thing, I'd just bend the f out of it and shut the case.

That being said, how big are you willing to go? Something like the CTE700 would work, but thats a chonky case. I have the CTE750 and its sitting in the back room because its so huge I can't use it currently.
 
LigTasm said:
I'm not very good at being cautious with this kind of thing, I'd just bend the f out of it and shut the case.

That being said, how big are you willing to go? Something like the CTE700 would work, but thats a chonky case. I have the CTE750 and its sitting in the back room because its so huge I can't use it currently.
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I have a Thermaltake Core X9 sitting in the back for the same reason. I think that's about as large as a "case" gets lol. As long as it's not on the same scale as that thing, I think it'll be fine.

I looked up a Kitguru video on the CTE750:
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It looks like to get to the HDD capacity that they get to, they have to sacrifice fan slots. That's a big nono to me. On the other hand the CTE700 looks like it actually has dedicated HDD cages in the back, which is definitely a step up.
That leaves two issues:
1. Are they actually any deeper, from side panel to motherboard? Kind of difficult to tell from the videos as to how deep it actually is, and the CTE700 I think is reportedly less deep than the 750.
2. I'm not really a fan of the way they rotated the IO to be on top, to be honest. That adds an extra 1-2+FT of cable length at the very least required for each peripheral and makes hooking or unhooking things more painful. I'm not sure why they're so dead set on this gimmick. The case would have been perfectly fine while not being rotated, and in fact it would probably perform better because warm air has a tendency to rise, whereas they're just sitting there blocking a majority of the top of the case with I/O ports....

Still, it's a good suggestion. I've never heard of these. I'll research the 700 in more detail, thanks.

Edit: Well, there is technically one advantage of a rotated I/O, and that is less sag on the cables hooked into the slots. I'm not sure if that's ever actually been an issue before, but I guess it's something.
 
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Have you considered using one of the cablemod 12pin 90* or 180* adapters to alleviate the space needed? They also come with a Shits On Fire, Yo warranty if you're concerned about that part.
 
Grebuloner said:
Have you considered using one of the cablemod 12pin 90* or 180* adapters to alleviate the space needed? They also come with a Shits On Fire, Yo warranty if you're concerned about that part.
Click to expand...

I've heard about them for sure, but I prefer to just use the OEM tbh. I don't want to add another piece to the puzzle that could combust. Also, I'm a bit wary about what their policy is like, exactly. Is it anywhere in plaintext? Because I got this 4090 for 1620 open box. MSI is covering it in warranty because I managed to register it. If you tried to get one of these today, after the China ban, it's over $1900. If they just gave me a check for $1620 in the scenario that it did burn down, that would be pretty useless...

That, and considering the pump is a point of failure for an AIO GPU, I just really don't want to put any unnecessary bending or stress on the tubing. At this price tag, the GPU is a literal investment, so I'm much more inclined to simply accommodate it in whatever capacity I can, hence my door is simply cracked open on this case, with makeshift mesh filling the gaps.


LigTasm Could you by any chance measure your CT750, from where the motherboard goes in, to where the glass door starts, if you get the time? I'm curious about how wide it is in practice. I'm still looking at the CT700, but the best I'm able to estimate the depth, it looks like it's around ((345-120)/345)*12.9=8.4ish, using some pixel math, with the dimensions in mind. It's hard to tell.
 
StoleMyOwnCar said:
LigTasm Could you by any chance measure your CT750, from where the motherboard goes in, to where the glass door starts, if you get the time? I'm curious about how wide it is in practice. I'm still looking at the CT700, but the best I'm able to estimate the depth, it looks like it's around ((345-120)/345)*12.9=8.4ish, using some pixel math, with the dimensions in mind. It's hard to tell.
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I’ll give it a look in the morning, but this is it with a 4090 and 420 AIO in there. This thing could fit a family of 4 and a dog.

IMG_1070.jpeg
 
I found a "Like New" condition C700 on Amazon for $115 (via Amazon Warehouse), so I went ahead and ordered it. Worst case I can just tell them that it wasn't in the condition they said it was or some BS, so we'll see. For this price, I don't mind trying it out.
 
StoleMyOwnCar said:
I found a "Like New" condition C700 on Amazon for $115 (via Amazon Warehouse), so I went ahead and ordered it. Worst case I can just tell them that it wasn't in the condition they said it was or some BS, so we'll see. For this price, I don't mind trying it out.
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The airflow is really good, my only issue with it was its simply too big for my desk area. I plan to do a full water build with 2x420mm rads with it when then next gen stuff comes out.
 
So, note... do not buy "Like New" deals on cases from Amazon Warehouse.
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The box said "inspected", but I have no idea what they inspected it with. Baseball bat? Sledgehammer? I'm surprised the tempered glass was still in one piece (as far as I could tell). Unfortunately, I had company over today, so I didn't have time to measure it to see if it would fit my GPU. I knew I simply had to return it immediately, so I did. We boarded it into my friend's car and it immediately went back, since I had a UPS store 2 minutes away.

Christ, wtf Amazon lol.

Sigh... I guess I'll buy a new one? What sucks is PCPartpicker doesn't even have this in their database, so I can't tell who has the lowest price on it. Guess I need to google around. It honestly didn't look too big, so I'm a bit worried about it being wide enough for the GPU power adapter and tubing, but I do see that it definitely looks deeper than my Lian Li.
 
1699767711909.png

;) wtf?! when i get shit like that i write a "message" all over the box so they cant resell it.
 
pendragon1 said:
View attachment 612821
;) wtf?! when i get shit like that i write a "message" all over the box so they cant resell it.
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Funny you link that image, that's exactly the same thing my friend pulled up on Google while he was over lol.

I ended up just ordering another one off Amazon that was new. They had the cheapest price. Amazon marked the previous one from yesterday as refunded before it even reached their warehouse. This almost kind of feels like bait and switch... but I kind of doubt they're making any money off of me with what the shipping price on this case probably is, both ways. I'm not gonna raise too big of a stink about it since I know Amazon Warehouse jobs probably suck ass (putting it mildly). Hopefully the new one doesn't look like someone played Fork Truck Wars with it. If it works, it's still a decent deal for the price, considering how much capacity the case has. 7 3.5" slots in the back by itself (with 6 of them being actual bays) is kind of rare these days). It's a good example of a modern tower done right... although I'm not really on board the "we decided to rotate the motherboard" gimmick. I still think that's kind of dumb. >_>
 
Received the new one. It's in perfect shape.

Honestly I'm pretty impressed with it, just from a theoretical standpoint. It really does have 6 actual 3.5" bays in the back, and every single fan slot is filtered. There are a lot of fan slots, and functionally speaking I think this should more or less beat every case out there in terms of functionality per unit price.

There is only one big complaint. It doesn't come with rubber anti vibration pads and elongated HDD screws. This seems kind of a basic thing to include, and the Lian Li O11 Mini Air had plenty of them even though it costs less. My guess is they included so many custom metal parts that there just wasn't any budget left over. A set of 24 rubber dampeners and screws is surprisingly expensive on Amazon, costing 16$. I guess I'll try without them first and then install if I need them. The rear where the HDD bays are is also sort of lacking air flow, but I can get a fan stuck in there pretty easily.

The case is also just a little over 1 inch deeper so it should theoretically be able to accommodate my GPU perfectly. It's exactly what I wanted.

Surprisingly I still haven't seen any features or reviews for this particular variant. Lots for the 750, but basically none for the 700. I'll probably start building in it tomorrow and maybe get some pictures to post here.

I think overall this might be one of the best priced, no nonsense cases that you can get for general performance. I'll have to actually put that to the test, though. I know one of the reviews for the 750 noted that despite seeming like it should have really good airflow and cooling, it somehow turned up short. My guess is the stupid flipped MB configuration is to blame, but I'll give it a fair shake either way.
 
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Done. Too tired for any long, in depth thing so I'll just give some pics and brief (for me) discourse. Build went swimmingly, booted up first try and every HDD was recognized.

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The extra width on the case was absolutely perfect for the AIO configuration and I managed to easily squeeze in 1-2 inches of straight run from the GPU power connector to be within regulations, and then tie it to the AIO tubing so that it wouldn't sag on the connector at all.


Temperatures were absolutely excellent:
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My GPU hot spot in my old case used to definitely be higher, and the memory temps were at 76C at maximum in the old case. I left the game running in this spot for quite a long time and the hot spot consistently stayed under 70C and the memory temperature was table at around 72C, though sometimes it would drop to 70... so perhaps it was like 71-71.5 on average. That's a 4-5C drop which is great. Not sure if the actual core temp went down, not that it needed to.

The CPU temp is a bit oddball. My CPU temp while doing a pure CPU stress test was around 78-79C, so it went up by 1C-2C or so... because the only exhaust available to it is the fan above it. However ironically when doing heavy gaming, the GPU is in push pull configuration so the CPU temperature pretty much plummets since the radiator is right to the side of it lol. Since this MSI AIO 4090 exposes the actual fan connectors, I managed to splice in the extra fans that I'm using with a splitter. It's working great.

Two issues left that I'll deal with sometime this week or weekend:
1. One of the fans in this case is making a really annoying resonant humming sound and it's pissing me off. Not much of an issue during gaming, but during idle and maybe movie watching it's really annoying. But it's not a surprise since not only are the fans haphazardly thrown together from every case under the sun, but I mixed and matched DC and PWM fans in many cases, probably causing some odd behavior. I'm going to have to unhook them one by one to figure out what the culprit is. The fans that come with the case aren't too great, either. I accidentally hooked one into the pump slot and it was really loud when at full throttle. Much louder than most other modern fans I've heard. Definitely not the best of fans with this case.

2. I need to really check to see if the airflow in the back for the HDD bays is truly sufficient from just that one dinky 120mm.

3. Not an issue I can "deal with", but the flipped I/O is just terrible... it's such a pain to run shit all the way up there. I guess it makes it look neater, but it's like the case is just shitting wires out of that left side port...


Overall though, really really good case functionally for the price. Very happy with it. Time to pass out soon...
 
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