Airflow case suggestions?

[RJ1892]

My friend wants me to help him with a air cooled build with silence in mind, since I've been out of the loop awhile on cases targeted for air cooling performance I'm hoping to get some good input here. I tried talking him into water cooling since it is near silent but he doesn't seem interested in the maintenance aspect of it.

I told him about my previous experience with the Silverstone FT02 and how it was a great air cooling case since it could be near silent as well. He seemed somewhat interested in it but I was wondering if there is anything superior these days with air cooling optimization with silence in mind. Cooler suggestions would be appreciated as well. But I assume Noctua's NH-D15 is still king.


Other notes: He wants a 7700k with a GTX 1080Ti and 16GB of RAM, He doesn't want to use hard drives so drive cages arn't necessary in the case. He plans to get a 4k monitor. He doesn't play any high end games so I see 4k possible on his system that he wants. He mainly plays World of Warcraft, World of Tanks and occasionally plays games like Fallout 4, Skyrim, Starcraft 2 and doesn't mind turning settings down.

 

[Snowdog]

I'm with your friend. Air is simpler, cheaper, less maintenance and can be even quieter (Fans, running deeper in the case, and no pump noise).

I like the Define Series from FD for a good Air case(From ITX to full ATX a case for each size). PS and drives, cables all hidden by shroud, leaving an a totally open air path.
It also has the best intake (dual 140mm) filter and door combo IMO. Sample build:
http://pcpartpicker.com/b/syfH99
Image:

For CPU cooler, someone else can mention the best, I like the bang/buck of Cryorig coolers. The tend to be a notch behind top end noisy coolers, but they are quieter and less expensive.
https://www.hardocp.com/article/2015/09/16/cryorig_h5_ultimate_cpu_air_cooler_review/4

 

[RJ1892]

Yea I've looked at the Define C, I actually use a Define R5 for my workstation. I think the Define C or Define C Mini could be a decent case for this guy since he doesn't need HDD bays. Definitely noted, other suggestions are welcomed as well, won't be talking to him until next week.

 

[HeavensCloud]

Does he have a budget or estimated price he wants to pay on the case, color scheme, mATX, mid-tower? There's a hundred decent airflow cases under $150, you're probably going to have to bring him a list. Corsair, NZXT, Fractal, Antec, etc etc.

 

[RJ1892]

He doesn't have a budget on anything. He also doesn't mind if it is ATX or mATX. I already got different motherboards in mind for each form factor.

 

[Deleted member 88227]

Look at the fractal design define r5. I've got one with 8 HDDs, 1080 GTX and the stock Intel cooler. Since it's a NAS build sitting in my living room I disabled all the front LEDs therefore I have a really, really hard time determining if it's still on or not. I have to look at one of the fans to see if it's spinning as an indicator that she's still powered up.

I will also mention that I run F@H on the GPU so it's running under 100% load 24/7.
I also run WCG on a few of the CPU cores that don't see much use, so the CPU stays under a decent load 24/7 as well.

 

[flossy_cake]

Look at the fractal design define r5. I've got one with 8 HDDs, 1080 GTX and the stock Intel cooler. I have a really, really hard time determining if it's still on or not. I have to look at one of the fans to see if it's spinning as an indicator that she's still powered up.

I bought the R5 a few days ago and found it to be an acoustic nightmare. The only quiet fan config I could find is with the two 140mm fans blowing downwards into the floor. Any other fan config and it's hum city. Tried Noctua S12A FLX, actually makes it worse lol. Not to mention the HDD bays, 3.5" bays and dust filter rattle intermittently, and fans cannot be mounted to the moduvents as they are too close to the honeycomb grill causing a loud turbulence buzz (sounds like bees).

 

[RJ1892]

I bought the R5 a few days ago and found it to be an acoustic nightmare. The only quiet fan config I could find is with the two 140mm fans blowing downwards into the floor. Any other fan config and it's hum city. Tried Noctua S12A FLX, actually makes it worse lol. Not to mention the HDD bays, 3.5" bays and dust filter rattle intermittently, and fans cannot be mounted to the moduvents as they are too close to the honeycomb grill causing a loud turbulence buzz (sounds like bees).

I have an R5 for my workstation. It's near silent, using 2 NF-A14's in the front and NF-F12 on the back and top rear. Though I use 2 Silverstone fan controllers and run the fans around 1000 RPM. My FT02 was quiet as well. Right now I use a Phanteks Evolv ATX on my gaming rig (watercooled) and it is the least impressive sound acoustics that I have built in. I will probably replace it with a FT05 and just rework the waterloop.

I ended up settling on the Fractal Define Mini C for my friends build if anyone is curious of the specs I put them below:

Case: Fractal Define Mini C
MoBo: Asus ROG STRIX Z270G
CPU: Intel 7700k
+Noctua NH-U14S
RAM: 16GB Corsair Vengeance 3000mhz
GPU: GTX 1080Ti (EVGA Hybrid Cooler)
m.2: Samsung 960 Pro 512GB
SSD: Samsung 850 Pro 1TB
PSU: EVGA 850-P2

Obviously waiting on the Hybrid Cooler to release from EVGA since it isn't out yet. Haven't actually bought anything yet for him so it may slightly change, waiting for him to pay me half first.

 

[Snowdog]

Pretty much exactly the case I would choose(It's the one I linked above, and probably the one I will do my next computer in).

I have read a great many FD Define series reviews and they are always lauded as quiet. The only complaint I have see is that they can be a bit warm if you don't add a second intake fan.