Dual zone case (Cube/not cube)

[bagelnagel]

Is the Corsair Air 540/240 still considered the best dual zone case?

 

[hititnquitit]

it looks that way. unless you want to go with a monster case like the 1000d but its priced in the stupid zone.
https://www.extremetech.com/gaming/269173-corsairs-new-1000d-chassis-holds-two-pcs-in-one-enclosure

 

[NoOther]

For dual zone, are you referring to 2 motherboards in one case? I have been a fan of mountain mods UFO Duality cases. They aren't quite as modern as some of the other cases, and are quite expensive, but they are highly customizeable to your tastes. They easily fit multiple systems even with water cooling.

 

[bagelnagel]

For dual zone, are you referring to 2 motherboards in one case? I have been a fan of mountain mods UFO Duality cases. They aren't quite as modern as some of the other cases, and are quite expensive, but they are highly customizeable to your tastes. They easily fit multiple systems even with water cooling.

I am not. I mean 1 zone for heat generating components, another zone for everything else. It doesn't have to be cube.

 

[NoOther]

I am not. I mean 1 zone for heat generating components, another zone for everything else. It doesn't have to be cube.

Ahh, okay. If you are looking for completely different zones then I think the following could work:

UFO Duality as mentioned above
Thermaltake Core W200
Lian Li PC-D600
Lian Li PC-O9

I think probably for availability and price the Corsair is probably going to be the best deal.

 

[hititnquitit]

the lian li dual zone cases are among my favorites but they can get expensive. the pc-08rgb is badass but almost $400/theres a 30% off promo on it. the one i would suggest is the pc-011 dynamic
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod...orebbr=1&cm_re=lian_li-_-11-112-583-_-Product
or the pc-011ww same case just all white.
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod...orebbr=1&cm_re=lian_li-_-11-112-563-_-Product
if you want something like the old silverstone temjin theres the pc-v3000wx that got an enclosure in the bottom of the case. more so for watercooling but it would still be an excellent aircooled case. its also pretty expensive tho $340@ newegg.
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod...br=1&cm_re=lian_li-_-9SIAFST6XC2791-_-Product

 

[bagelnagel]

the lian li dual zone cases are among my favorites but they can get expensive. the pc-08rgb is badass but almost $400/theres a 30% off promo on it. the one i would suggest is the pc-011 dynamic
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811112583&Description=lian li&ignorebbr=1&cm_re=lian_li-_-11-112-583-_-Product
or the pc-011ww same case just all white.
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811112563&Description=lian li&ignorebbr=1&cm_re=lian_li-_-11-112-563-_-Product
if you want something like the old silverstone temjin theres the pc-v3000wx that got an enclosure in the bottom of the case. more so for watercooling but it would still be an excellent aircooled case. its also pretty expensive tho $340@ newegg.
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIAFST6XC2791&Description=lian li&ignorebbr=1&cm_re=lian_li-_-9SIAFST6XC2791-_-Product

I've never owned a Lian Li, but I would be hesitant to drop $300+ on any case that (given my past impressions) aren't milled/engineered/designed with a high degree of detail. That PC-011 Dynamic is really interesting though. I want to put a AIO cooler on my next GPU (noise and longevity reasons), so that case (and the price) interests me.

In general, what is the consensus regarding enclosure/shrouds at the bottom of cases? Noticeable difference in temp/noise, or just window dressing?

 

[Fritzz]

There's definitely some option out there besides the Corsair.

My current build is in a Jonsbo W2: Definitely small and honestly a bit limited with fan options. I currently only have 1 exhaust fan. Temps are fine, but had to do some fan curve tweaking to get it dialed in. Stock you cannot mount 140s on the bottom, but I am always tinkering/modding. Lastly radiator support is very limited. There's no way I could stick a 280 up front with the length(~12 inches) of my Asus Strix 980ti. Moved to a vertical mount after the initial build, temps didn't change at all.




Helped a buddy transplant his PC into a Lian Li PC-011 Dynamic in white. Plenty of fan options. We went with 3 intake at the bottom, 3 intake on the radiator and 3 exhaust up top. Should be great for positive air pressure in the case. Good options for radiators on the case. Could probably do a total of 3 - 360 radiators as long as you weren't going SLI. You can see from the pics that there's still a ton of room up top for another radiator. As you can see I did pretty good with the cable management. The biggest challenge was all the damn wires from the 6 Corsair LL fans. Each one has two wires plus with the extra controller that you have to wire up. He ended up using a Commander Pro in conjunction with the RGB controller that came with the fans. The only thing not in the picture is the SSD tray on the back. Basically a piece of metal to mount SSDs to that goes the height of the case. It covered up most of the wires you see between the PSU and radiator. Not that you would ever see it since the back panel isn't TG.



Overall I like the cube form factor. With just a bit more width you can reduce your overall height pretty quickly. If you are looking for radiator support the PC-011 Series would be hard to beat. After building in one, I am definitely a fan. There's even an Air(LIAN LI PC-O11AIR) version you can check out.

 

[kamxam]

Currently this is the case i'm going to use. (Just waiting on a few more parts) It's older but I like the look. Top is for the motherboard/radiator and the bottom is for the PSU and hard drives. More of a LAN case though.

Coolermaster HAF XB Evo

 

[bonehead123]

Air540/740's are among the best designed and well built dual zone cases out there IMHO, with gobs of room for fans/rads/cable mgmt etc etc....

But my current rig beats them both in so many ways....

I have my used 540 FS if you wanna pay the shipping

 

[Deleted member 89137]

I like my HAF Stacker 935, but I have it upside down and the PSU's CPU cable won't reach if it have it in the bottom case. So instead I have 3 hard drives and 2 SSD's all in the bottom. You can run it with the PSU and drives in the top though, but I find I get better airflow having fans mounted to the top of the larger chassis. Previously I was running dual PSU's which is why I chose this case (for mining, was running 5 GPU's off one board)
They don't sell it anymore but you can find them here and there. It can run dual PC's, a mini-itx in the small case and a full ATX in the main portion. Plus you can infinitely stack them since it has modular rails. The smaller side panels have mounting for 280mm and 360mm radiators on both sides, plus the top of the big part has the same mounting options, so it can technically run 3 big radiators, though you can realistically only run 2 unless you have long hoses. Some pics of mine, can't really seem to get good pics of the T-force RGB RAM so i turned it off.

Here's some awesome custom builds: