NZXT Switch 810 Air Cooling?

[eric335]

Hey all,


After looking at tons of cases, my heart is somewhat set on the Switch 810. The only question i have is if this case would be good for air cooling.....

Im not 100% sure which GPU i will end up going with, but im planning on either the Gigabyte WF3 GTX 670 or the eVGA GTX 670 FTW. My decision on which card depends somewhat on if the case could handle a non-reference card's heat. If i went the eVGA route, the heat would be sent out the back of the case, but the GPU wouldnt cool (and not perform as well/last as long/ OC) as well as the WF3 on the Gigabyte, and could potentially limit my CPU. If i max out the fans on the Switch 810, could i get away with the non-reference Gigabyte? What if i SLI down the road?

Thanks for your opinions!
Eric

 

[Souseiki]

I have the switch and i absolutely love it, i think its great. i run twin cards in sli and i have never had any problem as far as cooling is concerned, granted my cpu is on its own corsair cooling loop so theres a little less heat in the case but you just have to make sure you have enough fans running into it to keep the cool air flowing. also whether or not you card exhausts into the case or out the back will affect things as well. all in all its a good case. if you ever end up wanting to water cool it its got some great support built in too cheers!

 

[eric335]

I have the switch and i absolutely love it, i think its great. i run twin cards in sli and i have never had any problem as far as cooling is concerned, granted my cpu is on its own corsair cooling loop so theres a little less heat in the case but you just have to make sure you have enough fans running into it to keep the cool air flowing. also whether or not you card exhausts into the case or out the back will affect things as well. all in all its a good case. if you ever end up wanting to water cool it its got some great support built in too cheers!

Thanks for the reply!
If i got the Switch 810, would you recommend a reference or non-reference card for an air-cooling only build? I might go water-cooled eventually later on (couple years?) but for now i plan on air-cooling only

 

[solara2xb]

The switch 810 is a great case... air flow for both air cooling and water cooling has shown great results. If you do a google search you will find allot of info on it..

I have considered the 810, but I can't give up my beloved 800D just yet..

 

[stratosrally]

While generally speaking rear-exhaust cards are the better choice. However the Switch has so many 140mm fan locations (10!) and from so many directions, you can go with non-reference coolers and get a quieter overall setup - and the cards themselves run cooler.

Typically, in tests of the new GTX 680 & 670 there have been a few non-reference cooling solutions that have scored noticeably higher on noise levels and load temperatures.

Because the Switch has a large amount of front to back and especially bottom to top fan mounts, you should be able to make the fact that the card doesn't rear exhaust a non-concern. The extra room of the case also helps with spacing SLI'd multiple video cards so that air can be directed in-between them.

The ability to angle the two fan locations on the back side of the HDD cages is another plus. The airflow can be adjusted to your needs very easily.

I would agree that if you went with an all-in-one cooling loop for your CPU (from Corsair, Thermaltake, Antec, etc.) you would have even fewer issues. Going this route would allow the hot air in the system to flow unimpeded over the upper portion of your motherboard and towards the top three fan locations - because there wouldn't be a large CPU aircooler in the way. This is not to say that you wouldn't necessarily be just fine with a good aircoller on your CPU!



I am also planning to get myself the NZXT Switch 810 - I firmly believe that once I move my gear from my old cramped case it will have much cooler temps overall. Especially after some experimentation with moving fans around. It comes with 4 fans which should be plenty if you are only running a single videocard.

I have read almost a dozen reviews on this case as well as followed many build threads using it and think it will be an excellent choice.

All you have to do is get the videocard of your choice based on price, brand quality, noise levels, heat dissipation, warranty, and style. Don't worry about compatibility with the Switch - you should be able to use whatever you like and have a great experience.

Try this review for starters - then Google GTX 670 comparisions for more tests:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/geforce-gtx-670-test-review,3217.html



Edit: The Switch in Gunmetal (the new improved Special Edition, or SE model) is currently 20% off at Amazon. If you are a Prime member you also get free 2 Day Shipping. It's down from $179.99 to $143.99!

 

[eric335]

While generally speaking rear-exhaust cards are the better choice. However the Switch has so many 140mm fan locations (10!) and from so many directions, you can go with non-reference coolers and get a quieter overall setup - and the cards themselves run cooler.

Typically, in tests of the new GTX 680 & 670 there have been a few non-reference cooling solutions that have scored noticeably higher on noise levels and load temperatures.

Because the Switch has a large amount of front to back and especially bottom to top fan mounts, you should be able to make the fact that the card doesn't rear exhaust a non-concern. The extra room of the case also helps with spacing SLI'd multiple video cards so that air can be directed in-between them.

The ability to angle the two fan locations on the back side of the HDD cages is another plus. The airflow can be adjusted to your needs very easily.

I would agree that if you went with an all-in-one cooling loop for your CPU (from Corsair, Thermaltake, Antec, etc.) you would have even fewer issues. Going this route would allow the hot air in the system to flow unimpeded over the upper portion of your motherboard and towards the top three fan locations - because there wouldn't be a large CPU aircooler in the way. This is not to say that you wouldn't necessarily be just fine with a good aircoller on your CPU!



I am also planning to get myself the NZXT Switch 810 - I firmly believe that once I move my gear from my old cramped case it will have much cooler temps overall. Especially after some experimentation with moving fans around. It comes with 4 fans which should be plenty if you are only running a single videocard.

I have read almost a dozen reviews on this case as well as followed many build threads using it and think it will be an excellent choice.

All you have to do is get the videocard of your choice based on price, brand quality, noise levels, heat dissipation, warranty, and style. Don't worry about compatibility with the Switch - you should be able to use whatever you like and have a great experience.

Try this review for starters - then Google GTX 670 comparisions for more tests:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/geforce-gtx-670-test-review,3217.html



Edit: The Switch in Gunmetal (the new improved Special Edition, or SE model) is currently 20% off at Amazon. If you are a Prime member you also get free 2 Day Shipping. It's down from $179.99 to $143.99!

Fantastic reply! I think ill pull the trigger on the NZXT Swtich 810 in white (white is sexy ) once it goes on sale again (cant believe i missed the 20% off on NE!!!!).

What GTX 670 would YOU recommend? I was looking at the Gigabyte WF3 and eVGA style coolers. Both seem well built, but not sure what to do...

 

[eric335]

It seems the Gigabyte scored better on GPU temp AND performance.... If i can get a water-cooling CPU set-up, then i think a ton of fans + water cooled CPU would be pretty damn good. Whats a relatively good water cooling CPU setup? I dont want to spend too much $ on this,as my build is starting to push my budget a little too much...

EDIT:

I think ill go with the Asus GTX 670 DC2 for the GPU if i can squeeze the H100 CPU cooler

 

[eric335]

How about the Corsair H100? I think ill try to find somewhere to make-up the 70$ more it costs over the CM 212 EVO

 

[stratosrally]

The Gigabyte has scored very well on cooling and quietness:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/geforce-gtx-670-test-review,3217-16.html

It was voted all-around best GTX 670 in that test and has done excellently in all reviews I've seen.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125423

BLUE PCB, though - - -

I used to be a huge EVGA guy - but they just haven't got the cooling solutions that many other brands are coming out with. I love their backplates and styling - neat, clean and aesthetically pleasing - but since everyone starts with the same Nvidia GPU, when a new generation is released all brands get the same performance benefits and new technology.

EVGA needs to add more cooling and less noise because that is a much more well-rounded approach. Why should every gamer with cutting edge-hardware be cursed with a jet turbine on or under their desk?

My legs get sweaty from mine now that I had to move it from on top of my desk to underneath - I was just trying to get the noise further away from my left ear!

I plan on "switching" to this new case soon, and eventually replacing the fans with lower noise but decent CFM models. Hopefully I can a little later move to either new GPU coolers or go whole hog on a whole new rig to keep in the same case.

You can see here the limitations I have with a 7-expansion slot case (CM Storm Scout). With the 9 slots available in a NZXT Switch 810 I can move my 2nd GPU down from its current "sandwiched" position (4th) to the 7th slot - which is my only other PCIe 8x slot.

The 2nd image is from NZXT - just imagine my 2nd GPU in the bootom mobo slot - you can see how much more airflow will reach it. I will move or remove my Creative Labs X-Fi audio card during the changeover.

It will then have much more space for the front fans to blow in-between the 2 GPUs as well as space underneath the bottom card & above the PSU for air from the bottom fan location next to the PSU and from the lower front fans. For this reason I will actually swap the GPUs so that the DS non-reference model on the bottom will then be the top GPU - the hot air will only travel a small distance over my low-profile liquid-cooler & Dominator RAM heatsinks to the top and rear exhaust fans. The lower GPU will have its single reference cooling fan pull almost directly from the bottom fan and exhaust to the rear without adding as much to the heat in the case. Should allow me to readjust my GPU fan profile a little lower and maybe they will be finally quieter!

These are reasons why the Switch should work quite well for just about any combination of air and/or liquid cooling. I can hardly wait to get mine, but I have told myself I must complete a certain task first that will take me about 2-3 more months. It will then be my reward!