Hi. I have built around 8 PCs since I started, unless you count rebuilds from upgrading motherboards and other components, and feel like I can recommend a few cases based on how easily everything went. From budget cases like Rosewill, to some of the more expensive like the Fractal Torrent Nano. I have been able to develop a few favorites based on how easily the motherboard and other components fit into the case, and how easy it was to manage the cables.
The Rosewill PRISM T ATX Mid Tower, has an amazing amount of room in the case, but cable managing was extremely difficult requiring two people to close the panel. I built two separate PCs in this case and there just is not enough room for cable management.
This isn't the case with the Rosewill Cube Mini ITX/Micro-ATX/ATX. This case was pretty compact while still having enough room to comfortably work with all the components I put in the case, and a dual chamber design providing plenty of room for cable management. I used full ATX components, as well as a full ATX PSU that easily fits in the chamber on the other side of the motherboard tray. The only aspect of this case that I didn't like was the quality of the power and reset buttons. After about two years serving me every day building in it twice and changing out components, I had to retire the case due to the front panel buttons breaking in such a way that replacing them would not have been worth the trouble. The buttons broke and pushed into the front panel.
The CORSAIR - 4000D AIRFLOW ATX MidTower Case is what I am using now for my gaming rig. I used this for my cousins gaming rig, and this case has been pretty great all around. The components fit perfectly, however I do have to look at the GPU dimensions as it can only fit around 320mm to 330mm when mounting a radiator and fans on the front. Mounting the radiator at the top is possible but it blocks access to DIMMs just enough to make it difficult or impossible to swap out RAM kits based on the height of the kit you have. Cable management is easy to deal with, unless of course, if you have all six fan slots populated with Corsair RGB fans. Currently my cable management looks pretty messy, but if I did buy extensions for the fan cables it would be easily rectified, and made to look like a professional did the work.
The LIAN LI O11 AIR MINI was also very easy to work with. This build I used an mATX motherboard, a Thermaltake TOUGHAIR 510, and a full sized GPU, with no problems except the fact that I could not find a way to route the front fan power cables to look less messy. I just could not find a channel to route the cables. If anyone can post in the replies a way to route the front fan cables in a way that they are less visible, I would absolutely appreciate it. This case is absolutely one of the best cases I have worked with, due to the dual chamber design putting the PSU on the other side of the motherboard tray, and, besides the front fans, amazing options for cable management.
This case, the Fractal Design Torrent Nano Black, was a little harder to work with, being that this was the first ITX build I have put together. I used an ITX motherboard and while it was a new experience, I didn't have to do anything fancy to get everything into this case. I only had problems getting the screws in place to secure the motherboard. My screwdrivers are not very good anymore being magnetic but extremely weak. I spent more time trying to secure the motherboard than anything else. This case also fits a full size dual fan Asus GTX 1060 6GB easily. The only cable that caused some issues was the 8 pin CPU cable. I had to run it along the top of the motherboard due to the lack of a cut out large enough to fit the cable above the connector. There is plenty of room for cable management otherwise.
The Fractal Design Meshify 2 was also just an all around great experience. The cable management went smoothly. The components fit into the case very easily, and the dust filters saved my brothers PC, when he accidentally knocked his drink over onto the top of the PC. Very little liquid made it through the filter on the top and I was able to wipe the liquid that did make it into the case down. It was a miracle that only a few drops landed on his GPU backplate and the PSU shroud. I did dismantle it and clean the GPU and PSU as those were the parts that did get wet. For this build I used a mATX motherboard, because it was cheaper, and my brother didn't need all of the features a full ATX motherboard has to offer. He opted for the smaller dual fan MSI Ventus RTX 3060 TI, but he has ample room to get larger GPUs later down the line.
I feel like, my favorite case to build in, with the ease of use and all around most pleasant build experience for me has to go to the Fractal Design Meshify 2. A bonus is that It looks clean, and has extremely good dust filters. I only have to blow that build out with my electric duster once every three to four months.
My favorite case aesthetically though is the Corsair 4000D Airflow. If you kit it out with some RGB fans in the front and rear and pair some Corsair RGB RAM, it just looks great. That is why I use it as my main gaming rig, along with the fact that this thing even with the stock black fans has amazing airflow. I guess that is why it is named the 4000D Airflow.
I haven't built with any full sized cases yet but if you are in the market for cases that fit nearly anything, discounting some custom loop cooling, I absolutely recommend the 4000D Airflow, and the Fractal Design Meshify 2. These are the best cases I have worked with, and they come in at great prices.
What has your experience been with cases, and their ease of use? Do you have a favorite case to work in?
I ran a monster Rosewill mesh front case for years and it had served me well .. I've recently switched to the
CORSAIR - 4000D AIRFLOW
I run 2 x 140mm fans on the top .. and 2 x 140mm fans on the front with the stock 120mm fan in the middle of the 2 and the stock 120mm fan in the rear .. Everything installed smoothly and cable management was a breeze
I've only built one PC which is my current. The previous I just gave rough specs to a local shop and got them to do it. This time around (last gen) I bought everything myself and built it.
Fractal had a great rep so I went with the Fractal Design Meshify 2. It was excellent to build in and I had almost no issues with it.
Ton's of room for cable management, almost no issues with the PSU and all the cables at the back like I've seen in the previous cases I had.
Just to note, fractal have sent me out 2 replacement filters for the top over the last 2 years due to silliness on my end at no cost or issue. Super helpful company and would 100% recommend them to anyone. anyone.
- CASE: Fractal Design Meshify S2
- GPU: Red Devil Limited Edition RX 6800 XT
- CPU: Ryzen 9 5900X
- CPU Cooler: ARCTIC Liquid Freezer II 280
- MB: Asus ROG Strix X570-E
- MEM: Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200
- PSU: Corsair HX Platinum 1000 W 80+ Platinum
i have limited case experience, but i absolutely love working in my darkflash v22. its rotated! other cases i enjoyed working in were the Fractal North, and sometimes my husbands gigantic phanteks enthoo pro from 2016. ive also built in an NZXT H510 but its airflow was so bad that i swapped to my v22 after less than a year.
