Quaro
9048
Checking out a Lenovo Legion Tower 7i Destop prebuilt in person today. Quality looks great, basically like a well built custom system. Mesh on front, top, nice GPU bracket screwed in tight. Doesn’t make much noise even at full load. Looks like they only offer Intel though?
This tower has a 3080 but on the website, at the moment I type this, they don’t even offer any with 3000 series GPUs so must be out of stock. Kind of a shame to make such a premium system with a 10900K but it’s close enough to a 5800X as long as the cooling is good I guess, and this looks like it is. There is no motherboard video out though – a pretty annoying oversight. So they kind of throw away the one upside to a 10900K having intregrated graphics as a backup. WTF Lenovo?
stusser
9049
Yes, ideally you want positive pressure, more air coming in than going out, so dust won’t seep in.
Houngan
9050
Thanks, so the cases with the two or three top fans are a bit of a dodge? From what you wrote I take away that having a bunch of front intake and then letting the CPU cooler do its job with a reasonable rear exhaust works well? My main concern is quietness, not hearing fans constantly cycle up and down, even if they are particularly quiet fans. Plus no hair dryer on my leg or coming up from below.
stusser
9051
Yes, you want a case with a mesh front, 2 or 3 big 140mm fans there, and 1 or 2 big 140mm fans exhausting. With a mesh front and big fans you can run them slowly so they’re quiet but still cool well.
Houngan
9052
Thanks, as always really appreciated. Used to be fans and cases were completely non-concerns, now they seem to be as difficult to dope out as RAM and CPUs were back in the day.
I spent more time deciding on a case for my new build than anything else, probably.
I did exactly what stusser mentioned above, with a Fractal Meshify2 case. Those big fans are the kicker. So unbelievably quiet (compared to my old Antec enclosure); if it wasn’t for the graphics card winding up when playing games, I have trouble knowing if the system is on unless I’m using it. Going into sleep mode sounds almost the same except it has fewer lights.
That’s exactly the case I would buy if I was going to replace mine. I have a Fractal Define R5, which is a great case and still perfectly fine, but back from the days when everybody thought the way to build a quiet computer was to put insulation on all the sides and baffle the sound in the front, so its ventilation is compromised.
Anyway, I just keep the front door open and it’s fine, but I would prefer a third 140mm fan in the front in place of the now laughably archaic 5.25" bays.
Now you guys are gonna make me go reevaluate my fans in my new machine. It’s nothing else, it’s a fun excuse to fiddle around with my machine… and that is not a euphemism.
I’m getting to the point where maybe I’ll at least put together my own case and fans, it’s worth $100 to me to avoid having the metric shit-ton of LEDs that seem to be unavoidable in prebuilts.
You can just turn the LEDs off. I did that in my computer for the RAM and GPU. Stupid kiddie crap.
Fractal Design Define 7 Mid Tower Case. I’ve got the space so why not go for slightly roomier.
Put in three noctua fans and seems cool and quiet enough.
Maybe next time I’ll look into all this trendy mesh that the cool kids are taking about…
Same here. Love it to death. And I actually like having the 5.25 in bays, although honestly these days one is plenty.
Also, gotta remember to wash that front dust screen out a bit more often.
It’s basically fine, if you keep the front door open. Not worth replacing.
And yes you do need to clean the dust filters!
It has one on the bottom too, right? Off to check it as well (I’m afraid of what I’ll find. Probably fossilized bugs and such. ;-) )
Yes it does, primarily used by your PSU. Clean that guy too. Very easy to do, just slides right out.
It wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be, probably because this Seasonic PSU doesn’t use its fan all the time.
EDIT: Don’t know how the heck I managed to reply to myself instead of you the first time, @stusser .
I assume my pc is a massive dust tomb, as I’ve had zero intake fans , just the front filtered mesh opening and 4 outward venting fans since I bought this Antec P280 case in 2012.
Yes, it’ll suck air in from every gap, not just the front filtered spot.
