The other current top defaults for airflow cases are the Lian Li Lancool 216, II, and III along with the Fractal Pop Airs. I've built a Lancool II and Torrent Compact and they're pretty much interchangeable for thermals, noise, and benefit of rotating out the stock fans. While bigger than the Compact, the II lacks the Torrents' topside hotspot and 3.5s run a little quieter in it. Main advantage to the Torrents is the intake filter's quieter than mesh at higher airflows but, at common ambients, a stock 13600K+4080 won't demand enough air for Torrents to show advantage.

Next tier of airflow cases is the mesh variants of the Lian Li O11Ds, NZXT H5-H7 Flow, Phanteks Eclipse P300A-P360A-P400A-P500A, and Corsair 4000D-5000D-7000D Airflow. There may be others I'm not thinking of.

Fractal North appears to have potential to be competitive in noise-normalized airflow given fan changes and mesh side mods. But, as a recent release, availability and data on it are limited.

 

Second the Lian Lancool III.

 

The Fractal North is a really nice case, looks super sleek and understated.

 

The fractal north reminds me of 70s furniture

 

Imo it gives off serious Atart 2600 vibes;

 

Fractal North, the Fractal Pop, Lian Li Lancool, Be Quiet! Silent Base 802, Fractal Meshify 2 would be good too...

 

The Be Quiet Silent base 802 is the best of the lot for myself here.

Has 7 - internal 3.5 inch drives attached and running cool without any problems. Can't do that with any other case you've mentioned.

Until they finally make 2280 sticks with 20TB storage for $400 each, then those cases shall be easily used. Of course, I might be talking about another parallel universe here.

 

Thanks for the responses! Hopefully others can benefit from them in the future, too.
Because my patience was running low and my local PC part store had a very limited stock, I went with the "be quiet! Pure Base 500DX" mid-tier case.
It's not quite up there with the Torrent, but I can at least slap on some more fans if I really need some more cooling.

PSA/Update:
If you plan on using an ASUS TUF RTX 4080/4090 or a longer card, do NOT get the "be quiet! Pure Base 500DX" case. You physically can't fit the card inside without sawing/filing off case material, or disassembling the graphics card, despite the manufacturer stating cards up to 10mm longer are fittable in the case.

That being said, I unscrewed the 4080's back plate and managed to put it in the case without it, and I'm using 2 GPU holder feet for added stability.
Unfortunately when I unpacked the RAM sticks, they were bent, and the assembled computer does not start, so I'll have to send those back.. *** really, so many complications in this build.

 

Hijacking a bit, but any suggestions for a cheap case that is small but fits ATX and isn't 20 years old?

 

Lancool II Mesh is a solid choice. What cooling?

 

LanCool 216 gets my vote. I really like you don't have a separate bracket for vertical GPU mount, it has it's own fan/rgb controller and a good case all around

 

5000D or 4000D from Corsair

 

5000D isn't a small case by any means. 4000D gets my vote though.

 

Lancool 216. Lian Li sells additional front filter as accesory. U can block of the sidevent with some black/white paper on the inside if ur afraid that will also get dust in.

 

or just get some any mesh type front case... then slap some x3 silverstone FHP141 fan (171 cfm airflow)

the reason why torrent is getting best thermal in all of review charts because of the crazy x2 180mm fans front (153 CFM )

 

the reason why torrent is getting best thermal in all of review charts because of the crazy x2 180mm fans

Check your design maths and assumptions. Given a choice between n + 1 smaller fans an n larger ones, reasonable care in parts selection nearly always results in greater noise-normalized airflow from the n + 1 configuration. This is particularly true for 3x120 versus 2x180 (Torrent Compact) and 3x140 also has an advantage versus 2x180 (Torrent full size) due to the progressive reduction in design attention stepping up through 120, 140, to 180.

I bought a Torrent Compact to measure in order to see if the different airflow distribution of larger impellers might overcome this. And, across noise-normalized 3x120, 2x140, and 2x180 configs reasonably well controlled for differences in fan selections, it didn't. Not a big ΔT so is unlikely to make or break a build but Fractal would need to redesign the GP-18 and AL-18, which are the best 180s currently sold into this market, to boost noise-normalized airflow by something like 20% in order to tie an entry level 120 config like 3x TL-C12.

In builds where noise is much of a consideration the GP-18 and AL-18's 16 dB(A) at minimum RPM is also a problem. Current me is stuck listening to the Torrent Compact and really not enthusiastic about past me's decision to give it a try, though it's not quite annoying enough to ditch the 180s.

 

Maybe that North XL? Steve said the Torrent is the goat so you might have a tough time.

 

Maybe that North XL?

Definitely of interest as a Torrent full size alternative if looking within Fractal—no topside hotspot and the 3.5 mounts have airflow. Functionally I'm not sure the North XL'll prove to do much the Lancool III hasn't been doing as well or better at a slightly lower price point. The XL offers a different look, is a little bit smaller, and a lot of people don't need the III's four 3.5 bays, though. Probably it'll take comments from actual users to find out if the XL's as flexy as the non-XL and shares its problems with intended to be captive screws falling out.

I'd like to see GN's new methodology and the rest of the results. GN's historically been vague as to their fan curves and, as fan normalization's not mentioned in the current North XL review, it seems likely they're comparing the North XL's three Aspect 14 fronts to the Torrent full size's 2xGP-18 + 3xGP-14. Both are valid but, for actual use in front to back configs, I'd want to be looking at a more even comparison including a rear exhaust fan. Also the Torrent's missing from GN's CPU only thermals and it's unclear if they're doing anything with the 2x180 up top besides showing the mount. If those are spinning it's curious both 180s are exhausts—in the Lancool II and North non-XL I got basically no net difference from top rear exhaust in and like 1 °C cooler from top front intake.

Couldn't test side exhaust in either of the North non-XLs I've built as they both have Thermalright dual towers and too tall GPUs. The open area of Fractal's side mesh isn't great, though, and it does get warm over the rearmost several cm of the GPU. So IMO it's good Steve mentioned about checking to see if there's a worthwhile ΔT from a fan there.

 

Eww hard drives 🤮

 

Having spent the past week checking into storage server builds, I've gained a deeper appreciation for this sentiment.

Then I look at the cost of deploying a few hundred TB of flash. Like, we've started using 20 TB IronWolf Pros as a financial unit.

 

I know this thread is old, but I'll toss my vote with the Thermaltake CTE E600 MX. It has a 90 degree tilt on the motherboard like some of Silverstone's old cases (Raven for ex). On a total system draw of 350-450W, its practically silent under my desk. I'd have to go down to my desk to hear unless my room was dead silent.

The 90 degree tilt allows for some interesting airflow paths such as a rear + bottom to front & top. This allows you to fully envelope all your parts with fresh air. Notably it keeps memory nice and chilly, and cools your GPU backplate which helps its overall cooling efficiency. The top fan mounts are especially interesting since they're mounted suspended in free space, which I suspect that top fans can exhaust or intake at close to unrestricted levels of airflow.

The drawbacks include the fact that your GPU almost certainly has to be vertically mounted. It has other mounting variations that are upright, but GPU heatpipes tend to not work in those orientations. I think the perf is fine considering that I'm vertical mounting it about 2.5cm from the glass (there is also a mounting position 4cm from the glass, but I didn't want to put pressure on my 24pin power cable to make room). In addition, like most modern cases, the intakes are through both a horizontal grille plus dust filter, which both restrict CFMs while adding noise. An optimal intake would be a circular grille plus dust filter, but those tend to be rare in the modern aesthetic of cases. Theres a few mm clearance between each of these layers and the fan, which should lessen the restriction somewhat.

I would place it as clearly better than my Lian Li O11 Dynamic in noise normalized perf (and I've tested it again with 6x P28 intakes and 2x AN140 exhausts). Not sure how it fares against the Torrent/Lancool/North as there aren't too many usable comparisons. If you don't care about silence, this case is definitely capable of clearing 1000W of power draw without custom water as long as you populate all fan mounts and run them at around 2000 RPMs with quality fans.

Current setup: CTE E600, 6x In Win AN140 Intakes@650RPM (rear and bottom), 1x Lian Li P28 top exhaust@1050RPM, 3x Arctic P14 RGB@720RPM side rad exhaust. 52C CPU, 40C memory, 61C GPU @ 1100-1500 RPMs. The perf is surprisingly good considering that intakes have a double restriction (dust filter + horizontal grille). Exhausts are unfiltered.

 

I know this thread is old, but I'll toss my vote with the Thermaltake CTE E600 MX. It has a 90 degree tilt on the motherboard like some of Silverstone's old cases (Raven for ex).

Yeah BUT, Silverstone old cases were not huge and some of them are hooked up next to 34-inch monitors, throughout my home. Lavish design with purpose (all the older designs, not the current junk-ware being sold for 2024).

All Thermaltake did, was to expand their case into GigaChad-Territory here, but now it can't be placed near any huge monitors unless the Desk is the size of a Football pitch .