New matx case advice

[yan9]

Now that my grandchildren are in to the gaming age I would like to build a new gaming pc.
I had originally thought itx but know believe matx to be a better option for a hot gaming pc.

The build has to fit in to an existing cupboard but I will be able to have both front cupboard
doors open and cut outs in the back to exhaust hot air when in use.

I am restricted in the depth of the case which is a max of 370mm and so far have seen and
like the Lian Li PC-V359 case.

I want it to be all air cooled and want advice on the possibilities with this case, I am just
concerned that there are no provisions for front fans at the motherboard level.

[yan9]

Is there nobody that can give me any advice on air cooling in this case design as I am not
very experienced in these matters.
I need to choose a case before I can go any further with a build.

[quest_for_silence]

Hi yan9,

do you already have any idea about the hardware? At least the monitor resolution. About the case, the Lian-li is a nice cube, but I think it's deeper than 370mm (not to mention you need some further space for the connectors).

BTW, if I may take the liberty to say, silent computing isn't for childs, they are usually more interested in some sort of "bling" than "quietness".

[yan9]

Hello Quest for silence

Thanks for your reply, with reference to the children, the PC is for for me at home. This will also be used by my grandchildren when staying over and also for me to play online with them on their own PCs.

My monitor is 1920-1080 and possibly sometimes linked to a 42 inch plasma 1080 TV/monitor.
I have not decided on cpu but for future proofing may go Skylake 6700 ?, need advice. Also need advice on gpu 970 or better ?. But need hdmi out.

The Lian Li case is 340mm deep so it fits the cupboard ok. This is the only matx case that I could find that will fits the cupboard in depth without going to itx. I will also be cutting the back out of the cupboard for exhausting hot air. When the wife is not looking.

I would like all air cooled and was concerned whether this case was suitable or not but cannot find any thing else apart from as I said above going to an itx case but thought matx size would be better for removal of heat.

[QUIET!]

For 1080p gaming, an i5 should do fine.

mATX boards are much more common for Skylake at this point but wait a while and mITX will have plenty of options.

Cooling isn't a motherboard issue as much as a case issue. There are some mITX cases that do pretty well, some do poorly.

Noise is the tricky thing. A case that cools poorly will not be quiet. A case that cools well might be.

If you don't think you will ever need more than 1080p resolution, a GTX970 is probably a good choice but it has a memory issue and I am waiting to see what happens next spring when we start seeing 14nm GPUs, HBM2, etc. I have a feeling that the mid range cards from that next generation are going to be pretty awesome by today's standards and do very well in power consumption.

If that next generation sounds tempting, it may make sense to wait or buy something as a stop gap that you know you will change out eventually.

[yan9]

Hi Quiet

Thanks for your reply at present I am concerned with my choice of PC case and I think I will be going for an matx build. It is just whether the case I am thinking of getting the Lian Li PC - V359 will be suitable for air cooling a gaming setup.
This the only matx case that I can find that will fit in the position that I want to put it, because of depth issues.

[quest_for_silence]

My monitor is 1920-1080 and possibly sometimes linked to a 42 inch plasma 1080 TV/monitor.
I have not decided on cpu but for future proofing may go Skylake 6700 ?, need advice. Also need advice on gpu 970 or better ?. But need hdmi out.

The Lian Li case is 340mm deep so it fits the cupboard ok. This is the only matx case that I could find that will fits the cupboard in depth without going to itx. I will also be cutting the back out of the cupboard for exhausting hot air. When the wife is not looking.

I would like all air cooled and was concerned whether this case was suitable or not but cannot find any thing else apart from as I said above going to an itx case but thought matx size would be better for removal of heat.

Sorry for the late answer, yan9: the V359 is a good candidate, it has no front intake but with two side inlet it seems possible to feed a decent amount of fresh air against the hot parts.
I thought it was deeper because I actually looked at the package dimensions, and not the case ones: sorry again.

About the hw: talking about of FullHD resolution, as far as I know, the 60W GTX-750Ti is already enough for most current games though sometime without maximizing the quality settings (as well as some less efficient GPUs, like the AMD R9 270/370). Given the occasional gaming sessions, it could be enough even for you, minimizing heat, noise and expenses.

The hotter 120W GTX 960 is more than enough for any contemporary game, as well as the slightly smaller GTX 950 90W TDP should be fine. All these three GPUs should be much rather easy to quietly cool (the SPCR reference system was recorded at 14dB with a GTX 960), but given the cupboard placement temp-wise I'd say the lower TDP, the better.

Another thing to state it's how long the GPU will be (presumably) in service. Usually within a 3 years timeframe the GPU compute power becomes no more sufficient (at a given resolution), due to the rise of computing power demanded by the newer software: with reference to that, some hotter GPUs like the proposed GTX 970 or the R9 390 may last longer, but at the expense of the heath dumped into the case, and of the cooling prowess required (which likely lends to some more noise). I'd leave the DX12-related talks to some more informed co-forumer, if possible.

About the CPU, heath wise (as already said) the Core i5 should be preferable over the proposed Core i7 6700: judging from your stated requirements, apparently nothing requires more than 4 computing thread, not even games.

What do you think, up to now?

[yan9]

Quest for silence
Thanks for you reply as I said previously the case was my first concern and wanted to know if it would be ok
for an air cooled system. My concerns were as you have stated that their are no front fans.
Do you think it would be best with an air cooler on the cpu exhausting out of the back of the case helped
by a rear fan also exhausting air from the back.
The GPU would then exhaust air out of the case on the left hand side and maybe one or two extra intake fans on the right hand side.

It may be possible to remove the front window and add a front fan and filter if required, do you think this would help or be needed.

I think that you may be right in saying a GTX-750Ti and a core i5 would be good enough for me with games.
I will have to do a bit more research on those to see whether or not to jump up to the next level.

I also realise more power needs more fans means more noise but this computer will only be used for gaming.

[quest_for_silence]

the case was my first concern and wanted to know if it would be ok
for an air cooled system. My concerns were as you have stated that their are no front fans.

Please, yan9, take note that, probably due to language barriers, maybe I didn't expressed myself that well.

Talking about a "good candidate" I (probably more properly) mean that I think it's a workable, viable option given the dimensional constraints, and not just "an optimal one".

About the lack of a front intake, and airflow generally speaking, cooling wise you need at least the same amount of fresh air of the one blowed by the actively cooling fans (the CPU and GPU ones). So, whether you have a 120mm fan and 2 90mm fans, you should sum their CFM and then set up an equally amount of CFM from the intake fans. That's why it's often not recommended to mount hot hardware inside rather closed enclosures, like for instance the well known Antec Solo, given their restricted intakes, as that hot hw will suffer of rising temps due to insufficient air recirculation.

Do you think it would be best with an air cooler on the cpu exhausting out of the back of the case helped
by a rear fan also exhausting air from the back.
The GPU would then exhaust air out of the case on the left hand side and maybe one or two extra intake fans on the right hand side.

At first glance, the left hand side would be the GPU main intake, otherwise the GPU fans could be grasping for air: but a field test is necessary about that.
Actually I "defined" the V359 as a workable option because it has enough inlets, but maybe in the wrong places (that would need a field test to be assessed), unless you want to set up a positive pressure system (with 2-5 inlets but just 1 exhaust), which should be verified in real life, because it might lead to higher operating temperatures, particularly with hot hardware, due to insuffienct recirculation, but at any rate a positive pressure setup will likely lead to some dust build up, so that you will need some dust filters (which unfortunately will also reduce the airflow and generate more noise).

Such a setup makes apparently more sense to me (with the usual caveat: I don't know that enclosure): 1-2 intake fans on left panel, 1 exhaust on the back, 1 exhaust on the right panel, though I don't know if it could work well with some hot hardware (Core i7, GTX-970/980 or R9).

It may be possible to remove the front window and add a front fan and filter if required, do you think this would help or be needed.

Yes, it may/should help: how it's possible, I can't actually help, I never seen that enclosure live: first of all you should ask to Lian Li customer support the exact dimensions of this window, and whether they offer any optional grille, in order to assess which fans may fit, in case.

[yan9]

Thank you for all of the advice given.

I will contact Lian Li customer support and hopefully get some information from them regarding the case to see if their are any options for front air intake grills/fans.

Unless I can find another case with the depth restrictions that I require I will have to go with this one and try to make it work for me.

Thanks again and best regards.

Ian.

[quest_for_silence]

Thanks again and best regards.

You're welcome, Ian, feel free to come back for any further questions and, if you like, to report us about your build.

[QUIET!]

I have never seen the case but now that it seems settled, look at your cupboard.

Cases work best in open air with plenty of cool air available and room for the warm exhaust to rise away from the computer.

Your cupboard is probably going to mess that up.

Before you worry about fans in the case, you need to make sure you have plenty of area for air to get in to the cupboard and in to your case as well as plenty of area for warm air to get out of your cupboard.

You want big gaping holes, not a bunch of small holes or slits.

You also want to make sure that your intake doesn't suck warm exhaust air back in.

If it is really bad you might want to add an exhaust fan to your cupboard.

[yan9]

Hello Quiet

I appreciate what you are telling me and I have thought about getting the heat from the cupboard.
The cupboard wasn't meant to house a gaming pc originally, I bought it to house a Mac Mini which
I use mainly for browsing the web which has no heat issues.

I now realise that to be cool with the grandchildren I need a gaming pc and therefor I have to
house the pc in the same cupboard.
The cupboard is free standing off the wall and I will be able to have both front doors open. I also plan
on opening up the back of the cupboard so the rear of the pc will exhaust hot air freely outside the
rear of the cupboard.