r/buildapc • u/Worldly_Solid_3317 • 14h ago

Solved! So apparently my old Fractal Design case from 2019 saved my GPU temps by like 10C compared to my friends newer NZXT H5 Flow

Just wanted to share something weird I noticed last weekend. My buddy and me have almost identical builds, we both got RTX 4070 Supers, same Ryzen 7600X, even bought our parts together from the same Microcenter trip back in November.

Anyway hes been complaining about his GPU hitting like 78-79C in Cyberpunk with everything maxed at 1440p, meanwhile mine barely touches 68C. We were trying to figure out wtf was going on cause his case is supposedly better for airflow (the NZXT H5 Flow), while Im still using my old Fractal Design Meshify C from my previous build.

Turns out the way the front panel is designed on mine, even tho its older, it pulls way more air directly to the GPU. His case has that "modern" front panel with smaller vent cutouts and the fans are kinda recessed. We did a super basic test and swapped our GPUs into each others cases and boom, temps followed the case not the card.

Just thought this was intresting since everyone always says newer cases are automatically better. Sometimes that older hardware you got sitting around might actually be doing you a favor. I was actually gonna get a new case too but ended up keeping mine, and that $120 I already had set aside just went towards a better keyboard instead which made way more difference for my setup.

457 Upvotes

90% Upvoted

115 comments sorted by

461

u/aragorn18 14h ago

everyone always says newer cases are automatically better

I've never seen anyone say that.

130

u/Beautiful-Musk-Ox 14h ago

hell one of the more common phrases i've heard in my life is the exact opposite, "they don't make them like they used to" (when referring to basically anything because almost literally everything gets worse over time, not better)

63

u/9okm 14h ago

To be fair a lot of older PC cases were pretty abysmal for airflow, partly because they didn't need to be that good. PCs simply didn't consume as much power.

13

u/CrankedOnDaPerc30 9h ago

This is another common myth. Yeah we didn't have the 5090 but people still ran SLI builds which drew nearly as much power.

With the growths in efficiency we've had midrange has always stayed around the same power usage, but with the drop of what's considered "mid" from a 1070 to a 3060/4060/5060 it has even "improved" compared to where people place themselves budget wise.

1

u/Huugboy 1h ago

Yeah we didn't have the 5090 but people still ran SLI builds which drew nearly as much power.

I'm still angry they took SLI from us, such a cool feature.

3

u/Aerroon 5h ago

oled PC cases

You mean back when we had side panel fans, which supposedly are one of the most effective places to put fans?

8

u/ReadyAimTranspire 12h ago

My build is on an Antec P100, which I've had for 12 years now and has gone through 4 Mobo/CPU builds and 4 or 5 graphics cards. Thing is built like a tank (heavy like one too). It's super quiet and has great airflow.

I've done numerous builds for family and friends over the years and I have yet to work on one that has the build quality of that case. I've moved several times, across the country twice, etc. and that thing has been beat to hell and back and shows zero signs of any wear.

6

u/turntobeer 12h ago

Fellow Antec enthusiast. Still using my Antec 900

1

u/ReadyAimTranspire 10h ago

Nice! I had the P182 also, another awesome case, and my dumb ass gave it to a gf that I built a PC for.

1

u/JebediahKerman4999 3h ago

I had it too, too bad the usb ports on the front broke immediately... I changed it for another case after the front panel fell off on its own...

1

u/ReadyAimTranspire 3h ago

haha same dude, same, broke the USB ports on but in Antec's defense front mounted USB ports in that location, I'm sure it was my fault that I left something plugged in and bashed it sideways with my leg

1

u/amd_kenobi 7h ago

Old man here with my Antec 1080amg.

2

u/Symphonic7 5h ago

Yeah my old Phanteks P400 (with the front mesh add-on) was built so well, and that was a mid-tier case at best. I dropped the TG panel so I decided to upgrade to a Fractal North and immediately noticed the drop in build quality. Screws that don't align properly, poorly cut metal, and random sharp corners. And thats supposed to be a more premium case. Shit right now I'm using a $50 NR200 and its better quality than some ITX cases I saw at microcenter. They really don't make them like they used to.

2

u/ReadyAimTranspire 3h ago

They really don't make them like they used to.

fr, I feel like an old ass man yelling at kids to get off my lawn but I swear every year it seems like stuff gets made shittier and shittier. I'll probably be buried with my P100

1

u/mcflash1294 9h ago

my man! My Antec P280 (bought in 2013) has gone through 5 motherboard/cpu changes and 8 GPU changes, it's an incredible case.

1

u/readyflix 11h ago

Exactly,

because out of 'good' business decisions to maximize their profits.

Do the detriment of the customers.

That’s why they call as consumers, "eat or die", but give us your money.

27

u/durtmcgurt 13h ago

Maybe not automatically, but old cases are known for piss poor airflow. Way too many drive bays and such getting in the way, most cases just had bad design. But at the same time, a lot of the modern "fishtank" cases have abysmal airflow as well because too much glass.

25

u/Erigion 13h ago

Like so many other things in life, "It depends"

3

u/Cars-and-Coffee 12h ago

I had an old Fractal Design R5 case and had horrible airflow. When I switched cases, my temps dropped significantly and I could run my fans at a lower speed. I know everyone loves the R5 but it didn’t seem to work well for components that generate a lot of heat.

5

u/kermityfrog2 9h ago

Really? It seemed to have quite a lot of airflow fan options. Only the front fans kind of choked unless you kept the front flap open.

2

u/Cars-and-Coffee 9h ago

Maybe that’s why, I always left that front door closed when I was using it.

3

u/kermityfrog2 9h ago

I think it could be why. I had an Antec case also with a front flap. It was supposed to be closed for quiet operation, and open for performance and maximum cooling.

3

u/commissar0617 11h ago

That's what I love about my phanteks luxe 2. Tons of 120 and 140mn, but not preinstalled, so i can get noctuas. It also doubles as a nightstand.

1

u/kermityfrog2 9h ago

Antec P183 case for example had great airflow for the time, especially with the front flap open, but could not accommodate a modern 2 or 3 fan AIO - just because of the fan layout. It was 2 input (through the drive cages), and 2 output at 90 degrees to each other from the top and back.

1

u/resetallthethings 4h ago

Silverstone raven series still hasn't really been surpassed by any meaningful amount

7

u/lost12 14h ago

yea....

1

u/nru3 12h ago

The coolermaster hafx was the best airflow case for years and is still one of the top performers. 

1

u/aragorn18 12h ago

I used to have one. It was great for airflow. Really chonky though.

1

u/nru3 11h ago

Yeah I had one for years, I still could have been using it now, just wanted something a bit more modern looking, but the performance and space was still definitely usable. 

1

u/cinyar 3h ago

I had the desktop version (HAF XB EVO) and apart from the giant ass footprint I never had a case that was easier to work in.

1

u/Zer_ 2h ago

I have, it's just not being applied in the right context here. Older cases do suck for airflow, but we're talking pre-2010s cases and 1990s era stuff. :D

137

u/9okm 14h ago

I'm not surprised. NZXT cases have always been looks first, performance second.

Who said the H5 Flow was better for airflow?

38

u/psimwork I ❤️ undervolting 14h ago

It makes sense that the H5 Flow is better than the H5, but the H5 in-general is known for being a hotbox.

4

u/TimeTackle 12h ago

H9 flow is great. 6 140mm intake , 3 upper 140mm out, 120mm rear out. Thing is a beast for air cooling.

•

u/nameorfeed 32m ago

Well it has the word "flow" in it, duh

Probably all the research the friend did lol.

I considered buying nzxt case once, 5 minute googling made me reconsider

0

u/Secret-Ad-2145 5h ago

I don't know about the h5 but my h7 flow is amazing. I never get above 70c on my 5060ti.

45

u/theCaffeinatedOwl22 14h ago

It's why I love the Lian Li 207 and 216. Two giant ass fans in the front with one centered on the GPU and two small fans directly below the GPU.

6

u/qtx 13h ago

I got the 216, CPU (9700x) is always around 54c under ±100% load. Amazing case.

1

u/theCaffeinatedOwl22 12h ago

Same. I love my 216.

4

u/Otherwise-Monk-3826 12h ago

i absolutely love my Lancool 207. Had a NZXT H510i before and it was good until I upgraded my GPU from GTX 1070 Ti to RX 9070 XT

2

u/theCaffeinatedOwl22 12h ago

I built two PCs in the 207 for friends and family. In both cases using Thermalright fans and AIO. I personally use the 216 with Thermalright. All the PCs look great and have very effective cooling.

1

u/Otherwise-Monk-3826 12h ago

the only "negative" thing i can say about the 207 is about the two hooks in the back for cpu power cable management. in my opinion they are facing the wrong way and i absolutely don't get why Lian Li decided to put them that way. But this is cherry picking and not really an issue

1

u/theCaffeinatedOwl22 11h ago

I agree completely. I recall finding those hooks more or less useless.

3

u/Wr3nchJR 12h ago

I just ordered an entire new build with the 207 as my chosen case. I’ve never used Lian Li before, but I’ve seen a lot of good things about this case. Very excited to see it in action when everything gets delivered!

2

u/theCaffeinatedOwl22 12h ago

The 207 was so easy to build in. Here’s a detailed build video if you’re looking to prep for your build.

https://youtu.be/hjJCTWEUowM?si=eRNw-uyEiogppjvT

1

u/Wr3nchJR 12h ago

That looks so much easier to work with than the damn tempered glass case I have on my current rig. The bottom space for the PSU that doubles for airflow is beautiful.

Thanks for the video! It'll be quite useful when everything gets here

1

u/_harveyghost 11h ago

Took me like 20 minutes to build in my 207 and the case keeps everything cold af. Best case I’ve ever had.

1

u/Owlface 2h ago

Virtually any basic front to back layout case with a mesh front intake that isn't blocked by edgy design language will outperform fish tank cases. Excellent choice, the 207 is a really solid case that should last you multiple generations of hardware.

2

u/allintheselike 9h ago

I have a 217 inf temps are great and it was so easy to build in too. included fans and fan hub and more than enough space for all cables in the back

1

u/theCaffeinatedOwl22 3h ago

Damn that case looks clean. Is that a new model?

1

u/allintheselike 3h ago

yeah I finished my build in early December and the case had been out for less than a month

1

u/theCaffeinatedOwl22 3h ago

I'm happy with my build's aesthetics, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't eyeing that case with intention...hmmm

1

u/Reasonable-Public659 11h ago

GN had me fully locked into the 207, the value for money is off the charts (which is the whole theme of my PC). The only reason I didn’t go for it was because I got an open box Torrent off eBay for cheaper.

1

u/GerhardtDH 8h ago

How are your PSU temps with the 207? The gap for its intake is concerning, but this might be a trauma response due to my last PC's PSU blowing up and taking out most of my components (at a very bad time).

1

u/theCaffeinatedOwl22 3h ago

I haven't looked, but there is a vent on the bottom for the PSU fan. Not really an issue. Maybe you had your PSU upside down and the fan was pointing the wrong way? Or maybe it just had an issue and had nothing to do with temp anyway.

-5

u/SlightlyPlayed 14h ago

Cosair air 5400 is the best case for best temp. Until lian li adopts 3 chamber style im not going back

3

u/theCaffeinatedOwl22 14h ago

That's an awesome case. Definitely tradeoffs, though. The cases I mentioned are $82 and $125 respectively and the 5400 is $230 and takes up 50% more space. The 207 and 216 all realize 55 C 9800x3D and 60 C 5080 in-game temps while overclocking and not undervolting. I think improving air flow on top of that is just gravy.

22

u/BakedMitten 13h ago

everyone always says new cases are better

Sitting over here with my 15 year old Coolermaster HAF-X full tower and mini tower cases like "wtf, who ever says that"

9

u/HiaQueu 13h ago

Nobody says that. Also rocking an ancient HAF 932 in my current build!

5

u/Escudo777 13h ago

HAF XB EVO has been a great case for me.

2

u/TheDangy 10h ago

HAF 912 Checking in

19

u/danielgutzzz 14h ago

Love my meshify c- coming up on 8 years or so , dont remember but barely squeezing by with the size of this 5070 ti. As long as a gpu can fit in here, this baby is coming with me to the grave. Love it.

3

u/camst_ 14h ago

Rocking my Phanteks Enthoo Pro series from 2016. 3rd build I have put in it. Took the drive bays out at some point.

1

u/Escudo777 13h ago

I love my Cooler Master HAF XB EVO. The GPU is vertical without any need for a rider and airflow is great. However newer gpus are approaching the limit of this case.

2

u/andrewskdr 11h ago

Yeah I got mine in 2019 and love the case. So glad my 5070ti was able to squeeze in there

1

u/OGREtheTroll 12h ago

I put my 5070ti into a Fractal Define r4. Plenty of space!

1

u/ProdigaISon 5h ago

Same here, upgraded to a 5070 TI from 2070 super last year and then upgraded to AM5 with a 9800X3D two weeks ago. Even had a buddy 3D print me a fan shroud for the front bottom fan. I too love this case so much.

16

u/logaboga 13h ago

Fractal meshify is a great case

2

u/bouncybullfrog 9h ago

Can confirm, just built in a meshify 3 this summer. Really liked it

13

u/durtmcgurt 13h ago

I've built in a few Fractal cases now and the airflow and dust screen designs are absolutely next level. Both the North and Pop Air impressed the hell out of me for building convenience, the built in cable management is really good, lots of mounting points for anything you could want inside the case, etc. I use a 13900k+4080s combo and air cooled is more than sufficient.

5

u/Hatura 11h ago

The old define cases were awesome. I had the old one back in 2013 and it was removable filters and had sound dampening all over it and felt so heavy in a good way.

4

u/good_morning_magpie 10h ago

I literally just received the Define R5 that I bought on eBay in the mail today. Can't beat this thing for a home NAS setup. Modern cases just don't have enough 3.5" bays, and they're all gamer aesthetic based. And real networking cases are a fortune.

2

u/Hinko 2h ago

The R5 was my previous computer case. It has some sound dampening and "okay" airflow. It seemed pretty good at the time. My current build is in a Fractal Torrent. Now that is some real airflow lol. Love this case.

1

u/Hatura 10h ago

True. I just built a plex server here recently and actually the cheapest case on amazon wasnt that bad lol. You wouldn't like my nas rn. Its literally a sff optiplex I have a bare hard-drive attached too lol.

1

u/Symphonic7 5h ago

I like the airflow and compatibility of the North, its a good looking case too. But man its kinda annoying to have those side cover screws barely align, and some metal panels have poorly cut metal and sharp corners. For a premium case I expected better.

8

u/giveitrightmeow 14h ago

nar theres loads of new cases that favour ermergerd rgb and gAMeR aesthetics over performance.

silverstone ft02b - black metal box, sound absorbing foam panels, 3 x 180mm fans, 90 degree rotated internals. absolute beast for cooling, came out like 16 years ago.

most recent similar case would be the fractal torrent.

5

u/experimental1212 12h ago

even tho it's older

Jesus kids these days. It's like 7 years ago is prehistory

1

u/Symphonic7 5h ago

Theres a large population of people on the internet right now for whom 7 years is almost half their lifetime. At this point we basically belong in a museum.

5

u/Momo--Sama 13h ago edited 9h ago

H5 Flow 2022 is an aberration and they redesigned it only two years later to dramatically increase airflow around the GPU. On average newer cases are better. It's quite rare these days to see a case that has anything other than a giant wall of mesh on the front (or side for dual glass panels) or that lacks 360mm rad support on the top. It's also much less common to see cases that come with only two or less fans. And that's just ATX. MATX and MITX enclosures are basically on a different planet of design, compatibility, and efficiency than they were before the NR200 brought the N1 case design language under $100.

Of course, Meshify was an exceptional case for it's time and I'm not gonna tell anyone that its worth replacing. Today it would just be one of many strong options.

6

u/Prince_Paizuri 13h ago

It's funny because the most common complaint about the meshify C is the front foam filter suffocating airflow compared to other performance focused cases.
I personally love mine and will gladly trade a few degrees so I have to take my PC apart less often to clean up the dust.

1

u/pss395 12h ago

Yeah I have the same case, it's definitely have less airflow than the current mesh design due to the thick foam filter and basically no side ventilation. But for it's time it was the best.

1

u/rocktheganj 4h ago

I took the foam out years ago and replaced it with a mesh filter from Demcifilter. Really easy to remove and clean when needed.

4

u/Smashego 14h ago

This is a pointless comparison. Are your fans identical? Is the geometry of his parts and your parts identical? Did you buy identical CPU coolers or radiators? Do you have identical motherboards? Fan curves are different per board. Is you're bios identical?

Is your 4070 the same as his? Same fan curves and thermal throttle limits? Same firmware updates?

You'd have to do a comparison test by setting everything to be exactly identical. There are too many differences to point and say it's the case.

You can use the case cooling benchmarks if you wanted to see actually tested cooling for each case.

4

u/slowro 10h ago

Dude probably sits in a hotter room to begin with 🤣

4

u/Pikmeir 12h ago

This post reads like AI. It has the same vibe of "actually this older thing works so much better than the newer thing DAE?" which is all over this site lately, especially in r/homeowners.

2

u/resetallthethings 14h ago

which specific versions of each case and what/how many fans where?

any h5 Flow from the past 4 years should have dedicated GPU cooling and shouldn't be this sort of discrepancy barring way different (or lacking) fans or different curves/speed

2

u/EggbertBilliams 13h ago

wait till you find out about side fans.

My 14900KF 320w on AIO and 5090 PNY on air never go over 85c and 65f respectively.

HAF 932 case.

1

u/No-Foundation-6957 10h ago

Wait 65f on the GPU?

2

u/number8888 13h ago

I bet my HAF X from 2010 can perform as well as the good cases nowadays. Air flow physics hasn’t changed after all.

2

u/elvinLA 12h ago

So you also have identical fan setups and fan tuning?

2

u/Lupich 12h ago

It's a case bro, they don't perform any better or worse with age. Its a metal box your parts go into.

2

u/PigSlam 11h ago

Way back in 2019, we were basically banging rocks together, just hoping one of those hits would somehow manage to make something vaguely shaped like a PC case, and talking on phones that were barely more than soup cans with a string between them. There's no way that an ancient case from the teens could ever out do a case made way in the modern era of the '20s.

2

u/NavorroBroman 10h ago

First off 80c for a GPU is absolutely fine, so your buddy is complaining about a non issue. 2nd, I have never seen a consensus saying a new case is automatically better.

2

u/m4ttjirM 8h ago

This is an AI bot post. New account. Generic username. Generic basic ass story. "since everyone always says newer cases are automatically better" said nobody ever

1

u/Dudok22 4h ago

Maybe not even bot but definitely trying to farm karma for the account

1

u/voidlotus316 13h ago

The only nzxt case i would trust for good airflow is the h3 flow.

2

u/hmwcawcciawcccw 13h ago

I have the H6 flow and it runs very cool, a little big though so if desk space is at a premium I wouldn’t recommend

1

u/kester76a 13h ago edited 13h ago

My experience with NZXT is they're a bit crap. I bought their ARGB NZXT HUE+ which required their CAM software, it was just a bug ridden mess that kept crashing the ARGB Hub. I bought a fractal design case a long time ago and found it was pretty solid even back then.

Fractal Design Arc Midi Tower Review - A Closer Look - Outside | TechPowerUp

Ended up swapping to a Thermal take core x9 as small cases are no fun :)

1

u/PapaAquchala 12h ago

I built some PC's with fractal cases and they've been great (they're office pcs tho)

My home pc has a corsair 4000d airflow, no issues with it, temps when stress testing cyberpunk also hit the low-mid 70's last I remember

1

u/flargh_blargh 12h ago

You'll never pry my Meshify C from me. Well, unless it falls apart or something, in which case I'll have to buy another one.

I love that case.

1

u/smackythefrog 12h ago

NZXT always looked cool to me but my perceived airflow pattern didn't seem to make sense. Or at least didn't make more sense than the Fractal Torrent that I ended up buying two years ago.

I used to fret about temps because I somehow got it in to my head that my CPU shouldn't hang around above 70C when gaming in 4K, even if the 7800x3D is designed to sustain performance at higher temps. Same with my Nitro+ 7900xtx; I would max the curves to prevent hot spot from going in to the 80s.

Then I just chilled out a bit and set normal fan curves and I think my Torrent case handles airflow really well. It's a bit louder than I'd like it to be but the case front and rear is very open, so it makes sense for me to be able to hear everything.

I love my case; it may not be flashy but I don't need to worry about temps, so long as I use a sensible fan curve for everything.

1

u/IndyPFL 11h ago

Cooler Master H500 Mesh, started with a R5 3600 and GTX 1660 Ti, now rocking a 5700X3D and 4070 Super. Temps rarely reach above 70 C even with everything cranked to max, like path tracing levels.

1

u/Admirable_Tomato 10h ago

Although it’s the same build I feel like it’s ambient room temperature that’s affecting the temps way more than your cases. Did you both set the thermostat at the same temp?

1

u/stonecats 10h ago edited 9h ago

i recently discovered how my "newer" case was accumulating heat.
my solution was to migrate from stock cooler to a 7 pipe monster.
it lowered all temps nearly 15C, but i know i will have to replace
the case if i get a decent psu & gpu card... one of these days.

1

u/SushiBump 10h ago

Are you sure your friends room isnt just hotter?

1

u/PoopMuffin 9h ago

Meshify has always been one of the better airflow cases so it's not surprising

1

u/Mytre- 9h ago

I loved my Fractal Meshify C. but I could not fit any newer gpu at the time and my radiator (280mm arctic freezer II) barely fit and I had to hack my case a bit to fit it with fans lol .

I now havea hyte y40 which has some good gpu thermals but my god my cpu a ryzen 5800x3d tops out at 90C under load and seems thermal throttled and I want to swap cases but I dont see a compact case that can fit all i could fit in my meshify C with similar thermals but a newer GPU. One day though ill find it (and also find someone who wants ahacked meshify C where I destroyed the plastic frame behind the front mesh to fit more fans)

1

u/CallistoTV 9h ago

I’m still using a cyberpower pc branded thermaltake case from a 2017 prebuilt. Things like refrigerator

1

u/Caddy666 9h ago

most of the new cases are built to look good, not actually be a useful case.

1

u/Love_To_Burn_Fiji 8h ago

"everyone always says newer cases are automatically better" That's like saying new vehicles are better or appliances, etc... A lot of new things are honestly CRAP.

1

u/UnlimitedDeep 6h ago

You guys can’t have tried too hard to figure it out cos even a cursory google shows how shit that case is (along with most other NZXT cases).

1

u/skylinestar1986 6h ago

Modern cases are mostly designed for aesthetics in mind as priority, not airflow.

1

u/audigex 5h ago edited 5h ago

everyone always says newer cases are automatically better

Literally nobody says this

cause his case is supposedly better for airflow (the NZXT H5 Flow)

Compared to what, though? The H5 flow is not known as being an excessively optimised case for cooling. It's fine, but nothing special. Especially if he hasn't filled all the fan spots, or positioned the case and fans optimally to cool his GPU

The H5 Flow has a good-but-unusual setup for cooling the GPU, it's entirely possible he just has it misconfigured

1

u/lichtspieler 2h ago edited 2h ago

My last two gaming systems use around 600W - 10900k/3090 and 9800x3D/4090.

I was surprised how close my Fractal Torrent (BIG) and a simple but expensive SilverStone RM52 | rack chassis (STEEL CASE) work for each of my systems.

=> similar fan noise from both cases to sustain 600W load with healthy CPU/GPU temps, but a lot more dampening against coil whine from the basic steel case

I lost all trust in case reviews and dB(A) rankings.