5150 III - Time for a new computer

The 3600x already comes with a rather beefy stock cooler. Since you are not overclocking it should do the job nicely. If, however, you are still very worried about cooling, I will endorse a good air cooler over an AIO everytime.

I recommend the Cryorig H7. It's a lot easier to install than a 212, and I can personally endorse it as working very well even on the balking Honduran summers on un-air-conditioned rooms with very little noise. And if the extra 4W of TDP over my 6600k are still giving you pause for concern, there's a twin fan version.
 
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Both solutions are fine, the real limitations to each is how well the case flows air through it.

I bought an AIO/CLC and the pump failed. The motherboard and CPU protections kicked in and shut things down after the fans went into max overdrive, but before things cooked. My failure seems to be fairly rare, and was covered under warranty.
 
The pump started leaking on my GamerStorm AIO and the liquid went into the GPU, the whole thing shut down but I'm not sure if it was the temperature or the liquid. The machine was fine it dried out. So far the replacement has been fine and I would buy another, they will replace any damaged parts and there's plenty of evidence of this online.

I don't really like the looks of the giant coolers so went for liquid in the glass case PC but I have a Be Quiet! Shadow Rock Slim in my server machine and it's great, makes no noise.
 
If you're going for ryzen 3, the stock cooler is fine, though for me the fan noise wasn't the right tone to tune out. I think it was due to the fan size as I went with a Noctua cooler which has a 120mm fan worked better for me. There's only a few degree difference when doing cpu tests between stock and the Noctua with my 3700 cpu.

My personal preference has been to stick with air cooling purely on the guise of longevity and to not make cooling the focus of my pc and to have to worry about it. I don't see that as the case with liquid cooling.
 
I came up with a plan for cooling in this new case I'm after. It comes with dual 140mm fans but it has provisions for multiple different configurations on the front, bottom, and top along with being able to adjust the rear fan up or down to line up with your cpu heatsink.

My thinking was to move the front 140 to the bottom and buy dual 200mm's to mount on the front and top. That way I'd have the same sized fans moving the same amount of air on the intake and exhaust side, intake on the front bottom and exhaust to the rear top. Granted I don't have a degree in fluid dynamics but it makes sense to me.

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The case is designed to come apart in different pieces so you can make room for damn near anything you like. You can even rig up fans inside to help move air over your gfx card if you want.
 
I will just leave this here.




I also flip the rear case fan around in my case. I don't see a need to pull air out there when the radiator is just above it, and the fans will pull air out of the top. I do have a filter there to help with dust management.

I don't use the bottom fan either, and block off the one spot for mounting a fan with my SSD.
 
I can't speak for water cooling, but I bought a Noctua nh-d15 a few years ago and found it to be nice and quiet. It is huge, so pay attention to case clearances.
 
Literally the only downside to my HAF 932 is the complete lack of filtration. I could reuse the case but as I said before, the cost to replace all the fans would put me around the same point of a whole new case anyway, and frankly I'm sick of blowing the damn thing out all the time after 10 years.

This new case is a full tower, not a mid, so it shouldn't have any trouble fitting. And if it does, well that's what dremels are for.
 
Unless you need to dremel through the glass. :)

I'm still using a Cooler Master CM Stacker STC-T01 I bought a million years ago. Most of the dust collects on the front so its easy to wipe off. To be honest, this is probably a good thing as it is an amazingly ugly case.
 
Filtration is a funny thing, the Corsair 570X does a good job of collecting dust on the front filter and I just blow it off with a lens blower poked in behind the glass. It doesn’t look like a particularly fine filter but very little dust gets inside.

The Fractal Design R5 I have my server in doesn’t do quite as well, the filter collects dust well but some still gets in somehow.

Dell still don’t put filters on their cases, even the new models we use at work get incredibly dusty inside after a couple of years.
 
My old Antec TX1050B only had provisions for 3 80mm fans, two in the front and one on the side, and a single filter in the front, but it still sucked in dust like an 80's stock trader inhaled cocaine. I still have and love that case, but it's just been collecting dust since the day I first turned GSX on. There's nothing really wrong with it except despite it being a full tower, there's not enough room inside to fit modern PC guts. Today's gfx cards won't clear some of the internal bracing and I can't bring myself to go cutting on it.

I fear one day I'm going to wind up with a huge collection of discontinued computer cases that do nothing but take up space yet I refuse to actually do anything with. I'll just mumble "Some day... some day..." while slightly nodding my head.
 
My old Antec TX1050B only had provisions for 3 80mm fans, two in the front and one on the side, and a single filter in the front, but it still sucked in dust like an 80's stock trader inhaled cocaine. I still have and love that case, but it's just been collecting dust since the day I first turned GSX on. There's nothing really wrong with it except despite it being a full tower, there's not enough room inside to fit modern PC guts. Today's gfx cards won't clear some of the internal bracing and I can't bring myself to go cutting on it.

I fear one day I'm going to wind up with a huge collection of discontinued computer cases that do nothing but take up space yet I refuse to actually do anything with. I'll just mumble "Some day... some day..." while slightly nodding my head.

*looks away with his LianLi PC-CK101*
 
A mini ATX cased shaped like a train that actually moves? Ok, that's a first for me. An old buddy of mine had a case customized to look like a BMW, complete with working headlights.
 
One day I'd still like to get my hands on a Thermaltake Level 10, it's still a unique design.

After LGR's recent build video I might be looking at getting a Define XL R2 to replace the R5 I'm currently using for my server, the extra space would be useful and allow me to have an optical drive alongside the 5.25" SATA drive bay and LTO4 drive. Despite what he said in that video the stock fans were still too loud for me and I replaced them with Be Quiet! silentwings versions. Honestly I can sit with both machines idling below the desk in front of me and hear almost nothing.

At one point I considered building a mini-ITX PC into a Playstation case. Would seem silly in the days of PCs on HDMI sticks but it would still be a cool project.
 
I remember liking the old school Alienware cases back in the day, back before they went way over the top with the alien theme. The Antec was about as close as I could get at the time.

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I have one of those Antec cases too. Mine is blue though.

I also have a case called a Lanboy, also made by Antec.

Not my pic.

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They haven't aged too badly, unlike the jet turbine case that I wanted to get for my first PC build.

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Settled for a cheaper and less offensive design in the end (all silver). The front panel on mine was hinged, which was actually quite handy for cleaning. They also made one with CD holders on the front. Jeez.

That Packard Bell though, my poor eyes. My parents were conned into buying the facelift version of that in 2002 and years later I found one of that exact model kicking around in a back room at work.
 
Nobody offers beige boring computer cases anymore.
 
Nobody offers beige boring computer cases anymore.

Sounds like a gap in the market, people would probably pay far too much for an authentic replica of an old case like the IBM PC. Damn, I'd be tempted to get it if someone made a portable case that looks like the vintage Dolch portable I have but contains a modern touch screen and provisions for modern hardware inside. Don't forget me when you're a millionaire. :LOL:
 
Sounds like a gap in the market, people would probably pay far too much for an authentic replica of an old case like the IBM PC

The hipsters would love that. LTT has done a couple builds like that in the past.


I'm hoping this Phanteks case I want will be back in stock soon and that it hasn't just been taken out of production. My hope is to put my metal fab skills to work and make some real brushed aluminum covers for the front and top, some silver just to break up the monotony of a pure black case. I never have and never will like builds with a ton of RGB lighting.
 
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