My friend claimed a $50 case is fine for airflow, I disagree after my last build.

I was at Microcenter last week and overheard a guy telling his buddy that any cheap case works if you just add more fans. I built my last rig in a $50 case and my GPU hit 85C under load until I drilled holes in the front panel myself. Does anyone else think case design matters way more than fan count for keeping temps down?

2 comments

2 Comments

nathanbennett16d ago

Man I feel you. I tried a $60 case for my Ryzen build and the front was basically a solid piece of plastic with tiny vents. GPU sat at 82C even with three fans in there. Swapped to a Fractal case with mesh front and dust filters and temps dropped to 68C without changing anything else. The intake path matters way more than cramming fans behind a solid wall.

wendy67415d ago

Oh totally @nathanbennett, that's exactly it. The case is basically the first thing that decides if your parts can breathe or not. I've seen people drop a ton on high end fans but then shove them behind a glass or solid front panel and wonder why temps are bad. It's like putting a high flow filter on a car but then blocking the intake with a board. The mesh front is just so much better for airflow, dust be damned. Glad you got that swap done, 14 degrees is a huge difference for just a case change.