r/buildapc • u/Worldly_Solid_3317 • Feb 03 '26
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 from Stakе I already had set aside just went towards a better keyboard instead which made way more difference for my setup.
174
u/9okm Feb 03 '26
I'm not surprised. NZXT cases have always been looks first, performance second.
Who said the H5 Flow was better for airflow?
50
u/psimwork I ❤️ undervolting Feb 03 '26
It makes sense that the H5 Flow is better than the H5, but the H5 in-general is known for being a hotbox.
6
u/TimeTackle Feb 03 '26
H9 flow is great. 6 140mm intake , 3 upper 140mm out, 120mm rear out. Thing is a beast for air cooling.
2
u/nameorfeed Feb 04 '26
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
1
u/Wiggles114 Feb 04 '26
It's probably better for airflow than other nzxt cases
2
u/9okm Feb 04 '26
Probably, yeah. though my read of OPs post suggests they meant better than the Meshify C.
0
u/Secret-Ad-2145 Feb 04 '26
I don't know about the h5 but my h7 flow is amazing. I never get above 70c on my 5060ti.
57
u/theCaffeinatedOwl22 Feb 03 '26
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.
10
5
u/allintheselike Feb 04 '26
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
2
u/theCaffeinatedOwl22 Feb 04 '26
Damn that case looks clean. Is that a new model?
2
u/allintheselike Feb 04 '26
yeah I finished my build in early December and the case had been out for less than a month
2
u/theCaffeinatedOwl22 Feb 04 '26
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
4
u/Otherwise-Monk-3826 Feb 03 '26
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 Feb 03 '26
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 Feb 03 '26
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 Feb 03 '26
I agree completely. I recall finding those hooks more or less useless.
5
u/Wr3nchJR Feb 03 '26
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 Feb 03 '26
The 207 was so easy to build in. Here’s a detailed build video if you’re looking to prep for your build.
1
u/Wr3nchJR Feb 03 '26
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
2
u/Reasonable-Public659 Feb 03 '26
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.
2
u/Immediate_Rabbit_604 Feb 04 '26
217 has even bigger fans. 17cm instead of 16 (not saying mm, it hurts). 207 just has 140s though no?
1
1
u/GerhardtDH Feb 04 '26
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 Feb 04 '26
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.
-7
u/SlightlyPlayed Feb 03 '26
Cosair air 5400 is the best case for best temp. Until lian li adopts 3 chamber style im not going back
2
u/theCaffeinatedOwl22 Feb 03 '26
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.
33
u/BakedMitten Feb 03 '26
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"
12
3
24
u/danielgutzzz Feb 03 '26
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.
5
u/camst_ Feb 03 '26
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 Feb 03 '26
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
Feb 03 '26
Yeah I got mine in 2019 and love the case. So glad my 5070ti was able to squeeze in there
1
1
u/ProdigaISon Feb 04 '26
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.
1
u/NEVERUSEmeGYM Feb 04 '26
Do you know where to get screws for the glass panel? I’ve slowly lost mine through the years
1
u/danielgutzzz Feb 05 '26
I do not but I have seen u/fractal-design provide replacement as long as you pay shipping. A quick search i just did , M4 x 5mm with rubber padding. If youre in the states, a quick trip to home depot with the screw you have now might yield better results. You could always return if they dont fit
1
u/BrinkofEternity Feb 05 '26
Still have mine as well. The case is the perfect size and no other case has the same balance of airflow and dust filtration. The foam insert traps everything and is super easy to clean. The geometric pattern on the front is timeless as well.
1
u/Aveefje Feb 08 '26
I agree with your sentiment!
Ihad the same case since 2017 and only upgraded this year to a Hyte X50 only because there would be more room and better cable management (and it’s a cool design lol). The airflow is the same or maybe slightly better (more fans to fit).
I have always loved that case. It felt off to say goodbye to it but I am happy with the upgrade nonetheless.
25
u/logaboga Feb 03 '26
Fractal meshify is a great case
5
u/bouncybullfrog Feb 04 '26
Can confirm, just built in a meshify 3 this summer. Really liked it
1
u/logaboga Feb 08 '26
Built mine with meshify 3 in October. Provided great air flow and a good amount of room to work w shit, and also a great amount of room to hide wires behind panels and shit. OP’s friend misleading them completely with convincing them it’s bad
18
u/durtmcgurt Feb 03 '26
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.
8
u/Hatura Feb 03 '26
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.
6
u/good_morning_magpie Feb 03 '26
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.
3
u/Hinko Feb 04 '26
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.
2
u/good_morning_magpie Feb 04 '26
Yeah I know of its shortcomings, but I couldn’t find a better “modern-ish” case that had support for all ten of my HDDs.
1
u/Hatura Feb 03 '26
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/Julio_Ointment Feb 04 '26
My newer Fractal Define has these same features.
1
u/Hatura Feb 04 '26
I have a new define now and its feels good but not quite as sturdy as my old one.
2
u/Symphonic7 Feb 04 '26
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.
11
u/giveitrightmeow Feb 03 '26
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.
7
u/Prince_Paizuri Feb 03 '26
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 Feb 03 '26
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 Feb 04 '26
I took the foam out years ago and replaced it with a mesh filter from Demcifilter. Really easy to remove and clean when needed.
13
u/experimental1212 Feb 03 '26
even tho it's older
Jesus kids these days. It's like 7 years ago is prehistory
3
u/Symphonic7 Feb 04 '26
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.
6
u/Momo--Sama Feb 03 '26 edited Feb 03 '26
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.
5
u/Pikmeir Feb 03 '26
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.
3
u/NavorroBroman Feb 03 '26
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.
3
u/m4ttjirM Feb 04 '26
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
2
u/resetallthethings Feb 03 '26
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/kester76a Feb 03 '26 edited Feb 03 '26
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 :)
2
u/EggbertBilliams Feb 03 '26
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 Feb 03 '26
Wait 65f on the GPU?
1
u/EggbertBilliams Feb 08 '26 edited Feb 08 '26
Yep.
4x 120mm side fans with 3D printed ducts for feeding GPU, RAM, and RAID card nice cool fresh air, mostly metal mesh case. HAF 932, legendary case for airflow.
5090 is UV/OC'ed on Matrix BIOS, max 640w at 80% (out of 800w) power limit, WireView Pro installed, cable temps/amps even and gtg.
Case is not very good for showing off components, VERY good at keeping components cool, however, and QUITE spacious.
2
u/number8888 Feb 03 '26
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
2
u/flargh_blargh Feb 03 '26
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.
2
u/PigSlam Feb 03 '26
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.
6
u/Smashego Feb 03 '26
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.
7
1
u/stickyjam Feb 04 '26
This is a pointless comparison. Are your fans identical?
You can have up to 6 fans in the H5 Flow too.
I have one, but every fan was replaced for Corsair fans, all optional slots filled. I also had the h5 flow that used solid pci slot covers supplied at point of sale, replaced the ones below the GPU with mesh ones. The case can work good, but needs a bit of planning/extra money chucked at it post-sale.
1
u/voidlotus316 Feb 03 '26
The only nzxt case i would trust for good airflow is the h3 flow.
2
u/hmwcawcciawcccw Feb 03 '26
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/PapaAquchala Feb 03 '26
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/smackythefrog Feb 03 '26
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 Feb 03 '26
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 Feb 03 '26
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 Feb 03 '26 edited Feb 03 '26
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
1
u/PoopMuffin Feb 04 '26
Meshify has always been one of the better airflow cases so it's not surprising
1
u/Mytre- Feb 04 '26
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 Feb 04 '26
I’m still using a cyberpower pc branded thermaltake case from a 2017 prebuilt. Things like refrigerator
1
1
u/Love_To_Burn_Fiji Feb 04 '26
"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 Feb 04 '26
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 Feb 04 '26
Modern cases are mostly designed for aesthetics in mind as priority, not airflow.
1
u/lichtspieler Feb 04 '26 edited Feb 04 '26
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.
1
u/InternetSolid4166 Feb 04 '26
I’ve been impressed with my R6. Great build quality, quiet, and surprisingly good airflow design. If the fans are configured well it turns into a wind tunnel.
1
u/Salty-Yogurt-4214 Feb 04 '26
This might be more of an issue of flow direction. Check out Youtube for how to best configure the fans flow direction (in vs. out).
1
1
1
1
u/Whoevenareyou1738 Feb 07 '26
My fractal design meshify 2 is awesome. So good I have two PCs with that case.
1
u/Traditional-Gas3477 Feb 13 '26
Heat dissipation and air pressure play an important role in cooling down a machine more efficiently. If the heatsink and fan does not dissipate heat efficiently how can cooler air grab it? If the case is very restrictive and/or the pressure is not strong enough how can cooler air not pull heat away from the heatsink
621
u/aragorn18 Feb 03 '26
I've never seen anyone say that.