agreed with how saturated the case market has become, particularly with bland, bleak, boring designs that look like a painted cardboard box for a case. we need more variety, especially with some of the cases geared more towards enthusiasts/hobbyists. have you reviewed anything by AZZA, steve? their more recent cases seem to be some unique some meh but theyve got a good history for not making the same bleak bland designs
did I see that, did Lian Li get the bottom intake fans out of the PCI slots? good move, why the original Dynamic never made my "interested in" list. Great vid Steve and crew. B)
2:06 best overal 4:18 best mechanical design 6:15 best budget case 8:43 best out of the box thermals 10:28 best noise level 12:10 best noise normalized thermals 13:15 best case in process 13:52 best worst trend
@@Aggrofool I panicked and video was uploaded 40 seconds ago and there were 6 comments and there were good cases. I had to say that, I had no choice but to make a horrible pun
2:11 - Best Overall: Phanteks P400A Digital. 4:24 - Best Mechanical Design: Lian Li O11 Dynamic XL. 6:22 - Best Budget Case: Cooler Master NR600. Honorable Mention, Thermaltake Versa J24. 8:42 - Best out of the Box Thermals: Phanteks P400A Digital. 10:29 - Best Noise Levels: Fractal Meshify S2. -11:48-- - Best Noise-Normalised Thermals: Phanteks P400A Digital.- -- Too many wins. -- 12:08 - Best Noise-Normalised Thermals: NZXT H710. 13:15 - Best Case We're Currently in the Process of Reviewing: Lian Li Lan Cool 2. 13:56 - "Best" Worst Trend: Pointless Segmentation.
"There has got to be a better way to do this, like selling a base system with upgrade packs". Back in 2011 NZXT promised this exactly with the Source Basic/210 Case, then never actually released any of the upgrade modules they showed prior to launch. So close to innovation, yet dropped the ball at the goal line.
I wouldn't have been so upset, except I bought my brother this basic ass case for his first gaming PC so he could upgrade it as he felt the need, and the upgraded parts never came
@@KeinZantezuken actually, back in its day, the Phantom 410 USB3.0 was an excellent case. Sadly I wanted to convert it to a rATX case, and screwed up the Motherboard tray, and never got to use it. That was a $250 screw up
@@dorientjewoller113 I mean, back in the day, Alienware (pre-Dell takeover) used Aerocool cases. I actually have one that has all of the Alien grills in the fan holes. Antec used to make decent cases, but around 2011 their products went to garbage as well. Guess they lost alot of money paying Asetek to use their coolers.
Steve, quote: "...this is the kind of case that Walmart should have been using for its DTW series...but then it be...not completely terrible...so...it probably didn't really fit the spec sheet." Now I find myself cleaning the screen because of coffee 😂
You guys really were on a no Phanteks kick for a while. My first experience with them was the Enthoo Pro, which to this day, is still a fantastic case for the money.
3:01 I don't understand this point, both colors are powder-coated onto the metal, it isn't naturally either black or white. Which was supposed to not have been painted?
Was trying to convince my brother to buy the p400a...now hes gotta get it since tech jesus gives the thumbs up Update: my brother just bought the p400a, getting it next week. Super excited
go for it. I don't have the new one but I had the older P400 for couple years now and I like it a lot. I went from an AIO to a custom loop back to an AIO and gonna make another custom loop after upgrading my mobo. Point being it was all mostly painless, and whatever issues I might have had wasn't related to the case. I modded the solid front panel cutting out some vents for air flow and it's been awesome to me so far. So the mash panel one should be awesome too.
i have the p600s and seeing that they are quite similar i'd say go for it only difference is the mesh and that the p600s is sturdier and has better cablemanegement and more space for rads
@@quazznorm1777 thanks for the insight. Hes got a very closed off, cheap cooler master case with a 5700xt and really chokes on his 1440p ulyrawide. I just put together a 2070s build in a meshify c, so i think he was eyeing my temps which were better than his with no intake fans. Ill prob get the p400a for him for Christmas, cause she seems like a good alternative to the meshify for under 100 👍👍
I hate the trend of ditching 5.25" expansion bays. If I have a full atx tower, I want it to have every utility. That means card readers, disk drives, hot swap bays. Otherwise i'd just get a small all glass ITX case
Griimnak: Totally agree - I wanted/needed a new case for my new build, but wanted a GOOOOD case, but it HAD to have at least one bay for a DVD/BD drive. I 'settled', in inverted commas as it's not really a 'settle, as it's a really good case, was the Fractal Design R6 (USB-C version). This was the only good case I could find that had that space, and I'm so glad I bought it, as, as I've now completed the build in it, I can say it's a fantastic case, for all the right and many reasons.
@@davybloggs1564 Not a bad case, but I need about 3 bays. Something like the Thermaltake w100 would be nice, but I am not giving thermaltake 350$, especially after what they did to caselabs
People still use DVDSs and need hot swap drives? From a server standpoint or pure utilitarian ideal like for workplace I guess maybe but the average joe I can imagine just uses streaming services for videos.
Currently my favourites are Lian Li Lancool 215 and Phantex P500 A Digital. Generally full tower cases are best. Mid tower cases are okay. And the worst are mini tower and mini ITX cases. It's a total nightmare to do assembly work or upgrade on them.
I'm currently in the planning stages of my first build and this video was perfect and hit all the marks for what I want to know when looking into a case. Thank you for the great video!
i have a p600s and is a very good case that gives you more choices than usual. (can be completely open or closed) I'm pretty sure that had won the Best Noise Levels vs the S2 And probably the best noise normalized thermals But like Steve say too much Phanteks
I have the Sony's my Mrs has the bose. Don't get the Sony's if you're planning on using them for calls as they are terrible for that. Also, the bose form factor is a little smaller if you have a smaller head. Apart from that they are awesome. Another thing to note is that you can claim these off tax if you use them for teleconferencing if you're able to in your line of work. If they are under 300 you can claim the full amount, if over you can only claim depreciation.
My build is actually in a Versa J24, If you rip the foam out of the front (Easily done by bending the tabs and pulling the metal grille off) and replace it with a couple layers of the nylon-type window screen material, you get the "Look" of the foam where it dulls the fans down, and some filtering, but the windowscreen mesh doesn't affect the thermals anywhere near as bad as the foam did, as it lets a LOT more air through the front. Add in some new PWM fans (6x corsair LL120's in my case) so you can ramp them up as needed, and it's a wicked little tower.
I enjoy working in my Corsair Carbide 600C, but its design is dated, and WHY THE HELL DO MANUFACTURES NOT MAKE EMBLEMS ABLE TO BE FLIPPED.... sorry, OCD rant
I actually have a Corsair 600C that I bought year ago. It isn't the best quality since it's mainly made of plastic and pretty thin metal. It's slowly falling apart already and I'm looking to replace it with something much more durable. Hope we'll get some options to choose from next year!
The silverstone RL08 looks amazing on that front. It's inverted, has amazing thermals, AND a 5.25 bay in a case that, quoting them, should have similar performance to the RL06
I wish you would have done “Best Small Case” as well. Planning on upgrading my 1080Ti next year and my plan is to build a VR system for the living room with the old card.
Looking at your 2018. cases video, you reviewed a lot less cases this year. But it has been a product rich year in other categories, and any reviews are welcome! It's just a shame almost no one does as thorough job at reviewing as you do.
WILLIAM To Always so boring / sad how little these PC channels care about SFF and minimalistic form factor in general. Always big and obnoxious game cases and builds.
Gamers Nexus hates when case manufacturers make their cases perform worse thermally for the sake of aesthetics since higher temps literally means worse gaming perfomance these days. This also means less or no headroom for overclocking. Additionally, they use the same testing setup so they can compare cases on even ground, finding a setup which could work in many different SFF cases would be very hard and would likely necessitate getting parts which force people to again sacrifice performance. These are not the kinds of things GN or its audience seems to be interested in, at least in my opinion. If all you care about is aesthetics and build quality and you don't care about versatility or thermal performance there are better review channels out there for you.
Y'know that would work Steve; Resellers _only_ get the bae model, whereas if one buys direct from the manufacturer they could define the options they want in the box. From a reseller, the manufacturer could include paper leaflets with QR codes directly to the manufacturer's website for certain items used to enhance the case. For resellers with the option to show multiple SKUs in a single listing ( i.e. Amazon), maybe _those_ websites would have a few SKUs, _but_ not show everything, still including the leaves with extra information on ordering accessories.
I remain unconvinced about these mesh with no dust filter cases. I had one a few years ago and it let a good amount of dust through whilst collecting unsightly rings of dust on the front of the case.
No matter if it’s dust filter or mesh, that is what will happen. But it is necessary to get cool air into the case. If you leave the window open in the room, it will accumulate dust even much faster. It’s a necessary evil and what it used to be when cases had front intakes and filters like Lian-Li cases.
The most weirdly timed case ranking video award goes to Gamers Nexus, for putting out this video before reviewing the Lancool II, which based on other sources seems to be a possible 1st place contender for quite a few categories.
Most award/ranking style videos would be pointless when the information got listed in the description. Not yours though and you actually do it. The commentary adds a lot of value to these awards while it is helpful to have them written out when revisiting the content. Great work.
"However, we reserve the right to not give awards to cases that aren't good." "...and Thermaltake launched the case with an insane $250 MSRP which is exactly what it continues to cost today as it sits on warehouse shelves." Oof. Somebody give Thermaltake a hanky. Lmao
Bro, amazing roundup. A lot of useful consumer advice here. You should test more ITX cases though, but test them with reasonable components, not 95-120W TDP CPUs and 250-300W graphics cards that will throttle anyway. Test with like, an R5 3600 or even a 9700T and RX 5700/1660Ti/1650 Ti. Sensible people don't put high TDP parts in a case that can't dissipate that heat without sounding like a jet engine.
Because one may use physical media (CD & Blu-ray) Because one may have an external hotswap drive bay Because one may have a multi-card reader Any other examples of devices that fit in a 5 1/4" or 3 1/2" bay.
@@InternetEntity So you don't need an external 5.25" bay. What you need is a disk reader, a card reader or an hotswap drive bay. Those can be provided by the case without the need of a massive, airflow empeding, 5.25" bay.
I really hope people remember to check whether its the q300l or q500l in other videos, before they assume the youtuber is misinformed and such. This video is really informative (even though now the nr600 has sold out before I could get one 😡), and should be a go-to for recent cases.
I'm solidly middle aged in years, but old at heart. As a dinosaur, I still occasionally use optical media. I'd appreciate a "Best Case With An External 5 1/4" Drive Bay" category. I'm guessing that is too niche a category. Any recommendations?
Fractal Design Define R6. And I guess you mean an internal 5 1/4 drive bay, right? Also you could just get an external DVD drive which you could plug in to a USB port.
@@nossy232323 I mean an internal drive bay that opens on the front of the case. I just searched for Fractal Design Define R6 on New Egg and got 10 hits (Tech Jesus is right about the trend) but none of them appear to have a 5 1/4" drive bay. Did you by any chance mean a different model?
@@michaelmcchesney6645 It normally always should have one. But it is modular. So you can remove it if not needed. You can see this on the site of Fractal.
I can for the life of me figure out why Steve does not have over a million subscribers! I mean look at those locks! Not a split end in sight! LOL. Love your channel bro.
Bought a triple pack of Deepcool RF120 RGB fans recently, so went for the P400A non-RGB and put them in the front, as well as adding a Silent Wings3 for rear exhaust and upgrading to the Dark Rock Slim. Two cases ago, i owned the P400S and i loved it, main reason for selling it back then was the airflow restrictions. When i saw the P400A, i knew that would be my next case. It's simple, it's beautiful and despite its modest size, you can cram a lot of hardware into it
don't forget to swing by the GN store to get cool merch when checking out, lol. JK. yeah, a good time for vids like this. good summary of what is a good black Friday deal vs a get rid of "junk that no one wants" ploy.
The "best & worst pc cases of the year" are always very appreciated and very well done. Altough being someone who don't like rgb and seeing the interior mess of a pc the fact that it seems that all the decent new cases have a glass panel while other materials like aluminum are disappearing and wood isn't even considered is a bit depressing. The airflow in all these pc cases could be different, but aesthetically all look the same.
Did you have a look at the be quiet! Pure Base 500? I built my current PC in that and am really happy. In one word I'd describe it as "unobtrusive". Looks good without being flashy, quiet, keeps my mildly overclocked Ryzen/RTX system at reasonable temperatures, has good build quality is reasonably well thought out and flexible, ... all that at a budget price.
@@ptose You're welcome. Just a couple of things to note: The construction isn't fully metal. The front panel, top inlay and some parts of the interior are plastic. It's high quality and in my books doesn't change the appearance (I have the black version) but maybe still something to keep in mind. Also, I'm not a big fan of the included fans (hah) since, at least in the front one I could hear the bearing. I replaced that with Silent Wings 3 with custom fan curves to make the whole system virtually silent while idle.
Why isn't there any case WITHOUT tempered glass panels? Some people just prefer an opaque box... My current, old rig was using a DIYPC Skyline-07-G and I'm currently looking for a more recent alternative for a new build. All I want is good thermals and at least 1 regular hard drive bay. Really not quite sure what I should look at.
I got the NR600, great case, no regrets. It has great performance and in Australia it was far cheaper than other options like the Meshify C (50% more). I had no fit or finish issues like GN did with their TG side panel. However, it should be noted that installing 3 fans on the front is a bit of a pain since the lowest mount is not easily accessible. I needed to fit my screw driver through some of the gaps in the HDD drive bays, which was a bit annoying but I got there in the end. Overall great case though, and I think it fully deserves best budget case.
@@birgerolofsson2347 like you i also demand a dvd slot xD. but you rarely get any anymore. so i will just buy myself an external blueray player that i can place on top of my case.
Glad to see the NR600 on the best budget case category! I have the micro ATX version, the NR400 and it's awesome. Great airflow and look indeed! Very happy with the case.
I would love to see Steve hold a case competition where he hands the case manufacturers a list of features (in order of priority) he wants to see in a case... then give them a full year to submit a case for the competition. They can either design a case specifically for the competition, or if they already have one they think will win, they can just use their existing case. Whoever wins gets to market their case as "Gamers Nexus 2020 Case Champion"
Zalman Z9 needs a big brother, has a nice front disc drive , digital thermometer display, USB ports, mic and headphone jacks and a power button front and center. It just needs room for 2 or 3 140's in front and 3 at the top. full tinted glass side panel would be nice for the light show.
We would like to see a review for Adata's XPG Battlecruiser case. It seems like a nice case with: 4 tampered glass side panels, 4 ARGB fans, a front IO with USB TYPE C and support for 8 hard drives. All this for just $90. On paper it seems like a great case. Please review it so we know if it is any good when it comes to air flow, thermals and noise. Hit LIKE so Steve see the comment.
And the award for the best case revealed at Computex 2019 that was never released, goes to the Silverstone Alta S1. I really wanted one of those cases.
Huge respect for this channel. Been subscribed for a while now and even to this day the reviews are still top notch🔥 as well as that yous are following the trend for planting trees which is great!
@;q Case Manufacturers are trying to kill Optical Disk Drives, just buy older cases if you want them. I'm using a Phanteks Enthoo Pro Tempered Glass Special Edition, Solid case imo and has 3 expansion bays. Good airflow too.
@8:54 Indeed what a long dry spell break with respect to GN and Phanteks. First reviewing one of their cases only last year, now only a year later giving the Best Overall Case Award to a Phanteks case, awesome! Currently my Creature (3 years old now) is in a Phanteks Enthoo Pro M, and I was very glad with how practical and roomy and "breathable" that case was. (And was also kind of sore that GN had absolutely no Phanteks in their rankings till last year.) For my second build (planning now a 3950X PC/workstation) I will now use this GN Award Winner, the Phanteks P400A Digital.
The last thing I want to do is buy a case chassis and have to figure out what compatible panels go with it. Adding multiple versions of a case makes perfect sense, the 3rd party sellers need to consolidate them into a single listing with sub-options for the different versions.
I bought the Lian Li O11 XL because of GN's recommendation. I really like it. The fact that i can cool my ASUS GTX 1080 Ti card with two 140mm bottom intake fans makes it a good investment. It reduced my temps by 6-7 degrees, at best. And that's without setting a custom fan curve for my card. Plus it just looks good overall. Thanks for your hard work, Steve!
You can't just say "A fine mesh does the job of a dust filter" without proving it. A metal mesh physically cannot be as fine as a nylon filter. The ideal case would surely have a dust filter and no mesh.
The idea of having a base model and then upgrade packages sounds good at first but can be very confusing. A lot of the server chassis industry works a bit like this. You've got the chassis and then trick it out with the fans, PSU (servers rarely use standard ATX PSU's, and redundant PSU's tend to have their own mounting standards requiring the chassis to be adapted for it or special mounting hardware added) , back panel (server motherboards are often not standard ATX or E-ATX so these can vary wildly), CPU heatsinks, air ducts, raiser cards, hot-swap backplane, cables, rack rails and so on. And all the manufacturers has slightly different take on how to present this. So the first few times you spec out a chassis you are almost bound to make mistakes and get something wrong. It's only once you've worked with a manufacturer for a while that you can feel reasonably certain that when you order a chassis it will work with whatever motherboard and such you expected. Having said that it's ridiculous to have so many versions as some of the examples in this video, especially as web stores often are very bad at showing exactly what the differences are.
I agree with this person 1000000%. I was amazed by the packaging, accessories, build quality, triple slot vertical card support, and 140mm fans all around. Heck I was able to put a 280mm radiator with push pull config on TOP with high g.skill ram sticks. Just amazing.
Just picked the NR600 up at local microcenter, what an excellent case, put some SP120s in the front, and a pair of SP140s on top, leaving the stock rear 120, all hooked up to my MSI for PWM, so I get silent idle/4k video transcoding, medium loud gaming, and can max them out during benchmark runs to maintain top clocks. Sweet deal for $66
You should add there is a version of the Phanteks P400A that does not make you wonder if someone sneaked you some acid, there is a black non rainbow version (also cheaper). Great review!
I'm still surprised you still haven't done the Asus TUF GT501 Chassis case for a review. Hardly a few UA-camrs made a review about how good the case is even for a massive airflow.
Check out our coverage of the best CPUs of 2019: ua-cam.com/video/5RjS3AhDyJg/v-deo.html
I wish there were more ITX case tests this year.
Any chance those awesome copper mugs will ever get another run?
agreed with how saturated the case market has become, particularly with bland, bleak, boring designs that look like a painted cardboard box for a case. we need more variety, especially with some of the cases geared more towards enthusiasts/hobbyists.
have you reviewed anything by AZZA, steve? their more recent cases seem to be some unique some meh but theyve got a good history for not making the same bleak bland designs
No "Best case without idiot glass panels"? :( :( :(
did I see that, did Lian Li get the bottom intake fans out of the PCI slots? good move, why the original Dynamic never made my "interested in" list.
Great vid Steve and crew. B)
2:06 best overal
4:18 best mechanical design
6:15 best budget case
8:43 best out of the box thermals
10:28 best noise level
12:10 best noise normalized thermals
13:15 best case in process
13:52 best worst trend
U da real MVP
urr da dog man...
King eneryy
Thanks man
you the man!
At the end of the day it's not the case that matters, but the friends we made along the way. Also mesh front panels.
Yes, the mesh front panels
All my friends got mashed front panels
reviewing my options for surgical abdominal mesh for my "front panel".
Is this Hyunjin from Loona? Lol
@@HK-tn2ny His/Her profile pic is Hyunjin from kpop group 'LOONA'
"Just like in real life, it's the outside that matters."
- Steve 2019
I almost spit out my drink when I caught that joke in passing
he has been using too much tinder lately
he just slip that like its doesn't matter
Yup, beat me to it.....what a great quote.
@@stevethea5250 im confused, wtf are you talking about lol
This really is the 'best case' scenario for the buyers.
ooooooo
Booo! 👎
Try thinking out of the box
Dad joke activate!
@@Aggrofool I panicked and video was uploaded 40 seconds ago and there were 6 comments and there were good cases. I had to say that, I had no choice but to make a horrible pun
2:11 - Best Overall: Phanteks P400A Digital.
4:24 - Best Mechanical Design: Lian Li O11 Dynamic XL.
6:22 - Best Budget Case: Cooler Master NR600. Honorable Mention, Thermaltake Versa J24.
8:42 - Best out of the Box Thermals: Phanteks P400A Digital.
10:29 - Best Noise Levels: Fractal Meshify S2.
-11:48-- - Best Noise-Normalised Thermals: Phanteks P400A Digital.- -- Too many wins. -- 12:08 - Best Noise-Normalised Thermals: NZXT H710.
13:15 - Best Case We're Currently in the Process of Reviewing: Lian Li Lan Cool 2.
13:56 - "Best" Worst Trend: Pointless Segmentation.
"There has got to be a better way to do this, like selling a base system with upgrade packs".
Back in 2011 NZXT promised this exactly with the Source Basic/210 Case, then never actually released any of the upgrade modules they showed prior to launch. So close to innovation, yet dropped the ball at the goal line.
I wouldn't have been so upset, except I bought my brother this basic ass case for his first gaming PC so he could upgrade it as he felt the need, and the upgraded parts never came
@@KeinZantezuken actually, back in its day, the Phantom 410 USB3.0 was an excellent case. Sadly I wanted to convert it to a rATX case, and screwed up the Motherboard tray, and never got to use it. That was a $250 screw up
@@dorientjewoller113 except OEM's dont sell their cases, only prebuilt computers
@@dorientjewoller113 I mean, back in the day, Alienware (pre-Dell takeover) used Aerocool cases. I actually have one that has all of the Alien grills in the fan holes. Antec used to make decent cases, but around 2011 their products went to garbage as well. Guess they lost alot of money paying Asetek to use their coolers.
"Just like Jay, we digress." I love these little gems that can pass you by if you're not paying attention.
Steve, quote: "...this is the kind of case that Walmart should have been using for its DTW series...but then it be...not completely terrible...so...it probably didn't really fit the spec sheet."
Now I find myself cleaning the screen because of coffee 😂
14:13 WTF was that newegg.com screen?
Absolutely no idea, must have been some sort of anomaly in editing. Sorry! Good catch. Didn't see it when previewing.
@@GamersNexus I feel a sudden uncontrollable urge to buy some stuff on newegg brb
@@mushroomsamba82 Wait 1 more day dude for Black Friday deals :D
subliminal advertising
@@BuzzKiller23 lol I thought so too...
You guys really were on a no Phanteks kick for a while. My first experience with them was the Enthoo Pro, which to this day, is still a fantastic case for the money.
@@AverageAspie yea, Idk why they changed the name. Im REALLY trying to make that case work for me but Im having trouble with it lol
3:01 I don't understand this point, both colors are powder-coated onto the metal, it isn't naturally either black or white. Which was supposed to not have been painted?
People had theorized that the white version had a thick enough additional layer that it impacted thermals, but we invalidated that theory in testing.
Yeah but it takes more layers of white coating to get the panel to look white. With black you need fewer coats of paint.
@@Drinkyoghurt Nah...you just have to use KILLZ.
Was trying to convince my brother to buy the p400a...now hes gotta get it since tech jesus gives the thumbs up
Update: my brother just bought the p400a, getting it next week. Super excited
go for it. I don't have the new one but I had the older P400 for couple years now and I like it a lot. I went from an AIO to a custom loop back to an AIO and gonna make another custom loop after upgrading my mobo. Point being it was all mostly painless, and whatever issues I might have had wasn't related to the case. I modded the solid front panel cutting out some vents for air flow and it's been awesome to me so far. So the mash panel one should be awesome too.
Quazz Normk
i have the p600s and seeing that they are quite similar i'd say go for it
only difference is the mesh and that the p600s is sturdier and has better cablemanegement and more space for rads
@@quazznorm1777 thanks for the insight. Hes got a very closed off, cheap cooler master case with a 5700xt and really chokes on his 1440p ulyrawide. I just put together a 2070s build in a meshify c, so i think he was eyeing my temps which were better than his with no intake fans. Ill prob get the p400a for him for Christmas, cause she seems like a good alternative to the meshify for under 100 👍👍
He's not Jesus
I hate the trend of ditching 5.25" expansion bays.
If I have a full atx tower, I want it to have every utility. That means card readers, disk drives, hot swap bays.
Otherwise i'd just get a small all glass ITX case
Griimnak: Totally agree - I wanted/needed a new case for my new build, but wanted a GOOOOD case, but it HAD to have at least one bay for a DVD/BD drive. I 'settled', in inverted commas as it's not really a 'settle, as it's a really good case, was the Fractal Design R6 (USB-C version). This was the only good case I could find that had that space, and I'm so glad I bought it, as, as I've now completed the build in it, I can say it's a fantastic case, for all the right and many reasons.
@@davybloggs1564 Not a bad case, but I need about 3 bays. Something like the Thermaltake w100 would be nice, but I am not giving thermaltake 350$, especially after what they did to caselabs
That's a reason why I'm hanging onto my Define R5. I need the drive space and the 5.25" drive bays too.
People still use DVDSs and need hot swap drives?
From a server standpoint or pure utilitarian ideal like for workplace I guess maybe but the average joe I can imagine just uses streaming services for videos.
Currently my favourites are Lian Li Lancool 215 and Phantex P500 A Digital. Generally full tower cases are best. Mid tower cases are okay. And the worst are mini tower and mini ITX cases. It's a total nightmare to do assembly work or upgrade on them.
"Just like in real life, it's the outside that matters."
I don't know man, this guy be spittin some hard facts
I'm currently in the planning stages of my first build and this video was perfect and hit all the marks for what I want to know when looking into a case. Thank you for the great video!
You should really review the p600s, it has the same interior of the evolv x but cheaper and i think cooler
i have a p600s and is a very good case that gives you more choices than usual. (can be completely open or closed)
I'm pretty sure that had won the Best Noise Levels vs the S2
And probably the best noise normalized thermals
But like Steve say too much Phanteks
That's the case I've been using for about 6 months now. It's awesome!
Have one too in black.
Best money I've ever spent on a case!
Another P600s user here, best case I've ever owned. Really glad I spent the extra money for it.
I'm also curious about why GN didnt review the P600s.
Tech Jesus needs to trademark “Out of the box thermals”.
Hey, it's spelled "OUT OF THE BOX THERMALS"
I have the Sony's my Mrs has the bose. Don't get the Sony's if you're
planning on using them for calls as they are terrible for that. Also,
the bose form factor is a little smaller if you have a smaller head.
Apart from that they are awesome.
Another thing to note is that you can claim these off tax if you use
them for teleconferencing if you're able to in your line of work. If
they are under 300 you can claim the full amount, if over you can only
claim depreciation.
My build is actually in a Versa J24, If you rip the foam out of the front (Easily done by bending the tabs and pulling the metal grille off) and replace it with a couple layers of the nylon-type window screen material, you get the "Look" of the foam where it dulls the fans down, and some filtering, but the windowscreen mesh doesn't affect the thermals anywhere near as bad as the foam did, as it lets a LOT more air through the front.
Add in some new PWM fans (6x corsair LL120's in my case) so you can ramp them up as needed, and it's a wicked little tower.
I hope there is a "Best of the Decade" Award that comes out this year for the end of a decade. That might be really hard to pull off though.
EXACTLY what I needed before buying the new PC on black friday. Timing is everything.
Hopefully we'll see new inverted case designs in 2020!
Really hope so! We've liked a lot of them.
I enjoy working in my Corsair Carbide 600C, but its design is dated, and WHY THE HELL DO MANUFACTURES NOT MAKE EMBLEMS ABLE TO BE FLIPPED.... sorry, OCD rant
I actually have a Corsair 600C that I bought year ago. It isn't the best quality since it's mainly made of plastic and pretty thin metal. It's slowly falling apart already and I'm looking to replace it with something much more durable. Hope we'll get some options to choose from next year!
The silverstone RL08 looks amazing on that front. It's inverted, has amazing thermals, AND a 5.25 bay in a case that, quoting them, should have similar performance to the RL06
@@purplegill10 Unfortunately it supports only 240 and 280mm rads. I've 360 installed on the bottom of my 600C
Best cases is: In Win 909(only sold outside of NA), 904+ sold only in the North America markets!😮
i am really disappointed that you havent tested the Phanteks P600S yet.
That and the Pure Base 500 from bequiet. I was horribly tempted by both but I'm sticking with my P350X a little longer
A variant of Thermaltake Commander C.
just looked it up - that case looks amazing!
Your channel is awesome lol. No one goes to the length you guys go through to give us the info we crave!
Thank you for the review of tbe NR600. Finally found a case which fit my needs and is able to fit a optical drive.
I really hope all of the awards vids would be released a week before the Black Friday, gives us time to watch them and making our decisions.
Would have loved to see GN review the Phanteks Enthoo 719. The case is very flexible but I have no idea about its thermal performance.
Love Steve and his humor. I always enjoy these end-of-the-year round ups and the awards that go along with them.
I wish you would have done “Best Small Case” as well. Planning on upgrading my 1080Ti next year and my plan is to build a VR system for the living room with the old card.
Looking at your 2018. cases video, you reviewed a lot less cases this year. But it has been a product rich year in other categories, and any reviews are welcome! It's just a shame almost no one does as thorough job at reviewing as you do.
any plans on giving a "Best SFF case"
WILLIAM To Always so boring / sad how little these PC channels care about SFF and minimalistic form factor in general. Always big and obnoxious game cases and builds.
Needs more SFF cases to come out, since this is a yearly roundup
Check out Optimum Tech. Its a pretty good channel that covers SFF builds etc
Gamers Nexus hates when case manufacturers make their cases perform worse thermally for the sake of aesthetics since higher temps literally means worse gaming perfomance these days. This also means less or no headroom for overclocking. Additionally, they use the same testing setup so they can compare cases on even ground, finding a setup which could work in many different SFF cases would be very hard and would likely necessitate getting parts which force people to again sacrifice performance. These are not the kinds of things GN or its audience seems to be interested in, at least in my opinion. If all you care about is aesthetics and build quality and you don't care about versatility or thermal performance there are better review channels out there for you.
I want a TU-150 review from GN so bad.
Y'know that would work Steve; Resellers _only_ get the bae model, whereas if one buys direct from the manufacturer they could define the options they want in the box. From a reseller, the manufacturer could include paper leaflets with QR codes directly to the manufacturer's website for certain items used to enhance the case. For resellers with the option to show multiple SKUs in a single listing ( i.e. Amazon), maybe _those_ websites would have a few SKUs, _but_ not show everything, still including the leaves with extra information on ordering accessories.
14:13 The flash on the screen says "newegg.com" if anyone was curious.
I remain unconvinced about these mesh with no dust filter cases. I had one a few years ago and it let a good amount of dust through whilst collecting unsightly rings of dust on the front of the case.
No matter if it’s dust filter or mesh, that is what will happen. But it is necessary to get cool air into the case. If you leave the window open in the room, it will accumulate dust even much faster. It’s a necessary evil and what it used to be when cases had front intakes and filters like Lian-Li cases.
I can't remember the last time I've seen a case that has really wowed me. All of these need more cowbell.
The most weirdly timed case ranking video award goes to Gamers Nexus, for putting out this video before reviewing the Lancool II, which based on other sources seems to be a possible 1st place contender for quite a few categories.
Now I just need to find someone who's giving an award for best thermals in a case with a drive bay.
Alfred:- My new Fractal Design R6 is great for airflow/thermals, and has a drive bay. Gfi
I'd say Phanteks Enthoo Pro M TG unless you want a full tower. Fractal Design R6 is also good but the front panel isn't mesh.
Most award/ranking style videos would be pointless when the information got listed in the description. Not yours though and you actually do it. The commentary adds a lot of value to these awards while it is helpful to have them written out when revisiting the content. Great work.
"However, we reserve the right to not give awards to cases that aren't good."
"...and Thermaltake launched the case with an insane $250 MSRP which is exactly what it continues to cost today as it sits on warehouse shelves."
Oof. Somebody give Thermaltake a hanky. Lmao
I really enjoy how detailed you are in your videos. Thank you
been waiting for this! thanks steve! cant wait for the review of lancool 2 haha ✌
Bro, amazing roundup. A lot of useful consumer advice here.
You should test more ITX cases though, but test them with reasonable components, not 95-120W TDP CPUs and 250-300W graphics cards that will throttle anyway.
Test with like, an R5 3600 or even a 9700T and RX 5700/1660Ti/1650 Ti.
Sensible people don't put high TDP parts in a case that can't dissipate that heat without sounding like a jet engine.
It's weird, but I'd completely forgotten about the P400A & NR600 being so good!
Thanks for the refresher.
What about, best case with at least one external 5 1/4" drive bay?
But why?
Because one may use physical media (CD & Blu-ray)
Because one may have an external hotswap drive bay
Because one may have a multi-card reader
Any other examples of devices that fit in a 5 1/4" or 3 1/2" bay.
@@InternetEntity So you don't need an external 5.25" bay.
What you need is a disk reader, a card reader or an hotswap drive bay.
Those can be provided by the case without the need of a massive, airflow empeding, 5.25" bay.
NR600 has a different SKU with that
@@R4GEcraft And a load of loose USB devices and cables knocking about...
Love to see Lian Li Cool 2 compared to the Phanteks P400A soon!
So many good cases and here I am still wanting at least one 5.25" bay for a bluray drive :c
The NR600 has a 5.25" drive bay option. I have the NR400, the MATX version of it with the bay.
I love all GN videos, but these end-of-year vids are my favorites! Here's to another great year for GN in 2020!
Yeston have time for 2020 win
Calling it now
I really hope people remember to check whether its the q300l or q500l in other videos, before they assume the youtuber is misinformed and such. This video is really informative (even though now the nr600 has sold out before I could get one 😡), and should be a go-to for recent cases.
"...and, much like Jay, we digress."
Not you, too!!!!
I love the "where a base chassis is sold with upgrade packs for panels available" idea, it has been floating through my mind for years now.
I'm solidly middle aged in years, but old at heart. As a dinosaur, I still occasionally use optical media. I'd appreciate a "Best Case With An External 5 1/4" Drive Bay" category. I'm guessing that is too niche a category. Any recommendations?
Fractal Design Define R6. And I guess you mean an internal 5 1/4 drive bay, right? Also you could just get an external DVD drive which you could plug in to a USB port.
@@nossy232323 Thanks
@@nossy232323 I mean an internal drive bay that opens on the front of the case. I just searched for Fractal Design Define R6 on New Egg and got 10 hits (Tech Jesus is right about the trend) but none of them appear to have a 5 1/4" drive bay. Did you by any chance mean a different model?
@@michaelmcchesney6645 It normally always should have one. But it is modular. So you can remove it if not needed. You can see this on the site of Fractal.
@@nossy232323 Thanks again
I can for the life of me figure out why Steve does not have over a million subscribers! I mean look at those locks! Not a split end in sight! LOL. Love your channel bro.
Think I'd still take the fractal meshify series over any of these any day.
Thanks for all the great T&E work you and the team did this year 👍
3:07 shots fired in the direction pf Science Studio lol
Bought a triple pack of Deepcool RF120 RGB fans recently, so went for the P400A non-RGB and put them in the front, as well as adding a Silent Wings3 for rear exhaust and upgrading to the Dark Rock Slim. Two cases ago, i owned the P400S and i loved it, main reason for selling it back then was the airflow restrictions. When i saw the P400A, i knew that would be my next case. It's simple, it's beautiful and despite its modest size, you can cram a lot of hardware into it
Right before black Friday. Smart move
don't forget to swing by the GN store to get cool merch when checking out, lol. JK. yeah, a good time for vids like this. good summary of what is a good black Friday deal vs a get rid of "junk that no one wants" ploy.
Any chance we can get a GN review of the P600s?
The "best & worst pc cases of the year" are always very appreciated and very well done. Altough being someone who don't like rgb and seeing the interior mess of a pc the fact that it seems that all the decent new cases have a glass panel while other materials like aluminum are disappearing and wood isn't even considered is a bit depressing.
The airflow in all these pc cases could be different, but aesthetically all look the same.
Did you have a look at the be quiet! Pure Base 500? I built my current PC in that and am really happy. In one word I'd describe it as "unobtrusive". Looks good without being flashy, quiet, keeps my mildly overclocked Ryzen/RTX system at reasonable temperatures, has good build quality is reasonably well thought out and flexible, ... all that at a budget price.
@@swapode thank you, it seems a good recommendation and I like how it looks.
@@ptose You're welcome. Just a couple of things to note: The construction isn't fully metal. The front panel, top inlay and some parts of the interior are plastic. It's high quality and in my books doesn't change the appearance (I have the black version) but maybe still something to keep in mind.
Also, I'm not a big fan of the included fans (hah) since, at least in the front one I could hear the bearing. I replaced that with Silent Wings 3 with custom fan curves to make the whole system virtually silent while idle.
Can you review the Phateks P600? I would assure it is around the P400.
I've waited for this. Thanks for the hard work.
shame you never tested the phanteks P600s.
Why isn't there any case WITHOUT tempered glass panels?
Some people just prefer an opaque box...
My current, old rig was using a DIYPC Skyline-07-G and I'm currently looking for a more recent alternative for a new build.
All I want is good thermals and at least 1 regular hard drive bay. Really not quite sure what I should look at.
Someone needs to build a computer inside a GN cube.
I got the NR600, great case, no regrets. It has great performance and in Australia it was far cheaper than other options like the Meshify C (50% more). I had no fit or finish issues like GN did with their TG side panel. However, it should be noted that installing 3 fans on the front is a bit of a pain since the lowest mount is not easily accessible. I needed to fit my screw driver through some of the gaps in the HDD drive bays, which was a bit annoying but I got there in the end. Overall great case though, and I think it fully deserves best budget case.
I'm "old", I still demand a CD/DVD-slot.
just get a bluray
@@guilhermegonzalez5501 I don't understand what you mean/what your point is so because of that I write: "I want a 5.25" Drive Bay"
@@birgerolofsson2347 It's amazing they can't fit any in cases with that much empty space.
@@birgerolofsson2347 like you i also demand a dvd slot xD. but you rarely get any anymore. so i will just buy myself an external blueray player that i can place on top of my case.
It's one of the reasons why I got a Fractal Design Define R6.
Been waiting for this for 6 months!
We really need more window-less versions of good cases.
I bought the NR600 and I love it , its looks amazing how the polaris fans spread their color on the mesh
The way he roasts is quick, and so unemotional, that it makes you laugh uncomfortably.
Glad to see the NR600 on the best budget case category! I have the micro ATX version, the NR400 and it's awesome. Great airflow and look indeed! Very happy with the case.
calling it right now: steve is going to create a prize out of thin air to give it to the cute pet in the video card awards.
Thank you for making & posting this video. I enjoyed it.
I'd like to see a "best windowless case" in the "best overall" category.
Me too, I don't need to see inside my computer.
I would love to see Steve hold a case competition where he hands the case manufacturers a list of features (in order of priority) he wants to see in a case... then give them a full year to submit a case for the competition.
They can either design a case specifically for the competition, or if they already have one they think will win, they can just use their existing case.
Whoever wins gets to market their case as "Gamers Nexus 2020 Case Champion"
I wished the Dune Case Pro could've mad it to this list
I just googled it. WTF? It looks like a cheese grater? Looks just awful.
Zalman Z9 needs a big brother, has a nice front disc drive , digital thermometer display, USB ports, mic and headphone jacks and a power button front and center. It just needs room for 2 or 3 140's in front and 3 at the top. full tinted glass side panel would be nice for the light show.
We would like to see a review for Adata's XPG Battlecruiser case.
It seems like a nice case with:
4 tampered glass side panels, 4 ARGB fans, a front IO with USB TYPE C and support for 8 hard drives.
All this for just $90.
On paper it seems like a great case.
Please review it so we know if it is any good when it comes to air flow, thermals and noise.
Hit LIKE so Steve see the comment.
You mean $179 instead of $90?
@@jianyili @jianyili I just bought it here in Egypt for the equivalent of $95.
I guess this mean I just got a great deal :D
And the award for the best case revealed at Computex 2019 that was never released, goes to the Silverstone Alta S1. I really wanted one of those cases.
What's a Case?
It's a box that you put your CPU in, but not the rest of the computer. It's only meant to hold the CPU.
@@GamersNexus Had we been using Cases wrong the entire time? I was planning to put my wife in it but i guess it's not how it's made for
@@akyer8085 What's a wife? Can you give me the link to one?
@@AKThem06 it's a creature you put a leash on it or else it will steal ya money and run away ^^.
Its one of those things that Sherlock Holmes solves.
Huge respect for this channel. Been subscribed for a while now and even to this day the reviews are still top notch🔥 as well as that yous are following the trend for planting trees which is great!
WHERE ARE THE EXTERNAL DRIVE BAYS WHAT'S WRONG WITH MODERN PC CASES.
@;q Case Manufacturers are trying to kill Optical Disk Drives, just buy older cases if you want them. I'm using a Phanteks Enthoo Pro Tempered Glass Special Edition, Solid case imo and has 3 expansion bays. Good airflow too.
Most cases have enough room and easy enough access to just mount them in an out of the way place on the exterior or interior without issues.
@8:54 Indeed what a long dry spell break with respect to GN and Phanteks. First reviewing one of their cases only last year, now only a year later giving the Best Overall Case Award to a Phanteks case, awesome! Currently my Creature (3 years old now) is in a Phanteks Enthoo Pro M, and I was very glad with how practical and roomy and "breathable" that case was. (And was also kind of sore that GN had absolutely no Phanteks in their rankings till last year.) For my second build (planning now a 3950X PC/workstation) I will now use this GN Award Winner, the Phanteks P400A Digital.
I just realized, I couldn't use my Blu Ray Drive with and of this cases.
No people use in this year
@@kamaruz08 I still have one to burn CDs and DVDs.
The last thing I want to do is buy a case chassis and have to figure out what compatible panels go with it. Adding multiple versions of a case makes perfect sense, the 3rd party sellers need to consolidate them into a single listing with sub-options for the different versions.
WHERE ARE THE OPTICAL DRIVE BAYS
Sadly people don't use them much anymore so case manufacturers don't fit slots for them.
I bought the Lian Li O11 XL because of GN's recommendation. I really like it. The fact that i can cool my ASUS GTX 1080 Ti card with two 140mm bottom intake fans makes it a good investment. It reduced my temps by 6-7 degrees, at best. And that's without setting a custom fan curve for my card. Plus it just looks good overall.
Thanks for your hard work, Steve!
cool was just looking at a new case for my new build :) lets see what pans out.....
lol 1st place overall was exactly what I was just looking at :)
I really hope the Pure Base 500 gets a review too, your airflow and noise tests are going to be important for it.
You can't just say "A fine mesh does the job of a dust filter" without proving it.
A metal mesh physically cannot be as fine as a nylon filter.
The ideal case would surely have a dust filter and no mesh.
The idea of having a base model and then upgrade packages sounds good at first but can be very confusing. A lot of the server chassis industry works a bit like this. You've got the chassis and then trick it out with the fans, PSU (servers rarely use standard ATX PSU's, and redundant PSU's tend to have their own mounting standards requiring the chassis to be adapted for it or special mounting hardware added) , back panel (server motherboards are often not standard ATX or E-ATX so these can vary wildly), CPU heatsinks, air ducts, raiser cards, hot-swap backplane, cables, rack rails and so on. And all the manufacturers has slightly different take on how to present this. So the first few times you spec out a chassis you are almost bound to make mistakes and get something wrong. It's only once you've worked with a manufacturer for a while that you can feel reasonably certain that when you order a chassis it will work with whatever motherboard and such you expected.
Having said that it's ridiculous to have so many versions as some of the examples in this video, especially as web stores often are very bad at showing exactly what the differences are.
Best case is the Phanteks P600s, this is the way. I have spoken.
You absolute meme machine.
I agree with this person 1000000%. I was amazed by the packaging, accessories, build quality, triple slot vertical card support, and 140mm fans all around. Heck I was able to put a 280mm radiator with push pull config on TOP with high g.skill ram sticks. Just amazing.
Just picked the NR600 up at local microcenter, what an excellent case, put some SP120s in the front, and a pair of SP140s on top, leaving the stock rear 120, all hooked up to my MSI for PWM, so I get silent idle/4k video transcoding, medium loud gaming, and can max them out during benchmark runs to maintain top clocks. Sweet deal for $66
I’d suggest a best mATX and/or ITX category for next year, if you guys have time to review any.
You should add there is a version of the Phanteks P400A that does not make you wonder if someone sneaked you some acid, there is a black non rainbow version (also cheaper).
Great review!
I'm still surprised you still haven't done the Asus TUF GT501 Chassis case for a review. Hardly a few UA-camrs made a review about how good the case is even for a massive airflow.
Thanks Steve. Appreciate your hard work. 👍🏻