Please help me decide which case and cooler combo to purchase

Mac2636

Trash Compacter
Original poster
Jan 21, 2020
47
15
First, thanks to everyone for sharing so much information here. I cannot adequately express my gratitude for this. I'm hoping for some help in deciding which case to go with for my next build and would greatly appreciate any thoughts or info anyone is willing to provide. Thanks in advance for any help.


  • I am looking to downsize into a smaller more portable case than my current Cooler Master Elite 130.
  • Primary goal is for something which is very portable and will fit in a backpack (currently use a Targus 17" laptop backpack to carry my Elit 130). I transport this PC from one location to another on average 4 times a week.
  • Secondary concerns are thermals, which would directly link to noise as well. I don't care for it to be extremely quite, but if I could manage to be about the noise level of a small desk fan on low to med speed, that would be ideal.
  • Since temperatures are quite important and I have little interest in aesthetics, acrylic or tempered glass offer no value to me.
  • Aesthetics do not really matter to me, but I do like minimalist designs which do not stick out.
  • While build quality is important, I don't really care if a case, feels or looks high quality, as long as it is well designed. Though I do like the idea of aluminum construction if it decreases overall weight.
  • I do not plan to OC the CPU, at least for now since nothing I do would require it anyway. I imagine if I ran into the need to OC. I would probably just upgrade the CPU and MB at that time.
  • Really want to stick with 3 separate hard drives

I won't say my budget is unlimited, but definitely willing to pay for higher quality products this time around.

In current build, and prefer to keep for a while longer if possible
Gigabyte GA-Z97N-WIFI rev 1.0 (I realize I may need to upgrade this in order to use NVMe hard drive, but hopefully will not need to just yet)
i7-4770k
Samsung 860 EVO 2TB
Samsung 850 EVO 512GB
MX500 1TB
EVGA SuperNOVA 650 GM 80+ SFX

In current build, but fully expect to replace in the very near future
Cooler Master Elite 130
2 x 8GB DDR3 - 1866 Crucial Ballistix Sport XT
Zalman LQ-320 120MM AIO
EVGA GTX 980 Ti FTW

Fans which I currently have
2 x Be Quiet! Silent Wings 3 120mm PWM High-Speed BL070 (currently in push-pull setup for Zalman aio)
2 x Phanteks PH-F120MP

Upgrades planned for purchase in near future
RTX 3080 (if I can maintain self control for that long)
Low profile memory (not sure which to go for though)
Custom length sleaved cables


Cases being considered (in order of current preference)
Sidearm T1
Loque Ghost S1 w/ large Tophat
Dice Cases Flow
Nouvolo Steck w/ Stack

Depending on which case, which CPU cooler?
Never done a custom loop before so not sure I want to tackle this now, but not completely against it

I still really like the idea of air cooling the CPU and liquid cooling the GPU, if I do any liquid cooling at all. I think I may just be being stubborn on this, but I can't get out of my head the reviews I've seen where Nvidia cards take off with their autoboost when being water cooled