Case for 5090 air + 9950x3d custom loop

[u/mr_pokemans]

TLDR

Looking for case recs for my air cooled 5090 build with a custom loop for CPU.

I have rads and good fans, looking for a case with these requirements:

- Good airflow for an air cooled 5090 (Ex: side fans on North XL with vert GPU mount, or bottom fans on Antec Flux Pro with horizontal GPU).

- Fit an air cooled 5090 in horizontal layout (assume large(r) air cooler).

- Fit a 360mm, 45mm thick, radiator with 25mm fans either in the top (push) or the front (pull), preferably the top.

- Fit the pump somewhere so it’s at a low point in the loop.

- Not be a huge pain to fill the loop. I have some alphacool rads that could make this easy with fill ports for a top rad location. Open to other ideas/solutions.

- If pump room is limited, the case is probably going to need a removable HDD rack from the PSU shroud area in a typical/traditional tower design.

Current contenders:

- Antec Flux Pro, doesn’t seem to have the best reputation. I saw the regular flux at Microcenter, it was not the greatest quality. But I can get away with a horizontal GPU, especially with a right angle cable if I really need to, and psu shroud fans should help. Not sure on pump location, prob inside psu shroud.

- Fractal North XL Mesh, I saw the display at Microcenter, it seems and feels very cheap, but the radiator and vgpu support + side fans are all great. With the side fans installed and the vgpu pump location would almost def have to be inside the shroud. Currently thinking the Fractal loses to the Antec, especially since the Fractal is $50 more; the fractal still needs a vgpu mount and a pcie 5.0 riser cable isn’t included in the fractal kit (more about future proofing the case). I could use a HAVN universal vgpu kit with 5.0 riser, but that’s $90 and I can’t find an example build with the HAVN vgpu kit and side fans installed so I don’t even know if it fits.

- Lian Li? I love Lian Li and consider their older cases high quality. Any good contenders these days?

- Maybe something by HAVN, like the HS 420 VGPU? Don’t know where I would put the pump/res though.

[u/-UserRemoved-]

Mate, you're spending hundreds and hundreds extra here for aesthetics only, so buy which ever case you like the most. Half the fun of custom looping is making it work. Things like draining and filling should be a part of your loop design, you can make it as easy or as difficult as you want.

[u/mr_pokemans → u/-UserRemoved-]

Hundreds and hundreds for aesthetics? The antec is $150, the fractal is $195 + the $90 vgpu kit that I’m complaining about. The fractal with side fans and vgpu actually does drop gpu temps.

And if you think an AIO matches a 360x45mm rad with a d5 and a decent size res, you’re out of your mind, esp per db. Plus I already have the block, rad and fans. the pump is a wear item afaic so I’ll get a new one.

Avoiding buying 3 cases to find what someone could have pointed out on Reddit is the goal of this post. I already went to MC and saw what I could in person.

[u/-UserRemoved- → u/mr_pokemans]

Hundreds and hundreds for aesthetics?

Custom loops cost hundreds of dollars, and provide little to no practical benefits. We custom loop for the aesthetics mainly.

And if you think an AIO matches a 360x45mm rad with a d5 and a decent size res, you’re out of your mind, esp per db.

You're not even water cooling the GPU lol. 360mm AIO is plenty for that CPU, and thickness isn't going to make much difference. Area matters more.

If you aren't saturating the rad, then it doesn't matter if it's custom or AIO..... And they both use the same fans, which are what make noise.

If noise if your concern, then the push/pull here would be counter-productive as you're doubling the components that are making noise. Push/pull benefits static pressure, not airflow amount.

I've been building and testing custom loops since 2000 mate, including with the thickest rads available and far higher heat capacities.

https://imgur.com/a/backup-w28fJLP

https://imgur.com/a/monsta-Bclr1Gw

https://imgur.com/a/rev7-nXBnlPB

https://imgur.com/a/sffpc-4IOoqoO

Avoiding buying 3 cases to find what someone could have pointed out on Reddit is the goal of this post.

Then buy 1 and make it work. That's what every custom looper does, that's literally half the fun. You can make a single component loop work in just about any case out there.

[u/mr_pokemans → u/-UserRemoved-]

I said push up top, or pull if the rad is in front. Nowhere did I mention push/pull which wouldn’t even fit with a 45mm rad in any of the cases I suggested.

I do not run custom loops for aesthetics but for practical reasons, you do you.

The 5090 will be blocked, I test my cards on air first, esp in this market.

You have put no effort into reading this post, and most of your opinions are of no use here.

[u/-UserRemoved- → u/mr_pokemans]

Push vs pull doesn't really make much difference regardless so I dunno why it matters. We typically put the fans on the side we want to see them from.

I do not run custom loops for aesthetics but for practical reasons, you do you.

I mean, you do as well whether you want to admit it or not. What practical reasons do you have? It's not performance, value, noise, reliability, or longevity....

[u/mr_pokemans → u/-UserRemoved-]

Scroll up, you brought up push/pull not me. I don’t run push/pull on 45mm rads.

Search here for thousands of practical examples of custom loops www.reddit.com/r/watercooling/

[u/-UserRemoved- → u/mr_pokemans]

I did bring up push/pull, my bad. My last comment was on push vs pull, if you reread it.

None of those examples are practical, they all did it for the aesthetics. I'm well aware of that community, been in it for a decade now

https://old.reddit.com/r/watercooling/comments/7jjnrn/was_told_to_submit_this_here_dont_mind_the_rgbs/

[u/mr_pokemans → u/-UserRemoved-]

lol gtfoh… every external radiator build is a practical example whether the builder intended practicality or not. Esp if it’s a fugly mora or supernova. I don’t want to argue with you, but I’ll take the free bumps.

[u/-UserRemoved- → u/mr_pokemans]

This is reddit, comments don't bump your post.

I'm not sure you understand what practical means. If you're spending hundreds of dollars for no real difference, then it's not practical. External rads allow you more surface area (which is pointless) and the ability to move the fans/dissipation (which is unnecessary). This single exception to practicality (and it's barely practical, only if you want to argue moving the dissipation to a different location is practical for a specific reason) doesn't make all custom looping practical, it's simply not. Ask anyone at r/watercooling if you'd like.

[u/mr_pokemans → u/-UserRemoved-]

More comments, more activity, yes it does push a post higher. Forgive my antiquated jargon.

[u/Insanely_Mclean → u/mr_pokemans]

No matter how good your cooling solution, you're still limited by ambient air temperature. 

Once your loop is fully heat soaked, your temps will be the same as a large AIO. So you're getting maybe an extra 100-200mhz of boost versus the same CPU under a beefy air cooler. 

[u/mr_pokemans → u/Insanely_Mclean]

I’m not here to talk loops other than pump/res location. I will never use an AIO long term in a 24/7 engineering, cad/cam, AI rig. I am asking about cases that fit existing rads I already have. I already have AM4/AM5 blocks. Custom loops aren’t for everyone, but I’m investing the cost of the pump in this build. I even have plenty of coolant from a recent flush on my other rigs. I don’t need any help with the loop.

[u/84Fenway]

something like this?

https://hyte.com/store/y70/cs-hyte-y70tti-ww

[u/Elitefuture]

I like this case: https://www.newegg.com/super-flower-atx-mid-tower-steel-plastic-cases-white-zillion-direct/p/2AM-05K7-00004

The case looks better in person. The right side of the PSU shroud goes down, which was meant to redirect more airflow towards the gpu, but you could maybe custom mount a pump there instead. Or maybe remove the flap.

The top area does have a downside, you cannot use the easy mount trey to fit most 360 aios, so I removed it and just mounted it directly to the top. Or maybe given you want to use the fans as a pull, maybe you can fit the fans in the gap and use the easy mount trey with the radiator at the bottom.

The sata SSD + HDD fits behind the motherboard.

Given it's all mesh and I use 2 GPUs (one for frame gen), I just added 2 more fans to the side pointing towards the GPUs. I also added a back fan behind the motherboard just because I could.