How to cool an Antec Solo II case?

[MrHood22]

Finally decided to retire my 8 year old Cooler Master Centurion 590 case.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119152

I wanted to replace it with something minimalist and bland. I decided to go with an Antec Solo II.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129177

I really like the looks and design of the case. The one down side is the cooling. It's marketed as a silent case so I understand a lot of that design will be terrible for cooling. I also know the lack of side vents and top vents (the top vent is for the PSU) will not create good ventilation.

The way I have it set up now is my Corsair H50 radiator is on the back exhaust slot. It has a fan in front and behind it pulling/pushing air through it. The other 2 fans are on the front. The Antec fan included only pushes ~34cfm. The other ones probably do about 20-30cfm. The 2nd fan came with the Corsair cooler, and the 3rd/4th fan are some Cooler Master case fans that came from another case (~2 years old). None of them are moving much air and I don't have any more fan slots so I figured if I can't cool it with quantity I need to do it with quality.

My GPU temps are are the same, maybe even 1-3c lower. My CPU is 20c+ higher so that probably means that there isn't enough cool air being pulled in. For the time being I have ghetto rigged several more fans in place so the temps are probably only 5c higher than they were (which is still cooler than average).

With my Cm case it didn't matter what fans I got because I had enough room to throw more fans in until the problem went away. With the Antec I need to make good use of the space so I need to pick up some quality fans.

I was looking at getting 2 of these from the front intakes:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835608038

and 2 of these to go on my Corsair H50:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835608026

They seemed to be the best I can find that were $30+ or had LED's.

Any comments/suggestions on how I can cool this just a little better?

 

[Araxie]

I have to ask.. why that case?.. its too expensive, old and a horrible case for cooling.. for that price I would buy a fractal Design R4 which its also a silent oriented case with much better management of cooling and a lot of options... I would even buy a cheaper thermaltake v3 or v4 for 50$... my 2c.. i would just search for a better case there are a lot of much better cases for that price which also offer better cooling..

 

[MrHood22]

I have to ask.. why that case?.. its too expensive, old and a horrible case for cooling.. for that price I would buy a fractal Design R4 which its also a silent oriented case with much better management of cooling and a lot of options... I would even buy a cheaper thermaltake v3 or v4 for 50$... my 2c.. i would just search for a better case there are a lot of much better cases for that price which also offer better cooling..

I did a lot of searching and that was the case I liked.

The cases I considered were:

LIAN LI PC-7B plus II
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811112099

NZXT Source 210 Elite
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811146078

NZXT H630
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811146104
9.65 x 21.54 x 22.32

Fractal Design Define R4
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811352020
9.1 x 18.3 x 20.6


For reference:
Antec Solo II
8.1 x 17.3 x 18.5

Cooler Master Centurion 590
8.3 x 17.3 x 20


The main 2 I considered were the FD R4 and NZXT H630. I didn't really like the look for the FD R4. On paper it was good but when I looked at it it didn't really jump out at me. I don't really care for a side fan either. I also thought it was a little bigger than I wanted. The CM 590 I had was on the edge of being too big. Not that the Antec S2 is much smaller.

I pretty much bought this case on looks. I liked that it was minimalistic and I didn't see a bunch of fan slots everywhere. The Antec S2 does have one on top but it's the kind that has many small holes, not like the FD R4 which has the style that has many pencil sized holes. I feel that's more aesthetically pleasing.

As for the inside, they were all pretty similar in the sense that they had the same functionality. The Antec S2 lacks 3.5" drive slots (3 + room for a 2.5" to be screwed on to a housing) but I'm past the days of having a lot of hard drives in my computer, that's what my server is for. Granted I do recall that some of the hard drive trays could be removed from a few of them.

All in all, after the looking, review watching, and all that good stuff I felt the Antec S2 was the best fit for me. I won't argue it's the best for the money but it fit my needs the best.

 

[phillyboy]

As another Solo II user I don't see what the issue is with the case either. It's got the things you need in a newer case (cable management, USB 3.0 ports, motherboard tray cutout, etc.) but in a compact ATX size that still provides enough space for a few HDDs/SSDs while allowing for extra long video cards. The finish is simple and not gamer-gaudy and it's built like a tank, unlike the sheet metal 0.6mm thick cases that abound nowadays.

It would be nice to have an exhaust fan up at the top, though you could flip your PSU around to help with that.

I didn't care for the Fractal case either because they are too long/narrow in proportions and I don't need slots for six or eight hard drives. The case is of nice quality one though, and I did like the front of it. The other cases mentioned (v3 and v4) aren't even on the same plane, though at least the size is close.

The F12s will be a good fit for that radiator. They spin down nicely at idle (mine are running at 220 RPM as I type this!) and are meant for radiators; I have had good luck with them in the past when I did water cooling builds.

I have S12s as well but I can't comment on how well they push air. They pretty much just sit at 600 RPM in my box and move based on motherboard chipset temperatures. There might be something better that moves more air while being generally quiet.