Yeah, I'm real happy with the CM690... nice and quiet. Though I have been looking at the 600T... real nice case.

I'm seriously thinking on the 690 advanced .. price is better than the 600T which will allow me to get a SSD as well. No side window is fine and not a deal breaker .. as long as it cools decent and is quiet that's all i want.

I personally don't find the cooling benefits for side fans to really offset the additional noise you produce by having them. You basically have a wide open hole right over the nosiest area of the system, with an additional fan there as well producing noise, and in my experience the cooling benefits are pretty minimal - I think 2-4*C on the CPU and my GPU was pretty similar and not able to OC any more because of it.

If you're looking at overclocking and having the best cooling possible despite other factors, than ya, go for a side fan. But if it's a system you plan on using daily and want a balance between cooling and noise, then I would say get a nice solid case without a window or side fan, and just worry about decent front to back air flow.

The more solid the case the better too. If you don't plan on moving it around much, or going to LAN parties than look at a steel case even. Aluminum cases were all the rage when they came out, because of how light they could be for their size, but I find steel cases much quieter.

well the nzxt phantom has the best air cooling I have had personally yet. Having rather large fans cuts the noise down considerably as well.

Larger fans = less noise and more cfm

Larger fans can be just as loud as smaller ones, but at least they should move more air at any given volume (dB volume not CFM). Unless it's a subjective thing you're talking about where you find the noise produced by bigger fans to be less distracting than the pitch of smaller ones? That's a valid point but the problem with that and my thoughts on side fans is that instead of having an 80mm hole right over the loudest part of the system you now have a 120mm hole there presumable letting out more sound.

I know this argument could be made about all openings on a case and letting out noise, but again, when it's a balance between noise and cooling I personally don't find the side openings to be worth it.

well I find a decent balance with larger fans and a controller. You can also deaden the noise with a little cheap sound proofing.

or just go water.

Personally I liked the side fan for mainly the nb/sb cooling.

I found that to be my concern until I ditched using cases altogether


Anywho... Back to late night bathroom painting...