Cases Fractal R2 or CM 690 II

Which one should i get? I need something to replace my antec 1200. its a space issue more then anything else.

 

i imagine that the cm 690 II is the biggest, i heard it has decent cooling aswell

 

+1 for R2, I have this case, with the extra fans this thing rocks!
only trouble is that the quick release fan filters don't release that quickly (needs screwdriver), so I added seperate magnetic filters

 

@hovisloaf i don't think he means internal space being an issue (hello its a 1200?!) i think he means external as the 1200 is a rather large case he could do with something smaller.

My money would got to the R2 with a few Sharkoon silent eagle 1000's in

 

R2 no question. CM 690 II looks like a cheap gamer's case, R2 looks like a sophisticated computer enthusiast's case.

 

will the R2 fit a 'TRUE' with the top 2 fans installed?

 

2 secs, I will post something that may help
edit
just uploading some pics of my rig to image shack, will post when they are done, I wont win any awards for them but it might help u get an idea of size, if u need more pics of measurements just ask.

PS. I dont know what TRUE is, but if I had to guess I would say radiator, and that u may have to go slim or put fans outside the case with an enclosure

edit
ok here we go

 

thanks for putting up the pics kalcifer!! Much appriciated! TRUE is short for ThermalRight Ultra Extreme air cooler

 

kalcifer sorry but none of the links work they go to a '404 forbidden' page

 

sry yeah, had some problems, fixed it now

it has about 320mm for the GPU length and plenty of room for the "Noctua NH-U12P SE2 Dual Fan Quiet CPU Cooler" which is the one I use

I put the sotorage drives in back to front because it was easier to hot swap them that way by only opening the front panel


63.44 x 132 x 160.5 (heatsink only) LxWxH


71 x 126 x 158 (no fans) LxWxH
120 x 126 x 158 (2 fans) LxWxH

hope that helps

 

thanks again for the pics!! how many fans have you got in your rig and what sizes did you use (120mm or 140mm)

 

I have 4 x 140mm fans 2 top, 1 next to PSU at the bottom and one in the side of case door, I also have 3 x 120mm one at the rear and two infront of the storage bays

 

are they all fractal fans? they cost alot of money and they really increase the amount

 

ye, that was a draw back but u can really use any fans u like, I used fractal because,,, well prob mostly vanity, Ive made a mess of cables and intend to do a tidy up and revamp when the fermi comes out (I want to upgrade my GPU AMD/NVIDIA I dont mind which), then I will finally be happy with my lil PC.

Without the xtra fans (especially the one next to the PSU and one above the CPU) this case can get quite hot, with my gear the 8800 ultra and the QX6850 are like little ovens.

these are the temps with most of the fans running (without the door fan running)



PS. I dont think the temp on the SSD is working btw

 

All in this case cost me about

Fractal Design Define Midi Tower Case - Titanium Grey (No PSU) £73.90
+ 140mm Fractal Design 600 RPM Silent 4 @ £8.89
+ Fractal Design 120mm Silent Cooling Fan 1 @ £8.69

total £118.15

but it was exactly the case I was looking for, reserved looks, cable management, black interior and masses of fans, good sound proofing etc and Im not changing it for a long time.

 

There, fixed it for you.

Seriously, I'm sure both are great cases. Almost had R2 myself, but I decided to go for CM690 since it had features which (fits 2 x 240mm radiators out of the box, mainly) suited me better, and I'm really loving it. (and it's a lot less "gamer" when you get rid of the led fan...)

 

I agree with SlowMotionSuicide if u don't want a "compact" the CM690 will easily beat the R2 but if size is an issue like it was with me, the R2 is a very good "little"(lol Case size WxHxD:207.40 x 440 x 521.2)) case.

 

Don't be under the impression you have to fill all the available fan mounts with fans (more ≠ better), because some of them don't make sense when you think about the desired airflow through the case, which is typically bottom-front to top-back. I'd recommend only adding two fans, one 120mm to fill the remaining space at the front, and one 120mm or 140mm for the rearmost top mount. I wouldn't recommend filling the forward top fan mount as that would exhaust the cool air that is taken in by the front fans before it even reaches the CPU cooler where it needs to be, so is actually counter-productive. I also wouldn't recommend filling the bottom fan mount as the power cables will obstruct the airflow so much it would be pointless, and it would only be an option if you have a modular PSU since there isn't a great deal of room behind the motherboard tray to hide the unused cable. I haven't bothered with the side fan mount either as it didn't seem like it would help airflow or cool anything in particular.

And unless you really want it to be as silent as possible, I'd suggest getting other fans besides the Fractal ones, and possibly replacing the ones that come with the case. They're great low-noise fans but they don't shift a lot of air, so something like some Gentle Typhoons would be much better, but they're also more expensive than the Fractal fans.

If you want some more info on the R2 the guys at MNPCTech did an excellent video overview of the case:

 

thanks, but it didn't need fixing.

i never understood the obsession with meshes, what is the point of them? does it make the case look better or does it cool the case better?

all i can see with meshes are dust collection and lack of materials

 

At least CM has put a dust filter to every mesh opening in 690. And excluding the drive bay covers, each mesh covered area has an option to place fan/radiator underneath it.

I take it you just categorized it to "fugly gamer cases" based on looks alone?