Question Need Highly dust resistant PC Case

[Aditya Kumar]

I live in Delhi, India where its ultra dusty. I am looking to upgrade case which will accumulate minimum dust. My current case needs cleaning every 2 months and I am tired of it.
My budget is $120. I am only using air cooling for everything (no AIO & using CPU stock cooler). I only play apex legends once in a while where temps get 85C on both CPU & Mobo.

Currently using Ryzen 5 3600x, GTX 1660, 16GB DDR4 3600mhz, Asus TUF Gaming X570-Plus Motherboard, 1GB Nvme SSD, Antec HCG750 80 Plus Gold PSU.

Other then that, few requirements I have :

1. If it comes with prefitted case fans then its a bonus.
2. Cable management, so I can hide all cables nicely without bending them badly.
3. Don't care about looks, RGB, etc. Only want maximum protection from dust in the air.
4. I think if fan is on top of the case it will attract more dust (not sure about that). So front, side, rear fan might be better.

Case like this is what I want but it's impossible to find anything similar or same model like Silverstone Mammoth MM01 :

 

[In2Photos]

Check out the Lian Li Lancool 216. It comes with 2 160mm front fans and 1 rear 140mm fan. These fans provide a ton of air flow. It has the highest rating on Gamer's Nexus test charts I believe. I used one on a R5 7600X (air cooled) with a 6800XT and temps are great. The mesh filters on the front and top trap the dust so cleaning the outside has been all that we have had to do.

 

[BoomerD]

We lived in Northern California for 25 years with 2 dogs and 2 cats. I was using a Coolermaster HAF 932 that didn't have filters beyond the mesh...I had to clean my pc monthly.

 

[Aditya Kumar]

We lived in Northern California for 25 years with 2 dogs and 2 cats. I was using a Coolermaster HAF 932 that didn't have filters beyond the mesh...I had to clean my pc monthly.

I am using NZXT Guardian 921 which is from 2009. It has 2 CD rom bays, 2 floppy drive bays which sucks more air from outside as their is gap in them even after putting the Lid/cover (came with case) on it from outside. I use front, side as intake and rear as exhaust. But problem is case is old so its not perfect sealed now plus lot of unnecessary slots (CD Drive/Floppy) which only sucks air.

So I need few suggestions of few cases in my budget which have good dust resistant design without compromising a lot on air flow.

 

[BoomerD]

I have the be quiet! Dark Base 900 Pro Rev.2. it's pretty dustless for as big as it is. I'm NOT using the CD bay, but have a 280mm AIO radiator mounted in the front instead. (with a filter in place...it also has a nice full-length bottom filter)

 

[mindless1]

You can make most cases dust resistant/filtered.

Mount front intake fans for positive case pressurization, and put a filter panel between the bezel and the fans. Use adhesive lined (one side only) foam insulation strips (typical harware store item for home insulation use) to form a gasket around the filter panel so all air flows through it.

The bezel need not be filtered itself. Most that are, have inadequate filtration anyway while if it has some depth between the bezel and case metal frame, you can put in a pleated filter with more surface area so the greater filtration does not starve of airflow as much. Where to get the pleated filter? Hardware store HVAC department.

Block off all other fan intakes and exhausts besides PSU and behind CPU on case rear wall. On a very high powered gaming system, this could starve it for air unless you had loud front fans pushing more, but in this case, total system max TDP is probably under 250W. For higher powered systems, put back some of the other case fans as intake, with a filter panel over them.

Why do you need cable management if it's not got a window? I never found cable management an issue once systems moved from IDE to SATA, and even less so, once the SSDs went in a slot instead of a drive bay w/SATA cable. I mean you can use a nylon wire tie on anything you want to, even drill a hole to use one where you couldn't otherwise.

 

[Aditya Kumar]

Check out the Lian Li Lancool 216. It comes with 2 160mm front fans and 1 rear 140mm fan. These fans provide a ton of air flow. It has the highest rating on Gamer's Nexus test charts I believe. I used one on a R5 7600X (air cooled) with a 6800XT and temps are great. The mesh filters on the front and top trap the dust so cleaning the outside has been all that we have had to do.

I dont think it has front fan filters seperately? Mesh holes are larger then the AC like filters they provide.

 

[q52]

I am not clear what the OP means by "dust resistant" and having to "clean" the case.

I would regard a "dust resisitant" case as one that prevents dust from entering the case, which would necessitate trapping the dust somewhere that will inevitably need to be cleaned. Its not like you are gonna be able to avoid cleaning *something*, the dust is gonna end up somewhere no matter what you do.

I have been using the Fractal Design Meshify 2 cases for a while now, in a home with very hairy dogs and cats, and its worked really well to stop a lot of the dust from entering the case. I keep the dust filters attached under the metal grills. The metal grills collect the larger animal hairs and dust blobs, the fine mesh filters catch the smaller dust. The metal grills are easy to wipe off with a wet or dry towel or even your hand, the fine mesh filters need to be removed every ~6-12 months and wiped off with a dry towel. You will still get the most extremely fine dust making it through and onto your PC components so you will still need a quick air blow to finish the job, but over all I would call the Meshify 2 line extremely dust resistant in this regard.

Also, raising your PC case up off the floor makes a significant difference. Simply moving it from the floor to the shelf, then to the top of the desk, cut down the dust collection by a massive amount.

My Meshify builds using Noctua NH-D15 + Ryzen 3950X see max temps about 68C under full CPU load with only a single intake fan and exhaust fan (the stock ones included with the case) and a single fan on the cooler tower itself (in the middle between the two sets of fins)

 

[MrPickins]

I dont think it has front fan filters seperately? Mesh holes are larger then the AC like filters they provide.

They sell an optional filter. Not sure why it wasn't included (I'd rather have that than the optional exhaust fan bracket over the peripherals):

Are you a human?

www.newegg.com

I just ordered the case and filter. We'll see how well it does compared to my aging Antec Three Hundred, which has a filter and only needs a light dusting every 6 months or so.

 

[aigomorla]

Don't expect your PC filters to be great at catching all dust without clogging.
The best solution to dust is to remove it from the room before it gets to your pc.
For my Servers, i prop a box fan with a MERV filter in front of them so they pull filtered air before it goes into the server.
This way the forced inducted air is filtered, and then clean air gets fed into the system.

Its not 100%, but its enough to keep my maintenance down.
The box fan looks like this:


If you need a silent solution, id get a commercial air purifier then, and try to keep the windows closed as much as possible.

 

[Torn Mind]

I live in Delhi, India where its ultra dusty. I am looking to upgrade case which will accumulate minimum dust. My current case needs cleaning every 2 months and I am tired of it.
My budget is $120. I am only using air cooling for everything (no AIO & using CPU stock cooler). I only play apex legends once in a while where temps get 85C on both CPU & Mobo.

Currently using Ryzen 5 3600x, GTX 1660, 16GB DDR4 3600mhz, Asus TUF Gaming X570-Plus Motherboard, 1GB Nvme SSD, Antec HCG750 80 Plus Gold PSU.

Other then that, few requirements I have :

1. If it comes with prefitted case fans then its a bonus.
2. Cable management, so I can hide all cables nicely without bending them badly.
3. Don't care about looks, RGB, etc. Only want maximum protection from dust in the air.
4. I think if fan is on top of the case it will attract more dust (not sure about that). So front, side, rear fan might be better.

Case like this is what I want but it's impossible to find anything similar or same model like Silverstone Mammoth MM01 :

Setup the case for positive pressure..