Antec P160

[Stokes]

I've decided to go with this case for it's good review for cooling and decent review on sound. From reading more and more I see that some sort of insulation material would help even more with this case and was wondering if anyone can recommend some product? If there is a precut package for this, that would be even better. I'm looking for something under $50 dollars.

 

[Tiamat]

Originally posted by: Stokes
I've decided to go with this case for it's good review for cooling and decent review on sound. From reading more and more I see that some sort of insulation material would help even more with this case and was wondering if anyone can recommend some product? If there is a precut package for this, that would be even better. I'm looking for something under $50 dollars.

Spend your money on getting a quite psu like the Seasonic S12, Nexus 120mm fans (or yateloon), a fan controller to control your fans, aftermarket quiet gpu cooling, good cpu heatsink with quiet fan (something like XP-90 with panaflo 92mm L1A).

Report back afterwards. Insulation will not do anything for you until at least the 1st 3 things on my list are fulfilled.

 

[Stokes]

Thats what I was thinking too. I just hear all these people talking how the front intake is where all the noise comes out of, but you need that front intake to keep temperatures lower in the case.

Noise is a factor for me since this computer will be in my dorm room, and everybody knows how much room those places have.

Maybe the P160 is not the best choice, but I like it and let me say why I like it: I like the removeable motherboard along with the front usb/firewire/and the temperature. I really like the overall looks of this case even though others don't. For looks, I really like this case above others. But sound is something to consider. I really like the idea of having that temperature indictator, but I could always get some sort of hardware that would show me temperatures and let me control the fan speeds. Not sure how much those will cost me. I don't have a preference with the aluminum or not, weight is not too much of a factor to me. What would make this case a complete seller to me is if I could put some sort of insulation like I mentioned before to muffle noise, although I haven't had any experience with the noise level.

Can any P160 owners clarify some of the things I mentioned here and say why they bought this case? I really like how it looks, and the airflow is great. I'm wondering about noise though.

I did read the review from silentpcreview.com

 

[akugami]

This case is not the quietest thing around but truthfully, it's not loud at all. I've had noisier cases. The reason it's not as noisy is because it uses 120mm fans. Yes, the open front allows a lot of sound to pass through but the 120mm fans help to minimize what noise there is. My CPU fan and mobo fan are what I hear more than the case fans. Keep in mind the front 120mm fan has a limit to about 25mm thickness.

Overall I'm happy with the noise level that this thing produces. I have an older case with two 80mm fans housing an AthlonXP that I placed in the same room with the P160 which houses my current rig. I then stood between them and the P160 was quieter.

My 74GB Raptor is also pretty audible when it's grinding away at times. As is the NEC 3420A when you first stick a CD or DVD in but that's about it.

This case was also built to reduce noise coming from the hard drives and optical drives as evidenced by the way the optical drives and HD's are mounted. Get

 

[Tiamat]

Yeah, your case is pretty decent. If you want to make it quiet, you have to hit the noise sources first. Its really tough to "muffle" the noise compared to removing the noise source.

The foam material will do squat for you.

What power supply do you have?
Seasonic S12 430 = 100$
Decent fan controller like sunbeam = 20$

What heat sink/ heatsink fan do you have?

If you are a "normal" computer user, (not a person who craves absolute silence) you will be very happy with the noise level if you simply get a quiet power supply and hook up your fans to a fan controller.

After this, the next step would be to replace your fans with quiet ones.
Yateloon medium speed 120mm fans are not expensive, and with the fan controller, you can make them "inaudible".

I am pretty sure your mobo came with temperature sensing software. Those are generally good enough.

 

[Golgatha]

I've found that side fans are where it's at. Get a big and quiet fan mounted in the side panel of your case and you won't have to worry about temps regardless of the fans in your system.

I was running with 3x80mm fans (2front, 1back) and 1x120mm power supply fan. CPU ran at 67°C at full load (3.6Ghz Prescott). I added a 120mm fan in the side panel and took out 1x80mm front intake and max temp is now 58°C at full load.

 

[Nocturnal]

I have this case with one Sunon 3100RPM intake fan and a Panaflo 2750RPM exhaust fan. It makes noise but I have an a/c running all the time so I can't hear it at all.

 

[Stokes]

I'm going to be putting in an XP-120 with a quiet 120mm fan that still can push a good amount of air.

Is there a certain fan controller you suggest in particular? and I know it's asking a lot, but can you give me a link to where I can purchase the 120mm fans. I do know the front 120mm fan has to be 25 thick, but I know I can put a 38 on the cpu and I think the same goes for the rear. Can you help me out with those? I need the performance/noise choice here.

Thanks for all your replies

 

[billycat]

I have a P160 w/ window. The case itself (ie it's fans) are pretty quiet. As long as you get quiet PSU and CPU HSF you should be fine.

 

[Tu13erhead]

Stokes,

I'm running a P160 with an XP-120. I have 3 blue Thermaltake 120mm fans, one exhaust, one intake, one HSF, and each has its own controller in PCI slot. Also, I've got a MagDog 500w PSU with 3 fans and 3 speeds. Generally, I keep all of them on lowest unless I'm gaming or benchmarking. When all the fans are on high it roars, but a lot of that is due to the rear fan grill which I've yet to cut out. On lowest, though, it's very quiet. And very cool as well. 😀

LMK what you do.

 

[Stokes]

Tu13erhead -

I'm guessing you use these fans:

http://www.xoxide.com/thunderblade4.html

21 dba is not bad at all if thats what it really is at moving 78 cfm is good enough for me. Other then these fans can anyone else give me a link to a place to purchase some good 120mm fans. I cant find the Yate Loons anywhere but here a lot about them.

ANd what fan controller to go with?

Thanks all for your input, its what I was looking for about the case.

BTW this looks to be the ultimate low price on this case:

http://www.securemart.com/cgi-bin/future/SM108941.html?pcode=4 ($97 bucks +$15.00 =$112 for shipping)

If someone knows of a better deal going on with this case let me know.

 

[racolvin]

I use the P160 and so far the "loudest" part of it is the 92mm fan on the Zalman 7000 and the fan on the X800 vid card. The 120mm case fine is nice and quiet. I did recently add an intake fan to the front, a Vantec Stealth which is also very quiet, tho both it and the case fan run at full speed (no fan controller). Its still much more quiet than my wife's Shuttle SS51G - we're in the same room and hers is the only computer I can hear, even tho my machine is right next to me.

Some of the "noise" factor depends on your hearing range as well. The Shuttle gets to me because of the higher pitch of the fans - gets on my nerves fast. The P160 I know isn't completely silent, but its such a low level and low pitch that it doesn't bother me at all.

R

 

[Stokes]

I've seen some people recommend seasonic PSU for their quiet factor. In my current case my PSU is the loudest thing and that baby is LOUD! I need something thats going to power maybe a 6800 gt, dfi ultra-d, probably one HDD, dvd, 3500+ 64 (overclocking), and cant think of much else. Ram obviously too. But quiet is a key here and I would like the money be kept to a minimum though.

 

[racolvin]

The Enermax Noisetaker 600W that I bought is extremely quiet, provides ample power, and has the added benefit of two fans: 120mm pulling from inside the case and into the PSU, 92mm (I think that's the right size) pulling out of the PSU and venting to the outside, effectively giving you yet another set of nice, quiet case fans.

R