help me with choosing a new computer case

[TC91]

Right now i have the cooler master elite 330 case, and i find that it is a bit noisy due to the front being completely mesh, so i can hear everything. I was looking at the antec p180, antec p182, as well as the cooler master cosmos 1000. Which case do you guys think would be the most silent one out of the 3, or if there is another case out there that would be more silent?


Thanks.

 

[Zap]

My favorite "quiet" case is the Antec Solo. It is cheaper than the P18x cases and is not unnecessarily ginormous. The best thing is that it can sometimes be found for really cheap after rebate. I got one for $30 shipped after rebate! More typically, on sale (with or without rebate) for around $70-90 shipped.

The Solo has great ventilation, with 120mm Tri Cool fan in the rear (3 speeds) and unrestrictive grill. Front has a filter and is very unrestrictive, but is designed to not have a direct air path (to reduce noise). Front takes two 92mm fans (not included). The case also has dampening material stuck to the insides of the main panels.

The BEST thing about the Solo case, IMO, is the HDD mounting mechanisms. You have two options (and can mix/match to a limited degree). One is to mount four HDDs in trays that have really soft grommets. The other is to suspend up to three HDDs using the included bungee-cord-like mounts. This will completely decouple the HDD from the chassis. Why is this important? Well, once the rest of your system is quiet enough, the noisiest part of your system will be your HDDs. Decoupling them can drastically reduce the noise they make.

Here's my setup in a Solo with passively cooled CPU, chipset and GPU. This was back when I was running an E6750 @3.2GHz and the GPU is an 8800 GT with a factory OC.

 

[Tullphan]

Fixed link for Zap's setup.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Sometimes, on my Elite 330, the HD or the DVD burner starts to make a noise, because it starts vibrating against the case. Slightly annoying, but I live with it. Putting my hand on the part stops the noise, but I'd rather not have to do that.

 

[Zepper]

There is only one silent case that I'm aware of and that's the Zalman TNN - the rest are some degree of noisy by comparison.


.bh.

 

[aigomorla]

P180 series. <--- heavy overclocking
Antec Sonata Series <--- minimum overclocking.

Nothing seems to come close.

 

[TC91]

Thanks for the replies, the antec solo looks pretty nice, but im worried it might be too small for my new 4870, the 8800gt in your setup zap looks like its a bit of a tight fit. I probably will not be concerned with the size of the case as im gona have it sitting on the floor. Is the p180/p182 much bigger? And what about the cosmos 1000? Thanks.

 

[Zepper]

The Arctic Cooling Silentium cases are very low noise if the fans withstand shipping. Comes with a nice Seasonic OEM, 80+ PSU. Hard to find one to buy though and long vid cards won't fit. See this page:
http://www.madshrimps.be/?acti...tpage=3530&articID=844

Only place I found that stocks them in the US is Petra's.

.bh.