Is there a QUIET, COOL and SMALL case available??

[davidos]

and also fairly affordable? What are your suggestions? Thanks.

 

[Jhhnn]

Depends on what you want to put inside. I like the Inwin v523 and the LiteOn ST050 because both cool relatively well with a single quiet Panaflo L1a 80mm exhaust fan. They're both Matx, it's tough to get any smaller while maintaining features and flexibility. They both accept standard atx psu's if you need more power than the standard 180-200w stock units. The Inwin is widely available, mostly in black, Google it. The LiteOn is only avail from Casedepot, AFAIK, they do offer a Seasonic ultra quiet 300w psu as an option...

Quiet isn't cheap, sometimes, but worth it as far as I'm concerned....

 

[jarsoffart]

The Shuttle XPC series is small and quiet. They cost 300 bucks for the case, motherboard, and PSU. Lian-Li also makes a small form factor case. There is a review at Overclockercafe.com.

 

[LazyBastard]

I have a few Enlight 7602's. It's a mini-tower mATX case that uses a normal sized ATX p/s. It comes with an Enlight 300W P4 power supply. It comes with one 92mm exhaust case fan, and you can install another 92mm case fan in the normal intake position. It's less than $50 at Newegg. At Directron you can choose the option of no p/s, if you want to buy a quieter p/s, and it's less than $40, then.

 

[Jhhnn]

Not to put you on the spot, Lazy Bastard, but what kind of air intake does the Enlight use? I've never seen one in person, and the pics are not revealing in that respect. Does it just have the lil' slot under the bezel, like most Enlights, side panel vents, or what?

I'm a believer in the idea that low restriction airflow means weaker fans and less noise for the same temps, maybe the Enlight does that in a way I haven't perceived......

Thanks....

 

[natopotato]

just don't use an intake fan. i can also vouch for the little enlight as being quiet.

 

[Nerdwannabe]

quiet, small, cool and low cost can hardly go together.
Also, chassis selection will also depend on the board form factor and number of drives.

Cooler Master's ATC-630 is quite small with couple venting holes.
Unfortunatly, it does not take full height pci card.

Lian Li makes some very slim chassis. By the look of it, it doesn't look like a good cooling performance chassis.

 

[davidos]

Thanks for the replies! I was hoping to get an ATX form factor case though... any thoughts?

 

[LazyBastard]

Originally posted by: Jhhnn
Not to put you on the spot, Lazy Bastard, but what kind of air intake does the Enlight use? I've never seen one in person, and the pics are not revealing in that respect. Does it just have the lil' slot under the bezel, like most Enlights, side panel vents, or what?

I'm a believer in the idea that low restriction airflow means weaker fans and less noise for the same temps, maybe the Enlight does that in a way I haven't perceived......

Thanks....

Yeah, it just has a slot under the bezel. But the bezel is removable. Here's a link to the case's page from Enlight's web site. They used to have better pictures there. Other than the ghey imac-looking front bezel, it's a pretty solid case. The other 7601 models are newer, and I've never seen them for sale. There are plenty of full sized ATX cases that don't support 92mm intake and exhaust fans.

Edit: There's a whole bunch of pictures here of the case at Newegg's site.

 

[Jhhnn]

Cool, quiet and small in a standard ATX case is a tough proposition. Check out the SLK1600 and SLK2600 boxes from www.antec-inc.com. They're widely available thru a variety of Vendors. It's very difficult to get any smaller w/o serious compromise on the cooling side- boxes with side-saddle psu's generally don't cool worth a damn... neither do boxes w/o good rear fan mounts and open intake areas....

I have not personally used these, but they would seem to follow along the lines of the SX family of cases, some of the best in terms of cooling and overall features. Big, though....

The standard smartpower psu's are good quality, have temp controlled fans, not as quiet as the Trupower psu's.... not very loud, either.

Matx boards lack only the overclocking bios tweaks and a couple of slots present in their big brothers. They generally compensate with onboard ethernet and sound, some of which is quite good. It just depends on what you want to do- compromise is inevitable, one way or the other.....

 

[RazeOrc]

Hey what about a desktop case model, they're small, can usually accomodate 60-120mm fans and are realtivley cheap since most people go minitower, just a thought.

 

[davidos]

Haven't really seen a desktop case that has decent cooling...

What about this case fro newegg? MAXTOP CSX-147K2F-GF-USB-GRAY **Cool Case**

It's so inexpensive at $31 Anyone know if they are LOUD?