Looking for a near silent case.

[Tarrant64]

Hey guys, I'm turning to AT for a little bit of advice. I was looking for a case review site but don't know a good place to look that has in depth reviews. My power of tower is really starting to get loud, and I think some of it is due to the PSU possibly failing, but I know a good part of it is also from the fans in the case.

I was wondering whether to replace some of the fans in the case with near silent ones, or get a case with a couple of fans that do good work with cooling and are near silent. I am using an old Chieftec case, you know the ones always labeled for SOHO, it was the only thing at the time that fit all my junk in it. I've had it for 3+ years now, and it's time to upgrade.

Are Antec's good? I really want a Lian-Li but I'm not sure how well they do with sound quality. My current case I can hear all the way in another room when it's on, mini jet engine. I don't mind hearing it a little bit when it's right next to me on the floor, but when I get up and walk 2-3 feet away it's just a pain in the ass to hear it over a movie.

Cliffs:

Looking for new quite case, the quieter the better.

Hoping not to spend more than $120, but if there is a sweet deal at less than $200 I can hold off until the holidays or something.

Thanks AT,

Tarrant

 

[Zepper]

Most of those Chieftec cases use 80mm fans and it's hard to get good cooling AND quiet with 80mm fans. If you're willing to do some cutting, you could improve your current case. Cut a hole for a 120mm fan on the back and if there isn't adequate venting on the front to allow that fan to breathe freely, cut some venting in the front. IIRC, the Chieftec has 80mm fan brackets in each of the removable HDD brackets, so you could replace those with quiet Panaflo L1As as all they need to do is push a breeze over the hard drives, not contribute to overall system cooling which could be done with a medium speed Yate Loon 120mm fan at the rear with adequate venting near the lower front. Basically what I mean by breathe is that the rpms of the rear fan would ideally be identical with or without the side panel on the case. If you want to help keep dust out, your venting and any intake fans should be filtered, so the area of the venting has to be larger to compensate for the restriction of the filter. You may also have to block off any extraneous vent holes in the sides or rear to make the air being drawn in do more work. Instead of venting, you could cut a fan hole in the front. The fan would have to be slightly stronger than the one in the rear (can be tuned with a fan controller) to overcome its filter while providing enough air so the rear fan is not obstructed (rpms stay the same as above).

.bh.

 

[Tarrant64]

Originally posted by: Zepper
Most of those Chieftec cases use 80mm fans and it's hard to get good cooling AND quiet with 80mm fans. If you're willing to do some cutting, you could improve your current case. Cut a hole for a 120mm fan on the back and if there isn't adequate venting on the front to allow that fan to breathe freely, cut some venting in the front. IIRC, the Chieftec has 80mm fan brackets in each of the removable HDD brackets, so you could replace those with quiet Panaflo L1As as all they need to do is push a breeze over the hard drives, not contribute to overall system cooling which could be done with a medium speed Yate Loon 120mm fan at the rear with adequate venting near the lower front. Basically what I mean by breathe is that the rpms of the rear fan would ideally be identical with or without the side panel on the case. If you want to help keep dust out, your venting and any intake fans should be filtered, so the area of the venting has to be larger to compensate for the restriction of the filter. You may also have to block off any extraneous vent holes in the sides or rear to make the air being drawn in do more work. Instead of venting, you could cut a fan hole in the front. The fan would have to be slightly stronger than the one in the rear (can be tuned with a fan controller) to overcome its filter while providing enough air so the rear fan is not obstructed (rpms stay the same as above).

.bh.

Yeah, I'm well aware of cutting the case to customize it to get it to do what I want. That involves me getting the tools to cut it, etc. I'd rather have 'less' fans than I already do. (5 + 1 PSU fan + 1 heatsink). I've toyed around with the idea, and a friend of mine actually did cut his case to add a fan, swapped a couple out, but overall the case is just too loud.

My case has the window on the side with a fan in it. All my fans are blue-led too, I'm tired of that crap. It's gota go.

 

[cytoSiN]

I'd recommend the Antec P180b or the P182, but they might be just above what you want to spend. I love my P182...cool and quiet, and nice cable-management if you put some time into the initial installation.

 

[Tarrant64]

I can wait a month or so if I need to. Under $200?

nevermind, checked it out.

Hey that case isn't too expensive. If something's a good deal and is what i'm looking for I can spend more than $120, I'm just kind of setting a limit for myself. You know you always go to do something and something stupid happens, like I need an extra fan or something. Or I break something when switching cases.

Who knows, I might accidentally step on my graphics card and need a new one?(I've actually done this, not on purpose)

 

[Zepper]

The new Silverstone Kublai KL01 is very quiet with the door closed (The Xion "Stacker" is very similar). I'll be posting a full review soon at TechIMO.com in the Articles section. The Rosewill R5600 series are also quiet given a reasonable choice of fans - the fans that come with are "like a box of chocolates", you may get very good ones with yours, as I did with my 5604, or they can be less than that. Check this thread for more info on the R5600 series:. They are a lot better than you'd expect for the price. Just be aware that the 5601 has a dedicated floppy bay. The others can accept any 3.5" device in their floppy bays. The Rosewill R6A series (mentioned in the linked thread) is also excellent at the price - the R6AS5-BK is especially nice to my eye (they have it in "Open Box" for $20. off). Nearly all the versions of these two series have solidly 5-egg ratings from buyers at Newegg. If you need a reasonably quiet PSU for your new case, click the link in my sig...

.bh.

 

[jmmtn4aj]

One more vote for the P182. Too I need medium or high on the exhaust fans to cool my proc otherwise it'd be dead quiet =\

 

[Daverino]

The Antec P180/P180b/P182 are all specifically designed as quiet cases and they have great cooling to boot. Can't lose with those. If you're looking for something smaller, the P150 has sound dampening as well, although not as roomy and not as good a cooler.

 

[imported_Eriol]

Originally posted by: Daverino
The Antec P180/P180b/P182 are all specifically designed as quiet cases and they have great cooling to boot. Can't lose with those. If you're looking for something smaller, the P150 has sound dampening as well, although not as roomy and not as good a cooler.

The few reviews I've seen of that case mention how some PSUs can have issues with their cables being long enough to reach from the bottom cavity. Is that too much of an issue? Specifically I'm thinking of the Corsair HX 620W PSU with a P180b case and a Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3P Motherboard (the 24-pin is on the side, not the top on that mobo).

I'm very interested in the low-noise aspects of the case, but am worried about the cables reaching, and about one review I saw somewhere about some large PSU that they had to reposition the fan in the bottom of the case since the PSU was too long. Any experiences here with anything like that?

 

[aigomorla]

Originally posted by: cytoSiN
I'd recommend the Antec P180b or the P182, but they might be just above what you want to spend. I love my P182...cool and quiet, and nice cable-management if you put some time into the initial installation.

+1 i dont think ive owned any case which could outdue the antec P180 series in quietness.

The side pannels are sound insulated. And its built really great.

However this only applies if your on AIR. On water, its one of the worst cases to watercool.

 

[jmmtn4aj]

Originally posted by: Eriol

Originally posted by: Daverino
The Antec P180/P180b/P182 are all specifically designed as quiet cases and they have great cooling to boot. Can't lose with those. If you're looking for something smaller, the P150 has sound dampening as well, although not as roomy and not as good a cooler.

The few reviews I've seen of that case mention how some PSUs can have issues with their cables being long enough to reach from the bottom cavity. Is that too much of an issue? Specifically I'm thinking of the Corsair HX 620W PSU with a P180b case and a Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3P Motherboard (the 24-pin is on the side, not the top on that mobo).

I'm very interested in the low-noise aspects of the case, but am worried about the cables reaching, and about one review I saw somewhere about some large PSU that they had to reposition the fan in the bottom of the case since the PSU was too long. Any experiences here with anything like that?

I'm using the HX520 and the cables reach fine. I'm also using a DS3, the power connectors are in the same place (at the side) and it plugs in just fine. In fact it's so long I had to tuck it away behind the motherboard tray.

http://img227.imageshack.us/img227/7606/p192zn3.jpg

The PSU compartment though, might get a little tricker. The cables are jammed against the fan (though not into the blades so it can still turn). I made the mistake of installing the PSU in place before plugging in the modular cables. Almost had to use tweezers to do it.

Originally posted by: aigomorla

Originally posted by: cytoSiN
I'd recommend the Antec P180b or the P182, but they might be just above what you want to spend. I love my P182...cool and quiet, and nice cable-management if you put some time into the initial installation.

+1 i dont think ive owned any case which could outdue the antec P180 series in quietness.

The side pannels are sound insulated. And its built really great.

However this only applies if your on AIR. On water, its one of the worst cases to watercool.

The P182 has two fat ports at the back to allow you to run WC pipes in.. still a bitch to cool?

 

[CountChoculaBot]

http://www.endpcnoise.com/cgi-...d/sku=caterpillar.html

That case has noise insulation and comes with one of the best recommended fans for silence.

That said, I'd still get the P182.
P182 > All.
The only problem is getting a PSU that fits. The fan at the bottom really limits how long a PSU you can get. However, atm the Corsair HX620W is *perfect* for the P182. The modular cables are plently long enough for its cable management system, and its length doesn't interfere with the bottom fan. Plus it's got plenty of juice; I'm pretty sure they underrate the voltage to keep it near silent.

 

[Zap]

My current favorite "near silent" case is the Antec Solo. I got one recently from Frys.com for around $90 shipped, with a $60 rebate on top of that making it around $30 shipped after rebate (if I get it). Newegg normally sells it for $116 shipped. The Solo is heavier guage steel with noise insulation on the major panels. Airflow is decent, and intake air in the front is filtered. It also is designed with indirect noise path - meaning there is a panel between front fan area and your ears. The theory is that noise is attenuated if it is unable to travel a straight line to your ears. The case comes with an Antec Tricool 120mm fan in the rear and spots for two 92x25mm in the front. The Tricool isn't very quiet even on low speed (it has a switch) but then again I've been into "quiet" computing for a while, so for some other people the stock fan is perfectly silent to their ears. The Solo case also has the softest hard drive grommets I've ever encountered. As if that wasn't enough, you have the option to completely suspend the hard drives.

 

[Ozoneman]

Originally posted by: Eriol

Originally posted by: Daverino
The Antec P180/P180b/P182 are all specifically designed as quiet cases and they have great cooling to boot. Can't lose with those. If you're looking for something smaller, the P150 has sound dampening as well, although not as roomy and not as good a cooler.

The few reviews I've seen of that case mention how some PSUs can have issues with their cables being long enough to reach from the bottom cavity. Is that too much of an issue? Specifically I'm thinking of the Corsair HX 620W PSU with a P180b case and a Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3P Motherboard (the 24-pin is on the side, not the top on that mobo).

I'm very interested in the low-noise aspects of the case, but am worried about the cables reaching, and about one review I saw somewhere about some large PSU that they had to reposition the fan in the bottom of the case since the PSU was too long. Any experiences here with anything like that?

I have a Gigabyte P35-DQ6 and the P182 and the Corsair 620 work great together. The DS3P has the same layout as the DQ6. My PS cables reach the mobo sockets fine. I was able to run my 8 pin cable behind the mobo and have it come out at the top left corner to plug in to the mobo without any problem. Same thing with the 24 pin cable. It runs behind the mobo and comes out at the mid section on the right and plugs right in to the mobo. It make a clean looking system.

 

[aigomorla]

Originally posted by: jmmtn4aj
The P182 has two fat ports at the back to allow you to run WC pipes in.. still a bitch to cool?

Yes... Because your still space limited inside.

I dont like external rad setups. IMO its ugly. A nice setup should have everything self contained. But thats just me. :T

 

[imported_Eriol]

Thanks for the endorsements of the P182 w/ the GA-P35-DS3P and Corsair HX 620W I was wanting to buy. jmmtn4aj's picture is an especially great endorsement (no question that it works, assuming 520 & 620 are the same dimensions, which according to spec they are).

Though I've got a conundrum now in that the GA-P35-DS3P has a new revision (2.0), which looks better, but I don't think my suppliers (I'm in Canada) have it yet, and I'm not too crazy about the heatsink on the 1.1 rev. But there is the GA-P35-DS4 which looks fine... same layout of power I think, but with a beefier heatsink. Really I want 2.0 of both, since they drop the serial ports (which while nice a long time ago, I don't need anymore). Bah, this is more a question for the mobo section of anandtech, so I'll stop bothering you case/cooling guys!

Hehe. Glad I'm not "constrained" to buy "right f'n now" and can ponder a bit! Thanks again for the help from multiple sides here.

 

[RallyMaster]

Get an Antec Sonata II and some new fans if you need them. It'll be plenty quiet. In fact, any case that doesn't look like an Antec 900 will be quiet enough.

 

[MarcVenice]

Another vote for the p180b/p182. Got one myself and I love it. You should not forgot that a case isn't the be and end all to your noise problems. If you have a loud PSU, you're going to end up hearing it. And with 3 casefans it makes a little more noise then needed. Personaly, I found that you can easily do without the top fan, and even without the fan in the lower compartment. The PSU fan will do all the sucking that's needed to cool the HD's. You 'could' add a fan in the front to cool the gpu and such.

 

[palpicolo]

Most of the ATX cases are o.k which come up build with steel, you must look for a case with a minimum of 3 extra place for installing fans with 120mm size and +1 80mm fan.I recently build my superpc with ATX casing.I can say that my machine is really flying and I am over satisfied with the configuration I made the only little noisy CPU fan I bought extra which is operating over 3600 RPM at at 30 degrees celcius CPU cooling temperature.

1 X ATX CASE with poer supply Unit at 520 Watts.
1 x Asus M2N32-SLI Premium Vista Edition nForce 590 SLI dual PC2
1 x Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 2x2660MHz S775 4MB
2 x Kit 2x1024MB Corsair DDR2 800MHz PC2-6400 CL5 TWIN2X2048-64( 4GB DDR2)
1 x 500GB Seagate ST3500630AS Barracuda 7200.10rpm sATA II 16M
2x VGA GeForce 8600 GTS.PCIe with Scalable link Interface

 

[LOUISSSSS]

your case is only as quiet as the components u put inside. getting a Lian Li would be a great start, if u see that you are unhappy with their 120mm fans then replace them with some quieter ones or get a fan controller like the sunbeam rheobus to quiet them down.

keep in mind that there will always be a compromise, the quieter your fans are the less cooling you get...

 

[NXIL]

Corsair 620 is quiet in testing:

http://techreport.com/articles.x/13271/19

Corsair HX 620W ? Buying into a company's first stab at a new class of products is rarely a good idea, but Corsair's first entry into the power supply world is worth an exception. The enthusiast pedigree shows. With a five-year warranty, the best modular cables we've seen, dual 8-pin PCIe connectors, and among the highest efficiency results and lowest noise levels, the HX 620W is arguably the best all-around PSU of the lot. Overall goodness isn't cheap. In fact, it costs just about $140 online. We think the HX is worth every penny?and worthy of an Editor's Choice award.

Quiet CPU heatsink/fan, quiet case fans, and you are all set....

Don't mean to be redundant if you have already read some of Silent PC's info:

http://www.silentpcreview.com/article121-page1.html

RE: the 182: looks extremely good.

http://www.silentpcreview.com/article741-page6.html

The P182 is much closer to being a case for everyman because it's so much easier to manage the wiring. The changes were small, but the effect is dramatic. They show intelligent evolution and attention to user feedback.

The P182 is not better in cooling or silencing capability than the last production version of its immediate predecessor, the P180b. However, this is saying a lot. Straight out of the box, without modifications, the P182 has greater potential for a very quiet system to be assembled even by a novice DIY computer builder. The average user will find that in combination with reasonably chosen components, the P182 provides a quality and level of noise that is unachievable in any other case without modification. Its only real competition may be Antec's own P150 or Solo.

 

[Deinonych]

Originally posted by: cytoSiN
I'd recommend the Antec P180b or the P182, but they might be just above what you want to spend. I love my P182...cool and quiet, and nice cable-management if you put some time into the initial installation.

:thumbsup:

 

[*kjm]

Cable Management!

 

[andylawcc]

Originally posted by: *kjm
Cable Management!

i cried a little by watching that