Looking for a quiet case

[Zukatah]

I'm currently looking for a new case w/ PSU (300 watts or more). I was looking for the ANtec 830SX but I've heard that they're really noisy. What else can I buy for about the same price as the Antec that is quiet and practical (Screwless is a big plus).

Thanks

 

[punkrawket]

cases themselves CANNOT be quiet nor noisy

it is what you put inside them, as in power supply, fans, and hsf

many people using the sx series cases seeking quiet use panaflow fans

 

[Zukatah]

Well I was talking about a quiet PSU and by a quiet case I also meant the noise level that you actually hear. With some cases (with a front air intake) the sound level is much higher than from a case with no no air intake at the front.

 

[hmsrolst]

Although I have 3 Antec SX cases, and they can be made very quiet, I do think there's a trade-off between quiet and good cooling. The open, good air flow in Antecs I think also leads to more sound from inside the case being audible outside. But I also agree that the main issue is using quiet case fans, a quiet heat sink fan and a quiet PSU.

 

[Underclocked]

The AOpen H600 should be a quiet one. Good design IMHO. Just wish it wasn't so deep. When did the manufacturers decide a case needs to be three feet in depth? 😉 If 17 and half inches isn't enough, we're all in trouble.

 

[Zukatah]

Would you guys still recommand an Antec 830sx even though it's a little bit noisy? I want to get a P4 1.8@2.4 in there with stock heatsink and fan and a Radeon 8500. Do I really need good airflow?

Thanks

 

[deran]

I got a sx830 and the loudest thing is the Radeon 8500. All fans are 7vs. changing to 5. put a 80mm on the CPU ( P3 1Gb). I plan to change the fan on the vidio card and put a socket 7 or 370 heatsink without fan.

 

[cockeyed]

Last week, I built basically the same system that you are going to and I also wanted quiet. Here is what I have: Enermax case CS-A1QX-02, P4 1.6a, GeForce3 Ti200, IBM HDD. The Enermax case comes standard with an Enermax 300W power supply. The case also comes as a model CS-A1QX-06, the only difference being the color scheme. Both cases are light beige with dark navy blue trim. I have to say that this is one nice high quality case and good looking. For extra cooling I added a PC Power & Cooling Silencer case fan on the back as an exhaust. The Retail Intel P4 fan runs very quiet and is temp. controlled, running faster if it needs more cooling. The Enermax PS in this case has 1 fan that is temp. controlled, running faster if needed and is very quiet. The Silencer case fan runs very quiet also. The loudest fan was on the GF3, but I replaced it with a standard P2/3 CPU fan and run it at +7 volts to slow it down. My system is very quiet and all I hear is very slight fan noise, while the case stays very cool. Check out the case at newegg, they have both models for $50, a super buy.

 

[Zukatah]

Geez... And I thought choosing the right case would be the easiest part to pick 😉 I live in Canada so it's out of question to buy a case online (too heavy, too far, so too expensive). From what I've seen in store, they have PSU's from Enermax, but not cases. I am very tempted by the Whisper PSU... For cases with PSU, I have a selection of: Antec(sx830), Aopen (HX45 orH600a), InWin (J508), Enlight (7237) and Lite-On (TXP-600/P4) or some Nikao cases (nahh that doesn't fit in my bedroom....)

Thanks for your help

 

[Zukatah]

*Bump*