Looking for quiet efficient case suggestions

[rondeemc]

I am about to build a two disk raid set up with a third disk for archiving. It will be a Thunderbird running around 1ghz and have a burner plus additional cd-rom. I figure on a minimum 300 watt power supply. I am leaning toward the Fong Kai 320 ATX which I can get for $98 at directron.com.

Any other suggestions for a case out there that is quiet and thermally cool?

 

[GiZzO]

The Palo Alto 600 i think directron carries, is a nice case. Due to its ridged construction and lots of plastic and low airflow restrictions, as far as stock cases go its pretty quiet. Looks nice too.

 

[crash2much]

Love my AT901 from www.pccase.com. Lots of great features for $64.

 

[rondeemc]

I took a look at the Palo Alto 600 and it is a very nice case. Problem is it only holds 6 drives and I need 7 minimum. 3HD's, cd-rw, cd, zip, and floppy. The other down side was price. Once I upgraded to a 300 watt Athlon approved supply at $40 and added the back exhaust fan at $14 I would be paying $25 more then the stock Fong Kai. I also like the idea of having the option of putting a 92mm or 120mm fan up front stock. I also noticed the Palo Alto ATCX which holds 7 drives but again the power supply was only 235 stock and it also did not come with the rear fan.

Anybody find Palo Alto cases from a vendor other then directron.com with better prices?

 

[dadx2mj]

Check out the Antec Sx1030 it has an AMD approved power supply, great cooling and is very well made. I have it little brother the SX830 and love it

 

[jsbush]

Another vote for the SX830 or SX1030. Great case.

 

[rondeemc]

Both the Antecs look like great cases! How many fans are you running in yours and how loud is it?

 

[mtheads]

Check out www.colorcomputercases.com for some quiet cases.

 

[ZeroBurn]

rondeemc- i have nearly the identical setup you're talking about. i have a 1.1ghz tbird in a fong kai 320 from directron, with 2 75GXPs with my RAID card on the way. here's how i handled cooling and my experiences with it.

i used a 120mm alum L1A panaflo for the intake, at half volt. the fong kai has a unique shell for the intake fan that accomdates the 120mm and completely encompases it except for the pathways for air, reducing the noise a bit. i used a 92mm exhaust for the case, also at half volt. it has a CPU shroud and i have a quiet ADDA fan on the CPU (alpha pal 6035 HSF) which you cannot hear at all. i replaced the 300w PSU fan with a 80mm panaflo and that drastically cut noise down. i have a blueorb on the northbridge i disconnected the fan from because it effectively doubles the noise created by the case.

it's build solid and the fan shrouds on the intake and exhaust silence a lot of the noise, and since it is quite thick and well built with lots of room, it definitely holds in most of the noise. the antec cases are awesome, however are not quite known for their silence

 

[rondeemc]

Thanks ZeroBurn for the information. I looked up the reviews on both Antecs and they seem to be very good cases but when it comes to sound I found no decibel reading so everything was subjective which I to tend see as less then accurate. If anyone has these I would like to have the link.

I will look into the panaflow for the powersupply since that was a concern. The Antec's seem to win in that area.

You mentioned a problem with your fan on the north bridge. What motherboard are you using?

 

[ZeroBurn]

rondeemc,
you won't find any accurate numbered decibel readings for the cases, as it is completely personalized by the fans/components of the user. which fans, where, and how many play an important role. i've just personally found the antecs to be more power-oriented, driven by multiple fans and higher CFM rated ones rather then quiet ones then the fong kai. guess when i think of an sx1030 i think sheert power =)

the PSU included in the fong kai is actually nicer IMHO then the antec one, you can find my opinions on them in my comparison between the sx1030 and the fong kai 320 here.

there wasn't actually a problem with the fan on the blueorb i was using on my northbridge, i just actually unplugged it myself since the 26dBa rating of it effectively doubled the noise emission from my case (you could hear it wind up and just hum away), i thought it was a nice comparison to the noise my case produced. i'm using an MSI K7T Pro2-A currently.