Looking for ultra quiet case with good looks and good ventiliation

[michaelwan]

Hi, I'm looking to build my first computer. I'm looking for a case that looks sharp, but is very quiet. I'm willing to sacrafice a little bit of cooling performance for less noise. I have narrowed down my choices to either the Antec P160, Coolermaster Wavemaster, or Lian-Li PC6070. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

 

[NervousNovice]

I would buy any good quality/ventilation/looking case I like and buy a quiet psu separately. The case itself is always quiet. It's the stuff inside that's noisy.

 

[GnomeCop]

IMy system is a 3.06ghz p4 with a AIW 9800 pro
The case is a lian li pc6070B and it is really cramped inside because I have 4 HDs 2 optical drives, a floppy and a card reader.

My cabling is laid out very neatly with nearly everything hidden under the motherboard. However the airflow sucks so bad with this case, my temps were around 44-47 idle.

After some more cable arranging, adding a weak peltier cooler (from thermaltake), and a 92mm hole to the side panel, my case is finally very quiet with idle temps at around 30c with and full load at 45-47c, but always under 50c.
I have a papst fan on my sidepanel intake. 2 NMB 80mm fans for front intake, a weird thermaltake led 80mm fan for exaust (it came with the peltier set), and of course the zalman 400w psu is the final exaust fan.

I have no filter for the side panel, but I open the case up often enough that I have opportunity to clean out any dust build up.

 

[Pauli]

I've been researching this topic and so far, the Antec SLK3700-BQE ("Black Quiet Edition") is at the head of my list. It comes with a single exhaust 120mm fan and a reduced-noise, single-fan 350W power supply. It has gotten good reviews and is much cheaper than all of the cases that you mentioned (I think).

 

[Axon]

I love my coolermaster wave, and in my opinion it is pretty quiet. However, I would think they more "hardcore" would define it as loud.

You'd probably need to change the fans on the Coolermaster.

 

[michaelwan]

I'm thinking about getting a Antec True430 Power Supply along with a Coolermaster Wavemaster. I was planning to connect the front intake fans to the fan only connector on the power supply; I'll connect the rear exhaust fan to the motherboard. I was wondering if this will keep my overall system noise to under 50dBA. Would an Antec P160 along with a Antec True430 Power Supply be a better choice? Please give me your suggestions on which configuration I should get. Thanks

 

[Sundog]

Look here---->Link

 

[WA261]

Just go water and your noise will be gone

 

[Nebor]

Originally posted by: WA261
Just go water and your noise will be gone

There are very very few water cooling setups quieter than my air cooling setup. Water really just isn't that quiet, due to the pump. The Zalman Reserator looks to change that though...

 

[akseli]

Originally posted by: michaelwan
Hi, I'm looking to build my first computer. I'm looking for a case that looks sharp, but is very quiet. I'm willing to sacrafice a little bit of cooling performance for less noise. I have narrowed down my choices to either the Antec P160, Coolermaster Wavemaster, or Lian-Li PC6070. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Take a look at the antec sonata, it's an awesome case. I'm currently running it, extremely quiet and great temps even with only one 120mm fan.