need QUIET case! No modding!

[homestarmy]

Originally posted by: Nebor

Originally posted by: homestarmy
I have the Antec Aria... it is SUPER QUIET! The side panels have sound deadening material, and the built in 300w custom power supply uses a low speed 120mm fan.

Just make sure your CPU fan isn't too loud. I'm using a Panaflo that does the cooling job nicely and quietly!

To quote directron:

And finally, Aria is the quietest PC case in the entire world. (Really. We're not kidding. And we've got the independent lab tests to prove it.)

And has also killed several video cards of it's users. Besides, do we really believe that the Antec Aria is quieter than the Zalman heatpipe case?

Link to info about the Acousticase 6607

I'd wager that that comment was made before that case was released, I believe it was released very recently, no? Also, I can't see a video card biting the dust non-overclocked just because of this case. There has to be some type of dumbass factor involved, no doubt.

 

[bluemax]

Haven't bought yet... any changes? New stuff?

Price absolutely has to be under $100! Under $70 is even better.... but quiet + good airflow is CRITICAL!

Good airflow means more devices can run fanless, like a fanless northbridge cooler, and passive Radeon 9600.

 

[Cerb]

The NB can run fanless anyway, just have adecent HS. A 9600 can run fanless as well, just get the Zalman heatpipe cooler.
The CPU and PSU can't. With good intake air, the HDDs can get cooled well, and you have only three fans to worry about: CPU, PSU and exhaust.

Since you haven't listed what you're looking at buying, I'll also add that the Evercase won't work with the Zalman flower cooler.

 

[orangat]

Originally posted by: Cerb
...

Since you haven't listed what you're looking at buying, I'll also add that the Evercase won't work with the Zalman flower cooler.

Is it because the Evercase 4252 is only 16.5" inches high and the power supply is in the way??

 

[eastvillager]

antec p-160

1. Use passive cooling for your video card
2. Use passive cooling for your northbridge
3. Use only the rear 120mm exhaust fan, mounted with the included rubbery mounting doohickeys(I don't know what to call them, but they're sweet)
4. Use as few hard drives as you can, and none of them noisy raptors, lol. The 160 also has rubberized isolation mounts for 3.5 inch harddrives.
5. Use an antec truepower ps, with your 120mm exhaust fan hooked up to one of the temp/speed-controlled leads from the truepower.


That will give you a very quiet case.

Oh, I forgot about CPU. For that, if you're going aircooled, I'd suggest one of the big zalmans, with a fanmate to slow down the fan.

 

[Zepper]

I also recommend the Evercase 42x2 (see the silentpcreview.com list of recommended items - the 4252 is part of the ARM premodded package but the case is also listed separately) or the Antec SLK3700AMB/Compucase 6A19 series (twins under the skin) - see coolcases.com for some ideas.
. For the Evercase, you will need the grommet kit for your HDs and maybe an extra HD cage if the one you get comes with just one. If you decide to go with the Evercase, let me know and I'll PM you the info to get parts.
.bh.

There's the :sun: !

 

[bluemax]

I must say, the Antec 2750 (is that the number?) -BQE (black quiet edition) sure looks good!

It's under a hundred bucks Canadian, comes with a great power supply, is designed top-to-bottom to be quiet and has that big ol' 120mm fan.

I love the idea of the Aria but the flawed airflow sure ruins it.

Sorry folks - if I could justify the $200-300 you want me to spend on a case, I could get a nice Shuttle "V2" box which would be just as quiet with its new SilentX system.

That, or I could run out and get a $250 video card instead.

But hey, budget rules the day. But I get budget and quality at the same time with the case I mentioned!

 

[clarkkent333]

I think Newegg still has the Antec 3700AMB for $70 shipped. Excellent case but you'll need to swap out the PSU with something more silent.

I would go with an all steel case over aluminum. Aluminum tends to rattle with the vibration from the parts.

Best thing to do is spend a few hours reading at SilentPCReview.com. Hands down the best site for silent computing.

 

[Nebor]

The Antec 2650 is really an awsome case. I would probably get one myself if I weren't stuck with this overpriced hunk of junk.

 

[Insane3D]

Originally posted by: clarkkent333
I think Newegg still has the Antec 3700AMB for $70 shipped. Excellent case but you'll need to swap out the PSU with something more silent.

I would go with an all steel case over aluminum. Aluminum tends to rattle with the vibration from the parts.

Best thing to do is spend a few hours reading at SilentPCReview.com. Hands down the best site for silent computing.

It's $64 shipped

I don't think that helps bluemax though as he is in Canada.

IMO, the SLK3700AMB with minor modifications is going to be an awesome case. If you already have the PSU, you can sell off the SL350 that comes with it, and put that towards a nice Panaflo 120mm for the exhaust.

SPCR Review

 

[bluemax]

Swapping power supplies = EXPENSIVE!! Holy smokes... it's $50-70 just for an Antec power supply!

I'm way better off getting a "quiet" system right off the hop! Those BQE series sure catch my eye.



[sigh] I'm really disappointed the Aria isn't as good as it could hve been. If it had better airflow/cooling and better cabling it could have been awesome! Instead, what should have been a cool, quiet system turned into a noisy hotbox. Boo! :frown:

 

[Cerb]

Originally posted by: orangat

Originally posted by: Cerb
...

Since you haven't listed what you're looking at buying, I'll also add that the Evercase won't work with the Zalman flower cooler.

Is it because the Evercase 4252 is only 16.5" inches high and the power supply is in the way??

Yup.

 

[Insane3D]

Originally posted by: bluemax
Swapping power supplies = EXPENSIVE!! Holy smokes... it's $50-70 just for an Antec power supply!

I'm way better off getting a "quiet" system right off the hop! Those BQE series sure catch my eye.



[sigh] I'm really disappointed the Aria isn't as good as it could hve been. If it had better airflow/cooling and better cabling it could have been awesome! Instead, what should have been a cool, quiet system turned into a noisy hotbox. Boo! :frown:

I wasn't suggesting you swap the PSU unless you already had one. Since you already have one in your system now, I just assumed you would want to keep it. The Antec SL350 in the 3700 AMB is the same as the BQE, just with two fans versus one. Also, the sideways HD cage in the BQE hinders airflow and cooling...check out the SPCR review on it. The reviewer said he would like the 3700AMB over the BQE for that reason...otherwise it's great.

 

[bluemax]

Originally posted by: Insane3D

Originally posted by: bluemax
Swapping power supplies = EXPENSIVE!! Holy smokes... it's $50-70 just for an Antec power supply!

I wasn't suggesting you swap the PSU unless you already had one. Since you already have one in your system now, I just assumed you would want to keep it. The Antec SL300 in the 3700 AMB is the same as the BQE, just with two fans versus one. Also, the sideways HD cage in the BQE hinders airflow and cooling...check out the SPCR review on it. The reviewer said he would like the 3700AMB over the BQE for that reason...otherwise it's great.

Great input! Well - my existing PSU is kinda' noisy and will stay with the case (I'll build another system with it.) How's the noise difference between the AMB series vs. the BQE?

You'd think the BQE would be quieter, just by the name!

I only have one HDD so I don't think HDD cooling is going to be too much of an issue.....

 

[orangat]

Thanks Cerb.

Originally posted by: Insane3D
.....
. Also, the sideways HD cage in the BQE hinders airflow and cooling...check out the SPCR review on it. The reviewer said he would like the 3700AMB over the BQE for that reason...otherwise it's great.

Insane, I had the same idea that a sideways cage would hinder airflow but a normal facing cage would've IDE/power cables hindering airflow as well - hence Antec thought that putting a sideways cage with holes in it would improve airflow with less hot spots. I now think a sideways cage is ok if the holes are reasonably large enough.

Did the SPCR review actually measure the temps of sideways vs normal cage?

 

[HokieESM]

check out CoolCases.com. They're "modded" cases that they sell.... some of them are reviewed at SPCR. Jim (the owner) will respond to email and help you with your situation. The D8000 on the site is the same as the Antec SLK3700AMB, but he cuts out the grills and grommet mounts the fans. The Chenbro PC610 is also nice.

 

[Insane3D]

Ok...a couple of things to add here. First, in regards to the fan grill point. When the 3700AMB first came out, it had the fan grills consisting of a bunch of small holes, like a cheesegrater. Check out this pic from the SPCR review and pay attention to the rear grill design. This was the restrictive fan grill that is usually removed on the AMB.

Ok, now check out this quote from the review regarding the noisy grill design.

The two stamped 120mm fan grills are rather restrictive and tend to create air noise and turbulence. These grills, plus the fan mounting system are the weakest points of an otherwise well designed case. The quiet PC enthusiast may want to look into improving these areas. A few minutes spent removing the restrictive fan grills, ditching the plastic fan mounts and drilling a new set of fan mounting holes will go far to improve the noise level of this case.

Now, this was later ammended with the following...

(Editor's note: Antec say they are working on a revision of this case; one anticipated change is much more open vent grills, like the one found on the back of their Sonata case.)

Well, I just got my AMB in this morning from that Hot Deal @ Newegg I posted, and what do you know, it's the new style fan grill! It appears Antec is now shipping the revised models. The fan grill style is a little different than the BQE/Sonata...but not much. Here's a couple pics to compare...

BQE rear grill (SPCR review)

New AMB rear grill (Mine)

They are still a bit more restrictive than BQE/Sonata style..but not much.

I just got a new pack of fiberglass reinforced cutoff wheels and two new grinding stones, so they are coming out anyhow!

 

[Insane3D]

Originally posted by: orangat
Thanks Cerb.

Originally posted by: Insane3D
.....
. Also, the sideways HD cage in the BQE hinders airflow and cooling...check out the SPCR review on it. The reviewer said he would like the 3700AMB over the BQE for that reason...otherwise it's great.

Insane, I had the same idea that a sideways cage would hinder airflow but a normal facing cage would've IDE/power cables hindering airflow as well - hence Antec thought that putting a sideways cage with holes in it would improve airflow with less hot spots. I now think a sideways cage is ok if the holes are reasonably large enough.

Did the SPCR review actually measure the temps of sideways vs normal cage?

Here's a quote from the SPCR review of the BQE...

My second gripe is reduced ventilation for the hard drives that seems to be caused mostly by this sideways drive cage, a significant flaw in an otherwise well designed case. The drive cage has only four 5/8" x 4" slots in it for air to flow through. This is a similar situation to the drive cage in the Sonata.

With both sideways and normal mounting cages, the space between the drives remains about the same, so the same amount of air is flowing over and under them. However, with the sideways mounting cage, a strip of the metal cage blocks any direct air to the side edge of the drives. With a normal mounting cage, the front edge gets the cooling benefit of direct airflow hitting it. This does cause a significant drive temperature difference.

When I intially setup the 3700BQE I noticed my HDD temps were somewhat higher than I'm used to seeing and I suspected that the more restrictive HDD mounting cage was contributing to this. So I did an experiment: I set up the 3700BQE with the identical hardware configuration that was running in my 3700AMB, the only difference being the mounting of the HDD in the cage. The 3700AMB had the 80GB Seagate Barracuda IV mounted in the middle of the drive cage. Being a standard cage, it is completely open on both ends. The 3700BQE had the same Barracuda IV mounted in the second-from-the-top drive cage.

The systems consisted of:

Intel P4-2.4C with Thermalright SLK900U + 92mm Panaflo L1BX at 1500rpm.
Intel 875PBZ mobo.
2 x 512MB Mushkin PC3200 Level II RAM @ 2-3-3-6.
80GB Seagate Barracuda IV (same drive switched between the 2 systems)
ATI Radeon 7500.
Plextor Premiun 52x CDrw.
Sony FDD.
Seasonic Super Silencer 400.
120mm Panaflo FBK12G12L @ 5V as back panel case fan.

When I ran my temperature tests (75°F ambient, system idling for one hour to stabilize temps, then the system was fully loaded by running 2 instances of Prime95 for one hour to stabilize temps), in the 3700BQE, the drive consistently ran 4-5°C hotter than in the 3700AMB.

I then installed a 5 volt 92mm Panaflo L1A fan on the front of the case, a setup that's very effective for cooling HDDs without adding extra noise. I've been running my SLK3700AMB this way and find that it lowers my HDD temperatures by around 6-8°C compared to running with only passive airflow through the drive cage. The front fan did improve drive temp in the 3700BQE, too, but to a lesser degree than in the 3700AMB. With the front fan going at 5V, the drive temp in the 3700BQE was only a degree or two better than in the original 3700 without any front fan. All this, despite the much more open fan grill of the 3700BQE.

I can only blame the higher drive temps on the sideway HDD mounting in the 3700BQE, as everything else between the two systems was identical. The case and CPU temperatures at idle and load were the same in both cases; it was only the HDD temperature that was higher.

Airflow Solution

I experimented to find a way to channel more air through the front fan opening. The solution was to tape over every hole in the front case wall except the fan hole.This actually did cool the HDD down a few more degrees. The front of this case is full of holes so I figured if I closed off all but the ones where I actually wanted air to go through that it might improve the airflow in that particular area. (see detail below) Apparently it worked. But the end result for HDD cooling was still not quite as good as with the 3700AMD.

A chart of his HD temperature test results are on the third page of the review, in a table near the bottom of the page.


Also, at the end of this review, he said this, having reviewed and used both the AMB and BQE...

OK, LET'S SUM THIS ALL UP

Antec never made any "low noise" claims for its original SLK3700AMB but the case was a real sleeper. With a little metal work and a PSU replacement you'd have one of the quietest cases around. With the SLK3700BQE they're raised the bar a bit and are promoting it as a "Quiet Edition". For the most part they've nailed it. The redesigned PSU, the quiet 120mm fan and the wonderful new vent grills all add up to a pretty darn quiet case, right out of the box. Sure, it may not quite hit the mark for the hardcore die-hards here at SilentPCReview but for the vast majority of people that want to build a Quiet PC this case is a winner. And for those of us who are harder to please, a simple PSU and fan swap is all that is needed, the rest is taken care of.

The primary issue I have with this case is the reduced hard drive cooling caused by the sideways drive cage. The 3700AMB's drive cage is easy to remove, include rubber grommet mounts and offer excellent flow-through ventilation, so including the Sonata sideways drive cage seems a bit of a step back, notwithstanding MikeC's enthusiasm for the convenience of the side mounting (expressed in his Sonata case review). In these post-IBM 75GXP days of HDDs with one year warranties, I think it's really important to keep your hard drives cool. If not for this, I'd give the 3700BQE a 10 out of 10.

Between the 3700AMB and the 3700BQE, which would I choose? It depends.

• If I didn't want to mess with cutting out the grills I'd go with the 3700BQE.
  
• If I wanted the best "turnkey" Silent PC case I'd go with the 3700BQE.
  
• If I was willing to mod the fan grills myself and was going to replace the PSU and case fan with the quietest versions I could get, I'd go with the 3700AMB.

In the end, they are both great. To me, the sideways turned, non removable HD cage is a big turn off, and I know it's really very easy to trim off the two fan grids and either replace the PSU fans, or use a seperate PSU. To me, it's not really a big job, and I only have basic skills with the Dremel. Also, a dremel doesn't even have to be used. There is a tool mentioned by the reviewer in the forums called a "nibbler". He used that to basically snip out the grid, then used a dremel and a grinding wheel to smooth the edges. Doing something like that is pretty easy and doesn't require a ton of skill...it's not like you are cutting out a hole from a case side panel or anything.

I guess it boils down to what you are willing to do. The AMB is cheaper, at least here in the states, and will be a better case with a little custom work. The BQE is a nice case if you don't mind the extra $$$ and don't want to do anything. You could also go in a 3rd direction and buy it pre-modded from a place like the poster above mentioned. I think whichever you get you will be happy with...they are both great cases.

One last thing...I suggest you read the two reviews to get a better idea of the differences between the two models.

Have fun!