Quiet Cases

[aimforsilence]

Sorry if this has already been posted... but whats the quietest cases you can think of for the average gamer...

off the top of my head i think Antec's P180... thats apparently pretty quiet..

what else is their?

 

[GalvanizedYankee]

Wrong board........ http://www.silentpcreview.com/

 

[Operandi]

Any case with good air flow can be quiet. Good air flow = nice openings for intakes and exhausts and preferably 120mm or 92mm fans -- 80mm can work but there are thermal limitations due to the small amount of air they can move while remaining quiet.

Some have soft mounting for hard drives which can really cut down on seek noise.

SPCR is a very good resource but if you ask there you'll only get recommendations for the P150 and P180. While both of those cases are good solutions there are other good options as well, particularly if you factor in looks.

 

[aimforsilence]

Originally posted by: Operandi
Any case with good air flow can be quiet. Good air flow = nice openings for intakes and exhausts and preferably 120mm or 92mm fans -- 80mm can work but there are thermal limitations due to the small amount of air they can move while remaining quiet.

Some have soft mounting for hard drives which can really cut down on seek noise.

SPCR is a very good resource but if you ask there you'll only get recommendations for the P150 and P180. While both of those cases are good solutions there are other good options as well, particularly if you factor in looks.

Actually the Antec P series is all i ever get suggested.. besides them expensive zalman cases.... what else is their?

 

[Operandi]

Personally I'm partial to Lian Li.

 

[aimforsilence]

i will give them a look

thanks

 

[dampeal]

The Antec NSK6500 is also very quiet at stock setup and keeps the system cool as well..

 

[CallMeJoe]

I just got an Antec Solo and really like it. My only issue is with the cables they supply with the front panel connectors; they could easily reach out the back of the case and hook up to a different computer.

 

[aimforsilence]

Originally posted by: CallMeJoe
I just got an Antec Solo and really like it. My only issue is with the cables they supply with the front panel connectors; they could easily reach out the back of the case and hook up to a different computer.

i was looking into that case as well.. its pretty much a p150 without PSU and not white from what i can get out of it... is fairly quiet.... or what?

 

[Skott]

If looking for a mid-tower then I suggest the Enermax Chakra as a consideration. Add a couple quiet 120mm fans to it and it cools sweetly and quietly.

 

[Jibboom]

My old P180 is very quiet, especially with the fans on low. Can't even hear the hard drives because of all the sound dampening too

 

[aigomorla]

Originally posted by: Jibboom
My old P180 is very quiet, especially with the fans on low. Can't even hear the hard drives because of all the sound dampening too

if you dont mind the stupid stuck hard to remove side pannel, the p180 is hard to beat in silence. PAir it up with good fans and do a custom duct system in it, the guys over at SPCR even recomend it as a quiet hardcore case.

 

[dampeal]

Presently I am running an Antec Nine Hundred, CPU liquid cooled with SilverStoen Tundra..

using the three Antec 120mm fans and the 200mm fan on low speed, it's whisper quiet and nice and cool...

very nice case actually

I'll be honest I HATE noise, I strive for the quietest computer possible.. when I say it's quiet it is..

 

[CallMeJoe]

Originally posted by: PirateMyke
i was looking into that case as well.. its pretty much a p150 without PSU and not white from what i can get out of it... is fairly quiet.... or what?

Your assessment is correct - black, with no PSU or "drive stealth" covers. How quiet it is depends on what you put in it. I'm using a Seasonic S12-430 PSU, E6300 on P5N-E SLI w/ Sunbeam Silent Whisper 775 (Q controlled), Yate Loon 120mm exhaust fan, Panaflo 92mm low speed fan on the HDDs, Samsung optical drives, a 74 GB Raptor and Maxtor 80GB SATA. After a slight rushing noise that ends with the 1st BIOS beep, I have to move my ears within a foot of the case to hear anything.

 

[cindyhot]

How quiet is quiet? My desktop GROWLS and ROARS like a monster ..... I need something that doesn't make all this noise....

 

[dampeal]

Quiet is whatever your tolerance for noise is..

Personally I hate noise, I need my system to be as silent as possible, any chance I get I swap parts out if need be, change coolers on vid cards, etc etc...

Right now my system is about 1 1/2 feet from me, where it always is, on top of my desk, actually table.. My workspace is 10 feet long, I have my desk and a table up next to it, the table is where my computer sits, right next to me, so it needs to be quiet...

any little noise, any change in pitch of the fans I hear instantly, I strive for total silence..

 

[Varun]

Just to warn people cases do not make loud components quiet. Even "quiet" cases such as the P180 will still be very loud with the wrong equipment. If your current computer is very loud, putting it in a quiet case is not going to help.

There are really only a few things a case needs to do in order to be considered a quiet case.

First, it needs to be built of steel or a composite material and not of aluminium.

Second, it needs mounting for 120mm or at least 92mm fans

Third, it needs good airflow to allow those fans to do as much work as possible at the lowest possible rpm.

Fourth, it needs to soft mount the HDDs and fans.

Finally, it needs to be filled with quiet components or you wasted your time and money.

Antec has a pretty solid lineup as far as quiet cases. The P180 was designed from the ground up as a cool running quiet case. The P150/Solo line is just as good if not better with the hard drive suspension system. Even the Sonata series is well constructed and a potentially quiet case even though the airflow is not as good as the others.

If you want a quiet case, it's really a good idea to look at the Antec lineup. You can get a solid case with all of the essentials of a quiet case for not too much money.

 

[aimforsilence]

well i really like the ANTEC SOLO... but to make it quiet i wouldn't dare keep the 80mm fans out of my aspire x-dreamerII... they are effin loud... i'd probably want to but some 120mm's and what about my graphics card? i was thinking about replacing the heatsink anyways.. but is that the main or most likely reason my current machine is so damn loud?

eVGA GeForce 7600 GT

and theres no way its my HSF... thats a Zalman CNPS 8000 on low rpm with my controller.

what do you think the best thing i could do is?

 

[WobbleWobble]

On the Solo, you wouldn't have room for 80mm fans anyways! The rear is a 120mm and the fronts are 92mm.

Stock HSFs on video cards are usually very loud. Do you have a chipset fan on your mobo? They're usually 40mm and run at 5000+ RPM. Since you already have your CNPS8000, I wouldn't bother tossing it and getting a better heatsink.

You might also want to look at your PSU and consider getting quiet one like the Seasonic/Seasonic-made ones.

 

[aimforsilence]

Originally posted by: WobbleWobble
On the Solo, you wouldn't have room for 80mm fans anyways! The rear is a 120mm and the fronts are 92mm.

Stock HSFs on video cards are usually very loud. Do you have a chipset fan on your mobo? They're usually 40mm and run at 5000+ RPM. Since you already have your CNPS8000, I wouldn't bother tossing it and getting a better heatsink.

You might also want to look at your PSU and consider getting quiet one like the Seasonic/Seasonic-made ones.

I had a feeling it might of been my Video Card... now i have to ether wait till i get my 8600 Ultra and buy a heatsink for it... or get the Zalman for the 7600's.... i just dont wanna buy a GPU Cooler and have it not fit on the new 8600's when there released... you know?

my mobo only has heatsinks.. no fans
and my PSU is a antec re-branded under a different weird name... its actully pretty damn quiet... but i'll probably get a better one later on... does Seasonic make modular PSU's?

also in the SOLO case can i rig up something so i can have 120mm's instead of 92mm's?

 

[Zepper]

Cases by their nature are silent - it's what you put in them and how you put it there that makes the difference. Use low-noise components and isoalate any noise producer from the metal of the case and you'll be well along the way. Arrange your case so that it doesn't have any openings to allow noise directly at your seating position and/or bounce off walls or other things in your general direction.

.bh.

 

[aimforsilence]

would a Fan controller help also?

 

[pcy]

Hi,

Originally posted by: Zepper
Cases by their nature are silent - it's what you put in them ...

Absolutley True. But possibly misleading.


The case is not a source of noise, but it is your central strategy for minimizing the noise.


The general layout of the case determines how the air flows through the casem and how nuch cooling each componnet gets, and in what oeder etc.etc. It also includes the case fans, so how many, how big. how fast, and where thay are cited has a big ef4ect on total noise output.


I have rethought the whole design of a case from a low noise point of view, and come up with this:

http://www.paq.ltd.uk



Take a look. Tell me what oou think. We are in production and will go live oficially when supply catches up with demand.


Peter

 

[Zepper]

Depends on the fans you get. If you use a Sanyo (like the ones at the link below), which are gross overkill for most uses and moderately noisy at full cry but tame nicely at anything under 7.5V or so, a fan controller or other means is necessary (they draw too much to connect directly to most mobo connectors). If you buy Yate Loon, Scythe low speed or similar, then I can't see most folks being bothered by those at full speed. But then, I "grew up" (didn't start with PCs 'til I was 33y.o., so that's a metaphor ...) with whiny little 80mm computer fans that ran full speed 24/7, so anything less than that and I'm in hog heaven.

.bh.

 

[Varun]

Originally posted by: pcy
Hi,

Originally posted by: Zepper
Cases by their nature are silent - it's what you put in them ...

Absolutley True. But possibly misleading.


The case is not a source of noise, but it is your central strategy for minimizing the noise.


The general layout of the case determines how the air flows through the casem and how nuch cooling each componnet gets, and in what oeder etc.etc. It also includes the case fans, so how many, how big. how fast, and where thay are cited has a big ef4ect on total noise output.


I have rethought the whole design of a case from a low noise point of view, and come up with this:

http://www.paq.ltd.uk



Take a look. Tell me what oou think. We are in production and will go live oficially when supply catches up with demand.


Peter

Unfortunately I don't think very much yet. Hopefully you will be able to update the site with some pics of the case rather than just drawings and make a post so we can check it out. Don't forget to post on SPCR