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What is the best sound dampening/silent case?

S

Shamshir

Member
I currently have the CM HAF X in my small bedroom. It is very noisy, and my two reference 680s are making matters worse. So, I have been looking for a better case that can keep the noise at a low level. I have my eyes on the Fractal Define R4, but I'm open for suggestions. Any recommendations for a mid or full tower silent case would be appreciated.

Note: Planning on getting rid of my 2nd 680 as I'm currently having problems with SLI. So airflow isn't a concern for me when looking for a new silent case.
 
Define R4 would probably be a pretty good choice, I have a Define Mini for my HTPC and it's awesome. Another bonus is the built-in filters. As a gaming rig you may need to add another front fan to keep case temps down. The sound deadening is very effective... and heavy! Each side panel on my Mini weighs about 3.5 pounds! ...about twice as much as the beer can panels on my HAF922...
 
The Nanoxia Deep Silence 1 and Deep Silence 2 are supposed to be the best performance silent cases on the market and they are coming to market in the US (finally) this April.

The Fractal Define R4 ranks pretty high when it comes to silence and performance (I'm not sure how it stacks up against Nanoxia DS1 or DS2). There is also a windowed version that sacrifices some of the sound dampening for a window so users can show-off parts.

The Antec P280 is another excellent choice for silence and performance.

What other hardware do you currently have/use? I ask only because both the R4 and P280 have some clearance issues when mounting radiators 240mm and larger.
 
TY-1 said:
The Nanoxia Deep Silence 1 and Deep Silence 2 are supposed to be the best performance silent cases on the market and they are coming to market in the US (finally) this April.

The Fractal Define R4 ranks pretty high when it comes to silence and performance (I'm not sure how it stacks up against Nanoxia DS1 or DS2). There is also a windowed version that sacrifices some of the sound dampening for a window so users can show-off parts.

The Antec P280 is another excellent choice for silence and performance.

What other hardware do you currently have/use? I ask only because both the R4 and P280 have some clearance issues when mounting radiators 240mm and larger.
Click to expand...

Asus Sabertooth z77
Intel i5 3570K @ 4.3Ghz
CM Hyper 212+
2x EVGA GTX 680 SC
Kingston HyperX Blu 8GB @ 1333Mhz
Asus Xonar Phoebus
Thermaltake TR2 RX 1000W 80+ Bronze
Crucial M4 128GB
2x Seagate Barracuda 1TB
 
Shamshir said:
Asus Sabertooth z77
Intel i5 3570K @ 4.3Ghz
CM Hyper 212+
2x EVGA GTX 680 SC
Kingston HyperX Blu 8GB @ 1333Mhz
Asus Xonar Phoebus
Thermaltake TR2 RX 1000W 80+ Bronze
Crucial M4 128GB
2x Seagate Barracuda 1TB
Click to expand...

Okay, you should be fine with any of the above mentioned cases when fitting your hardware in.
 
TY-1 said:
The Nanoxia Deep Silence 1 and Deep Silence 2 are supposed to be the best performance silent cases on the market and they are coming to market in the US (finally) this April.

The Fractal Define R4 ranks pretty high when it comes to silence and performance (I'm not sure how it stacks up against Nanoxia DS1 or DS2). There is also a windowed version that sacrifices some of the sound dampening for a window so users can show-off parts.

The Antec P280 is another excellent choice for silence and performance.

What other hardware do you currently have/use? I ask only because both the R4 and P280 have some clearance issues when mounting radiators 240mm and larger.
Click to expand...

I am able to fit the kraken x60 but I had to reroute the 8 pin motherboard cable
 
Fractal R4 or Nanoxia DS1

was gonna go with the DS1 until NewEgg had that awesome sale on the R4 making it like $50 cheaper. Can't go wrong with either!
 
Just built my homeserver with a Fractal Design Mini (smaller than an R4). My wife walked by it in the basement and thought it was just an old case and wanted to know if I was just going to leave it there....... it was running with 6 HDDs, 3x120mm case fans and the fan on the Coolermaster 212 plus CPU cooler.

Simply the best case I have ever owned.
 
I got the Fractal Design Define XL r2. I have 4 140mm Cougars on intake, 1 140 Cougar on Exhaust, and 4 120mm Cougars on a COrsair h100. Using a fan controller on the 5 case fans and using the h100's built in low setting for the radiator fans, it is barely audible but it stays cool.
 
I just got myself the NZXT Phantom 630, I am blown away by how quiet it is. Of course its a big case, like my old CM Stacker STC-T01 was. This case is sexy, well of course opinions will vary. This thing was almost $200 with tax, one paying that much would expect the expansions slots to have thumbs screws, but it didnt.



 
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The Nanoxia DS1 is a great sound deadening case, but it seems to have a few design flaws. Plus, the build quality is questionable. Fractal Define R4 looks solid and it comes from a trusted brand. But some reviewers said it isn't as silent as it should be.

Haven't made up my mind yet :hmm:
 
smitbret said:
Just built my homeserver with a Fractal Design Mini (smaller than an R4). My wife walked by it in the basement and thought it was just an old case and wanted to know if I was just going to leave it there....... it was running with 6 HDDs, 3x120mm case fans and the fan on the Coolermaster 212 plus CPU cooler.

Simply the best case I have ever owned.
Click to expand...

I'm looking for a reason to rebuild my desktop in one... for me, the Mini is the perfect size... but don't let the name fool you, there is still plenty of room inside for all your goodies.

My only complaint is the door opens to the left... I need it to open to the right... :\ ...but I'll probably get over it.
 
Shamshir said:
The Nanoxia DS1 is a great sound deadening case, but it seems to have a few design flaws. Plus, the build quality is questionable. Fractal Define R4 looks solid and it comes from a trusted brand. But some reviewers said it isn't as silent as it should be.

Haven't made up my mind yet :hmm:
Click to expand...

You're not going to get a perfect case. Reviews of the DS1 are rolling in and it's looking solid enough.

Pick one and don't look back.
 
At this point, it's kind of like trying to decide if you like the Acura, the Lexus or the Infiniti. Big reason I went FD Mini is because the HDD trays have extra mounting holes so you can mount the HDDs with the cables on the left side of the case or the right. Seems like everyone is obssessed with running the cables on the backside and I hate the idea of having to open up both sides just to swap out a drive. It comes down to the little things like that at this point.
 
I like my corsair 550D a lot, have a look at it too.

Eureka said:
Pick one and don't look back.
Click to expand...

Agreed! Though some of the cases mentioned here are better / worse than the others you won't go wrong with any of them.

Also keep in mind your primary goal should be getting rid of the components that create the noise. The case itself is a factor, sure, but it can only do so much.
 
Fractal Design R4, Nanoxia DS1 or 2, Bitfenix ghost (what im getting), NZXT Phantom 630 (expensive but cool) Fractal Design Mini... quiet a few
 
Nanoxia DS1 is no longer listed on newegg. Wonder where it went.

OTOH, I just finished a build with the R4 and, to me at least, it is very quiet. Got it locally at a Microcenter and was less expensive than the NZXT H2 from the egg.

Think I might pull the trigger on a Nanoxia DS2 for another build I'm about to do.
 
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While I agree with the desire to have a quiet machine the sound deadening cases aren't really that impressive. They definitely work but the only way I know to really get that high end hard quiet is with water. That is the most effective way (not the cheapest!) to get a machine that is quiet. So go with a caselabs and get a water kit for the cards and CPU all specced to no more than 800 rpm and you'll be removing the hard drives because they make too much noise.
 
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