Which Case for under £150?

BIGBC said:
none of them are quite or understated.

Silverstone FT01 gets my vote.
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The HAF cases are actually very quiet if you keep the fans turned down and yknow... with fans that big you can keep them turned right down and still have better temperatures than many of the cases here.

Sure you can make it sound like a tornado but why would you?

I have one and I love it to bits, it is quieter than my P182 system and the temperatures are brilliant.

However I agree it isn't understated, although the HAF 922 I have is in my opinion, much nicer to look at then the 932. I do find Coolermaster cases always look much better in the flesh though, they never look great in photos.
 
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sldsmkd said:
Note while the drive cages are plastic, the drives themselves are isolated with silicon grommets.
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Which work only if drive doesn't touch anything else... and with that kind wrap around tray I'm rather sceptic about that.
Also all that plastic further blocks airflow in already tightly spaced HDD cages meaning for any kind HDD cooling every second slot has to be empty... meaning there's real space for only four drives... and that with HDD cages practically blocking front intake fan.
http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/cases/2008/10/20/silverstone-ft01-review/5
And case is cramped for long graphics cards and as overall:
http://images.hardwarecanucks.com/image/lemonlime/cases/silverstone_ft01/ft01_install8.JPG
Even cheaper P193 has more space for graphics cards and is lot more noise containing design... although compartments makes HDD/PSU area cramped.


Corran said:
The HAF cases are actually very quiet if you keep the fans turned down and yknow... with fans that big you can keep them turned right down and still have better temperatures than many of the cases here.
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No doubt that way... without components.
Few degrees lower case temperature doesn't mean anything when you have to lower heatsink fan's speed lot for compensating unmuffled leaking of noise.
Magpie's nest vs. noise containing case surely makes lot more than 5dB difference to noise (decent lining lowers noise 3-4dB further from plain case) which again means easily 5C efficiency drop of heatsink:
http://www.silentpcreview.com/article759-page3.html

Also graphics cards are noisy if there's nothing to muffle their sound.
 
EsaT said:
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No doubt that way... without components.
Few degrees lower case temperature doesn't mean anything when you have to lower heatsink fan's speed lot for compensating unmuffled leaking of noise.
Magpie's nest vs. noise containing case surely makes lot more than 5dB difference to noise (decent lining lowers noise 3-4dB further from plain case) which again means easily 5C efficiency drop of heatsink:
http://www.silentpcreview.com/article759-page3.html

Also graphics cards are noisy if there's nothing to muffle their sound.
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Depends on the components you use.

My Q6600 is overclocked to 3.8 Ghz at the moment, perfectly stable at about 33 degrees idle and reaching maybe 55 when I stress test it. It never goes above about 48 during normal use.

The Graphics card isn't noisy as the fan never goes above 30% and the new catalyst 9.8 drivers have made my 4870 even quieter, outside of gaming the thing is virtually silent and even then you have to pretty much put your ear to the case to hear it.

Yes I have the fans connected to the motherboard (Maximus II Formula) using the silent Q-Fan option... but why would I turn them up when my computer works as well as it does with them on silent? The fact is the air cooling in this case is so good that you don't need to run the fans at max and can hence avoid the tornado. I use decent quiet fans as well.

The hard drives are also mounted very well in this case so bar the initial spin up when the drives are being used I don't hear them at all. I use a SSD boot drive so there isn't any noise just using windows.

And if I wanted to stress the computer even more and needed the fans on full... well why would I be fussed? People who are pushing their computers as far as they possibly can rarely care about noise, and I am happy with how my computer runs at the moment.

The HAF cases are very good, you either love or hate the styling but they are still good cases that can be very quiet with no loss of performance.

It runs quieter than my P182 does and it is a similar spec system, though that is also a very quiet case, but my computer components run cooler in the HAF.

It's all a matter of preference but don't call the HAF noisy when you've not given it a proper chance.



TLDR

Good case, good temperatures, components not noisy, why run the fans on full when I get the temperatures I do already?
 
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Corran said:
It's all a matter of preference but don't call the HAF noisy when you've not given it a proper chance.
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I've given leaky cases enough and only chance they'll ever get from me.

And I sure know that for modern townspeople that preference is "can't hear rifle in artillery firing range, so it must be quiet"... When was last time when your own resting heart beat sounded awfully loud?
For me that's every night if I just turn to right position so that pillow is touching both ear and area of neck with veins. (now that summer traffic has ceased on road 1,5km away)

My Q6600 is overclocked to 3.8 Ghz at the moment, perfectly stable at about 33 degrees idle and reaching maybe 55 when I stress test it. It never goes above about 48 during normal use.
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What heatsink and core temps or some generic "CPU" temp?
 
Thanks everyone! I think I am going Silverstone FT01. Trying to find a black one with no window at the moment. With no luck...

Regards,

Skibum
 
You just need to Google a bit.

If you live near a newsagent that stocks custom pc magazine, look at the advert on the back cover. They have them in stock.
 
EsaT said:
I've given leaky cases enough and only chance they'll ever get from me.

And I sure know that for modern townspeople that preference is "can't hear rifle in artillery firing range, so it must be quiet"... When was last time when your own resting heart beat sounded awfully loud?
For me that's every night if I just turn to right position so that pillow is touching both ear and area of neck with veins. (now that summer traffic has ceased on road 1,5km away)

What heatsink and core temps or some generic "CPU" temp?
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No that was the maximum core temp of the hottest core taken from Core Temp. I use a Tuniq Tower with the cpu and the base of the Tuniq lapped to be flat and shiney.

And what do you mean modern townspeople? Don't assume I live in a built up area just because you want to think the case is noisy, I live in the country further away from a main road than you do when I'm not in Edinburgh (it isn't something I have been bored enough to actually measure), you are one person who apparently can't be open minded enough to listen to someone elses opinion when he believes he is right.

Oh well if you won't give other cases a chance it is entirely your loss and not mine :).

And yes I can hear my heartbeat if I have my head on the side of the pillow or often just resting the back of my head on it, doesn't everyone?
 
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Silverstone FT01 or Antec 902 or Antec 1200 (my case for a few more years till I upgrade and move to water cooling) Love the 1200 as it can be quiet if your fengshui is spot on, shoving it up a corner by he wall will not help temps or sound dissipation. It all depends on what you are going to put inside the case and how you are going to cool your components.

And yes the downside of the 1200 is lack of space if you have a long card, especially any card with power socket facing the bays as it leave very little room.
 
HI skibum I got the bay adapter because I’m going to use just two hard drives 128GB SSD for my OS and games plus sata hard drive for back up, etc. The bay adapter also has a 120mm intake fan to keep them cool, thus allowing me to take out the hard drive bay caddies to allow the front 180mm inlet fan to supply a better air flow in the case have read a couple of reviews stating this. It works out no dearer if you think folk’s add fans to their case or replace up to 7>8 fans price range £7>£18, bay adapter £34 and the finish is match’s very well indeed plus good craftsmanship.
Bay adapter review link -
http://www.xtremecomputing.co.uk/review.php?id=327&page=1
 
skibum said:
Hi!,

My first ever build! Staying air cooled but looking for a case that meets these requirements:

1) Looks, I want a plain understated look. No neon lights and a dragon on the top...

2) The best cooling possible, but...

3) Also needs to be quiet! I do not want a wind tunnel next to my desk.

So far I am thinking:

Antec P193 or 183

Silverstone FT01

Lian Li PC-P50

New to all this so thanks in advance!

Skibum
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take a look at the Lian LI A-17, it's a gorgeous case; this is the one i have.

downside :- it's a bit delicate, do not mod it/ work on it, with any of the panels in place, it'll scratch so damned easy.

http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2116489270105369285MbloBR

that's my mod so far, so it's very well ventilated
 
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skibum said:
The Lian Li A17 looks a bit smaller than the Antec P183, but only has 3 fans.....



Skibum
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does it ?..........;)...............cause' i count 4 so far

plus:- 1 more in the roof PSU, a little baby one for the SATA and a big custom one for the Megahalems :D..................7 in all

that compares to 4 in my Thermaltake, and one of those is totally useless ( intake)
 
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After reading this thread and countless reviews i decided to not skimp on the case for my new build, ditched an antec 300 and have ordered the FT01 at a price i couldnt refuse. Hope it doesn't dissapoint :D Can't wait to set it up.
 
Is the FT01 really that good? I have heard the cable management is quite bad... I am looking to upgrade from my Thermaltake VA8000BWS, system temp is 50c due to 3mm steel lol.
 
Looks good! But also looking at the Antec 1200, my hard drives are running at 55c a peice, 3 intake fans at the front sounds good... is it on par with the fortress?
 
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