Best quiet case that still has good airflow ?

jaybee

jaybee

jaybee

Soldato
Joined
10 Jul 2008
Posts
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Hey guys, I have an Antec Sonata III case which to be honest I really like as it's so quiet. However, I need a slightly bigger case with atleast one front intake. I want to get a case that is still as quiet as possible, but still has good flow with ideally two front 120mm intakes. My current case temp is 40c and because I run 4 HDDs in the rack in the front lower chamber of the Antec Sonata, not much air gets sucked in despite me adding a fan just behind them in the middle of the case.
Any ideas? Budget is as cheap as possible and will probably look for something second hand. Are the gamer cases with all mesh fronts noticeably louder? I will want to run the fans slow.
 
you could try a antec p183 i just bought one, read a lot of good reviews and say that there are good at cooling and are quiet as they have some sort of noise reducing metrial inside of them
 
I think pretty much everyone is in agreement that the p180/p183 now is the best stock case in terms of noise reduction so that might be your best bet.
 
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petriodet said:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-003-FD&groupid=701&catid=7&subcat=1556 looks like a good case,similar to the p180 range but cheaper .
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I was reading a review on that case earlier which gave it a right old bashing with regard to cooling performance. I have read the thread about that case, and generally people seem to like it but I'm not sure it cools as well as the Antec. I am a bit biast towards Antec having had a few of their cases too. :) What is the difference between the Antec P180/P183/P193 ?
 
I sent 2 fractal design cases back because of poor build quality and have bought a antec p183 which I should have tommorow.

I have posted in the fractal part about my reasons why I sent them back, I had to chose between the p183 or lian li b10 and the lian li is £160 Whig was abit to much so went for the antec

let u know what I think of it when I get it but if your used to antec build quality u might not like the fractal
 
Yeah I saw about that. I used to own an Antec P180 and loved it, apart from getting the sides of the case on and off. I may look at getting one again then. I was half toying with the idea of modding the Antec Sonata to have a front 120mm intake. Would be very easy. And possibly a vent and fan in the case floor.
 
jaybee said:
I was reading a review on that case earlier which gave it a right old bashing with regard to cooling performance. I have read the thread about that case, and generally people seem to like it but I'm not sure it cools as well as the Antec. I am a bit biast towards Antec having had a few of their cases too. :) What is the difference between the Antec P180/P183/P193 ?
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http://www.bit-tech.net/blog/2010/01/25/fractal-design-define-r2-follow-up/

It has been updated. However adding extra fans does put it in the price range of the P183. It's a toss up between them really.
 
jaybee said:
Yeah I saw about that. I used to own an Antec P180 and loved it, apart from getting the sides of the case on and off. I may look at getting one again then. I was half toying with the idea of modding the Antec Sonata to have a front 120mm intake. Would be very easy. And possibly a vent and fan in the case floor.
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You do realise the Sonata has a front 120mm air intake, right? xD
 
Two Thumbs up for the Antec P183...I just did an i7 build in it and it's nice. The hard drive cases are cool too, though with 4 hard drives in the bottom tray and the Antec CP-850 power supply, there's a lot of cables squished in there, but the upper part is clean and tidy. I am using the Noctua cooler and the ATI 5850 in it as well. Runs quiet and cool.

I am using a Gigabyte EX-58 UD5 and I did get an Akasa 8 pin male to 8 pin female adapter cable to extend the CP-850 cpu power cable for easier cable management behind the motherboard side.
 
jaybee said:
Not in my Antec Sonata III. Does not come with one nor has the place for one. Needs modding to fit.
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You sure about that? I've used the sonata I and II a few times and they all had spaces for 120mm at the front; it just was not supplied. The space did not sit right at the front of the case but rather on the back of the hard drive cage I remeber threading those rubber acoustifan fan holder things through :D
 
Well I got the p183 and it's a much better build quality than the other and I like the whole design and layout my seasonic 650 gold fitted no problems.

Just got to get the other parts to finish it.
 
shmacks said:
You sure about that? I've used the sonata I and II a few times and they all had spaces for 120mm at the front; it just was not supplied. The space did not sit right at the front of the case but rather on the back of the hard drive cage I remeber threading those rubber acoustifan fan holder things through :D
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Oh that one. Yeah I would refer to that as a sort of middle case fan. Not really an intake given its position. I have checked my case temps and they are actually better with the case side ON by a few degrees. So clearly the air flow is working. I get a case temp on average of around 40c. I think I could mod it to have a front intake, or an intake as the floor of the case. I could also add a space for a top exhaust if I wanted, but I think that might muck up the flow.
 
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