Best Quite Case

Unless you really don't want to do anything to the case then;

Akasa Eclipse 62 with the High Engineered Side Panel and YS-TECH FD1238 120mm fans in all stations.

Add an mCubed T-balancer for optimal cooling/noise.

Antec P180 is reputed to be good, but it's not as good as the Eclipse.

If you really do have more disposable income than is propoerly sensible, then the Zalmann TNN500AF is phenomenal in it's 'noisy' mode.
 
I have looked at all the cases but its impossible to tell a case simply from pictures and or reviews from strangers.

I think the P7 case might be too prone to catching dust on the front mesh otherwise it seems to be the favourite of reviewers.

So I think I might be swayed towards the eclipse or similar does not sound like a lot of work if it really is quiet.
 
The PC7 does not catch dust there, not in 18months usage anyhow :p

The Eclipse or PC7 are your two best bets, the PC7 looks better, the Eclipse would cool better.

Both cases are capeable of holding any system you want to put into them, without exception.

Just depends which you prefer.
 
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pc7! switched from a wavemaster to the pc7 plus, temps are a lot lower now plus the case looks stylish, and the quality is very high
 
high end gaming rig
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The PC007 is much better suited to a high end gaming rig, and it is not particularly noisey either.

The Antec has some nice features, but it does not beat the pure quality of Lian Li's offering.
 
For 9/10 builds, if money was no object I would recommend the V1000B, but there have been 2 or 3 threads recently where people have been saying that their high-end gaming rigs are overheating (especially SLi rigs) and that problem seems to be solved with the Eclipse and the Side Panel with Fan kit.

The V1000 is a better case in every respect except cooling. I would argue about whether or not the PC-7+ and the Eclipse are really competing products as one is roughly twice the size of the other, but they both do the same basic job.

If you compare like with like ie. an Eclipse kitted out with fans and special side panel vs. a V1000B, there's very little in it cost-wise. In fact the V1000 might be cheaper!

The P180 is the low-cost option, but the build-quality is variable, to be polite, and the cooling is poor. I would even argue over whether or not it was quieter than an Eclipse with 2 x 120mm Akasa Ambers in it.

As everyone keeps pointing out, none of them are likely to disappoint, you might just be left wondering if only....
 
With a SLI rig in the v1000+ you REALLY need to use what Lian Li say for the fan positioning, otherwise you will create a oven.

Also, in my opinion as long as the temperatures are not tooo high (75+) and the computer is stable, then I see no really worry.

Although the SLI rig I had in a v1000 was slightly toasty, it was no more so than any other case at the time, the v1000+ is a much better case than the original and it copes even better.
 
WJA96 said:
The P180 is the low-cost option, but the build-quality is variable, to be polite, and the cooling is poor. I would even argue over whether or not it was quieter than an Eclipse with 2 x 120mm Akasa Ambers in it.

As everyone keeps pointing out, none of them are likely to disappoint, you might just be left wondering if only....
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How is the cooling poor on the P180 ? If you read any of the reviews you would know it has some of the best cpu cooling avilable with a rear 120mm fan and top 120mm fan, and as a result some cpu's can be passively cooled because of this case fan layout. The HDD cooling is also excellent and is isolated from the rest of the case. The only iffy area is the gpu cooling which is not helped by the vga duct. And it is MUCH quieter then the Akasa with 2 ambers fitted, if you set each of the 3 fans on low. The thick side panels prevent noise from getting out too. The Aaksa has extremely thin panels and no hard drive isolation like the Antec, you can hear the HDD seeks. I have had both of these cases, both running 7800GTX's in sli and the Antec was definitley a quieter running case and just as cool as the akasa, though not in the gpu side of things. You musn't have had one of these Antec cases to post such unfounded comments.
 
Not only have I had one, I've had two. And neither was any good. AFAIK I'm the only person who has done a back to back test with the same system in both cases and the Akasa was cooler and quieter.

Nothing unfounded about it. Actual field experience. Not just quoting from a magazine or spec sheet etc.

I work with a team of people who are setting up dozens of servers per month and we fill those cases, I promise.
 
If you read any of the reviews
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Slight problem there, reading reviews you are subjected to the reviewers opinion, same on a forum but then they get cross examined.

The P180 in the real world gets urinated on from a very high height by the Eclipse.

My statements on it, I ain't budging, I have used similar but not identical systems and the Eclipse fairs better.

For the build quality alone the Eclipse is worth the money over the P180.

Just out of curiosity, what system did you put in them both WJA96
 
Fair enough WJA96. That is your experience but not mine or a lot of other people I know.

You seem to be wriiting off the p180, from both a cooling and noise point of view. It may not be your ideal case, but I am sure Antec didn't spend all that time or money on this case for it to be "urinated" on by the Eclipse, which happens to be a case based on an old Globalwin design and offers nothing new or refreshing. Just ask the members over at Silent PC Review about the P180. I have yet to meet anyone who has bought a P180 and has not been impressed by it overall. Lots of satisifed users on these forums too. Sure cabling is tricky, and there are issues with the door, but I fail to see why the Eclipse wins so much praise from a cooling point of view. I know it's easy to work with, very well built, but it is nothing more then a wide case with a traditional 1 fan in, 1 fan out assembly. And no way could it be quieter then the P180. That is just impossible, seeing as the Eclipse has thin alumnium panels which just reverberate the noise from the hard drives and has no sound proofing or hard drive isolation what soever.

If you want a case that beats both of them handsdown for cooling, then try a Gigabyte Aurora. It is my experience that this is by far one of the best cases around for cooling thanks to the rear 120mm fans, and side mesh which helps cool that Crossfire or SLI setup.
 
Yet I have heard of more Gigabyte Aurora users with cooling issues than I would like, there is a thread with some iffy cooling mentioned on the main page at the moment.
 
Three people does not make it a bad case, but on a user base of case central three usually means there may be a slight problem that may pop up more than is liked.

Gigabyte will revise the design, and have, so that issue should dissapear with the V.2 which I think looks pap.
 
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