Biggest and quietest case available?

katie279

katie279

katie279

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A sunnier or damper area than Ron-ski....
Ok, I'm building a pc and I'm determined to beat the three things that annoy me:

1) Noise, whirr, hums etc - ok I'm neurotic, but even the slightest whirr I find off-putting, so if there was a sound-proofed case or way to sound proof them I'd be delighted.
2) Poking around trying to squeeze fans, wires etc into a pokey little case - I've got metres of space under the desks, so I have no need for a 20cm x 20cm case!
3) Hot PCs - I do a lot of CG work, so the pc gets really whacked by processing, gets hot and hot means 3 day renders crash and I get mad!

So can anyone recommend a humongous case with whisper quiet fans that pump roomfuls of icy air through every second? (happy for you to recommend fans etc separately, got a pair of 120mm fans a while back and really happy with their silence and coolness!)

Thanks very much for any help guys! :)
 
get long (5m) cables from your computer to the monitor, mouse, etc.

Every metre you put between you and the computer makes it 6Db quieter which is a lot. :)
 
^^ That's something that is easy to overlook. I'll certainly be making the most of this when I get my own place with the space to have it all spread out.
 
Kennysevenfold - good point, but I was also wondering if there was any sound dampening or stuff like that? One of the HTPCs I've got has a really annoying habit of vibrating on the wooden shelf it's on, so I've fixed rubber feet etc. Budget-wise not too fussed, if it's worth it I'll pay it...

MikeHunt79 - not a bad idea actually, though wish it wasn't so messy!

Caracus2k - don't know if I can be bothered to watercool, but the Noctua stuff sounds great - will investigate.

Any other recommendations on a big case?
 
coolermaster HAF 932

big fans + low RPM+ high air flow (its name HAF) =quiet and cool

and its big as a armor (thermaltake)

that HAF can take 3 120mms on the top in place of its 230mm and 4 120mm on the side panal in place of a 230mm fan :P

if you got £100 to spend that is
 
Tbh I reckon having the fan on the side of the P183 would make things louder. Not the fan, but the vented side allowing noise to escape.

My P182 made things almost silent :)
 
AMG - awesome! Thanks for that, looks excellent - like the thought of lots of huge fans spinning quietly!

Philli0i - Cool - think those look like they're willing the 'quietness' battle.

Benjo - good point...

Hmm... has anyone got any of the above cases and can vouch for the fan noise volume/coolness?
 
I have the HAF 932 the fans are very quiet and push a nice lot of air over a wide area. Best case i've owned tbh.
 
Get the GUP stuff not the paxmate.
Ok it cost a lot more (especially as you only get one sheet per pack) but it's thicker an works so much better.

Budget options are a single accustic ceiling tile (but that may cramp your style)
Any small 'open cell' sponge or carpet tile (but not a knotted pile)

Bungee your HHD - for £2 of elastic you can do all your drives.

The Noctua fans are the best out of the box - but if you want a fan controler or just happy to swap some wires around for a 7v or 5v mod. You can save some cash.

Aftermarket gpu cooling is a must - The Accelero S1 Rev. 2 or better, run passively if you have the case airflow.

Heavy steel cases with doors are best for near silent normal pc's, but vrey high end aluminum one are also good (but twice the price)
 
katie279 said:
Ok, I'm building a pc and I'm determined to beat the three things that annoy me:
1) Noise, whirr, hums etc - ok I'm neurotic, but even the slightest whirr I find off-putting, so if there was a sound-proofed case or way to sound proof them I'd be delighted.
Click to expand...
If you want "drop parts in" case with least amount of work then only properly made case are Antec P18x and P19x series.
And as you don't like cramped cases that means P193.

If work for lining case with mass loading layer and absorption foam isn't problem then also other cases can work for as long as they still have certain required basic silencing features like soft HDD mounting with rubber grommets and solid non-cheesegrater design without direct noise escape paths.
Even light aluminium cases can be "silenced" well if those requirements are met.

AMG said:
coolermaster HAF 932
big fans + low RPM+ high air flow (its name HAF) =quiet and cool
Click to expand...
And leaks slightest noise all over the place. At least plastic HDD mounting should be replaced with elastic suspension.
 
shadowscotland said:
Get the GUP stuff not the paxmate.
Ok it cost a lot more (especially as you only get one sheet per pack) but it's thicker an works so much better.
Click to expand...
Crapmate works only as cosmetics, it doesn't have neither density or thickness to do much anything except to be non-transparent.
Also normally that GUP wouldn't work really well because it lacks mass loading layer which makes lot of difference with standard cases.
Combination mat with bitumen base layer and foam removed resonances/"light rattling" quite completely from really lightweight Lian Li A71:
A71-kesken_s.jpg

And with door closed only way to hear HDD seek noises is listening from very close.

But in case of Antec P193 case itself already has thick vibration resisting construction so with that case applying only sound absorption lining is perfectly OK.
And for that work any general acoustic foam would do. (like those commonly available for car use)
but if you want a fan controler or just happy to swap some wires around for a 7v or 5v mod. You can save some cash.
Click to expand...
Also using Scythe Slip Streams in vertical fan positions instead of expensive Noctua can save money.

Heavy steel cases with doors are best for near silent normal pc's
Click to expand...
Only if HDDs are mounted in acoustically sensible way. With hard mounting case would have to be real steel instead of sheet.
Also case being solid without side leaks still applies.
 
DIABLO said:
The harddrives are mounted on rubber grommet type things.
Click to expand...
Rubber grommets don't matter if drive is touching anything else hard which is also in hard contact with case and that plastic caddy/tray "wraps" around drive quite tightly probably touching it in many places.
Few months ago in another forum I read comment about Raptor being really noisy in it which fits to the "picture".
(because of very solid construction casing of HDD itself can't produce really much noise)

Cooling wise all these fashionable plastic trays insulate sides of drive from airflow and increase size of airflow obstacle in HDD cage (both bad for low fan speed cooling) so plain rubber grommets are better also from that aspect.
 
cool can anyone point me to stuff/products about this elastic mounting/rubber grommets? Think I've got some of the rubber grommets if we're thinking about the same thing. So is elastic or rubber better?

So is there a rough agreement that the Antec P193 is the one to go for?
 
katie279 said:
cool can anyone point me to stuff/products about this elastic mounting/rubber grommets? Think I've got some of the rubber grommets if we're thinking about the same thing. So is elastic or rubber better?

So is there a rough agreement that the Antec P193 is the one to go for?
Click to expand...

Elastic is better than rubber grommets.

Tutorial:

http://www.silentpcreview.com/article8-page2.html

Examples:

http://www.silentpcreview.com/forum...&start=0&sid=3b328a76bae7ff2a6c032dcf91461456
 
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