need nice and quiet case

socreative · 3 Jan 2007 at 15:36

I need an advice on the case guys ? I need it for the DAW that i'm building.

Got a few choices: Antec, Thermaltake..
Not sure really .. what can you suggest guys? I want to overclock it to the limit as well so potentially I'm thinking abut getting it water cooled.
Is it Thermaltake then ?
Also I need a quiet PSU, since I don't think I'll be running SLI I was thinking about smth in the range 500W Will that be enough ?

The specs I have in mind are:
E6600
Asus P5W DH
2Gb Corsair Dominator PC6400
HIS x1950xt 256Mb

thanks in advance

tomanders91 · 3 Jan 2007 at 15:49

the Lian Li PC7 plus. Very good case and not too expensive either

mcwildcard · 3 Jan 2007 at 16:05

If you're on a budget you might want to check out the Silentium T1 Pro, I reviewed it about a week ago on here, it's still on offer too.
OcUK Linky
Review Linky

lukeharvest · 3 Jan 2007 at 16:12

I would get a Antec 900. Brilliant cooling and fans aren't too loud.

PinkFloyd · 3 Jan 2007 at 16:29

Akasa Eclipse or a Lian Li PC7.
In that order.

Messiah Khan · 3 Jan 2007 at 19:05

PinkFloyd said:
Akasa Eclipse or a Lian Li PC7.
In that order.

Agreed, although I would possibly change the order. As for PSU, look at Seasonic or Tagan.

socreative · 4 Jan 2007 at 12:07

thanks guys, I really appreciate your help

Budget is not a very big problem, but I don't want to splash lots of money on something fancy and expensive of course

I was thinknig about getting this one
QTechnology Ultra-Quiet ATX PSU 560W, 120mm dustproof fan
but
Seasonic S12 500W Silent ATX2.0 Power Supply and
Tagan TG580-U15 580W ATX2.01 Easycon SLi Compliant Modular Silent PSU seem to be very good too

As for the case
Antec 900 looks quite interesting, good reviews on it as well
Akasa Eclipse 62 seems ok, but from what i gathered it needs all the system fans to be added also

What about Thermaltake VA8003SWA Aluminium as I'm thinking of getting a water cooling system too.
Would an integrated case + water cooling like Thermaltake VE2000BWS Armour be a good solution or is it a waste of money ? may be I should get a separate water cooling system and install on one of those cases you mentioned. And is it going to be quiet enough?

james_earl · 4 Jan 2007 at 13:09

for the love of god do not buy a qtec psu. apart from that your suggestions are good either will be fine.

socreative · 4 Jan 2007 at 13:10

QTechnology and Q-Tec are not the same as fas as I know...

"It has come to our attention that another company called “Q-Tec” has recently entered the market and is causing confusion by offering low cost PSUs in competition with QTechnology. Please be certain that neither QTechnology nor Quiet PC have any connection whatsoever with Q-Tec. We know several instances of customer being disappointed with the quality and noise level of Q-Tec PSUs only to find out later that the product they had bought was not made by QTechnology. If you are not buying directly from Quiet PC, please make sure you know what you are buying, and if the price seems too good to be true, it probably is! To add further to the confusion, we now find that there is a third company calling themselves Qtech who have started offering pre-built PCs. Again, our position is that we have no association with them."

anyway. I'll go for one of those PSUs you suggested

Messiah Khan · 4 Jan 2007 at 14:58

socreative said:
thanks guys, I really appreciate your help

Budget is not a very big problem, but I don't want to splash lots of money on something fancy and expensive of course

I was thinknig about getting this one
QTechnology Ultra-Quiet ATX PSU 560W, 120mm dustproof fan
but
Seasonic S12 500W Silent ATX2.0 Power Supply and
Tagan TG580-U15 580W ATX2.01 Easycon SLi Compliant Modular Silent PSU seem to be very good too

As for the case
Antec 900 looks quite interesting, good reviews on it as well
Akasa Eclipse 62 seems ok, but from what i gathered it needs all the system fans to be added also

What about Thermaltake VA8003SWA Aluminium as I'm thinking of getting a water cooling system too.
Would an integrated case + water cooling like Thermaltake VE2000BWS Armour be a good solution or is it a waste of money ? may be I should get a separate water cooling system and install on one of those cases you mentioned. And is it going to be quiet enough?

Although QTechnology isn't the same as the infamously bad Q-tec, I would still go with a Season or Tagan PSU. Also Thermaltake are slowly getting somewhat better, but when faced with a choice between a Lian Li and a Thermaltake, I would go Lian Li every time. As for watercooling, don't bother with an intergrated setup. It will be a waste of time and is unlikely to perform any better than a decent air setup. If you want real silence, then yes by all means get a water setup, but do your research and get a decent one.

WJA96 · 4 Jan 2007 at 20:38

socreative said:
Akasa Eclipse 62 seems ok, but from what i gathered it needs all the system fans to be added also

Yes, it does need at least one fan in the back, but you can fit your own properly quiet fans rather than the rubbish you get supplied most cases.

socreative said:
What about Thermaltake VA8003SWA Aluminium as I'm thinking of getting a water cooling system too.
Would an integrated case + water cooling like Thermaltake VE2000BWS Armour be a good solution or is it a waste of money ? may be I should get a separate water cooling system and install on one of those cases you mentioned. And is it going to be quiet enough?

If you want really quiet water cooling then you may want to look at a Zalman Reserator but the Alphacool CoolAnswer III is a proper water cooling setup for £100 that fits into a 120mm fan slot. If you installed that in the back of an Eclipse then it would be very quiet and extremely efficient. It also saves you on a rear fan.

PinkFloyd · 4 Jan 2007 at 20:40

WJA96 said:
Alphacool CoolAnswer III

At first I thought that looked quite good....
But wouldn't touch that, to me watercooling needs to look cleaner than an air cooling setup, and that would look a mess on the rear fan. At the front if you had removed the from drive bays on an Eclipse would be ok though!

WJA96 · 4 Jan 2007 at 21:16

PinkFloyd said:
At first I thought that looked quite good....
But wouldn't touch that, to me watercooling needs to look cleaner than an air cooling setup, and that would look a mess on the rear fan. At the front if you had removed the from drive bays on an Eclipse would be ok though!

Have you seen the Laing Special Edition?

Or the UV special edition?

And the whole unit slides in and out with the motherboard tray too!

Even the one with the Laing Crystal Pump is only £150 and the cooling is stunning, especially for the money (standard is £100, UV is £120).

PinkFloyd · 4 Jan 2007 at 21:45

That one looks much better, the one I saw was solid. But still not a huge fan, started seriously considering watercooling for the first time today!

socreative · 9 Jan 2007 at 08:45

so whi one would recommend WJA ? I don't need a UV version, nuffin flashy))
they're also available as Compact and the high-end Laing version
shall i go for the stadard one (it's about 70 quid) or is it worth spending more on one of those compacts of liangs

WJA96 · 9 Jan 2007 at 10:40

If it was me I'd just buy the bog-standard Alphacool CoolAnswer III - but make sure you get the CoolAnswer III as there is also a CoolAnswer I and II which are smaller capacity and cheaper.

socreative · 9 Jan 2007 at 11:00

thanks a lot. yeah it's about 100 quid. Sorry if i may sound stupid cause i'm totally new to watercooling, but do i need anything else if I buy Alphacool Cool Answer III 120 Compact 12V Liquid Cooling Kit that includes

1x Alphacool NexXxoS Xtreme I radiator
1x Alphacool CPU cooler NexXxoS XP light Universal, incl. mountings for AMD XP, AMD 64 and Opteron, Intel 478 and Socket 775
1x pump universal mounting
1x Alphacool Eheim Station 600 12V incl. reservoir Tubing: 11/8mm transparent
1x 120mm fan
Connections: screw connections
1x thermal compound

Dr_Evil · 9 Jan 2007 at 11:04

From my experience, Antec cases are more solid and quiet than Thermaltake.

WJA96 · 9 Jan 2007 at 11:49

socreative said:
thanks a lot. yeah it's about 100 quid. Sorry if i may sound stupid cause i'm totally new to watercooling, but do i need anything else if I buy Alphacool Cool Answer III 120 Compact 12V Liquid Cooling Kit that includes

1x Alphacool NexXxoS Xtreme I radiator
1x Alphacool CPU cooler NexXxoS XP light Universal, incl. mountings for AMD XP, AMD 64 and Opteron, Intel 478 and Socket 775
1x pump universal mounting
1x Alphacool Eheim Station 600 12V incl. reservoir Tubing: 11/8mm transparent
1x 120mm fan
Connections: screw connections
1x thermal compound

I would use AS5 rather than the supplied thermal compound, but other than that, you only need about 30 minutes to fit the kit. You bolt the RAD/Fan/Pump assembly on the 120mm fan aperture with 4 bolts (supplied) then assemble the CPU retention bracket (push 4 pins into 4 holes) then apply the AS5 and place the block on the cpu. Then place the retention mechanism over the block and push home the 4 pins. Mine all have the 12V power source (worth getting, but I'm sure it comes in the kit) so you have to fix that in a slot at the back of the case, plug in a 12V Molex and then plug the pump into the card. Turn on the PC and voila! 30 minutes should be comfortably enough

socreative · 9 Jan 2007 at 12:46

cool ! i'm going to order AS5 as well then. I'm going to Acasa Eclipse thats decided. If i get that watercooling then I will still need one system 120mm quiet fan, am i right ? I read some reviews and i think i might go for Scythe S-FLEX 1200 S-FDB