Which Case for under £150?

skibum

skibum

skibum

Associate
Joined
14 Aug 2009
Posts
8
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
 
At stock Antec P-serie is definitely the quietest because of lack of direct noise escape paths (solid sides&door), soft HDD mounting and noise containing/vibration resisting multilayer panels. P193 is better for long graphics cards thanks to E-ATX depth although it's still midi tower and not what I would call as spacious case.

While Lian Li's Armoursuit serie has soft HDD mounting full mesh front is acoustically horrible and there isn't working space.
Silverstone has plastic HDD mounting behind noise leaking hole and tight HDD cage blocking airflow to graphics card unless you'll half HDD capacity which is also only practical way for having real space with long cards.

While still having similar direct hole Lian Li A70 has at least actual rubber grommet HDD mounting so it can be made easily more quieter and it has way more space than others.
(with mass damping door equipped A71 should be comparable to Antec P18x acoustics but with lot more space)
 
Thanks for all the responses!

I like the Lian Li A70 and A71. Lot 's of fans. They are much bigger than what I have been looking at so far. I am not planning on having more that 3 HDD's so I am not sure if I need the space. Space is never a bad thing though... : )

The Lian Li A17 looks a bit smaller than the Antec P183, but only has 3 fans.....

I like the the Antec 902 but my understanding is that it is very noisy? Is this not true? Can you make the Antec 902 quiet? How do you do that, replace all the fans? Sounds expensive??

Antec 1200 seems a bit big.

Thanks! I will ponder a bit more and let you know!

Skibum
 
mr_x_plosion said:
No contest tbh.
Click to expand...

I agree unless you can get hold of a Temjin 7 somehow.

Though if you don't mind modding getting something along the lines of the Armorsuit or Thermaltake Armor may yield better results as the entire front is 5.25" bays you can easily suspend HDDs also you'll have cash spare to spend on gromets and fan gaskets and quiter fans. If you really need quiet you could try and pick up some Dedshete or Acoustic dampening foam from Wilmslow Audio.
 
skibum said:
I like the the Antec 902 but my understanding is that it is very noisy? Is this not true? Can you make the Antec 902 quiet?
Click to expand...
Open leaky cases are acoustically lousy and loud. Anyone who says otherwise should put his money to where his mouth is and live in appartment house without walls between neighbours.

After old style 8cm fanned Chieftec I got open fronted Stacker thinking that low speed fans would do it but was badly disappointed.
Every single noise comes out at full strength and 1000rpm Nexus fans were sounding rather nasty all the way to CPU fan in other end of case... along with HDDs in their modules.
Now in combination mat lined closed design A71 CPU heatsink has Scythe SlipStream running at ~1140 and that fan moves nearly 30% more air per RPM with associated higher airflow noise. Also HDD seeks are pretty much impossible to hear except from really close thanks to soft mounting and noise containing case.

As for closed design being bad for cooling... Got inspired in weekend and Q9550 has now been crunching Linpack for eight hours at 3.7GHz and highest core temp is 64C with Noctua NH-U12P. (case fans slightly or more below 900rpm)
I think I could consider it as stable result and give it lighter Prime to run for the night...


Sure open leaky case can be quiet but that's only if components don't produce noise to start with and fans are running at lot lower speed for compensating lack of any noise attenuation. For starters HDDs would definitely have to be suspended using elastic material like rubber bands for keeping them quiet enough to be comparable.
Just plain opening of door in A71 would probably notable lowering of speed of fans and HDDs would probably have to suspended.

Antec 1200, like any plain ATX case, is cramped for long cards/lacks working space:
ATX vs. E-ATX
So if butt ugly magpie's nest is wanted then actually even cheaper HAF is better than holy cow -Antec.


markop2003 said:
...Armorsuit or Thermaltake Armor ...
If you really need quiet you could try and pick up some Dedshete or Acoustic dampening foam from Wilmslow Audio.
Click to expand...
Foams are epic fail for lowering noise in open cases unless you'll thoroughly and thickly block holes used for airflow.
Had combination mat lining in that acoustically p.o.s Stacker...
 
Fortress gets my vote, love mine to bits.

Note while the drive cages are plastic, the drives themselves are isolated with silicon grommets.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom