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Soldato
Joined
26 Nov 2003
Posts
6,674
Location
East Sussex
Hi all :)
So yesterday I had the urge to move my PC from the floor to the desk, so that it can be seen. With the goal being to make it pretty!
But by 'eck is it loud :(

I currently have a 480 trueblue in a Thermaltake Xaser Skull (dont say it ;)).
This little lot is running a Barton 2500, 1.5GB of decent quality ram, a 6800GT (with dual screen sometimes), 2 HDDs and 2 DVD/CD type thingies.

I want to tackle two things here:

1) Noise
I want to do all the 'normal' silencing steps, things like rubber grommets etc, in a quieter case.
The Xaser has 4 small fans which aren't overly loud, but with four it adds up. It's also rather annoying that the "tool-less" expansion slots don't compensate for the size of the 6800, meaning it's not secured in!

Short list:
-Quiet (I think the Trueblue accounts for much of the noise, new PSU suggestion?)
-Cooling need only manage non-overclocked internals
-Window is a must
-Silencing accessories (rubber fan mounts etc?)

2) Upgradability
With the next paycheck I could be considering a new motherboard, CPU and the addition of another 2 S-ATA HDD's. The upgrades for step 1) should take this into account. The upgrades would likely be a 3700 with £50 worth of Mobo. I note that some Mobo's use a different power plug shape/length, i.e 24 pins instead of 20? I don't know much about this but please also consider that :)

Constraints:
£150 limit for step 1. If this is completely unfeasible, please spec as cheap as you can.
Case Size - max height of 46cm. This is adjustable, but would require some DIY which I would rather not need to do.
Silencing is the most important issue, whilst keeping a window.

Any advice is greatly appreciated :)
 
Last edited:
The two cases I would suggest are either an Akasa Eclipse 62 with a side window or a PC-7+ with a PC60 side panel.

For the mobo, you could go with an Asus mobo with heatsink as the 120mm fan (according to Yewen) goes right over the heatsink in the PC-7+

Basic fan set up would be 2x120mm Akasa Ambers and a 1 x 80mm AcoustiFan dustproof (in the PC-7+) all at 7v, but if you want true silence, stick to the dustproofs for all three fans.

PSU wise, you'll want either a Tagan or Seasonic.

To silence your hard-drives completely you'll either want to employ the use of blutac, elastic bands or a bungee mod. Alternatively you could buy a hard-drive enclosure which will with in your 5.25" bay.
 
Helium_Junkie said:
Thanks Nix.
The Eclipse looks rather tasty, any differences worth noting to the PC7?

The PC-7+ is the best case around in its price range and the build quality is the usual fantastic standard that Lian-Li create. To make it look absolutely stunning, you can consider getting some drive bezels to hide the ROMs.

The Eclipse is the best cooling case around but about £30 more expensive and the front is made from plastic which isn't to everybody's taste.

Both are good choices though.

I'm guessing that as you have a side-panel you're going to want to consider buying some rounded IDE cables too :)
 
I've decided I prefer the looks of the Eclipse :)

For the basics:

FG-024-AK Akasa AK-183-L2B Amber Ultra Quiet 120mm Fan - 3 pin (FG-024-AK) 2
£19.90

BU-000-AK Akasa Eclipse 62 Aluminium Case & Window (BU-000-AK) 1
CA-006-AK Akasa Eclipse 62 Window Side Panel (CA-006-AK) 1
CA-005-AK Akasa Eclipse 62 Aluminum Case (CA-005-AK) 1
£82.70

CA-000-SS Seasonic S12 430W Silent ATX2.0 Power Supply (CA-000-SS) 1
£39.95

Subtotal £142.55
VAT £24.95
Total £167.50

Would the 430w happily run the aforementioned potential hardware upgrade?
 
Helium_Junkie said:
I've decided I prefer the looks of the Eclipse :)

For the basics:

FG-024-AK Akasa AK-183-L2B Amber Ultra Quiet 120mm Fan - 3 pin (FG-024-AK) 2
£19.90

BU-000-AK Akasa Eclipse 62 Aluminium Case & Window (BU-000-AK) 1
CA-006-AK Akasa Eclipse 62 Window Side Panel (CA-006-AK) 1
CA-005-AK Akasa Eclipse 62 Aluminum Case (CA-005-AK) 1
£82.70

CA-000-SS Seasonic S12 430W Silent ATX2.0 Power Supply (CA-000-SS) 1
£39.95

Subtotal £142.55
VAT £24.95
Total £167.50

Would the 430w happily run the aforementioned potential hardware upgrade?

Very nice. I'm not sure which runs quieter between the Eclipse vs. PC-7+, I'm sure someone else will be able to inform us though :)

That PSU will be fine as far as I'm aware :)
 
The noise will be the same between the two cases.

It is worth noting the Ambers only get quiet by my rating at 7v. But coming from a Xaser I think you will be impressed. :p
 
hah! Whilst it was hidden beneath the desk it was planty quiet enough :p

I've taken the liberty of ordering a 3.5" bay fan controller as well, which should be able to take them down to 7v, right?

I've also added some rubber fan mounts, rubber washers for the drives, a passive zalman heatsink, which oughta be ok with them mahoosive fans blowing a gale through the case!

So much for £150 budget :/

:D

edit: I love being employed again.
 
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