Terminology

[Mosad]

I'm looking for silent, stylish cases - first and foremost, any personal favorites and suggestions? So far i have come across Lian Lis as the leading candidates.. but i do not understand the difference between their V silent Chassis and their Classical Silent Chassis - which is preferable? More silent? Cooler?

 

[Erssa]

Lian Li - style yes, silence no.

Maybe Sonata II or P180, they should be released pretty soon. They were supposed to be released already in february, so I guess they could be released any moment now.

 

[imported_llama]

what about a CM stacker? i think it is stylish (without the power switches etc at the top)

 

[Tiamat]

The only silent case I have seen is the 1000$ zalman. There are no moving parts.

All other cases have fans, which are moving parts which = noise. They can be made quiet, but never silent.

 

[imported_llama]

yeah, but the stacker is rated at 17dB for the 2 12cm fans, a hard drive in the silent tower would be louder than that

 

[Mosad]

Guys, im not a fanatic... it will inevitably make noise.. i will either go large silenx fans or water cooling... i just want it to be a very very barely audible computer that can keep my parts cool - currently my shuttle is too loud for my liking. That is why i was considering the Lian Lis i listed specifically above because they have padding inside and are designed for silence... but i am not familiar with other cases - so please, based on what i just wrote... give me suggestions, advice, and opinions.

THank you all very much

 

[Promethply]

I would consider the Cooler Master WaveMaster stylish, and pretty quiet.

 

[wisdomtooth]

Originally posted by: Mosad
Guys, im not a fanatic... it will inevitably make noise.. i will either go large silenx fans or water cooling... i just want it to be a very very barely audible computer that can keep my parts cool - currently my shuttle is too loud for my liking. That is why i was considering the Lian Lis i listed specifically above because they have padding inside and are designed for silence... but i am not familiar with other cases - so please, based on what i just wrote... give me suggestions, advice, and opinions.

THank you all very much

You need to pay Silent PC Review a visit.

HTH.

 

[Rip the Jacker]

Originally posted by: Erssa
Lian Li - style yes, silence no.

Maybe Sonata II or P180, they should be released pretty soon. They were supposed to be released already in february, so I guess they could be released any moment now.

Wrong.

Lian Li PC-6070B

Here is a better picture of the Front with the door closed


I have this case myself. It does a very good job silencing components and the only thing I can hear when I set my Zalman CNPS7000A AlCu's RPM to the lowest is my SEAGATE 7200.7 160GB Hard Drive; but I'm working on silencing that as well... With a Zalman Heatpipe my 9700 Pro is dead silent.

Some advantages are the HDD Cage (which makes installing HDD a breeze), Motherboard Tray (couldn't live without it), Looks, and it does have space to work with.

The padding that comes with it sucks, and many prefer getting the AcoustiPack Deluxe padding instead. It does a greater job.

However there is a flaw and that is the airflow. It does tend to get a little HOT. My AXP 3200 is around 48C idle and can go as high as 57C on Doom 3... The problem is that the 80mm ADDA fan on the rear blocks the airflow and isn't that effective. The front fans are VERY loud and I had to replace them with Panaflo L1A's.

This case also costs money. I believe it's around $160 +. And another thing is, when you install the CD/DVD Drives it IS kind of annoying because most Lian Li cases front door opens up but you have 4 screws on this one.

So don't get this case unless you like the look and are willing to spend $160+.


You should also take a look at G4TV - Yoshi's Silent PC - aka Modded 6070B

 

[Mosad]

Yoshi is a genius... absolute genius - i did the math... the case is roughly 160, padding roughly 50 bucks worth, fans for cooling is roughly another 50, a PSU is about a hundred, or a hundred and fifty, heatsink for graphics card and CPU together total to about another 100... that is roughly 500 bucks to transfer my components from my shuttle to the new, silent PC... steep.

 

[Mosad]

fellas?

 

[H20Cool]

Mosad:

If you're willing to spend $500 and go out on a limb, I'd go with the current case you're looking at, minus the padding, and incorporate water cooling instead of air. That could potentially eliminate (if you're willing to buy the blocks required), CPU, GPU, and Northbridge fans, which significantly contribute to overall case noise. And as a huge bonus, you'll get excellent temps. Just a suggestion

 

[Granorense]

My vote goes for the Sonata, great case!

 

[Mosad]

Yes, I have looked into water cooling and i know the prices are higher. My thoughts were to wait for the p180 to be released, go with panaflos for silence, pad for vibrations, and go with fanless zantec heatsink for my 9800xt - as well as the 120mm Zalman for my CPU - which should keep it cool and quiet... With watercooling and without padding it would not only be somewhat of a hassle, but also the pump makes noise, the Power Supply fans generate noise that only padding can silence... Also, with watercooling you still need fans to keep ambient temps down and hard drives cool - all the fan slots coming with the computer need to be filled, preferably with panaflos, so im spending the same in that regard. So watercooling is more expensive and not quite needed. Look at that link above about G4TV - amazing, 14 db!! aircooling! Of course i wont be able to achieve that... but i would be more than happy with 20db which i believe i can achieve. Absolute silence for roughly 500 dollars, pricey, but i am beginning to understand its value.

 

[Tiamat]

Originally posted by: Mosad
Yes, I have looked into water cooling and i know the prices are higher. My thoughts were to wait for the p180 to be released, go with panaflos for silence, pad for vibrations, and go with fanless zantec heatsink for my 9800xt - as well as the 120mm Zalman for my CPU - which should keep it cool and quiet... With watercooling and without padding it would not only be somewhat of a hassle, but also the pump makes noise, the Power Supply fans generate noise that only padding can silence... Also, with watercooling you still need fans to keep ambient temps down and hard drives cool - all the fan slots coming with the computer need to be filled, preferably with panaflos, so im spending the same in that regard. So watercooling is more expensive and not quite needed. Look at that link above about G4TV - amazing, 14 db!! aircooling! Of course i wont be able to achieve that... but i would be more than happy with 20db which i believe i can achieve. Absolute silence for roughly 500 dollars, pricey, but i am beginning to understand its value.

For 500$ you can hook up two Zalman Reserators in series with your CPU and GPU water blocks. The pumps are really quiet.

 

[wisdomtooth]

Yoshi on G4TV was able to bring it down to that noise level because he baffled the exhausts (which would actually raise the temps). Interesting that he didn't mention the temps of his system at the end.

You can get a Dell-quiet system without having to resort to more extreme measures like acoustipaking your case or baffling the exhausts though-- The trick is to select the quietest components (PSU, HSFs for GPU, CPU and NB, quiet fans) and noise control measures such as fan controllers and rubber-washer-mounting of fans and HDs, etc..

 

[Mosad]

I dont think i can do what yoshi did with his exhaust... but im sure panaflos are silent enough - or silenx fans which boast 14dba per fan but are a bit more pricey - either way, its not the fans that cause the noise so much - if i have a new case, not shuttle, i can put a heatsink on my GPU, a silent CPU fan, and a more silent PSU, plus pad it to silence the entire thing. Of course ill have the rubberwasher mounting - thats a given... i am just awaiting the p180 to see what it provides on its own.

What bout dell cases? Can i buy a dell case separately? If so, where? How much?

Anyone else want to throw in their two cents?

 

[Mosad]

responses and input appreciated ;-)

 

[superkdogg]

A good water pump is at least as quiet as any fan I've heard. NTM, the noise is in a lower pitch so that it's less noticable too. If you're willing to spend some cash and you want quiet there are only 2 options in my book-H2O or building a computer inside a gigantic metal box. Oh wait, Zalman already thought of that.

 

[Mosad]

If you can, please enumerate the parts i need, brand names included. I plan on transferring the contents of my Shuttle (see sig) to the p180 and buying a PSU.

Come on Anandtech community - where's your input?

 

[intogamer]

Coolermaster Wavemaster get the side panel too!

 

[Erssa]

Case: p180
PSU: Seasonic S12-430, maybe the best PSU out there. High efficiency, really silent.
CPU cooler: I assume you will keep you Shuttle mobo. Since it is pretty small, I wouldn't recommend the biggest coolers out there, so forget zalman 7700B and thermaltake xp-120. Zalman 7000B-CU performs just as well as 7700B-cu, plus it's a bit cheaper.
GPU cooler: If you want to save your PCI-slot for a add-on card you can forget passive coolers. I'd buy Zalman VF700-cu.

Now at this point I am not going to recommend any case fans, since your HD will be the main noise source now. If the case is p180, the 3-4 featured TriCool fans should be sufficient, since you are not a fanatic.

Edit: I'm not 100% positive, that even the Zalman 7000B fits. To be sure ask Zalman about it.

 

[Mosad]

i care not for my pci slot - so the zalman giant heatsink for my 9800xt is looking awefully good right now. As for keeping the same mobo - never thought of it.. wow. Good point... the zalman's you recommended i assume are silent in and of themselves... so that silences the psu, the cpu, the gpu - whats left is case fans, most likely panaflos. Hey hey - 160 for case, 100 for psu, 100 for both cpu and gpu coolers, and 50 for fans... thats 400. Not bad at all... i was planning on buying an external dvd burner (170 dollars) but this saves me 120 cause i can go internal... i think ill make the conversion...

Erssa - thank you so much for your input.

When is the p180 coming out?


Anyone else? All your opinions and advice are heavily considered and appreciated. Thank you all ahead of time.

 

[Erssa]

I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for p180 to come out. It was first rumored to come out in february and now we are already in the middle of april... It could come out any moment now, or then again we might have to wait for a 6 more months. Only antec knows and they are not telling...

50$ is a big budget for case fans. If you really are ready to dish out that much cash, then just buy the best: The Nexus 120mm Real Silent Case Fan D12SL-12. 2 should be enough. But still I'd first listen to the system noise, before buying any case fans, especially if you will wait for the antec p180.

http://www.thetechlounge.com/article.php?directory=ces_05_antec&page=5
Here's some pics of the p180.

 

[Mosad]

Thanks for the link... and perhaps 50 is steep - a few 120mm panaflos is what i had in mind but yes i will make the prudent move to make the move and wait to see how loud it is... i can always get a hard drive silencer and padding for the case later if needbe - but the duct looks promising - in fact... the entire case just seems so promising that i must wait... i am in no immediate rush. Ironically, my tiny motherboard would not make any use of the duct though.... but i will have room for expandability if i want to upgrade my computer in the future. Should i get a new mobo or is that really not worth it? ANd is the HD silencer worth it or does Antec provide it....