Help me decide New case: Antec p180 vs p150 vs sonata 2

serpentq

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Oct 9, 2006
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Hi

My aim is to run as quiet as possible. I have a asus 7600gt with passive cooling and a 3200+ athlon 64 with zalman cooler. Atm i have a 350 watt chill-innovation psu (12 db at max load).

I really cant decide which case is better. I initally liked til p180 but it just seems plain stupid to place the psu in the bottom where it can not help remove hot air from the case! Even with a phantom (passive) psu i fail to see the point since antec has placed a fan behind the psu in the case. Why get a expencive fanless psu if you need a fan in the case to cool it down?? Am i misunderstanding something here?

What do you all consider the most silent case for my setup`?

I thank you all for any advice, im in a bit of hurry so please write soon :D
 

serpentq

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I have been meaning to check if my psu can deliver enough, i will have to check when i get home.

In your opinion can you install a passive psu in the p180 and NOT use the fan in the bottom - if i set the HDD in the upper compartment. I dont want to use any more fans than i have to.
 
I have been meaning to check if my psu can deliver enough, i will have to check when i get home.

In your opinion can you install a passive psu in the p180 and NOT use the fan in the bottom - if i set the HDD in the upper compartment. I dont want to use any more fans than i have to.

I'd say not... but I'd also say at the slowest speed you can barely (if at all) hear the 120mm's sp having 1 of them one would not be a problem, the HSF on slowest speed drowns out any other noise, as does having the window open at night (if you know what I mean). You will still need to pull air out of the case though i'd expect.

Passive PSU's require airflow to keep cool.

The PSU location is sensible because as a heat source it radiates heat into the case normally, and has to cool itself with warm air, hence making its fans spin quicker. In the P180, it only has to cool itself, my PSU is the coolest I have ever felt one to be, even though I have the most powerful system I have ever had.

I think that space is the bigger consideration between these three cases... but if you are stuck with the passive and don't want to use the psu zone fan then don't get the P180, I think it also rules out the sonata as that is zoned too I believe.
 

horstmann

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You will not hear that fan when it is in the middle of your case like that. You hear the fans way more when they are against an opening.
 

serpentq

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Im not stuck with a passive psu so thats not a dealbreaker :)

You can get many good psu's with low noise 12-16 db, i dont see why using such a psu to draw warm air from the case is not better? This way the psu fan serves to cool the case resulting in an overall more silent system. You dont agree?
 
But the PSU uses hot air to cool itself thereby meaning it needs more cooling, and high fan speeds. Below certain speeds fans are essentially inaudible, so many slow fans are better than a few faster fans?

I'm using a Seasonic, and i'm pretty certain its very quiet.

Read the SPCR reviews of the P180, and see what they say about the case, and the PSU that they used with it to make it quiet.
 

sluzbenik

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This P180 set-up is really quiet on mine:

Top vent fan - low
Rear vent fan - low
Bottom chamber fan - medium
Arctic 7 Cooler - Asus Q-FAn controlled using Performance setting, only spins up above 1200 if it's above 50c, which it won't be at stock speeds.

Extra 80mm fan taped on top of the CD-ROM to cool the mosfets and RAM.

Put your drives in the bottom to get max airflow through the upper chamber.

If you are overclocking just put the rear vent on medium and forget the top one, which doesn't do much as anything as far as I can tell. On Med It is much noisier but lowers the CPU temp by 4c and on mine and 4c as well on the MB temp.

You can set the bottom fan on low too if your hard drives are very cool, but that fan on medium is almost inaudible to me because it's so far away from my ears and at the bottom of the case.

If anything I can hear that 80mm fan. But it really helps the mobo temps.
 
If silence is the ultimate goal, I would choose the P150 over the P180 because it allows you to suspend two hard drives, thus reducing noise from vibrations. The included Antec NeoHE 430 PSU will be powerful enough for your rig and it is also quiet as well.
 

mark8987

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I have been meaning to check if my psu can deliver enough, i will have to check when i get home.

In your opinion can you install a passive psu in the p180 and NOT use the fan in the bottom - if i set the HDD in the upper compartment. I dont want to use any more fans than i have to.

Why are you on a crusade to use as few fans as possible? Firstly, you most definitely do want the hdd to be cooled with a fan to ensure longevity. Second, you do know, don't you, that it is quieter to have more fans set at a low speed, than fewer fans set at a higher speed? With quiet fans at a low speed, you can't hear them if you are more than 10 cm away from them and they are in the open air. They are even quieter if they are in a computer case.
 

blue68f100

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I just built one with a amd 3800 x2 am2 (65w), M2N-E same video card as yours with the Sonata 2 case. I can't hardly hear it, the db has to be around 20 dba or less. I have the 120mm case fan on Low speed. I am using the Factory CPU Fan, with cool and Quite active.
 

Storm1234

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@ 3lfk1ng

I like your 2nd link to the custom cut Sonata 2 case damping kit, very kick ass.

If it wasn't 75$!!!!! Id probably get it to try it out.


Storm~