Choosing a new case

[thrunthru]

Hello everybody,

I'm thinking of getting a new computer case. But I don't know which one. I have a CM 690 and I'm thinking toward something that doesn't leave a lot of noise out of the box.

Suggestions?

EDIT:: I want one with a good airflow and what do you think about the ANTEC P183?

 

[kevy]

Hey, thrunthru

speaking 'bout noise: pay attention to a new case Cooler Master Sileo 500 with a sound-proof design.

I know about it only from news lines, so will not say it is superb, but who knows..

P.S. Oh, now I see. You have similar CM PC-case already. Looks like you are not pleased with its ventilation, right?

 

[kevy]

pay attention to a new case Cooler Master Sileo 500

Oh, I see. You have one similar CM case already. Looks like you are not pleased with its ventilation, right?

P.S. For some reason I was not allowed to edit my post.. hmm

 

[jsc]

In the lower corner, right above the [Add a reply]; you see three little icons. The center one (lightning over a gray sheet of paper) is the quick edit button.

 

[kevy]

In the lower corner, right above the [Add a reply]; you see three little icons. The center one (lightning over a gray sheet of paper) is the quick edit button.

Thanks! I used left button first.. "Quick edit" worked, 2nd post in this thread has been modified, so moderators can remove posts from 3d to this..

 

[LePhuronn]

There's nothing wrong the the CM690 you already have - if it's noisy then consider changing your fans, not the whole case.

We have 3 of the Nvidia edition CM690s in the office and even with our overclocked Core 2 Quad Q9550s they are whisper silent.

 

[thrunthru]

There's nothing wrong the the CM690 you already have - if it's noisy then consider changing your fans, not the whole case.

We have 3 of the Nvidia edition CM690s in the office and even with our overclocked Core 2 Quad Q9550s they are whisper silent.

The other thing is, it's that I might be selling my case to my lil brother at cheap prize so I could get a new one. But really, it does make a lot of noise. My older brother case which is a Mini P180 @ full speed doesn't make that much of noise at all. Yet, in my office cabinet, with the closed front door, there's already a lot of noise. If I open it up, the noise doubles.

 

[thrunthru]

pay attention to a new case Cooler Master Sileo 500

Oh, I see. You have one similar CM case already. Looks like you are not pleased with its ventilation, right?

P.S. For some reason I was not allowed to edit my post.. hmm

no, I am not. I can hear it from my room to the living room when everything else is turned off.

 

[Emperus]

Noise depends on the other components also.. Can we have your system specs..?? Till then i may suggest a CM Storm Sniper..

 

[thrunthru]

Noise depends on the other components also.. Can we have your system specs..?? Till then i may suggest a CM Storm Sniper..

Yes we can.

MB=ASUS P5Q
CPU=Q8400
GPU=BFG 250GTS OC /w 1024MB
HS=Cooler Master GeminII S /w two 92mm fans
RAM=4GB @ 800Mhz
PSU=Antec EarthWatts 650W /w one 120mm fan
Fans=1x120mm front; 1x120mm under; 1x70mm right side; 2x120mm left side; 1x120mm top; and 1x120mm behind.

EDIT:: PS, the Sniper case is too much, not in prize but in design.

 

[thrunthru]

pay attention to a new case Cooler Master Sileo 500

Oh, I see. You have one similar CM case already. Looks like you are not pleased with its ventilation, right?

P.S. For some reason I was not allowed to edit my post.. hmm

hey, yes, hi! I just bump'd into this..

http://www.acoustiproducts.com/en/acoustipack-ultimate.asp

Do you know anything about it? Or would it be good for a shot?!

 

[kevy]

Do you know anything about it? Or would it be good for a shot?

No, I don't. Though can say: a friend of mine tried to cover from inside his ordinary pc case with the material, looked like this one (don't know about its soundproof abilities). As the result, the temperature of pc components boosted up, and now he keeps case opened... like me))

Whatever, if you have nothing to do, or it's your hobby, you can try that Soundproofing Kit, but be ready for temperature rise rather than noise reduce.

I think your cm case is too cool to claim it so far. If you want silence, try to:
-listen to your system with drive turned off (if it is HDD). My system goes much more silent, when it happens (due to only ssd activity). If the result is noticeable, forget hdd the same as floppies, use ssd only;
-disable case fans (keep monitoring components temperature then);
-change HS for something with the only fan (140mm) with rps up to 1K (use real good thermal paste);
-choose graphics with a passive HS;
-...this fantasy list could be even longer, but that's enough for now))

The point is you cannot get a good soundproof and ventilation simultaneously, need to find compromise like: case with good ventilation + soundproof kit + low-heat components + minimum of low rps HS.

PS: if I'm not right, correct me using some facts, like 'I mounted water hs and..." etc.

 

[LePhuronn]

The reason your CM690 is noisy is because of the number of fans you have in it! Why on earth are you using so many? None of your hardware generates anywhere near enough heat to warrant that many fans.

Like I said earlier I have 3 CM690s with overclocked Q9550s, 1GB Quadro workstation cards, Xonar D2X sound cards, 150GB VelociRaptor and 3 1TB SpinPoint F1s all beautifully cool with only the front 120mm fan in the case.

Seriously, strip out your fans and noise will go right down.

 

[thrunthru]

The reason your CM690 is noisy is because of the number of fans you have in it! Why on earth are you using so many? None of your hardware generates anywhere near enough heat to warrant that many fans.

Like I said earlier I have 3 CM690s with overclocked Q9550s, 1GB Quadro workstation cards, Xonar D2X sound cards, 150GB VelociRaptor and 3 1TB SpinPoint F1s all beautifully cool with only the front 120mm fan in the case.

Seriously, strip out your fans and noise will go right down.

OK. Seems like a fair deal here. I'll get rid of a few fans during the weekend and let your guys know about it.

 

[edgee]

COOLER MASTER CM690 II is pretty good.

Link:
centralcomputers.com/commerce/catalog/product.jsp?product_id=74057

 

[kevy]

COOLER MASTER CM690 II is pretty good.

I noticed another one the new Lian Li PC-8FI . I like its large opened area on the front side. Guess it would be enough for natural airflow so case fans could be removed as unneeded. Three 5" slots are sufficient for me (even for hdd/ssd to put there and remove that huge frame for them).

BUT.. I've found the minimalism mania not so long ago, and thinking on how to get silent miniATX based powerful PC with dims less than 400 mm

 

[thrunthru]

I noticed another one the new Lian Li PC-8FI . I like its large opened area on the front side. Guess it would be enough for natural airflow so case fans could be removed as unneeded. Three 5" slots are sufficient for me (even for hdd/ssd to put there and remove that huge frame for them).

BUT.. I've found the minimalism mania not so long ago, and thinking on how to get silent miniATX based powerful PC with dims less than 400 mm

WOW, I'm falling in love with that Lian case already!! LOL

@LePhuronn

Ok, Ive removed the back fan, reversed the top fan so the hot air can get out and I've set the front fan's speed to Medium. After all that, I could still hear the noise which came more likely from the GPU's fan. hm. In Rivatuner, I've set the fan's speed at startup back to 34% (had it at 40%) and the noise is still ever present!

 

[LePhuronn]

If your GPU fan is now the source of noise then changing case isn't going to make much difference.

At this point it all depends on how sensitive you are to noise and the lengths you'll go to in order to eliminate it.

An aftermarket GPU cooler may work out, but it's still got fans on it. If you really have this much of a problem with your current noise levels then watercooling is probably your only option.

 

[thrunthru]

If your GPU fan is now the source of noise then changing case isn't going to make much difference.

At this point it all depends on how sensitive you are to noise and the lengths you'll go to in order to eliminate it.

An aftermarket GPU cooler may work out, but it's still got fans on it. If you really have this much of a problem with your current noise levels then watercooling is probably your only option.

Watercooling is way too much. I might wait for a new cooler for the new GTX470 or maybe look around for a ATi5850.

 

[thrunthru]

But you know what, I'll reopen the case and listen to the noise again to be Sure from whence it comes.

Btw, the fan that I've removed was the one that came with the heatsink and it was a 4pin (120mm). On the CPU's HS that I've bought (CM Geminii S), I've installed 2 fans (92mm). Ever since I've removed the 4pin fan even though I've got already 2 fans working above my CPU, I get an error when I open the computer saying something like "CPU FAN ERROR"? DO you know how to get rid of that? My mobo is a ASUS P5Q standard.

 

[LePhuronn]

If you don't have your CPU can plugged into the CPU fan header on the motherboard it will think the fan's stopped working.

Not sure why you've taken the 120mm fan off the cooler though, especially as 2 92mm fans will be noisier. Nonetheless, you need to plug whatever fan you have on the cooler into the CPU fan header, unless there's some way in the BIOS you can disable CPU fan speed alerts.

 

[jimsage85]

Watercooling...FTW...Most high-end fans in the market are already tweaked to be as silent as possible. Why not try setting up a separate sound masking device close to your CPU to clear out unwanted noise?

 

[thrunthru]

@LePhuronn

Ok, I've found a way to disable it in the BIOS, but along the way, somehow, I've encounter another problem. Just this one is with my hard drive. I know what it is and unless I reboot the whole OS, I cannot go on windows. So until now, I am still awaiting my new hard drive that will either come this day or next week.

Those two 92mm fans are less noisier than any other fan I have at full speed (Noctua). I also gave another shot for the second time to hear from whence the noise comes from and it was without a doubt from the GPU's fan. Moreover, there was another sound coming from the PSU (however, that one doesn't bother me).

Conclusively, for now, I'll stick with the case I already have but I will for sure buy a new GPU. I have been thinking for the HD5850.

Choices so far are these ::

http://sohodiffusion.com/prod/15615/POWERCOLOR-PCS-RADEON-HD-5850-760MHZ-1GB-4-2GHZ-G.html

http://sohodiffusion.com/prod/15567/ASUS-EAH5850-DIRECTCU-TOP-2DIS-1GD5-RADEON-HD5850.html

http://sohodiffusion.com/prod/15476/GIGABYTE-RADEON-HD-5850-765MHZ-1GB-GDDR5-4GHZ-2XDV.html

http://sohodiffusion.com/prod/13853/XFX-RADEON-HD-5850-BLACK-EDITION-765MHZ-1GB-GDDR5.html

http://sohodiffusion.com/prod/15196/SAPPHIRE-RADEON-TOXIC-HD-5850-765MHZ-1GB-4-5GHZ-GD.html

I do like the Sapphire but it costs too much. And I have been also thinking of buying a VGA heatsink. I just don't know it the Trad2-GTX will do, I mean, I saw some one who did made it work somewhere on the internet (and I don't remember where, =S). Any how..

@jimsage85

I know that watercooling is better but I cannot afford that. Plus, I'm not much of a gamer--idk if that is a good point. You say a separated sound masking device? Can you give me exemples, like videos or pictures to clear it up for me? =D

 

[thrunthru]

Greetings.

Got good news.

When I have installed my new hard drive, I have also did some noise/sound testing and it did turned out that the fan at the right side (behind the CPU) was the one making that load of noise. So I have lowered the speed from 3400 rpm to a third of that. But, the GPU's fan is also another on my list to be changed (in time).

I am going to go with the SAPPHIRE Toxic Radeon HD 5850 2GB Edition and I will want to thank you guys for your support and help!!

Btw, I have a fan controller on the way. I believe to receive it today unless I am wrong, so it will be during the next week.

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811982005&cm_re=fan_controller_5.25-_-11-982-005-_-Product

Thanks again and God bless.