Searching for a Silent Case

[Phetar]

I'm new here, so I'd appreciate some help, thanks.

I'm looking for a very quiet case. Obviously, the first choice would be the Antec Sonata, and while I've heard great things about it, there MUST be something else out there that is just as quiet, if not more so. I like options. I'd appreciate some suggestions, or give me a few sites that give accurate reviews (Silent PC Review is a little limited I've noticed). Also, the case MUST be black (all my equipment is black). A window would be cool, but not neccessary.

I'll worry about the PSU and mainboard after I've taken care of the case, though it will probably be an 865G, nForce2 IGP, or I'll wait for the ATi Radeon 9100 IGP. Serial ATA and RAID is a must though.

Thanks a lot!

 

[r0man]

Hi Phetar, I think u may choose a case with an exterior of your selection, perhaps with case door or cover for the exterior 5 1/4 bays (so the noise of CD readers wont be so loud), many Antec and some Lian-li models have this feature. Then u can put acoustic absorbtion mats inside and on the case door (I use pax.mate from acasa). The case as you know is not the critical factor for the silence. Graphic card and cpu fans are very loud.. so consider using passive heat dissipators when possible (if you are not overclocking, or if silence is the main issue), watercooling also could be a good solution for athlons and gforce fx cards (using silent pumps, like eheim). Etc.. as you know cd/dvd drives and fans are the most loud parts (hardrives nowadays are almost quiet), so you may choose alternatives or most quiet solutions for that elements. I particularly like to invent soulutions myself, for mounting CD/DVDs etc. Case is more important when you consider space for internals, strenght, easy access, quality of materials, look&style, so better put that qualities in first place.

 

[amcintosh]

I just bought the Antec Sonata, and it's not silent. Don't get me wrong, I am in no way disappointed with the case. But, as rOman said, fans are going to make noise. The aluminum cases are going to be louder than the steel, but will cool better. The sonata controls the case fan and PSU fan so that it doesn't spin as fast when it doesn't need to. Listening to my rig right now, i think the only thing i am hearing is the CPU fan. Good luck. Oh yeah, check out newegg.com ... they've got a pretty good selection, and good prices. I love those expensive coolermax cases!
<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by amcintosh on 06/30/03 11:09 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[DeepBluethe]

amcintosh, Im also thinking to buy Sonata seriously. But I have a couple of questions on my mind, if you dont mind.

Im not expecting Sonata to be silent but to be noiseless. Im also planning to buy one of the Zalman's CPU fans in order to drop down the noise level more, without sacrificing from the cooling. My rig is heavily loaded. Im gonna put at least 2 HDDs(my raid array) and maybe 1 more HDD inside the case. Im also intreseted in overclocking. When I put them all together Im afraid to have heat problems with Sonata. It may not provide the necesarry cooling for my rig. There is a 2nd fan slot right behind the HDDs. Actually the placement of the second fan looks weird to me, since Its not placed at the front just as a regular intake fan. I hope Antec engineers also considered the aero-dynamics and efficiency when they decide the place of the 2nd fan slot.

I believe, in my situation I probably use the 2nd slot with another 120mm case fan in order to provide the enough cooling. This means more noise in the case. I might lose the noiseless Sonata when providing the cooling.

Another issue I wonder is the grommets that is used for attaching the case fans to slots. I heard the Antec provides 4 extra gromments to be used with the 2nd case fan slot. However the size(width I guess) of these plastic grommets is not standart and they only fit to the Antec Case Fans. Thats really bad because Antec CAse Fans a little expensive here. I can find same quality and more noiseless case fans below that price. If I can not use them and forced to buy the more louder Antec fans; thats not NICE.

Wanna here your comments, thanks....