Quiet Gaming Cases, Part 3: Lian Li, Nanoxia, And SilverStone
Part three of our quest for quiet gaming brings us three final enclosures from Lian Li, Nanoxia, and SilverStone. Have we finally found the perfect product to silence a noisy graphics card? We’ll find out by comparing all nine contenders in today's piece.
Nanoxia Deep Silence 1
While closely resembling the metal work of Fractal Design’s Define R4, Nanoxia employs brand-specific design elements to stand apart from structurally-similar products. For example, the Deep Silence 1 uses a split-door design (which I personally suggested to the aforementioned competitor), allowing me to finally set my coffee in front of my PC without blocking drive access.
Along with my caffeine conundrum, placing any case up on top of a desk usually makes top-panel ports more difficult to reach. Nanoxia helps somewhat with fold-up, forward-pointing ports on the Deep Silence 1's top panel. Featuring headset/mic jacks, plus a pair of USB 2.0 and 3.0 ports, the panel folds down to reduce dust accumulation when it isn't in use.
The upper door hides two variable-speed fan controllers (each capable of controlling three fans), the reset switch, and three 5.25” bays. Foam lines the inside of the upper door, dampening any noise that might leak through the vented bay covers.
The bottom door hides two 120 mm intake fans attached to their own independently-opening doors, complete with slide-out dust filters. Nanoxia’s configuration makes routine cleaning incredibly easy.
Two pairs of water-cooling grommets sandwich the 140 mm rear exhaust fan. Those inclined to opt for more fans over liquid cooling will be happy to find two 140 mm fan mounts underneath the top panel.
Eight expansion slots allow users to add a double-sized graphics card to the bottom slot of an ATX motherboard.
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Newegg e-mailed me saying that the Nanoxia DS1 ETA is 1/3010447762 said:Where to buy the Silencio 650 or the Nanoxia Deep Silence ? -
abbadon_34 I never ceased to amazed by these beastly cases from Silverstone. Before I die I hope to toss down $300 for some monster.Reply -
johnsonjohnson e56imfgNewegg e-mailed me saying that the Nanoxia DS1 ETA is 1/30Reply
Thanks for that; I was wondering when it would arrive. -
My brother has the older FT02B with the red inside and I have the P280. I'm super happy to see how these cases performedReply
He is running dual AMD 5850's with axial fans and a Corsair H50 water cooler cooling an AMD 8150, it's very quiet even at full fan.
In my P280 I have a OC Intel i7-3770k with an Antec 920 water cooler and 2 scythe 2k rpm fans, with the scythe at full power and the 920 on aggressive thermal settings it keeps he 4.7ghz oc under 50 deg c under almost all loads while not being excessively loud. -
Onus The Define R4 appears to be lacking a HDD activity LED; baffling. Those who don't like it wouldn't have to use it, but what about those who do?Reply
It would be interesting to repeat the tests with an axially-cooled graphics card. After all, that style of cooler would be the choice of someone building for low noise. Of particular interest would be the resulting temperature differences, especially of the Silverstone.
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1369ic I ordered an R4 yesterday before finding these articles and was happy to see it get the approved award. Now it wins a recommended buy award and UPS tells me it's on the truck to be delivered today. First time in my life I've had such luck. I am replacing an aging Antec P180, and almost got the 280, but went with the R4 because I liked the look better -- and it's currently $80 with free shipping on Newegg.Reply -
cknobman As nice as the Fractal R4 is I still would go with my Antec P280 case especially considering after discounts I picked it up for only $80.Reply
Toms, thanks for doing this series it was really nice to see the time and in depth detail put into this. I will be bookmarking these for reference on my future builds. -
Au_equus 1369icI ordered an R4 yesterday before finding these articles and was happy to see it get the approved award. Now it wins a recommended buy award and UPS tells me it's on the truck to be delivered today. First time in my life I've had such luck. I am replacing an aging Antec P180, and almost got the 280, but went with the R4 because I liked the look better -- and it's currently $80 with free shipping on Newegg.Half finished building with it last night. Once you get th R4, you can tell that a lot of thought went into building this case. I'm still a novice when it comes to cable management, but FD makes it real easy. For $80, IMO, you're getting a steal.Reply -
tripkick Is there any chance that you could review the NZXT H2 in the future? I was hoping to see it on your review list and how it compares to the R4. I am looking to upgrade my old Antec P180 and wondered how those two cases stack up against the P180 and its newer version P183.Reply