Quietest Case in the Market Today?

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Syntax Error

2[H]4U
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Jan 14, 2008
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Just wondering what fellow [H]'ers believe that the quietest case in the market today is. So far I've narrowed it down to the P182 and the Solo, though I'm wondering if there are any alternatives. Obviously, a "quiet" case will have to not have a side window or any gaping holes, and at least 120mm fans. Just gauging what you guys think about the matter. :)
 
All depends on your needs and budget. You could even get a fanless case, but I doubt it would fit your needs (and budget). Between your two options, I would go with the P182 however.
 
Yeah, I've seen those ridiculous Zalman fanless cases, needless to say, that's a tad out of budget. ;)

Any other recommendations? Anything from Cooler Master, Silverstone, or Lian-Li perhaps?

I suppose in terms of need, anything that is pretty much "pick-up-and-go", as in, it doesn't require extensive modifications or extra purchases in the way of fans to be quiet. Essentially, I'm looking for the best possible case off the bat for quiet computing without any or little investment in the way of fan replacements or other crazy schemata.
 
You got it right with your first post. P182/P183 with some scythe fans will probably be your best bet, and it's pretty cheap too.
 
CM 590/690 with Kaze Maru fans is pretty much silent (case is silent, the fan on my Xigmatek cooler is not :mad:)
 
From SilverStone, the quietest tower cases are the RAVEN RV01 and Fortress FT01. The RV01 was similarly quiet as Antec's P183 according to Silentpcreview.com while providing more airflow overall:

http://www.silentpcreview.com/article945-page6.html

Despite what its exterior stying suggest, the RV01 is likely one of the quietest case on the market as it has very little direct pathways for the sound to escape from inside the system to the user (unless you are standing right on top of it).
 
Syntax Error said:
I suppose in terms of need, anything that is pretty much "pick-up-and-go", as in, it doesn't require extensive modifications or extra purchases in the way of fans to be quiet.
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Design/contruction wise Antec P18x and E-ATX size P193 are above others because of vibration resisting very thick multilayer panels which are also more airborne noise proof.
Antec Tri-Cools are just average fans with uselessly high full speed, included speed selection switch is what saves them.

Few Lian Lis like A71 are good foundation for thorough silencing job. (what thin and light side panel Akasa mat of some newer models isn't)


Tony Ou said:
From SilverStone, the quietest tower cases are the RAVEN RV01 and Fortress FT01.
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Fortress isn't in same league because of huge noise leaking hole in front.
For it's big size Raven's weakest point is same very dense spaced HDDs cage which is restrictive. (HDD+tray block that big hole) I would leave every second slot empty for allowing nice airflow at low pressure of low fan speed... Though for most people three HDDs is probably enough.
 
Hi ET, thanks for your comments, but have you tried the RV01 and FT01 first hand?

SilentPCReview.com gave RV01 a very favorable view of the HDD cage we used:

The hard drive mounting system is one of its best features. The soft, flexible drive sleds with rubber grommets are very good for reducing vibration. The effect was noticeable on the WD Caviar Black we used during testing, though it is not a replacement for elastic suspension as we could still feel the drive humming a bit through the case. The large size of the panels tend to exacerbate this effect. The drives slide into place easily and the included SATA backplane is a nice touch, though we wish Silverstone had provided more than one. Cooling is not an issue, even if six hard drives were packed together, as one of the massive 180 mm fans sits directly below the hard drive compartment.
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We designed the 180mm fan specifically with fan blade geometry that favors air pressure so it is actually far more adept at pushing air through the drive cage then some of the larger 200mm fans you may see on other cases. Yes, having less hard drives or even removing the drive cage can improve airflow even more, but the HDD cage/180mm fan combination in our cases aren't as bad as you think!
 
Don't bother Tony, he doesn't own either. I have a stock FT01, my bro has an A70 with fans removed, others undervolted, and some of his own "personal" sound proofing and its still louder than mine. If you keep in mind that spcr tested the raven in stock form, removing the HD cages or some of the slots would result in even better temps for the HDs. I'd be willing to bet the new Raven and FT02 will further improve on this with a third 180mm fan at the bottom. The only negative from that test is the cpu temps and the review even states that they removed the fan from the raven rather than undervolting it.
 
I switched from a P182 to a Lian Li PC-X500B

I love this case and will never go back. Beautiful, quiet, compact but still roomy, etc
 
jterp7 said:
Don't bother Tony, he doesn't own either.
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True, but same laws of physics apply to every single case, like direct noise escape paths being worser than door/solid front.

If you keep in mind that spcr tested the raven in stock form, removing the HD cages or some of the slots would result in even better temps for the HDs
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SPCR tested it with only one HDD&tray in place so that was best/ideal case scenario.
HDD in every other slot shouldn't change that because there would be open low impedance airflow paths between drives but HDD in every slot would block all of those big holes responsible for majority of HDD cooling airflow.
http://www.silentpcreview.com/article942-page5.html
(last pic shows test setup... and first pic's caption mentions improvement of HDD vibration from 4 to 5 in their 1 to 10 scale)

they removed the fan from the raven rather than undervolting it.
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Undervolting doesn't work if noise consists also from something else than smooth broadband airflow/turbulence noise. Those can be caused by anything from bad design and low quality bearing/materials (like some Akasas) to sample variance and potential handling damage. (one of eight SlipStreams I've tested had intermittent high freq "scratching" sound)
http://www.silentpcreview.com/article942-page7.html
The Raven's 120mm exhaust fan unfortunately had bad noise characteristics, specifically tonality smack in the midband frequencies where human hearing is most sensitive.

Vibration of fan is another thing which can ruin fan's acoustics and can't really be fixed with undervolting. Also this is affected by sample variation along design/quality.
(Lian Li's stock fans have clearly variation in vibration)
 
Perhaps because the 120mm fan was horizontal? At least to my ears, there is a noticeable change in tone and loudness when I undervolt the 120mm (vertical position) exhaust fan in my FT01. Even though I have dual caviar blacks in my FT01, I note a smaller change when placing a sound blocker in front of it than compared to my bro's A70, which seems to leak noise in more places than just the front vents for the 2 120mm fans.
 
I'd vote for the Antec P182 or 183 (pick the one you like the looks of better - they are pretty similar otherwise). The P190 / 193 are also viable options if you want more cooling and space internally, at the cost of a little additional noise.

Try the stock fans on any of those before buying additional ones; they are pretty quiet at low/medium, but may or may not move enough air for you; Scythe, Noctua, or Nexus are great choices if you need more cooling and/or quietness.

Once you get the case / case fans quiet enough it will be other items in the system that you'll find cause the noise. I'm not sure what application you are looking at for this rig, but if you can go passive on the video card, pick quiet hard drives (SSD?), a quiet power supply (Seasonic, some of the Corsair options) and a cool CPU / quiet cooler that would be ideal.
 
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