Need help finding a silent case please!

[n-sanity]

Hello folks,

My case modding days are over (oh how i miss bondo) as of several years ago, but now i need a new case... so i shall do the undoable - go and buy one .

This time the focus is on silence though. Needs decent airflow (have noctua and silenx fans with mods to cover silence in that dept), and a good solid construction.

Please recommend something that i can pickup in toronto (tigerdirect or canadacomputers, or another retailer if you know of any). I'm not too big on shipping a case, but if a deal's a deal, i will.

I will fully consider used cases, so if u have any to offer, shoot me pm's.

CHeers!

[martin_metal_88]

Antec three hundred or CM 690 are pretty good built quality case and you can replace all the fan with your noctua to have full silent solution.

can find them almost everywhere.
Ask for more

[n-sanity]

The antec's nice, but both r expensive. Anything else you can suggest?

[Perineum]

Antec 300 isn't expensive. NCIX sometimes has them on for about $50

[JD]

If you want silence, it's not going to be cheap. If you buy some cheap case, it's going to be noisy since the construction will be lower and it won't have any noise dampening. You could line a cheap case yourself with sound dampening material but then it's probably going to cost close to the same.

Here's some ideas:
Antec Sonata III Quiet Super Mid Tower w/ 500W PSU
Antec LifeStyle SOLO
Cooler Master Sileo 500
NZXT Hush

Since you want a PSU too, the Sonata III is probably your best bet.

[MpG]

What kind of system are you planning on putting in the case? There are some excellent smaller cases that will help shut a system right up, but they're not necessarily suited for high-end multi-GPU systems.

And I wasn't aware there was any mods you could do to a Silenx fan to redeem them, short of the "sledgehammer mod".

[CMetaphor]

I always wanted to try this one:
Nexus | ATX/Micro ATX case, with two real silent case fans, noise absorption material and self closing door |

.... But good luck finding it. Nexus stuff is some of the quietest I've ever heard, but it's rare and not as cheap as some other options.

[n-sanity]

I have some of the first silenx's, when they were still decent. A drop of jigalube inside the cover, under the bearing and even on the rotors does unheard of magic, and putting a small buffer cap takes away any startup or stall whine out of the coils. Did both, plus rheostats on all fans (don't believe much in fan controllers, wiring mess).

As for the cases, thank you very much for the ideas!

I found the Antec p180, 182 and 183; very very attractive, and at good prices too! How are they air cooling wise (i love how the psu n hdd's are separate in their own chamber... i could probably pad that with acoustikill) ??? I see it can take like 5 fans, but is there any air-shear noise or does it resonate at any points (had a BAD bad server case that would resonate around 4400 rpm on my old yate loons).

The system to fit in it will be an i7 setup with something moderate (gtx260ish) in terms of graphics. I will clock on air at first, then towards the fall, when i have time and money, i'll resurrect my bong cooler and make a good water loop (last time i meddled in water was the time of tdx and rbx and water-wetter!).


Thanks in advance!

EDIT1: Oh boy, i remember when Nexus' first golf-ball surfaced fans came out... those things were beautiful! I bought 2 and painted the rotors uv-green. You wouldn't believe the eye-candy.

[n-sanity]

bump :D ? Anyone?

[JD]

The P180 series is decent though for a silent, overclocked, i7 rig, you aren't going to be doing that.

Unless of course your definition of silent is different from mine. Silent to me is totally inaudible in a totally still house. Quiet is more in the line of it's audible but it's by no means annoying and can disappear easily with some background noise.

Also if you do plan to do water, P180s aren't the greatest. Doable sure, but a bit more difficult than some.