Case test

[Phage]

I'd really like to see a test of some of the quieter cases. In particular those that in competition with each other, to see how each has balanced airflow against noise.

This forum is biased to speed, but many would like to moderate noise as far as possible.

How about the new Corsair ?
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/corsa...30-atx-w-o-psu
against the Old guard
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/antec...usb-30-w-o-psu
and possibly, the cheaper alternative. Do you get what you pay for ?
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/fract...e-absorbing-ma

Thanks !

[jetfire]

well if you want quiet as in cant even here it then look at this but you get what you pays at the end of the day.

http://www.paqt.co.uk/products.html

[Phage]

That is a nice looking case. Pity there are no shots of the interior and the fan baffling they refer to.
All the cases I linked to are about half of this cost, and the R3 less again. I think they would more closely reflect what people would be spending on a quality enclosure. YMMV of course.

[daveleebond]

I have a coolermaster silencio 500 and can't fault it.

It's very quiet, comes with 2 120mm fans (intake, exhaust) you can also add 2 more or swap them out for 2 140mm, has sound proofing on both insides and front door.

Mind you I only paid £45 for mine

[Parm]

Phage - stay tuned, we'll see what we can do.

[Phage]

Phage - stay tuned, we'll see what we can do.

Excellent. Look forward to it. Cheers !

[Phage]

I have a coolermaster silencio 500 and can't fault it.

It's very quiet, comes with 2 120mm fans (intake, exhaust) you can also add 2 more or swap them out for 2 140mm, has sound proofing on both insides and front door.

Mind you I only paid £45 for mine

Oooh -That's nice. Apart from the piano black finish. Shows every fingerprint and scrap of dust. How does yours look ?
Mines under the desk and clearly visible all the time from the lounge and the dining room. I don't want it to look like a half-eaten pie.

[ik9000]

Good suggestion phage, and thanks Parm for the encouraging news.

Would you be able to include some smaller micro and mid cases in the test as well as tower cases (or possibly do a separate round-up for them?). There've been a few threads recently regarding folks trying to build small quiet machines for the lounge. People rave about the Lian Li 354 and Antec P180 Mini but it would be nice to know if there are other (cheaper?) alternatives that offer as good a solution for a smaller form factor.

[Biscuit]

Ill look forward to this!

[daveleebond]

Oooh -That's nice. Apart from the piano black finish. Shows every fingerprint and scrap of dust. How does yours look ?
Mines under the desk and clearly visible all the time from the lounge and the dining room. I don't want it to look like a half-eaten pie.

mine looks fine it is used as a HTPC/Gaming PC and matches my LG tv, PS3 and 360, fingerprints, can't really tell, wipe it over every other day with a microfibre cloth.

[jetfire]

That is a nice looking case. Pity there are no shots of the interior and the fan baffling they refer to.

the manual is here http://www.paqt.co.uk/docs/PaQ4U550UserManualV1.2.pdf

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Having had experience of the Fractal R3 myself - it seems to a relatively quiet case. It even muffled the sound of the AMD 125W TDP CPU stock cooler!

[Phage]

the manual is here http://www.paqt.co.uk/docs/PaQ4U550UserManualV1.2.pdf

Interesting. I can see why a sound engineer would need this. Not sure it's right for this forum though.

"In order to achieve low noise levels in a serious gaming machine
with top end graphics card(s), a bespoke cooling solution is called
for. This would involve setting up the card(s) as Terminal
Components with their own exhaust path. The 4U format simply
lacks sufficient space to do this job properly.
At present we recommend fanless graphics cards in the PaQ 4U-
550: not only are they silent, but they offer similar performance at
a similar price to fan cooled versions for all but serious gaming rigs."

[Biscuit]

Personally i think if you get a case which has done all the work in improving the sound deadening already you are kinda removing the fun. I spend loads of time tweaking and changing things to get them quieter, its great fun.

[Phage]

Personally i think if you get a case which has done all the work in improving the sound deadening already you are kinda removing the fun. I spend loads of time tweaking and changing things to get them quieter, its great fun.

Fo' sho'. Just don't have the time right now.

[jetfire]

The 4U format simply
lacks sufficient space to do this job properly.

5850 in my 4 u case