Computer cases

[dmdigital]

Can anyone recommend a really quiet PC case??

Must be able to take an ATX motherboard, 500W P/S, 2xDVD, 5xSATA 5.25.

The other option I suppose is liquid cooling, but then how trouble free is that?

[abaddonxi]

Try here (http://www.dansdata.com/) for reviews of quiet pc cases

Here is a link to one he has reviewed. (http://www.dansdata.com/atc600.htm)

Dan's site will lead to Auspcmarket (http://www.auspcmarket.com.au/) who are pretty good about that stuff, don't charge too much and ship to you as part of purchase price.

hth

Cheers,
Simon

[Pedro_The_Swift]

you can buy them already set up-- PC's that is,,

but liquid coolings come a long way,, and is pretty much noob friendly these days. CPU, GPU, in one kit. easy.

[EchiDna]

www.silentpcreview.com (http://www.silentpcreview.com)


there are plenty about - the best ones are NOT cheap and typically not pretty!

I've got an antec sonata (over rated IMHO). A friend has a nexus which is great...

but your components as listed are gonna be loud, so not matter what the case, there will be substantial noise and heat!

even if you go water cooling, it is not silent as you will need a radiator somewhere which will have high flow fans on it.

if the 5 x SATA drives are intended for a RAID array, I'd advise you to go for a gigabit NAS box located away from your main PC area (a vented wardrobe, another room etc) where the noise doesn't matter and keep the PC with a smaller power supply, less fans, less HDD's and consequently a lot less heat and noise.

[dmdigital]

Thanks for the info, I'll check out the links etc.

I already have a 1TB RAID5 NAS array on a 1Gb switched network (at home :D ). The 5 SATA are for 2x250GB RAID Mirrored system disc and 3x160GB RAID Strip set for a scratch disc (speeds up photo and video editing and I have these discs in an existing system). I can cut the drives down to 3 (like I currently have) as the scratch drive could be replaced by a single 300GB unit, just thought I'd reuse them.

I'm also thinking I can cut back on the P/Supply, the full spec is 2xDVD burners, 2 to 4GB RAM, 512MB 2xDVI Video card, Core 2 Duo E6600 (Can't justify the Extreme - well maybe, I'll see), Intel D975 m/board, system mirror SATAII, scratch disc SATAII, 7 USB devices.

I realised I'm looking at power consumption a bit wrong and I can probably get away with a 400W P/S. I'll have to do my sums though and see what is safe.

[Pedro_The_Swift]

go here---
http://www.overclockulator.pimprig.com/#
download JUICE
see how you go---



I have "overclockulater" which is "Juice"s grandfather


actually I might do yours now for a giggle,,,:p

edit;

actually did mine,,,,
and came up with 395 watts

and I have only ONE HDD-------

(I do have a few fans though,,,;))

edit2;

whoa!
add 4 more hdd's and a couple of 512vid cards
and bingo,,
well over 600 watts.:D:D:D

[dmdigital]

Hmmm I can't open that URL.

I run Powerchute Software to my UPS and my current PC (3.2GHz P4, 3xHDD's, 2xDVD burners, 128MB Nvidia, 3 very noisy fans, LAN, 6xUSB active) I can only get to about 263W power draw from the UPS but in theory it should be a lot more.

[HangOver]

the thing to look out for with watercooling is that in general as soon as you connect it to your processor your motherboard and cpu warranty is void.

You will also need a fan outside of the case to cool the radiator so mostly the difference in noise won't be a lot.

[dmdigital]

I'd kind of worked that out. I notice Intel even state that the cooling fan provided with the chip must be used or else the warranty is void.

I'm starting to look at the Antec P180 case but there are a number of others I've still got to pull up specs on. www.silentpcreview.com has some great information (thanks EchiDna) and I'm going to get in touch with AusPCMarket when they open again next week.

I have noticed there are a number of water cooling systems which are just heat exchanges. So whilst you have no fan you have a very hot metal object somewhere with an electric pump (noise) in it. There are also a number of (very expensive and very heavy) thermally conductive heat sink cases too that would have the same draw back.

[Pedro_The_Swift]

go here---
http://www.overclockulator.pimprig.com/#
download JUICE
see how you go---


I have "overclockulater" which is "Juice"s grandfather


actually I might do yours now for a giggle,,,:p

edit;

actually did mine,,,,
and came up with 395 watts

and I have only ONE HDD-------

(I do have a few fans though,,,;))

edit2;

whoa!
add 4 more hdd's and a couple of 512vid cards
and bingo,,
well over 600 watts.:D:D:D

EDIT-
try here---
WWW.PCAPEX.com
:angel:

[EchiDna]

I'd kind of worked that out. I notice Intel even state that the cooling fan provided with the chip must be used or else the warranty is void.

I'm starting to look at the Antec P180 case but there are a number of others I've still got to pull up specs on. www.silentpcreview.com (http://www.silentpcreview.com) has some great information (thanks EchiDna) and I'm going to get in touch with AusPCMarket when they open again next week.

I have noticed there are a number of water cooling systems which are just heat exchanges. So whilst you have no fan you have a very hot metal object somewhere with an electric pump (noise) in it. There are also a number of (very expensive and very heavy) thermally conductive heat sink cases too that would have the same draw back.

happy to help with the link...
the P180 will no doubt serve you well - in my Antec Sonata (very similar internals, different external) in stock form the loudest bit by miles is the power supply. I bought some sound deadening (foil backed high density foam) made for car audio http://www.dynamat.com/index.html 1 2ftx2ft sheet cost about $30 but is enough for 2 cases. This made a huge difference, but as the power supply vents to the outside of the case directly, I ended up changing all the internal fans (including that inside the power supply) for Nexus ultra quiet models http://www.nexustek.nl - highly recommended!

lastly, those passive coolers like the 'reserator' have a certain heat exchange capacity which once reached, cease to be as effective - your ambient temperature plays a big part in this.... If you are considering this route, you better think about how to silence the power supply and the hard drives as these will be still quite loud even if the processor and video card are no longer a source of noise.

[dmdigital]

The Sonata case would be my second option. I just like the P180 better and given the price difference and the fact in the Sonata I would need to replace P/S and fans I think it might be a better buy. For a power supply I am actually thinking of lashing out $$$'s and getting the Antec Phantom500 which has a thermal fan but (if it the cables are long enough) I also think the Tagen Dual Engine is a good unit and its a lot cheaper. The Nexus fans seem to be the go like you said. Anyway now I just have to wait until I can actually talk to the sellers of the gear as they all seem to have been closed over Christmas.

[EchiDna]

the P180 is definitely better!
it didn't exist when I bought my sonata :)

unfortunately the best spec power supplies have the worst noise levels... I bought an OCZ powerstream 550 watt unit - fantastic unit, but noisy in stock form. Change the fan and it's a whole new ball game....

[dmdigital]

That's what I like about the Phantom500 it's fan is only thermally activated so it shouldn't need to run as often. The Tagen's have a low noise fan and seem to be given a good report too.

Thanks again too as that SPCR site has both a lot of information and some good links