Quiet Computer Case

[Rart]

I'll most likely be building myself a new computer when I move off to College, and if there's one thing I hate the most about my computer at home is how it manages to sound like a fucking jet engine, idle or under load. Seeing as how I'll probably have a roommate, and sleep near my computer, having a computer that's as silent as possible is a priority for me, and will be a great breath of fresh air from the crappy one I have at home.

I don't really know too much about cases - but I've looked at the Antec P183, which seems to be pretty nice and has sound dampening panels (and filters! Any experience with how well that works). One downside however from a review seems to be that the top fan is oddly mounted, and causes more noise than the other fans, but I don't really know how noticeable that'd be, cause as I said, I don't have too much experience with this stuff. I also looked at the Antec P150 (solo?) which seems to have a special way of mounting harddrives that reduces vibrations, but the white color looks ugly as hell .

Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

Also - would anyone be able to recommend me a decent brand for video cards? Every ATI card I buy seems to scream like no other when it comes to noise output from the fan. A card like the 5770 seems pretty decent, but anything near that price range would be fine.

[clocker]

Your first step is to determine the hardware that will populate the case and then see what kind of cooling it needs.
You can assemble/run the system laying on a tabletop, no case required.

Once running, you assess the noise from the stock heatsinks and upgrade/replace as desired. Larger, slower fans are quieter and aftermarket heatsinks generally use them.

Once you have all that settled, you know how large the enclosure (case) needs to be.

A solid state drive for the OS will remove heat/noise from the equation, leaving your (presumably) mechanical storage drives to spin up only when needed.

Manufacturers like to cram fans willy-nilly into the case whether they're useful or not and you can selectively unplug them till you find a suitable balance between noise and performance.

You can also do some research and replace the fans that came with the case to better parts...not all fans are equal and there's a surprising difference in sound quality vs. airflow, some being much better than others.
S-flex is a brand I've had good luck with.

Basically, the better you mitigate noise at the source, the less you'll have to worry about the case doing it for you.

[megabyteme]

Thanks, clocker. I've been pondering a similar setup and this will give me a good starting point.

Any specific systems you have now that you would like to show off, give us a price/parts list? That would be a big help there, too.

[clocker]

My system is too old and too weird to be of much use.
Detale is far more current than I in what's available/good these days...I'm still on s775.

[Rart]

Thanks for the advice clocker.

From the gist of your post you're suggesting that the individual parts themselves - and the heatsink/fans they use will contribute far more to the noise level of the system than the case, correct? Do you have any kind of Video card/CPU/case fans that you would personally recommend?

Also - I have a general knowledge of how parts go together but don't really have the confidence to say that I am anything but a beginner. Should I be toying with the screws, thermal paste, etc. needed to take apart/together heatsinks on a CPU or video card? I don't want to accidentally screw anything up and have a couple hundred bucks go down the drain.

[IdolEyes787]

Too bad you don't live in Canada you could have a computer built to your exact specifications at minimal cost ($50) and they really do nice work.

http://pc.ncix.com/pcbuilder/


They ship to the US but I think the warrant is voided then and you can't pay by credit card.

[Detale]

Firstly as with all builds we would need your budget. Are you getting new parts or using what you have an wanting to add to it? If using existing parts what are you working with? Where do you live? Honestly building a computer isn't really hard and I'm sure we can coach you through it if you have a question. I have been wanting to write a "how to" on the subject for some time and get it stickied. Maybe this will be the motivation needed.

IMHO it's usually all about the fans. Like Clocker said larger fans usually will drop the noise down quite a bit. You can see what DB rating they have but beware as manufacturers sometimes flat out lie.

Scyth S-flex fans are a good choice, another good one I have found and cheap are yate loon fans. The scyth's are better but you will pay for it (as with most things). The case, well it's a personal thing. I haven't used any of the cases you mentioned, but I water cool (another silent but more expensive option) so I don't pay much attention to case acoustics.

As far as the video requirements what card do you currently have? mostly the better the card the hotter it will run needing the fan to run at a higher speed and so it's louder. With either ATI or Nvidia cards you can usually run an app to control the fan or even get an aftermarket cooler (again not that hard to install) with larger and more quite fans (as Clocker said).

Basically it's all down to how much you want to spend.

[Rart]

Well for my main budget I'm probably looking toward around $1000 USD, give or take a bit. I could probably reuse my mouse, keyboard, and maybe my monitor/hard drives if need be, but best case scenario would be to reuse as little as possible as we still need a working computer at home. However, if I could squeeze out a decent bit of extra performance from the money I'd save from reusing parts I could most certainly consider it.

And for additional fans that I purchase, is there a way to control fan speeds through software of some sort? Or do I need buy (separately or included?) fans that come with fan controls of some sort?

[Detale]

You could buy a fan controller but honestly I've never had any luck with them. Some folks swear by them but I'm not one of them. IMO just get some decent fans like the scythe. I have also read some great things about Enermax "cluster" series fans but again they are pricey.

Now to be clear, you want a whole new rig or just to quiet your existing setup?

What will the computer mainly be used for?

If you live near NYC I'd be willing to help you build it

Would you consider Water cooling?

Edit:new list below

[Rart]

Is there anyway to control fans without a fan controller? Like through some internal software?

Yes, a whole new rig (with a reluctant possibility of reusing a couple pieces of equipment).

Mostly gaming/work for college.

I live in NY state but 6 hours away from NYC

Water cooling looks...very scary. I've never tried it before and I'm afraid with one loose screw or something I'll fry my whole system. Not sure I want to delve into that.