Quiet Lian Li Case

Enclosures and acoustic damping to help quiet them.

Moderators: NeilBlanchard, Ralf Hutter, sthayashi, Devonavar

Post Reply
davewolfs
Posts: 37
Joined: Wed Mar 04, 2009 10:51 am
Location: USA

Quiet Lian Li Case

Post by davewolfs » Fri Mar 20, 2009 10:42 pm

Can these cases be quiet? I realize that they are all aluminum but they do have noise dampening materials inside and rubber grommets.

I've been looking at the TYR PCX-500, PC-80 and PC-A77. Any thoughts on these models or should I just stick to the good old Antec P182.

thejamppa
Posts: 3142
Joined: Mon Feb 26, 2007 9:20 am
Location: Missing in Finnish wilderness, howling to moon with wolf brethren and walking with brother bears
Contact:

Post by thejamppa » Sat Mar 21, 2009 1:10 am

yes they can be silenced. Any case can be. Since Lian Li's are pretty prone to aluminium racket, it would be good idea to cover panel with two-layer acoustic foam or using bitumen mat / self adhessive floor tiles on case and then glues foam on the tiles / bitumen.

Tiles / bitumen brings mass to the case and kills the vibration while foam helps absorping high pitched noises.

axee
Posts: 170
Joined: Sat Nov 15, 2008 1:01 pm
Location: Slovenia

Post by axee » Sun Mar 22, 2009 2:56 am

I love TYR PCX-500! Anyone tried it? I wonder how much vibration costs lian li's mounting method?

EsaT
Posts: 473
Joined: Sun Aug 13, 2006 1:53 am
Location: 61.6° N, 29.5° E - Finland

Re: Quiet Lian Li Case

Post by EsaT » Wed Mar 25, 2009 12:16 pm

davewolfs wrote:Any thoughts on these models or should I just stick to the good old Antec P182.
If that's your starting point and what you want is more space then A71 is Lian Li you want to look.

I've myself had it for some time.
Should have done it earlier but I try to get something written about that project into User Reviews forum for weekend.

thejamppa wrote:yes they can be silenced. Any case can be.
Depends entirely on definition of silencing:
If it's removing sources of noise then that's possible.
But in case of using that for ability of case to contain/muffle noises of components you can't silence those cases which leak noise.
Sound insulation/damping has good effect only in case which doesn't leak noise directly toward listener.

And A77 fails that. (copy of CM Stacker I've had)
PC80 lowers bar further by forcing PSU into hotter place.

TYR 500 has at least something in front of noise leaking hole but job wasn't fully completed and it's component housing capacity isn't that great.

thejamppa
Posts: 3142
Joined: Mon Feb 26, 2007 9:20 am
Location: Missing in Finnish wilderness, howling to moon with wolf brethren and walking with brother bears
Contact:

Post by thejamppa » Wed Mar 25, 2009 10:59 pm

EsaT: With all due respect I slightly disagree. Any case can be silenced. Its completely different matter wether it's sensible to go so far and start doing heavy modifications and risk permanently damaging the case. In theory every case can be silenced and muffled. In practise going that far is not always sensible.

However, quiet case cannot be quiet unless you have quiet components. That we all agree.

davewolfs
Posts: 37
Joined: Wed Mar 04, 2009 10:51 am
Location: USA

Post by davewolfs » Tue Mar 31, 2009 3:32 pm

What do you all think about the PC-70, PC-V2110 or PC-V2010?

EsaT
Posts: 473
Joined: Sun Aug 13, 2006 1:53 am
Location: 61.6° N, 29.5° E - Finland

Post by EsaT » Thu Apr 02, 2009 11:45 am

PC-70 is clearly old outdated design with small fans and lot of horribly restrictive fan vents in need of serious cutting. Compared to those hard HDD mounting to cage is almost minor problem.
(and not much depth for long graphics card)

V2x10 is lot more modern design and V2110 has also acoustically good door.
http://www.lian-li.com.tw/v2/en/product ... =61&g=spec
http://www.lian-li.com.tw/v2/en/product ... =61&g=spec
But if you're getting case for high end gaming PC with long high end graphics cards (probable when you're looking this size cases) airflow of motherboard chamber where huge majority of heat is produced relies only to ability of one fan to both draw air to inside chamber and exhaust it which isn't good thing for chances of keeping speed of fan at low level.

And V2110 has some very questionable features:
Rubber strip between door and front face leaves only very little airflow routes when door is closed:
http://lian-li.com/v2/tw/product/upload ... 110f03.JPG
And that claimed "sound insulation material" of V2110 is about worthless Akasa Paxmate without name stamped on it.


I would consider PC-A70 and especially door equipped A71 as best compromises of space, cooling and silencing friendly features.
Because of light weight there's just need to add combination damping mat for both mass damping and better noise insulation.
Image

rpsgc
Friend of SPCR
Posts: 1630
Joined: Tue Oct 05, 2004 1:59 am
Location: Portugal

Post by rpsgc » Thu Apr 02, 2009 12:07 pm

What about cases like the new B10 that feature 2mm acoustic foam on the side panels? Not enough, sure, but it's something.

EsaT
Posts: 473
Joined: Sun Aug 13, 2006 1:53 am
Location: 61.6° N, 29.5° E - Finland

Post by EsaT » Thu Apr 02, 2009 12:47 pm

rpsgc wrote:What about cases like the new B10 that feature 2mm acoustic foam on the side panels? Not enough, sure, but it's something.
That 2mm is thickness of side panel, that lining Akasa Paxmate is mighty little over one millimeter thicker than that.
Also new Lian Li's HDD tray system doesn't look good, metal tray itself is enough to act as loudspeaker amplifying HDD noise. Have to wonder what they we're thinking of how they've trashed that at least mostly working soft mounting.

But I sure love the way how they took that approach to toolless PCI mounting system by making it from metal when others are toying with their plastic junks.
(then again it removes possibility of BS-03/BS-06 PCI coolers)

gmat
Posts: 43
Joined: Tue Sep 03, 2002 3:50 am
Location: France

Post by gmat » Wed Apr 15, 2009 2:16 am

EsaT wrote: Also new Lian Li's HDD tray system doesn't look good, metal tray itself is enough to act as loudspeaker amplifying HDD noise. Have to wonder what they we're thinking of how they've trashed that at least mostly working soft mounting.
I have the non sound-proofed version of the same case here at work, the PC-60F, with the same new style mounting system. And it's definitely rubber mounted, actually the drive is strapped in its shell by a rubber/plastic thingie then the whole tray is rubber mounted to the chassis. As a result the Velociraptor in a Scythe QD 2.5 that lives in it doesnt make even a single noise when working. I'd say it's pretty successful at that.

Post Reply