In Search of Quiet EATX Case (dual quad-core Xeon system)

wesf · Post by **wesf** » Tue Sep 09, 2008 7:39 pm

I'm working on putting together a high-end video editing system for a friend. He does professional video editing and will be editing HD video with it. The plan is for a dual CPU quad-core Xeon setup. I had a good set of components picked out, but then he put the project on hold for a few months.

My problem is that the whole system was centered around the Antec P190 case which appeared to be the perfect fit. Well...in that delay, it appears that Antec has dropped the P190 (with no notice on their web site!) and I can't find one anywhere. I've been digging around online all over the place until my head hurts and can't seem to come up with the perfect case to use...

As I mentioned, dual quad-core Xeon's with at least 4 SATA hard drives are the main parts. Nothing fancy on the video card end of things... Quiet is the key. Preferably not ugly (and many are, but we can deal with that to some degree). He also does audio recording and editing, so quiet is a must...

Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance!

Wesley

EsaT · Post by **EsaT** » Tue Sep 09, 2008 11:51 pm

Not much spacious silencing friendly cases around when many makers concentrate to making colourful trash and rest to "thousand and one holes/remove anything more and you'll have plain open frame" cases.
Lian Li has some spacious silencing friendly cases:
http://www.lian-li.com.tw/v2/en/product ... s_index=66
Coolermaster Cosmos would be one possibility.. although it isn't good at cooling many HDDs.

I have myself A71 coming in few days. (of course it will get some modding and dampening mats)

nici · Post by **nici** » Wed Sep 10, 2008 2:18 am

Antec Atlas or Titan would probably work though neither is especially good looking. Then there's Akasa Eclipse, which looks better than either of the Antecs and is a very nice case to work with. Lian-Li also has some nice cases that fit E-ATX mobos, i would probably go with one of them or the Akasa Eclipse.

EsaT · Post by **EsaT** » Wed Sep 10, 2008 3:29 am

nici wrote:Antec Atlas or Titan would probably work though neither is especially good looking. Then there's Akasa Eclipse, which looks better...

Atlas can't even take E-ATX mobo and Titan looks like it has some plastic rails for attaching devices and PSU is on top getting warm air.
http://www.antec.com/productImageInside ... odID=91561
(just because it's Antec doesn't mean it's good)

You should know better than that!
Akase Eclipse failed EMC testing (what a surprise considering plastic side design!) and was honoured with practical sales ban here in Finland...
http://www2.tukes.fi/cgi-bin/myyntikiel ... m?id=24869
And neither it has really any silencing friendly features.

wesf · Post by **wesf** » Wed Sep 10, 2008 4:10 am

Thanks to everyone who posted suggestions so far...

The bigger of the two Antec "server" cases (Atlas or Titan - can't remember which) looked nice, but I was afraid it wouldn't cool well enough. I'll be the first to tell you I'm no quiet computing expert, but putting a pair of 92mm fans up front to help out sounds like it could add a good bit of noise to the system.

Some of the Lian Li cases look decent...I was drawn to the PC-X2000 as it appeared it could be pretty quiet...but it says "coming August 2008", and I still can't find one for sale anywhere. My main concern with the Lian Li cases (and maybe it's unfounded) is that the aluminum case wouldn't be as quiet as a (potentially) cheaper steel one might be. Any particular Lian Li that anyone would recommend? I'll take a closer look at the PC-A71...

I looked at the Coolermaster Cosmos 1000 and wasn't all that impressed. Perhaps it is fine, but just didn't seem quite like the perfect fit. Not to mention it looks kinda goofy.

I did a search for the Akasa when I was looking before posting here, but I couldn't find one that could be purchased here in the US...

Thanks,

Wesley

Sooty · Post by **Sooty** » Wed Sep 10, 2008 5:35 am

EsaT wrote: Akase Eclipse failed EMC testing (what a surprise considering plastic side design!) and was honoured with practical sales ban here in Finland...
http://www2.tukes.fi/cgi-bin/myyntikiel ... m?id=24869

Plastic side design? The main enclosure for the Eclipse is all metal, unless you're talking about the windowed version.

EMC = EMI?

thejamppa · Post by **thejamppa** » Wed Sep 10, 2008 5:43 am

Coolermaster HAFF 932 might be a candidate.
Antec Twelve Hundred can take e-Atx but 5x 120mm fans and + 200mm fan is hardly a quiet if those are just the case fans...

wesf · Post by **wesf** » Wed Sep 10, 2008 8:03 am

The Coolermaster HF 932 looks intriguing... My only concern is how open it is - seems like that could let some extra noise out of the case. Airflow would never be a problem though! I also wonder about the noise level of those 3 big fans...especially the one that's right on the front.

Anybody listened to one of them or have any thoughts?

Thanks,

Wesley

thejamppa · Post by **thejamppa** » Wed Sep 10, 2008 8:20 am

the big fans I think can be changed for regular 120 / 140mm fans. If you watch Image gallery you can see the side fan can be swapped for 1-4 120mm fans and top fan cahn be changed to 2 120mm normal fans. That gives you flexibility.

nici · Post by **nici** » Wed Sep 10, 2008 9:31 am

Sorry about the Atlas, i was tired. The Titan could be made quiet(like pretty much any case), but as a i said i would get a Lian-Li or the Eclipse over this thing since they look better designed in every way.

The Lian-Li cases use pretty sturdy aluminium so vibration should not be any worse than a comparable steel chassis. But then again i would add damping material to the inside of the case anyway, it makes the sound smoother even if doesn't lower the volume significantly.

As for the Akasa EMC issue, the same could be said about any case with a side window.. As far as i know it's an option on the Eclipse. Other than the optional window it is just like any other case in this regard so i can't see how it could fail EMC testing. If however it is indeed the non-windowed version i'd like to know why it has failed testing.

EsaT · Post by **EsaT** » Wed Sep 10, 2008 10:36 am

wesf wrote:The Coolermaster HF 932 looks intriguing... My only concern is how open it is - seems like that could let some extra noise out of the case.

Very open:
http://www.techwarelabs.com/reviews/cas ... ex_2.shtml
Won't leak just some extra noises but any noise components make.
It has somekind try of soft mounting but hard to say does that work because it also includes plastic tray:
http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/613/4

I should get Lian Li A71 tomorrow but weekend is fully booked up so case won't be ready very soon but I try to check construction before weekend.
Btw, reason why I'm jumping from configurable CM Stacker to A71 (instead of A77) is that open design cases don't mix up well with high performance components when it comes to silencing.
(and HDD having individual soft mounting isn't negotiable dropping away some other cases)

thejamppa wrote:Antec Twelve Hundred can take e-Atx.

Just because it's Antec doesn't mean it's good...
Only way that "big tower" takes E-ATX is after "introducing" saw to motherboard.

thejamppa · Post by **thejamppa** » Thu Sep 11, 2008 5:39 am

Zalman's GS 1000 looks very nice and isn't too expensive:
http://www.zalman.com/ENG/product/Produ ... sp?idx=310

aztec · Post by **aztec** » Thu Sep 11, 2008 7:34 am

Chenbro SR107 for around $160

http://usa.chenbro.com/corporatesite/pr ... p?serno=14

EsaT · Post by **EsaT** » Thu Sep 11, 2008 11:32 am

Well... My first impression of Lian Li A71 is this:
This isn't any "drop parts in" case as far as silencing is concerned. For spacious high performance PC case design has some very nice silencing potential but "stock condition" leaves most of it unrealized.

Clearly biggest flaw from silencing aspect is side panels being loosely attached from front and top edges and those thin metal springs aren't strong enough to prevent much vibration: If you tap side panel toward frame it rattles so that definitely needs some tweaking...
I think there might be some practical use for Akasa Paxmate after all! Because it's thin and compresses pretty much to nothing strips of it might do perfect job in removing that loose.

While aluminum lacking mass of steel is bad in general sense of silencing good thing is that case is light so you can easily add more than couple kilograms of damping material without "empty weight" instantly starting to reach toward 20kg. Also HDDs not being hard mounted and using good low speed fans (Slip Streams in order) should make it possible to keep it quite quiet. (after all even most lousiest case is silent if parts are silent)
Considering previous cases (big heavy steel towers) I wasn't expecting it to be built like tank and that pretty much describes sturdyness... Side panels are 1mm thick (not different from current CM Stacker) so definitely needs some additional mass, like many other places in case.
Also door has good clearance for some sound absorbtion mat and I don't think keeping it closed has any effect to intake capacity: Sides of door itself have plenty of holes/slots for airflow and there's ~2.5mm wide gap between door and case's front.

Btw, my case seems to be assembled in fifth of May and also HDD cage in uppert PSU bay has soft mounting and there's hole in motherboard tray for cable management near bottom PSU position like shown in pics of A7x10.

bexx · Post by **bexx** » Thu Sep 11, 2008 9:16 pm

Perhaps just get a ATX board? Tyan S5376... or Supermicro makes an identical looking board but not sure of their model. With two 5410s it idles at 110Watts with 12GB RAM and one HD... onboard video/NICs, being used as ESX server. But no reason you couldn't add a video card. Plus has onboard LSI SAS Controller if you need to do some nice array for HD Video.

All xeon boards require chassis mounts but if you buy the right heatsinks you can get backplates for 771. I beleive you can also get two Thermaltake heatsinks, they make only one for that come iwth 771 bracks... but seriously it would be insanely quiet.

I've got two 1U copper heatsinks on the CPUs and a single 120mm fan covering 1both CPUs... PWM fan controlled by BIOS and is almost always at 30% aka ~400RPM. Rarely start to hear it spin up.

merlyn · Post by **merlyn** » Thu Sep 11, 2008 11:33 pm

i still love my CMStacker. Do they still make them? yes i've taped up all the holes.

EsaT · Post by **EsaT** » Fri Sep 12, 2008 12:01 am

merlyn wrote:i still love my CMStacker. Do they still make them? yes i've taped up all the holes.

That's the starting position for my case change project.
Original STC-T01 might be still made but looks like better RC-810 isn't made anymore. (and was always rarer)

With silent parts it would be silent but with many HDDs that open front isn't best starting position unless elastic mounting doesn't sound like not the best idea.
Lian Li's HDD cages with individual soft mounting would probably help some but I thought could as well go for more silencing friendly design.

tsb · Post by **tsb** » Fri Sep 12, 2008 6:17 am

I second the Lian li suggestions.

kittle · Post by **kittle** » Fri Sep 12, 2008 12:01 pm

I have one of these cases for my system:
http://www.supermicro.com/products/chas ... 2S-420.cfm

handles an eatx motherboard with no problems, and has room for 7 HDDs + a DVD drive. The exhaust fan wasnt up to spcr standards, but the internal 92mm fans are suprisingly quiet.
Sadly that case is now "end of life"
but this looks to be the current incarnation:
http://www.supermicro.com/products/chas ... 2T-650.cfm

word of warning though: these are NOT CHEAP cases. They are solid steel/aluminum construction so they are heavy.

Jipa · Post by **Jipa** » Wed Sep 17, 2008 2:54 am

I'm currently working on a Lian-Li PC-X2000 review and so far I've been fairly impressed with it. The cooling is just crazy so it should be easily enough to keep even the dual processor setup cool. The side panels are 2 mm aluminum, lined with noise dampening material and they don't seem to make any extra noises.

The silence-related issues that I can see are the lack of soft mounts on the HDDs and the two 80 mm fans on the back. Also the price is just crazy if you don't put serious value on the outlooks and overall quality (not maybe the main features of a work station)..

I'm not a quiet computing expert and due to the lack of dB-meter can't give any absolute numbers either, but with the fans set to low I can definitely live with the noise. It's nowhere inaudible though.

(currently browsing the forums on my phone and can't really do any further testing before the weekend.)