Knowing that I would eventually want to move to microATX, I built my main system a year ago off of a Foxconn 6150 microATX motherboard. I am going to use my modded Sonata case for a NAS box I'm hiding in the closet, and would like to replace the case with a quiet microATX (preferably cube) form factor.
Here are my constraints:
1) Case must fit a Zalman 7000AlCu
2) Case must fit a Seasonic S12 380W ATX power supply
3) Case must fit a regular-size DVD drive (NEC 3540)
4) Case must fit my 7900GT, and ideally fit a Zalman VF-700 (flexible here)
5) Case fans should be no louder than a stock 7900GT, although it would be great if it's quieter so I can benefit from replacing the fan on my video card
6) Case should be cheap -- I consider this as an additional cost to building my backup box, and still need to buy a SATA controller and RAM for my old Athlon XP 1600+ and nforce 1 mobo
One last thing -- it would be great if the case came with a semi-quiet PSU I could use in the backup box -- I just realized the only spare PSU I have is an old Enlight 300W power supply that is loud as hell. As long as I can't hear the PSU fan behind a closed closet door, it should be more than enough.
Any ideas of what might be the best case for me?
Need SFF case recommendation
Moderators: NeilBlanchard, Ralf Hutter, sthayashi, Lawrence Lee
I just put my old Sonata parts in a Microfly. Everything fits fine, and I found a spare 12v to 5v converter to slow down both case fans.
There are two issues I am having so far:
1) Temperature -- I let my Athlon X2 3800+ fold overnight (for spcr of course), check my computer this morning, and the CPU is at 70 degrees C when it used to be 60 degrees C in my Sonata w/ Nexus fan. I could possibly speed up the fans to improve this, but not sure what impact this will have on fan noise. For now I have stopped folding until I figure out what I want to do.
2) Hard disk noise -- I have a Maxtor DiamondMax 10 300GB hard drive, which has very loud vibration noise. I used to have my hard drive lying on a piece of foam on the bottom of my Sonata. I could potentially do that as well, but since it's a SFF and meant to be moved I'd rather do something like suspension in one of its 5.25" slots.
Overall the build was pretty easy and I'm happy with the case. Once I solve the HDD problem I can live with the temperatures and just not fold.
There are two issues I am having so far:
1) Temperature -- I let my Athlon X2 3800+ fold overnight (for spcr of course), check my computer this morning, and the CPU is at 70 degrees C when it used to be 60 degrees C in my Sonata w/ Nexus fan. I could possibly speed up the fans to improve this, but not sure what impact this will have on fan noise. For now I have stopped folding until I figure out what I want to do.
2) Hard disk noise -- I have a Maxtor DiamondMax 10 300GB hard drive, which has very loud vibration noise. I used to have my hard drive lying on a piece of foam on the bottom of my Sonata. I could potentially do that as well, but since it's a SFF and meant to be moved I'd rather do something like suspension in one of its 5.25" slots.
Overall the build was pretty easy and I'm happy with the case. Once I solve the HDD problem I can live with the temperatures and just not fold.
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