Does anyone have experience with any of the Shuttle cases? They claim "Whisper quiet" fans in their ICE CPU cooler but and silentx PSU's which "you have to put your ear next to to hear."

These claims are a little hard to believe when you read later that the 240W PSU they use runs at a "whisper" of 32 dB at max load. Max load on a 240W PSU running new chips and an NVidia or ATI card would be...all the time??

Does anyone know if there is a way to silence something like this (the PSU uses 2 40mm fans and I dont know where to start with their ICE cooler...can it even be modded?)

Any ideas or is the shuttle something to avoid?

Thanks in advance
Twill

Will be finishing up a review of the Shuttle ST61G4 soon. And there is a review of the Shuttle zen on the main site -- it's quiet, acceptable to me even in stock form.

Some comments:

1) There are several threads by folks who have successfully modded & silenced Shuttle boxes. Search & review.
2) The grill for the ICE fan exhaust is too restrictive & should be removed.
3) The 80mm HS fan can be replaced with a quieter one -- and mounted on the outside. This will reduce the noise, counterintuitive tho it may sound. (Has to do with turbulence/resonance issues.) Leave the shroud, I think.
4) Try removing any chipset HS fan -- or running it at reduced voltage anyway,
5) Their SilentX PSU is quieter than the stock one, for sure; no easy way to mod the wee PSUs. A major job.
6) Some versions have a row of tiny intake holes at the front on the bottom panel. These can be enlarged for better airflow.
7) Do whatever you can to damp the panel. Just placing a heavy vase with a felt bottom on the top of the box can help. The aluminum panels always resonant more than steel.
Go for the coolest CPU you feel comfortable with, and undervolt it. (Doable on many if not all Shuttles.) They're tiny boxes, and the airflow is nowhere as good as a good midtower.

Thanks for the quick reply.

I'm considering the SN85G4V2 with an athalon 64. I know I am not going to get anywhere near "silent" with this...but "I can sleep 3 feet away from it" is a big deal.

I'll keep looking and let you know if I come up with anything interesting

Twill

In one of recent obsessive hunts for CnQ-supporting boards, I downloaded the manual for the SN85G4V2... and while there is no mention of CnQ, the board does have excellent undervolt capability and a decent CPU fan controller.

With something like an A64-2800, a few mods, judicious fan control and a 0.1~0.2 underclock, you just might get that sleep within a meter level of quiet.

If ClockGen can work with it, it'd be about as good as you can get in a powerful wee box. Unless you go for one of the price fanless rigs.