After living with a jet engine on my desk for the last three years, I've decided that my new system should be as quiet as possible.

I'm reasonably commited to an athlon processor, probably around athlon 64 3000+. I was thinking of using the zalman 7000cu for cooling the cpu.

What I'm really stuck about is the case and psu. At first I was looking at the antec sonata with its included psu, but the lian-li v1100 seems like a very well made case, and oh, it's so pretty!

So I guess what I'm asking is whether the lian-li v1100 with the antec phantom 350 will be quieter than the sonata (I suspect it will), and if so, if there will be a big difference (After all, the lian-li+phantom will be ~$350 more!).

Does anyone know if the lian li v1100 is quieter than the lian-li 6070? The v1100 has gotta be $50 more for a reason...

Finally, if anyone can give me any advice, or make any comments about said parts, or suggest any alternatives, I would very much appreciate it.

Thanks,
Dave

i narrowed it down to the lian li v1100 vs. the antec 3700bqe.

i chose the lian li purely on aesthetics. i don't regret the decision in the least! the v1100 is a thing of beauty, and i expect to keep it for many years, through multiple component upgrade cycles.

i'm still in the process of building my system, so i can't yet comment on noise issues.

I'm quite happy with my v1100 noisewise. Although for the price you'd think they'd include nice fans. At 12V they are very noise, so expect to replace them almost immediately. Also, harddrive suspension isnt too easy on this case, but somebody has found a way in these forums.

If u have the extra money, and you're sure its not wiser to spend it on better components, then go for it.

I've got both the BQE (picked up for $60 on a special from mwave!) and the V1000. I would assume the V1100 is more quiet than the V1000, but here's my experience so far.

The assumption that steel is much more quiet than aluminum definitely holds true, and while the V1000 is indeed an awesome case, it isn't necessarily well suited for silencing. Lian-li did a great job with designing the case, but I believe it's a given that it would be much harder to silence than a steel case, since its so sensitive.

Minor nuances in the V1000 make things tough such as:
- vibration from HDs is tough to cope w/ due to the unique mounting. There isn't much room for drive silencing options, although there's a post here on drive suspension.
- Cutting out the rear fan grill is definitely a must.
- Since everything is compartmentalized, your options for good airflow design are hindered (i.e. HD/PSU ventilation is isolated from the rest of the case).
- For me, the case runs as a giant heatsink since i run my box pretty hot, and the aluminum transfers heat pretty to the outside pretty well. In tandem with the heat ventilated from the holes in the case, this raises the ambient room temperature in my room.
- Definitely consider undervolting the stock ADDA 120mms. Although they're not bad, if you're really hardcore, you might wanna replace AND undervolt them.

Of course, the BQE isn't perfect, but it's much easier to make quiet cheaper; you've got more 'leeway' to work with as far as sound is concerned.

In the end, it's really up to you on how much you'd like to spend overall. In addition to the higher initial cost of the V1000, you can count on spending more on peripheral components such as a good PSU, fans, a quiet HD, and perhaps a good fan controller like the t-balancer.

Thanks for the prompt replies.

The Lian-Li sure is pretty, and whenever I look at it, I'm tempted, but being dead silent is more important for me. I heard from some that the extra thick aluminum stopped the dreaded aluminum resonance, and I was hoping that the case's superior cooling would mean that I could set my case fans to a lower voltage.

Can anyone comment on the PSU on the antec BQE? The phantom psu is more expensive than the BQE case + PSU, but I've heard some great reviews for the phantom.

Thanks,
Dave