Silent Case: More Airflow, or Controlled Airflow

Enclosures and acoustic damping to help quiet them.

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Sytar
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Joined: Sat Jan 11, 2014 6:48 pm

Silent Case: More Airflow, or Controlled Airflow

Post by Sytar » Sat Jan 11, 2014 7:08 pm

I have been looking at a lot of different cases, and I have also used many different types in the past. I am looking for something that will be Air Cooled, not water, and will be running as silent as possible. Is it better to go with a more ventilated case, using more and quieter fans, or to use possible higher speed fans and a tighter, more controlled airflow.

The 550D seems to be a pretty popular opinion, and I do like the options it has. However I do also like the 540 with the split cambers and more open ventilated design.

Please let me know what you think and the reasons why. I am building a new system from scratch, which will be a mid range i5, that will probably not be overclocked, since I am more worried about sound then the extra speed I would get from the OC.

Jerry - Sytar

Abula
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Re: Silent Case: More Airflow, or Controlled Airflow

Post by Abula » Sat Jan 11, 2014 9:54 pm

Welcome to SPCR.

Personally i think there are two routes to reach a very quiet setup, either have as closed as possible case that barely leaks noise, you still need quiet components but overall this is one of the ways to go.

And the second is a less restrictive case, so you need less rpms to sustain the same cooling, but in here you will need very quiet and efficient components, as you will be into a very open case, any noise will be leaked out very easily. This is what im going to try next, Corsair Air 540 modded to fit 2x more fans on the bottom (i dislike the hdd and holes open on the bottom), and will be trying 4x 140mm in and 3x 140mm out, still deciding on which fans it will be with, Phanteks 140mm Case/Radiator Cooling Fan (PH-F140XP_BK) with the Q.S.A adapter should run 300-900rpms, and Noctua NF-A14 PWM can be drop down to 225rpms on pure PWM, paired with MSI X97 mobo (hopping they will keep their way the BIOS fan control and 2x real independant 4pin PWM headers). The idea is to have a lot of fans driven to very low rpms and hopping the case temps remains very similar to ambient but will see how it turn out, i haven't tested this, just my personal guess.

But most will build on a more restricted case, its probably a safer bet, as an open case will not dampen much and any component that its slightly noisy will be very noticeable.

quest_for_silence
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Re: Silent Case: More Airflow, or Controlled Airflow

Post by quest_for_silence » Sun Jan 12, 2014 3:54 am

Sytar wrote:Please let me know what you think and the reasons why


It depends mostly on the graphics of choice.
At any rate, IME a more open case works better with a positive pressure setup (temp and noise wise), but so it will easily become a dust receptacle, so lots of effective dust filters (maybe magnetic ones) are mandatory.

Sytar
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Joined: Sat Jan 11, 2014 6:48 pm

Re: Silent Case: More Airflow, or Controlled Airflow

Post by Sytar » Sun Jan 12, 2014 11:09 am

quest_for_silence wrote:
Sytar wrote:Please let me know what you think and the reasons why


It depends mostly on the graphics of choice.
At any rate, IME a more open case works better with a positive pressure setup (temp and noise wise), but so it will easily become a dust receptacle, so lots of effective dust filters (maybe magnetic ones) are mandatory.
I just purchased the gigabyte gtx 660 oc. Seems to be pretty quiet with the dual fans.

Yah, dust has always been an issue in my cases.

I thought of building a custom case is interesting but I don't know if I would risk the stability of a normal case. someone build a large wood case that had a Home air filter at the bottom, it worked pretty well, but a lot of work to build it stable.

I have read lots of reviews and will be going with Noctua fans everywhere I can.

Sytar
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Re: Silent Case: More Airflow, or Controlled Airflow

Post by Sytar » Tue Jan 14, 2014 8:01 pm

I would have guessed a question like this would get some more opinions. I am honestly interested in what people have to say.

flemeister
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Re: Silent Case: More Airflow, or Controlled Airflow

Post by flemeister » Tue Jan 14, 2014 11:05 pm

Abula said it all IMO. :)

Either:

1) Open ventilation case (eg. Corsair Air 540), with components carefully chosen for near silent operation with minimal/no imperfections in the character of their noise (eg. fans clicking/tickling/chugging). You'll get the best airflow with this type of case, but there will be nothing to muffle the more noticeable sources of noise to the human ear, such as the motor noise of a hard drive.
2) Closed off case (eg. Fractal Define R4), with components still carefully chosen for near silent operation, but not nearly as important as it is with a more open case. The solid panels, mass damping and acoustic foam will mostly negate any imperfections in the character of their noise, as well as help to muffle the more noticeable sources of noise to the human ear such as hard drive motor noise.

quest_for_silence
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Re: Silent Case: More Airflow, or Controlled Airflow

Post by quest_for_silence » Tue Jan 14, 2014 11:53 pm

Sytar wrote:
quest_for_silence wrote:
Sytar wrote:Please let me know what you think and the reasons why


It depends mostly on the graphics of choice.
At any rate, IME a more open case works better with a positive pressure setup (temp and noise wise), but so it will easily become a dust receptacle, so lots of effective dust filters (maybe magnetic ones) are mandatory.
I just purchased the gigabyte gtx 660 oc. Seems to be pretty quiet with the dual fans.

Yah, dust has always been an issue in my cases.


I don't know well Kepler's generation Gigabyte cards (while the Fermi's ones are often a bit less quiet than hoped), so I can't help and you will find out by yourself whether or not it's enough quiet.

Anyway, dust always build up, in positive or negative setups: in a positive setup you do need filters on intakes because the dust grow rate increase.

Providing you will find suitable air filters, I've recently transplanted a gaming system from an Antec Solo I into one of the last Antec One Hundred available: using a positive setup (three intakes, no forced exhaust) I was able to noticeably lower any temp except the idle VGA (given a similar noise level: take note that as I don't have any air filter for that machine, I reverted it to more traditional negative air pressure setup, dust will grow up the same but with a less wild ratio).

With reference to your needs, a GTX 660 is somewhat borderline: it isnt' enough hot to require a less restricted case, and as a matter of fact inside the Solo I there was an ASUS GTX 660 (now inside the One Hundred), where it ran cool and quietly even under load (I cannot hear it over the sound of two 800rpm running 120mm fans).

So, for a more power hungry card (to say, 170W and more TDP), I would rather a less restricted enclosure, but if you don't plan it, I think that a "silent" enclosure would be a more straightforward option.

Olaf van der Spek
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Re: Silent Case: More Airflow, or Controlled Airflow

Post by Olaf van der Spek » Wed Jan 15, 2014 11:21 am

An i5 and GTX 660 aren't that high-power, so getting it quiet shouldn't be too difficult.
How quiet should it be? Should it also be quiet at full load or is quiet at semi-idle load enough?

Will you use HDDs?

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