Ralf takes on the Super Lanboy. Call it a mobile gamer's interpretation of a quiet case.

I'm curious to how the Sorbothane pads were used to mount the hard drive (a picture if possible). Also where one might purchase them in the US.

The price in the review says US $22-27... where the devil is it that inexpensive? I seen it on www.newegg.com for $76...???

Also...

this sentence makes very little sense, seeing as how:
(A.) the table shows 33°C, while the sentence says 35°C... which is correct?
and
(B.) everything is measured in Celsius except the ambient temp??

Oops, should be 35°C




Cause I have a difficult time thinking of ambient temp in Celsius. I'm an Amaarican dang it, I don't like all this furrin stuff. I'll see if I can persuade the boss to fix my boo-boos. Thanks!

Pics and description in this post and further discussion occurs throughout the rest of the thread.

Sorbothane came from good 'ol McMaster-Carr. Search for "sorbothane" or "8514K115" to get you to the page that has the 4" x4" x 1/2" sheet that I used. Or search for "3264" that will take you to page 3264 where the selection of Sorbothane sheets is.

Obviously my error... corrected.

A truly awesome review. Great job Ralf. Esp. on that wiring thing

I've got a few questions:
1) Is fan noise at 12v comparable at all to 3700AMB stock fan at 12v? The reason I'm asking is because I had to run my 3700AMB fan at 5v, at 12v it was like a jet fighter, while you are saying that at 12v Lanboy was tolerable. Mine also established a ticking noise at 5v as well.
2) Are 120mm fans just regular 120mm Antec fans that I can buy everywhere or they are special "quiet" version? Is it this one, but clear, http://www.antec-inc.com/us/pro_details ... odID=77095 ?
3) If you didn't care about all visual glimmics, would you choose this case, 3700AMB or Compucase LX-6A19 or Fong Kai 330 regarding the quality of construction? It seems from your review those cases would be less noisy because they are made from steel. I'm looking for a 2x120mm fan case right now.

Seems like a no-brainer case for someone who wants a decent case for cooling & looks.

I think Ralf's answer is obvious. (He'll correct me vociferously if I am wrong, of course ) In the review, he refers to how his "reference 3700AMB case" is more solid and quieter with those HDDs and lets out less noise in front. The thing to remember is that Ralf is an experienced case modder, so his preference is not necessarily the best for everyone. If you want low noise with a min of fuss, no modding, then a 3700BQE might be the best, or something like an Evercase 4252 (120mm back fan) or the FK330 with a properly working Seasonic Super Silencer.

Thanks!



At 12V, the Lanboy's case fans are noticeably quieter than the 3700AMB stock fan at 12V. Antec makes no noise claims for the 3700AMB fan, it's just a regular fan. They call the Lanboy's fans "quiet fans" which is a reasonable claim.




If you're talking about the 120mm fans in the Lanboy, Antec calls them "quiet fans" but there's no model number or any other form of identification on them so you can't compare them to any other Antec fan. The fans you linked look similar to the lighted front fan of the Lanboy but there's no way to tell if it's the same. Antec doesn't claim that those lighted fans are "quiet" so my guess would be that they're not the same as the fans that are included with the Lanboy.




The 3700AMB and the 6A19 are the same case and identically constructed, but with different bezels. I'd choose the 3700AMB because the door has the advantage of slightly lower noise and it hides the drives from sight too. I'd also choose the Fong Kai over the Lanboy due to it's steel construction and more internal room.

My priorities in a case (in order) are: 1) Quiet, 2) Cool, 3) Roomy and easy to work in/with, 4) Looks nice. That's just me though. Within that framework the Lanboy is a little too noisy due to it's lightweight aluminum construction and bezel design, too small and too busy looking.

I personally place very little importance on the physical size and weight of a case because my cases don't get moved. If I was a LAN-er I'd think the Lanboy was an excellent choice performance-wise. I'd rather not have the window or the lights, but that's a personal thing for the most part.

where do the front audio ports connect? Do they go out the back and into the 3.5mm jacks? can you post a pic of the connection plz

Nice job Ralf. My original Lanboy did come with a PSU however, a 350w SmartBlue model. So I suppose this new Lanboy is somewhat more expensive. And I'm not wild about that front fan opening.....looks like a direct path for escaping sounds. But it is a good looking case.

The front audio ports connect to pins on your mobo, like internal USB or Firewire.


If you look closely at the pics on this page you can see the gray cables that run along the bottom of the case and connect to the mobo above the last PCI slot. Those are the audio cables and that's where the header is on that particular mobo. The other gray cable above and to the right of the audio cable is the USB 2.0 cable.

Great review! I'm actually upset because now I'm tempted by this case.

One question - when volting the fans at 5v what method did you use?

It's funny how most people complain about restrictive air vents and then when a manuf makes a case that addresses this issue the complaint is that too much noise gets through. I understand both sides of the argument but I'll bet Antec reads stuff like that and rips their hair out.

One other note - great job on the cabling. Maybe I'm just very poor at this but I don't think I could have hidden the cables as well as you did.

I moved the wires on the 4-pim Molex connectors.



Yes, that's true but it's not too hard to acheive a balance between good air flow and a well designed bezel. Antec themselves did a great job of it with the SLK3700 series but people bitch that they don't like how the vents "look". You just can't win... However, as I posted in a different thread, "form follows function" and I'd much rather have something that works good as compared to some thing that just looks good. YMMV, of course.



Thanks. I don't suppose you'd believe me if I told you I sit around practicing cable management, would you?

Actually, Ralf, I would believe you! Certainly it takes a lot of practice to be as good at it as you are...

hello,
I've been thinking about using this case to build a new system, however I'm worried about the door that covers the bays. I'm interested in getting the Audigy 2 ZS Platinum which has the 5.25" panel that sits in the bay, but is there enough room to put it in and still be able to close the door on the case?

And does anyone know if this panel can be put in on the Sonata or the original Lanboy without getting in the way of the door?

Thanks

I got a chance to handle this case while browsing at Altex. It's really amazing how light and small it is. Great for someone who takes their pc on the go. Really a nice little case. The front grill was kind of funny. It's almost a waste to put it on there. With very little effort I took it off by mistake!! You might as well just replace it with a fan grill. Talk about the ultimate in unrestricted airflow. I can tell that the designers at Antec were determined to shut up all the complainers about unrestricted air flow with the intake on this case.

Yeah, this and the P160 have basically unrestricted airflow through the front bezels. To the detriment of noise though.

I am interested in this case for a LAN system

I hope someone will read this, i know this thread is old.

anyway.

I got some questions about the cons

CONS
* Open air intake allows noise to escape

What if i use a 92mm panaflo, do u think the noise would be that bad? like from a meter away?

* Aluminum panels resonate

In the review it says the fans and HDD are making it Hum, if i use soborthane for the HDD and EARs for fans will the Hum go away?

* Styling of front fan cover
Does it break easy? Can i use a fan grill instead?

* No intake fan filter

Would it be easy to make my own?

* No optical drive rails
not really a problem here =)

great review
thx to whomever can answer my questions
~RaNDoM

Re: Intake filter

Ralph did write in the review that there wasn't any space to put one. Looking at the images, the only way I can see that happening is really to stuff it in place of the finger-guard (or even in front of it). Seems like a pretty tight fit...

what about something like this
http://www.svc.com/svff80msh-red.html

It looks really thin
i cant really tell from the pic tho

~RaNDoM

Seems more like a mesh grille than a "filter" to me (if that think FILTERS stuff, you've got BIG chunks of dust flying around) .

Have a look at BLUEFRONT posts and systems - he's pretty much our resident "filtered-air fetishist" (in the good way), so you can learn a lot from him, in terms of creative ways of getting air filtered.

PM him, if in doubt - he's a friendly sort.

You may cut the fan noise a bit but the internal case noise will still escape through this hole.



It would certainly help to do that, but there's also other sources of case vibrations such as the PSU and CPU fans that will add their noise as well. Probably the most effective method would be to use some dampening method like the "Acousti-Pack" stuff.



It's just plastic so it can certainly break. Yes, you could use a fan grill instead, but IMHO that would look even worse than the plastic cover.



I'm sure you could rig up something, but it would be a bit of work to do if you intend to use the front fan too. You'd have to build a cover over the entire lower bezel to seal off the fan. This wouldn't be easy to do and still have it look halfway decent.


All of the above is a pretty big list of mods to have to make to a case!

yeah that is alot of work for a case....

is there any small case that would be good for lanning that wouldnt need much if any modding?

~RaNDoM

RaNDoMMAI --

Sounds to me like you should just get the case, assemble your system & then see what -- if anything -- you need to do. If it's a LAN gamer, the noise level is probably modest compared to the other competitors'.

hey i know this thread is kinda old, but im thinking of building my first comp and i was thinking of the super lanboy case.
do you think its allright for a first time builder?

I recently purchased this case to transplant my "befouls itself yearly requiring a total rebuild" Koolance system. I wanted something moderately quiet, small, light, and with some looks. This case fits the bill.

First reaction, this case is extremely light, even relative to the other aluminum cases I've worked with. Great for portability, but.. it does have kind of a rickety "too thin" quality. This is probably what Ralf was complaining about with vibration, and after buying this case, I can see why. Would it have killed Antec to use SLIGHTLY thicker aluminum? Doing even light mods causes a lot of flex in the case.

It's also rather smaller than I imagined. Not necessarily a minus, but be warned. Probably a good quality for a LAN machine but not for one you plan to be working on a lot. Speaking of which, I think these mods make sense on this case (and are pretty easy):

• Snipped the front fan grill for better airflow; used rubber grommets to re-mount the front fan against the case. The case flexed LOT when doing this, and made me very nervous about permanent bendage. But this grill is on the inside, so any rough cuts won't show anyway.
• Sorbothane mounted the power supply. Bent off the top PSU retainer tab, to allow clearance for sorbothane pads on the bottom tabs and against the mobo tray wall.
• Applied eggcrate acoustic foam where possible, most notably, on the top, bottom, and rear of the internal drive bays; this creates a nice little "quiet box" effect in that area, while still allowing lots of airflow throughput.

This is a very well ventilated case, as Ralf points out. I only have one real criticism: I do think they should have blocked the front fan intake a bit more (maybe by not having all those holes cut in it). This is painful coming from a guy who complained so much about the Sonata's incredibly restrictive bezel-- but I think a little blockage up front is worth it to avoid direct paths for sound to our ears. It's a balancing act..

Anyway, the Super Lanboy is a good blend of bling, portability, and low noise. Even better with some light modding. Pics to follow..

Hi

Does the Gemini II from cooler Master fits inside this smal case?

Thx