I am thinking of getting a chieftec entry server case for better airflow/quietness? does anyone have any experience with these? I want to run a Ti4600 with a Zalman ZM80A-HP on it and according to Daniel Broad, he's running a 4400 fanless fine with case temp of 30 deg Celsius. Does the Chieftec deliver good temps/quietness? Thanks everyone!

oh, and also: would having an acrylic side window affected acoustical output of case? i really dont have any preference for one but i was just wondering in case the case i may buy does have one.

Im not exactly sure which one your looking at, but im using a Chieftec Dragon case, and am very impressed with it. It allows for good airflow through the case, and there is plenty of room. General build quality is very solid, and the side panels are nice and thick. The case is heavy providing good stock sound deadening.

Re the side window, as long as it is properly sealed (ie airtight), i dont think you would notice any difference.

The Chieftec/Antec/Chenming SX10x0 line of server cases has very good ventilation which means you can run some pretty hot components and not have to go overboard with lots of case fans. This plus the heavy steel construction of the case helps keep the noise down.

The main rig in my sig is cooled with one Panaflo L1A and a 18cfm NMB fan + the True480 PSU fans. That's it. Case temps run from the high 20C to mid 30C range, depending on ambient temp and load.

do you think the airflow is good for running a ZM80A-HP truly fanless on a Ti4600 card? thanks. Plus, could you post your case temps in your Celeron server (the Antec SLK3700AMB) ralf?. does anyone know what my system temps should look like if I have an antec/chieftec case with 2 rear exhaust L1A panaflos, one panaflo L1A intake, zalman zm300apf power supply? The system consists of a 2.53 GHz P4 with an Alpha Heatsink + 80mm low airflow fan (like Panaflo L1A), Ti4600 card (ZM80A-HP to be installed on this), and Western Digital 120GB SE 8mb cache. BTW, does anyone know if running the Panaflo case fans at lower voltage would make a large impact on noise/cooling? thanks everyone!

I think you would be better having 2 L1as as intakes and one as exhaust. So making 2 in 2out including the PSU. With the panaflos at around 7V, i would think you shouldnt be much more than 5*C above ambient, maybe 10*C. I think you would need you CPU fan at 12V tho, or at least pretty near it, if you are pushing the CPU to 100% quite often.

My Celeron server is now a PIII-S 1.4Ghz server and I'm running the CPU undervolted to 1.3V (default is 1.45V). HSF is SLK-800 + 7-volted M1A, case fan is 5-volted 120mm L1A, PSU is an Antec True380.

Temps are: case temp high 20C to mid 30C range from idle to Prime95 load. CPU is mid 30C at idle to 39-40C at Prime95 load. Ambient temps range from low to high 70F range right now.



Look at the main rig in my sig. It's very close to what you're running and my case is an Antec/Chieftec SX10x0 clone. CPU cooling is 8942 + 12V L1A, case cooling is one L1A on the back wall and one of those 18cfm NMBs on the front wall, both at 12V. Vidcard is an ATI Radeon 8500 and I'm running two Seagate Barracuda IV HDDs. PSU is a True480.

Temps are: case runs mid 20C to low 30C, CPU runs low 30C at idle to 48-50C at load.

I think your temps should be very similar to mine, perhaps a little cooler. Your CPU should run cooler since is not OCed (mine is 2.66Ghz @ 3.0Ghz) but your vidcard probably runs hotter than mine. A trade-off in temps perhaps? My HDDs probably run hotter than yours but you're going to have three L1As as case fans vs. my one L1A and one NMB. Add it all up, compensate for ambient and you should be a little cooler than me.

Big question for me would be the ZM80 + Ti4600 thing. You may be able to cool it sufficiently with case airflow but if it was me I'd stick a low-speed Panaflo on a Zalman bracket perpendicular to the card, just to e sure.

ive been shopping for a chieftec at newegg and, according to almost EVERY single customer review, I have heard complaints that the paint comes off easily and the front plastic cover ("dragon" case) is made of cheap, thin plastic. I thought that these were identical to the Antec cases...which are supposedly excellent quality? Does anyone have any experience with the Chieftecs? Many newegg.com users said that the front plastic door was so weak that is broke during shipping or could be broken easily. plus, my old inwin case had a 80mm intake fan bracket -- however, this bracket made lots of vibrational noise when I put a 80mm fan in it. Does anyone know if the Chieftec case has a problem like this? thanks!

As someone mentions in near the beginning of this thread: Antec, Chieftec, Chenming and some CoolMaster, and several/many others are sourced from the same OEM. That is, the carcasses are the same, but the paint is "by" the company who's name is on it. So, the Chieftec paint quality (or lack thereof) has no bearing on the quality of the paint on the Antec's. The Antec's that I have seen have very pearly, slick, paint -- very good stuff, and I have not seen many (any?) complaints about Antec's cases on NewEgg.com.

oh, i am not really concerned with the paint job: the chieftecs are supposed to be okay (dont know why i even mentioned paint ). I'm just concerned if the chieftec "dragon" front door panel is fragile as many newegg customers have claimed...

My understanding is that the Chieftec and the Antec are essentialy the same. I've had the Antec SX1030 for awhile and really like it. Newegg had a special on the blue Chieftec version of the case with usb/firewire ports in front and I jumped on it. This is going to be my base for a silent (near silent) system. Any reccomendations on a psu?

marioncyclonefan,

would you be able to tell me exactly which case you are buying from newegg? to my understanding, there are a few. thanks!

I have the Antec 1080amg incarnation of this case. It is quite sturdy throughout. Even the plastic front door is ok. I doubt it would be much of a match for someone with a crowbar, but it has kept my kids away from the drives. I have one 80 mm fan in the holder in front of the hard drive blowing inward and another as an intake fan in the side "blowhole" slot. The PSU fans do all the exhaling. They are connected to "fan only" connectors with rpms thermally controlled by the PSU. I have an XP 2100+ Palomino with a SLK-800. An Arctic Cooling TC-1 thermally contolled fan (the subject of a favorable comment by Mike in a forum response, but is curiously not on the recommended fans list) blows down through the SLK-800 with the thermistor stuck between the fins of the SLK-800. The CPU temp with this stays at a fairly consistent 45C with the TC-1 usually spinning at between 2100 and 2200 rpm. Case temp is usually 35C.

It is the Chieftec DX01BLD U2F 0W. It was on special for $49 w/free shipping.

I have the blue chieftec from newegg with the side window and side fan.

I did not go for the aluminum due to the price difference.

I really like the case, it is very well built and I have had no problems with the paint or the door (which is plastic but does not seem flimsy or anything).

The plastic fan mounts are very tight and I have not heard any sort of vibration from them, and it is quite nice to be able to swap out fans without whipping out the screwdriver.

The case is very tall and wide for a mid-tower, the ventilation seems great due to the fact that it is never more than 3f hotter than the room temp.

I would recommend the case to anyone that has room for it.

thanks for your input. would you say that your system would be quieter if it had a solid steel side door instead of the side panel w/ the acrylic window?

I've got the 4 * 5 1/2 version Chieftec Dragon case. What I've found to be great at reducing the noise is AcoustiPack standard.

Just line the 2 side panels, part of the bottom and part of the top, then slide a piece into the bottom of the front fascia where the vent holes are. Next line the front panel which opens and any plastic drive backing plates. Also blocked the lower rear fan grill.

This makes an amazing difference to noise levels.

I removed a Ys-Tech fan from its housing, then strapped a whole Ys-Tech fan onto this fan housing. This places the fan further back from the stamped metal grill and also closer to the CPU area. This area seems to hold most of the hot air. The fan is running at 7v. This helped to reduce the airflow noise and also because I didn't want to cut the grills off.

Walking into the room, I cannot tell if the the Pc is running Although not completely silent. I reckon the sound is similar to a laptop without the fan running.

Temps are around 40c at idle, 45-48 under load.
System: Chieftec PSU, 3 hd, 2 CD.

I'd recommend the case and investing in some AcoustiPack.

I have the DX-01WD. My box as silent as the central air, which is inaudible. I have a series of layers on the inside of the case, which are not nessecary for a quiet system, but I wanted to fool around =). I have a 1mm thick sheet of aluminium (easier to shear to size) stuck to 4mm of ShoreA 40A hardness rubber (from Mcmaster Carr) on the inside of the steel case. The extra "padding" adds about 40% more weight to the case. Before the mod, the case was almost inaudible. Now I can only hear anything if I put my ear within 6in of the rear intake.

Airflow is great, I actually had to mask up the lower front intake and the lower rear intake. I have enermax adjustable fans in the hd rack and the upper rear fan slot (offset with 3/8in dia. ShoreA 40A rubber cord, cut to work like those silicon dongles you buy at svc). There is a lot of room in this case, which translates into much easier cooling.

I am running a zalman Cu flower on a 1800+ with a radeon AIW 8500 with a enermax "whisper" psu and seagate barracuda 120gb hd, cdrw and dvd. I put a variable enermax 12 cm fan on the flower. I unplugged the fan on the 8500 and hung a 5V sunon (2 come with the case) blowing over the video card on an elbow bracket (homemade). My cpu temps never go over 44C at 100% load for 2 hours. My case temperatures never go over 37C.

I don't know if I can trust these measurements, although I checked the numbers in the bios and with software (MBM, Speedfan both agree with bios reported). Could someone tell me how/where the K7S5A PRO takes mb and cpu temps? How far off can they be? I could swear that the case feels hotter than 37C.