Antec Nine Hundred loud? or quiet?

[Googly_Eyes]

I noticed NewEgg has the Antec 900 (or Nine Hundred however it's labeled) on sale for $60 w/ free shipping.

I'm tempted but I want to build a quiet computer. I sit next to my PC (a foot or two away) about 8 hours a day and white noise bothers me.

Would it be quiet if all the fans ran on low? How about if i use lower power components & large heatsinks & disable/remove some fans? My main concern is that, while all the grill ventilation is good for convection heat dissipation, it also doesn't block noise.

What do you all think? Is it a good buy at $60 or will i regret not spending double that for a P182?

Thanks guys Need to make my decision before they're sold out or the sale ends (11/30)

p.s. long time SPCR reader, first time poster

[Aris]

you can make any case quiet if you know how.

[Googly_Eyes]

you can make any case quiet if you know how.

well yea, i could put in low noise fans & even line it w/ noise dampening material. but would that be better than a case that's designed primarily for low-noise like the P182? Would it cause heat build up? Assuming the cost of adding such materials brings it into the $120 range of the P182.

I guess I'm trying to ascertain the value of this case, in terms of noise/cooling.

I plan on building a system w/ these components

• Intel Core 2 Quad Q8200 2.33GHz 4MB L2 Cache LGA 775 95W
  ZEROtherm ZEN FZ120 120mm CPU Cooler
  Arctic Silver 5
  GIGABYTE GA-EP45T-UD3P Intel P45 + ICH10R Chipset
  Crucial Ballistix 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800
  Western Digital Caviar SE16 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache
  EVGA GeForce GTX 260 Core 216 896MB <stock speed, no OC>
  (# Core clock: 576MHz
  # Memory Clock: 1998MHz)
  and an old IDE NEC 16x DVD +/-R i'll be reusing

I'm also slightly concerned that the acrylic window might be counter-productive. Lower rate of heat transfer & would it also amplify (or deaden less) internal case noise?; compared to cold-rolled steel?

[Aris]

P180 series case is not designed to be quiet. Its a hybrid case, made to be good for either the silencing crowd or the overclocking crowd, but only if you know how to set it up for your specific use. I see inexperienced silencers on the forum all the time complaining their P180 isnt quiet as advertised here at SPCR, because they dont know what their doing.

Cases designed to be, drop in a system and its quiet, would be the P150/Solo, and the NSK3480. Both of which, imho, are the best cases for ATX and mATX enclosures respectively from a silencers perspective.

One of the major flaws of the Antec 900 is that its PSU region of the case is not thermally separated from the rest of the enclosure. So when your CPU/VGA heats up the case, it heats up the PSU and makes the PSU fan ramp up quicker. Now granted it is located at the bottom of the case, so it wont happen as quickly as it would if it was located at the top of the case, but its still of concern. Also it has a huge grille area right over the VGA/CPU region, which will let noise from those devices get out of the case quite easily.

If you want an easy quiet case for a full atx board, i'd go with the solo. You can pick up one without a PSU from newegg for just 60 bucks, also with free shipping.

[Googly_Eyes]

I wouldn't mind spending some time & effort customizing the case for silence if it could be done. I'm just not sure if doing so would still maintain the cost benefit.

One other thing I forgot to mention & am not sure if I should be worried about in a case like the P182 is that in the compartmentalized section for the PSU there isnt much room above/below the PSU as opposed to behind it. Would this impede on the airflow for a PSU w/ a top/bottom mounted fan?

For instance, the PSU I'm considering buying is

SeaSonic S12 Energy Plus SS-650HT 650W


or

a Corsair TX650W (maybe 750TX, if it's also made by SeaSonic; might be made by Channel Well though im not sure. it wasnt listed in XBL's roundup)

p.s. I read somewhere that the Solo couldn't hold a GTX 260. Can't remember where, might have been in the forums here while i was poking around a week or two ago. That's the main reason I didn't consider it.

[Aris]

you just need to make a small notch in the HD bay of the solo to allow longer cards to fit. its not hard, doesnt take long. i'm sure theres threads around on the forum on how to do it.