Quietest case: Fractal, be quiet! or something else ?

Enclosures and acoustic damping to help quiet them.

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Japanese Capacitor
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Quietest case: Fractal, be quiet! or something else ?

Post by Japanese Capacitor » Wed Oct 21, 2020 5:38 am

It's my first post here, so I would like to say hello to all of the quiet pc enthusiast here and of course anybody else : )

Simple question as topic stands. I've seen a lot of reviews, so the best it would be hear people who experienced products of both brands and have comparison. If somebody has experience with for example few models of one brand, it's also interesting. I just wonder if next iterations of Define make progress in silence/airflow ratio or Silent Base 601/801's thick sound dampening material works better than thin we see in Fractals. There's also popular opinion that better way of achieving silence is more open and non restrictive case, which let fans go slower. Is here anybody, who tried both ways?

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Re: Quietest case: Fractal, be quiet! or something else ?

Post by CA_Steve » Wed Oct 21, 2020 11:17 am

Welcome to SPCR.

It all depends on what you plan to put in it. A web browser built for quiet operation is different than a high end gaming build to show two extremes.

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Re: Quietest case: Fractal, be quiet! or something else ?

Post by Japanese Capacitor » Thu Oct 22, 2020 1:15 am

Build for gaming and webbrowsing. I have 9700K with Scythe Ninja 5 and 2070 Super. I don't OC, because I prefer quieter operation over that.

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Re: Quietest case: Fractal, be quiet! or something else ?

Post by CA_Steve » Mon Oct 26, 2020 9:03 am

Open vs closed: all reviews I've seen are done with the PC sitting in an open/unrestricted airflow type environment (ie: sitting on a lab bench). If this is your environment, then you might be able to get similar noise/temp levels between the best open/mesh style cases and the best restricted airflow/closed case...with caveats. If your case sits in a restricted airflow space (like inside a cabinet or in a desk cubbyhole), then the closed style case should operate better with a front to back airflow.

I'd start with features you want to have (is front panel USB 3 important?, etc) and whittle down from there.

Also, what's your specific 2070 make and model? It will be the dominant noise source for 3D operation and tends to overwhelm any increase in case fan rpm/noise.

Dampening material: main purpose is it's weight addition to the panels to reduce vibration induced noise. None are thick enough to significantly absorb frequencies of note.

Japanese Capacitor
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Re: Quietest case: Fractal, be quiet! or something else ?

Post by Japanese Capacitor » Mon Oct 26, 2020 11:17 am

My environment is kinda as normal as you can imagine ;) I live in Poland, so temps are just average and pc isn't restricted in any way. It just stands on the floor and there is space around it and above.

I don't have any specific needs as USB ports, window panels, RGG, i don't have any HDDs, SSDs and don't care about the size and look of the case. I'm just curious, what is quietest case for gaming machine on the market. I know that everything is about golden ratio between cooling and noise, because I make my own fan curves, so I know, how it works.

My card is GV-N207SGAMING OC-8GC and behaves quite nicely. After hitting 45C ( point it doesn't go below in demanding games) it runs consistent 55% rpm (1700 rpm), till it hits 80C. It never hits and I made it's curve during hottest days of summer to have accurate curve for the whole year. Most of the time it's max temps aren't higher than 75C. And you're right - it's the noisiest component of my system, but I can't call it noisy.

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Re: Quietest case: Fractal, be quiet! or something else ?

Post by CA_Steve » Mon Oct 26, 2020 1:51 pm

Well, if you were to want a somewhat open mesh case, there's the Lian-Li Lancool 215. Two 200mm-ish fans with a mesh front, mesh top, and a 120mm fan in back. Here's a fun chart from Gamer's Nexus where case CPU and GPU temps are compared with fan profiles set to provide 36dBA.
Image

There's a note in the Tom's Hardware review that the front fans will go down to 200rpm and the rear to 500rpm. So, while it's not the quietest case as reviewed by Gamer's Nexus, there's a lot of room to move the case fan rpms downward as well as providing massive airflow over the gfx card, allowing you to lower that profile further.

Also, you might look at adjusting the power profile on your gfx card. Give up 100MHz in exchange for a slightly lower core voltage, save some power/heat fan rpms. Just something else to play with.

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Re: Quietest case: Fractal, be quiet! or something else ?

Post by Japanese Capacitor » Mon Oct 26, 2020 2:09 pm

The problem with Lian Li and Phanteks GN's chart toppers is lack of dust filter in the front. To me it just can't be. I also don't like mesh tops and fronts, because every sound comes out of the case and running fans slower doesn't change much. And I wouldn't look at Noise-Normalized, because it's Case Torture - completely unrealistic scenario, when there's so much heat, that differences between cases grow. Add to this shitty cooler of GN, which also enhances differences in CPU temperature.

If we talk about gaming system, look at 3D Mark, because it's closest to gaming scenario:

Image

Define 7 scores kinda well, so I don't see too much place for slowing down the components fans, and few degrees better results of best mesh cases costs terrible price:

Image

That's why I don't think the ,,open case-slow fans" works in real life. Do you have experience with both ways - dampened cases and that?

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Re: Quietest case: Fractal, be quiet! or something else ?

Post by Olle P » Tue Oct 27, 2020 2:45 am

Japanese Capacitor wrote:
Mon Oct 26, 2020 2:09 pm
1. ... lack of dust filter in the front. To me it just can't be.
2. I also don't like mesh tops and fronts, because every sound comes out of the case...
3. ... and running fans slower doesn't change much. ...
4. Define 7 scores kinda well, so I don't see too much place for slowing down the components fans, ...
1. Dust filtering is very important to me, and should have been mentioned as part of your requirements.
Any "open" case is (pretty much) out of the question then. You need intake fans that are sufficiently strong to pull air through filters and then, possibly, one weak exhaust fan.
(See also this thread.)

2. As noted, there shouldn't be much noise generated at all, but I understand your point.

3. The noise (sound pressure level, linear scale) from turbulence at the fans is proportional to [fan speed]^5, so reducing the speed should have a huge impact! (Halving the speed should thus reduce the noise from turbulence by ~15 dB.)

4. With normal temperatures around 60 degrees there's a lot of headroom to reduce the fan speed. The target should be to have the CPU around 65C and GPU around 80C. If they're running cooler the fans spin to fast!

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Re: Quietest case: Fractal, be quiet! or something else ?

Post by CA_Steve » Tue Oct 27, 2020 6:55 am

So there are features you want/don't want :)

I've only used closed cases with the latest being the Define R4 in my signature. So, sure. You can go that route. The R7 is a nice case. The price keeps creeping upward with every iteration. The R5 onward improved the fan signature.

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Re: Quietest case: Fractal, be quiet! or something else ?

Post by Japanese Capacitor » Tue Oct 27, 2020 9:33 am

Fractal seems to be greatest, but I wonder, how it compares to be quiet!. I don't suspect low-end light and plastic Pure Bases to be great, but Silent Bases seems fine and taking a little different approach than Fractal. There's also old Dark Base 900, but I spoke with R6 owner, who had it before and he told me, that Fractal is colder and quiter. There must be something bad in project of the case, because DB900 has more efficent and quiter fans (definitely, because I tested both fans).

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Re: Quietest case: Fractal, be quiet! or something else ?

Post by CA_Steve » Tue Oct 27, 2020 10:25 am

The generic answer is be quiet! has slightly better fans but tends to have more constrictive front covers than Fractal Defines. But, now you are down in the trade off of a few degrees C vs a few dB. So, we circle back around to which case has the features you like more.. :)

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Re: Quietest case: Fractal, be quiet! or something else ?

Post by Japanese Capacitor » Tue Oct 27, 2020 10:46 am

To me a case just must cool, keep things quiet and protect from the dust. I don't have any other preferences like USB Type C or place for ten HDDs. I don't care about looks, size or price (prices of new Define or Dark Bases are fine, but if something better exist, no problem with paying more, if it makes a difference).

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