Need quiet micro-ATX case. Antec NSK3300 or Minuet?

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dave_in_gva
Posts: 29
Joined: Mon Feb 26, 2007 5:19 am

Need quiet micro-ATX case. Antec NSK3300 or Minuet?

Post by dave_in_gva » Thu May 17, 2007 8:32 am

Hi,

I need a quiet micro-ATX case that will fit within a small piece of furniture (max case dimensions height 15.3" width 10" depth 17.7").

What's the quietest case out there that will fit my available space?

This PC is going to be working as an audio server and be left on permanently. It's in the living room so I need it cool and inaudible.

Been thinking either the Antec NSK3300 or the Minuet - both are available locally and well priced.

Thanks,

Dave M

angelkiller
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Location: North Carolina

Post by angelkiller » Thu May 17, 2007 8:40 am

I think the NSK3300 or NSK3400 is a better choice in terms of silence than a Minuet. The Minuet uses a single 80mm fan to exhaust heat. The NSK3300/3400 uses a 120mm fan to exaust heat. The only difference between the NSK3300 and the 3400 is the PSU size. The NSK3300 uses a micro-ATX PSU, while the NSK3400 uses a regular ATX PSU. Get the NSK3400 if you can. Another difference is the size restraints. There is no way a large (therefore quiet) heatsink can fit in a Minuet. You can use such heatsinks (like a Scythe Ninja) in a NSK3300.

So I'd definately pick a NSK3300 (preferably a NSK3400) over a Minuet.

rei
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Post by rei » Thu May 17, 2007 6:09 pm

my 3300's front panel vibrated a fair bit and drove me nuts.

dave_in_gva
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Joined: Mon Feb 26, 2007 5:19 am

Post by dave_in_gva » Fri May 18, 2007 11:45 am

Thanks for the feedback.

Any other micro-ATX cases out there that are particularly good cases for a QUIET rig?

It can look ugly I don't care....just has to it in the furniture enclosure I've got, so max case dimensions are height 15.3" width 10" depth 17.7".

Thanks,

Dave M

Jumper
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Post by Jumper » Fri May 18, 2007 6:38 pm

I had very good luck with an NSK 3300:

viewtopic.php?t=39992

Very quiet with all stock parts.

late2bed
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Location: Australia

Post by late2bed » Sat May 19, 2007 2:50 am

I recently purchased both a NKS 3300 and a Minuet. The NSK 3300 was very quiet just using the default hard disk mounting options (the soft clear silicone grommets). The Minuet was disappointing from a silence perspective. I tested the same Samsung 120 Gb (a spinpoint P120) drive in both cases. In the NSK the drive was almost inaudible (sitting say 2 meters or so away). In the Minuet I got a high pitched, irritating whine (produced by the hard drive and presumably amplified by the case). The Minuet has a detachable, internal metal cage, to which you must attach your hard drive and cd rom drive. I assume the metal cage somehow amplified or exaggerated the noise of the hard drive. I have abandoned the Minuet for the moment. It's sitting unused on the floor. Whereas the NSK3300 has been pressed into service for a web browser/ word processing computer which I assembled for my parents. I will probably give the Minuet another try when I have a spare notebook drive. Maybe it will be ok with a suspended 2.5 inch drive (tho I am not terribly optimistic - the rigid, internal metal drive cage just doesn't seem to be conducive to a quiet operation). You could also possibly suspend a 3.5 inch drive using a novibes tray in the CD drive area of the Minuet (however this would mean no cd rom). I think the Minuet is rather disappointing from a silence perspective.

dave_in_gva
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Joined: Mon Feb 26, 2007 5:19 am

Post by dave_in_gva » Sun May 20, 2007 10:57 am

Thanks, this is all really helpful and my initial question is answered.

In the meantime I've seen I can get either the 3300 or the 3400 locally.

One question though....my system will be a low powered affair. I would say absolute max draw would be 60-70 W....

So an earlier post suggested the 3400 with its 350W PSU was an advantage over the 3300 with a 300W PSU but to my eyes either is overkill.

So my question is....if a PSU is rated at say 300W and the PC only needs 60W what is the actual power draw? Is the PC drawing 300W all the time?

This machine is going to be on permanently, so I want the most inaudible PSU I can have that gives me the power needed - I've even wondered about replacing the stock PSU with something like a 120W Pico PSU.

Thanks again everyone,

Dave M

angelkiller
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Location: North Carolina

Post by angelkiller » Sun May 20, 2007 12:06 pm

dave_in_gva wrote:So my question is....if a PSU is rated at say 300W and the PC only needs 60W what is the actual power draw? Is the PC drawing 300W all the time?
:shock: No, no!! What a PSU is rated at is the maximum continious power the PSU can supply. So a 300W PSU is reported as being able to provide 300W of power safely. However, labels are not always accurate.

To answer your question, 300W is the max, so it will only give you however much you draw from it. But due to inefficiencies in the conversion from AC to DC, at best, PSU's are a little over 80% efficient. (and get worse from there) Here's an example, If your system draws 80W from the PSU, the PSU will draw ~100W from the wall. The exact numbers depend on the PSU. (And it also varies by the power draw. So PSU's are less efficient at really low and really high. This difference is at most 7 or 8%.

Hope this helps.

Squirrel
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Post by Squirrel » Sun May 20, 2007 1:10 pm

You could always run caseless. Just use a case, but remove the top/side panels. Then you would have to find some good solution for the optical/HDD and the dust situation. Just a suggestion.

johno
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Location: Australia

Post by johno » Wed May 23, 2007 7:54 pm

I think the main advantage of the power supply in the 3400 (SU-380) is the form factor. Being a standard ATX supply, it is much easier to replace it with another one later. From memory they both appear to have Seasonic origins, and the efficiency of each is about the same, but the 3300 may be a little ahead. With stock fans, the 3300 fan may be slightly quiter too.

johno
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Location: Australia

Post by johno » Wed May 23, 2007 10:11 pm

I just looked at Jumper's good review. The power figures there indicate the supply in the 3300 is somewhat more efficient - because there it is a less efficient motherboard than I have, but coming in around the same power as I do with the 3400.

There are reviews up on both power supplies:
3300:http://www.silentpcreview.com/article286-page4.html
3400:http://www.silentpcreview.com/article592-page2.html

So at the most relevant point, 40W, the smaller supply is at 82%, and the larger one 70%. 82% is exceptionally good at that output level, and even 70% is better than most. So if I'd found a 3300 instead of the 3400, my system would have drawn 42W instead of the 49W it is at now. From the reviews, the stock fan on the 3300 is also quieter.

The only downside of the 3300 is that it makes it harder to change to a different supply later. But, in retrospect, I think the 3300 is probably the better way to go.

jessekopelman
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Post by jessekopelman » Thu May 24, 2007 3:11 am

johno wrote:From the reviews, the stock fan on the 3300 is also quieter.
That may be true, but from firsthand experience, the PSU in the NSK3300 (which is not the 80+ version, by the way) is very far from silent. Maybe it is not that loud, but the noise quality is very coarse (sounds like a motorcycle or helicopter). Of course it may well be the quietest SFX PSU out there, so if you need quieter you have to try a fan swap or just scrap it and go with a external brick + internal DC-DC PSU. Meanwhile, with the NSK3400, you have a choice of many ATX PSU. Another point in the NSK3400's favor is that the revised PSU cabling makes it much easier to fit a large heatsink (like a Ninja) into the case.

johno
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Location: Australia

Post by johno » Thu May 24, 2007 4:03 am

Yes, you make a good point. The reviewed version of the 300W supply is the 80+ version, whereas it probably isn't in the 3300. Probably best to stick to the 3400 then.

dave_in_gva
Posts: 29
Joined: Mon Feb 26, 2007 5:19 am

Post by dave_in_gva » Thu May 24, 2007 8:05 am

Thanks for continuing to go back and forth on this guys.

I will go for the 3400 and have been looking at whether I would replace its (rather good) stock SU380 PSU with a Seasonic S12-380 or perhaps stay with the stock PSU and do a fan swap.

I'm inclining at this point to replace the stock PSU with the S12-380 and use the SU380 on a noisy PC in our bedroom. That's a micro-ATX case and I should probably look first at whether the SU380 will fit but that's another story.

This is a great forum, some really helpful advice here.

Thanks again,

Dave M

Jasper
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Joined: Fri Jun 30, 2006 8:05 am

Post by Jasper » Thu May 24, 2007 1:41 pm

dave_in_gva wrote: I'm inclining at this point to replace the stock PSU with the S12-380 and use the SU380 on a noisy PC in our bedroom. That's a micro-ATX case and I should probably look first at whether the SU380 will fit but that's another story.
I have a couple of SU380s in my 2 NSK2400s, an S12-430, and a Corsair 520 (essentially an M12-500 minus the extra 60 mm fan, it's "Corsair by SeaSonic", as it were). The SU380s do produce a teensy bit of sound, but it is very, very little. I don't think you're going to gain very much by replacing an SU380 with an S12, especially when it's inside a piece of furniture anyway.

It does help that in the NSK2400 the PSU is in a separate cooling chamber, so not drawing in hot air, and so not ramping up. You could maybe do a duct like in the SPCR-designed Model One from the top CDROM bay to the PSU intake so the PSU sucks in outside air even in a regular tower case. Since looks don't count, just skip the grille in front.

I think the S12's a (barely) quieter PSU than the SU380, and I'd put the quieter PSU on the computer that's in the bedroom, rather than the one that's inside a piece of furniture elsewhere, I think.

johno
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Location: Australia

Post by johno » Thu May 24, 2007 1:49 pm

Like the 2400, the 3400 also has a separate compartment up the top for the power supply and 5.25" bays.

Jasper
Posts: 53
Joined: Fri Jun 30, 2006 8:05 am

Post by Jasper » Thu May 24, 2007 3:22 pm

johno wrote:Like the 2400, the 3400 also has a separate compartment up the top for the power supply and 5.25" bays.
Right! I'd missed, or forgotten, that.

Was the NSK3400 developed in corroboration with SPCR as well, or did the engineer just pay close attention to what was happening in the 2400?

Incidentally, I'd prefer silver baycovers like on the 2400 to the black ones in the rest of the new Antec silver/black line, aesthetically.

dave_in_gva
Posts: 29
Joined: Mon Feb 26, 2007 5:19 am

Post by dave_in_gva » Thu May 24, 2007 9:34 pm

Thanks again guys. I will probably duct the PSU on the build going in the furniture. No grill, I'll have the duct sticking straight out to the air. No one will see the build for the audio server except me if I am doin maintenance, so looks count for absolutely nothing there.

And thanks particuarly for your really helpful comparisons of the SU-380 and the S12-380 sound signatures. Sounds like they'd be identical if I swapped in a low rpm Panaflo for the su380 or maybe even the su380 would be quieter....

Best,

Dave M

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