Three Quiet PC Cases Reviewed
We're also not big fans of noisy PCs.
Now, you can take an existing case, and tweak it substantially to be less noisy. We did that with our current system, which lives in an Antec P182. The P182 is designed to be a quiet case, but replacing the case fans with PWM controlled fans has made it even less noisy.
It's difficult making a high-performance PC that can handle serious visual computing chores absolutely silent without spending vast amounts of time and money. You can, however, build a PC that's reasonably quiet under idle conditions, with minimal noise increases at full load.
In the past, that would have meant some degree of case modding. This mostly involves adding sound deadening material and vibration-reduction accessories. The major PC case manufacturers have recently begun to step up to the plate, offering cases that ostensibly reduce noise levels and add some insulation to their designs. Today, we look at three such cases: the Antec Sonata Elite, the Cooler Master Sileo 500, and the NZXT Whisper.
These three cases have several things in common:
- Rolled steel construction
- No FireWire (1394) port
- An eSATA port (instead of the FireWire port)
Of course, to test quiet cases, you first need to build a system into them.
Testing Process
- Intel Core 2 Extreme Q9650 @ 3GHz (Check prices)
- Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro socket 775 CPU cooler (Check prices)
- Intel DX48BT2 motherboard based on the X48 chipset (Check prices)
- 2GB Corsair DDR3-1800 memory (Check prices)
- Western Digital VelociRaptor 10,000RPM, 300GB hard drive (Check prices)
- Lite-On 16x DVD+/-RW optical drive
- eVGA GeForce GTX 260 Core 216 SSC (Check prices)
- Antec TruePower TP-750 750W PSU (Check prices)
Once we built the system, we installed Windows Vista Ultimate Service Pack 1 with all updates, plus the latest drivers. We also installed FurMark, a graphics card benchmark and stress test app, plus Prime95.
Note that we did not dress or organize the cabling. Taking a little care to tie down the cables could potentially reduce noise just a bit more, by reducing airflow blockage.
We kept the default fans installed in each case. If the case fans had the ability to attach to motherboard fan power connecters, we used that (two of the three cases had that capability).
Sound pressure level (SPL) readings were taken with an Extech 407759 SPL meter. Readings were A-weighted, and data was gathered in "slow" mode. First, we took the SPL reading in my basement lab, with no computers running, as a baseline. Next, we took readings of my production system, which has similar hardware to the test system, but lives in an Antec P182 case with quieter fans replacing the original Antec fans.
The sensor itself was mounted at roughly seated head height, one meter from the case, and pointed directly at the center, front of the chassis.
Readings were taken at two performance levels: idle and full load. Note that idle time readings were taken about 30 minutes after the system had booted and had time to stabilize. "Idle" means that all normal background tasks were running, but no foreground apps. "Full load" is defined with Prime95 running with four threads and FurMark running at 1920x1200 in stability test mode.
The full load SPL readings were taken after the system had been running under load for ten minutes.
So that's how testing was done. Now let's look at each case and then the noise levels generated by each system.
NZXT Whisper
The NZXT whisper is a big case, designed to support multiple graphics cards and extended ATX (eATX) server and workstation-class boards.
The first impression when unpacking the case isn't positive: The door is a flimsy, plastic door. It has vents for airflow, but seems quite fragile. The door also lacks a 270-degree hinge, so doesn't lie flat against the case side when open. The power and reset switches are at the top left, and are exposed even with the door closed. Under the door are the 5.25-inch drive bays and a 120mm fan with the now-common blue LED.
The Whisper actually ships with all its mounting hardware in individually categorized bags, neatly labeled. Also included is a rubber dampener for the power supply, to reduce vibration a bit. One thoughtful touch is the included PC beeper, since most cases (including the Whisper) no longer ship with a speaker.
The Whisper offers the usual set of amenities you'd expect from a high-end case, including punchouts inside for cable management, liquid coolant tube cutouts with rubber grommets for external liquid cooling radiators, and bays for up to nine hard drives. Case fans are dual-power type, supporting both Molex four-pin power supply connectors and three-pin motherboard connectors.
The power supply is mounted at the bottom of the case, which lessens power supply fan noise.
Front I/O ports are built into a flip-up block that's built into the top of the case. However, the pop-up doesn't always pop up cleanly, nor does it always snap back into place, contributing to a sense of flimsiness we felt when we saw the door. The tool-free optical drive blips also feel a little too light and fall off a little too easily.
The case sides, bottom, and top are lined with eggcrate-style soundproofing foam.
Note that the front of the case isn't foam lined, nor is the plastic door made of any type of composite sandwich material, unlike the Antec P180 or P190 series.
Since it's a large case, it's very easy to work inside the Whisper. Here's what the system looks like after component installation. Note that cables are not tied down or otherwise dressed. Continued…
