Quiet PC Case

Hello,

I need to buy a nice quiet case for a micro atx motherboard. Looking for something around £50+/-. Anyone got any recommendations?

 

Buy a case without a PSU.

Seriously: the question you should be asking is 'what PSU should I buy for this Micro-ATX case?' because the case makes no noise whatsoever. How quiet do you need?

 

X-QPack + Nexus 120mm Fan? Mine was pretty quiet.

 

I'm guess ing you've heard of http://www.quietpc.com/ ? never used them, but they seem to know their stuff

 

another good site for reviews and dedicated to building quiet pc's is http://www.silentpcreview.com/

 

They sell some good stuff, I got my Nexus fans from there.

 

passive cooling by heat-sinks on the whole thing is a neat idea by the way. too bad it weighs a ton.

 

As others have implied, the case is pretty much irrelevant. Things that you could be looking at:

• Power supply noise - many supplies are custom made for lower dB levels.
• CPU and case fan noise - larger fans and lower speed = less noise. Of course, liquid cooling would be quieter.
• Hard drive noise - depends on manufacturer, but you can get rubber/foam supports to limit vibration noise from the hard drive rubbing up against the case.
• DVD drive noise - unavoidable. Best bet is to mount images if you can.

 

Antec Overture or Minuet is a good option. Also look at Ahanix, Thermaltake, and SilverStone.

 

All cases are quiet. It's the mechanical components (fans and drives) that go IN them that are noisy

 

Well the noise comes from how hard the components are being pushed i.e. higher fan speeds when running hot. In my experience there's very few micro atx cases out there that are any good.
For your budget i would buy an ANTEC 300 + a couple of extra silent 120mm fans - whilst this is a nomal tower, it has exceptional cooling for a sub £50 case. I have 2 running 24/7 at the end of my bed and barely notice there on. You will need to buy a psu though - as they come without.