Hi all. I'm looking for a case that is less than £40. It must be as quiet as possible because I have a thing with noise (I play the 360 with earphones in sometimes). I will be doing slight overclocking so it will need plenty fans. A side window would be nice but not essential. My system is as follows: Asrock N7AD-SLI Core 2 Duo E8400 3.6GHz 4GB RAM 7900GS 460W Hiper PSU ( I don't care where this is mounted) The case must be big enough for a card such as the GTX 250 or 260. Like I said, i will be putting fans in, aswell as a fan controller if I can work out how. For the side fan, it would be great if I could put in one of those massive low speed fans. Also, a 120mm intake fan would be great. I found the Antec Three Hundred for £41 + PP here http://www.kikatek.com/product_info.php?products_id=72693. I may buy that case, but it would be great if there was a case for cheaper that isn't quite as good but is still a good case. Any suggestions? Cheers.
you might want to check out Overclockers value case range, they are good build quality, and some have them have plenty of fans, and some have a side window. Gaz
Hmm I like the look of the Asus TA-D31. I have read a review that says that the supplied fan is very noisy, but I will be putting my own in anyway. The only bad thing is that apparently the front audio cables are short and won't reach the headers on the motherboard if they are far away (which mine are).
This case should fit your needs: http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Coolermaster-Elite-335-Black-Mini-Tower-Case-w-o-PSU It does come with only 1 cases fan. As long as you place your hard drive correctly a GTX 260 will easily fit.
What's with people wanting a window, overclocking, lots of fans(airflow) AND quietness at the same time? The first 3 requirements pretty much block the last one. Excuse my rudeness, let me explain this. Windows: They aplify vibration, plus they prevent installing insulation, for obvious reasons. Overclocking: Overclocking needs lots of cooling, and thus if you want to air-cool your PC, even if you're using vibration dampeners and quiet fans, the airflow itself will still be loud. Fans: More fans = more noise. Simple as that. Having a high-performance silent PC is quite a task to take on. IMO there are two roads to take here: Passively cooled mid-power components, or watercooling with controlled fans. Both methods benefit from a massive non-windowed case, fan vibration insulator thingies and most importantly SOUND DAMPENING MATS.
Thanks for the link Ady. Dragunov, you weren't being rude. I never realised a window increases the noise. I have overclocked my E8400 from 3 to 3.6GHz with no problem whatsoever, the temperature increased by 1C, and I only connect my side fan when I'm leaving the computer on all day. Otherwise, the only cooling the CPU has is the stock Intel cooler. With a new case, I am looking to reach 4GHz, which I have done in the past but did not see the point then. The main reason I wanted increased airflow etc was for the graphics card, and if I am to get a GTX card, the cooling will need to be increased. Like I said, I will install a fan controller as if the case has a few fans, I can't manually disconnect them like I do with my 1 current fan. I may also buy one of the sound-reducing kits, if they are any good.
A couple of suggestions: Antec 300 - £44.98 Coolermaster Elite 335 - £29.44 Coolermaster Elite 330 - £29.99 My folks have an Elite 330 (bought after Bit-Tech's recommendations) and its very quiet and quite well built.
Mate, you DEFINITELY want to get rid of that. In my experience, Intel stock coolers are loud mofos. If you swap it out for an aftermarket cooler it's going to make a big difference. I'd consider it way before any insulation kits or fan vibration dampeners.
So would I normally but I'm buying everything together I have compared the 330 and the 335 on the CM website and the only differences are: Sizes - The 330 is slightly taller and has more width. (very slight) Appearance - The 335 is definately a better looking case. I think I'll go with the 335 unless anyone has any other suggestions
Not much choice if you want it to be around £40. But I will agree with "oasked" suggestion about the CM Elite 33x series. They are decent budget cases but no real cable management to speak of.
I have decided on the CM Elite 335 and an Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro. Now I need to decide on which case fans to get. The 335 has space for a 120mm exhaust fan and a 120mm intake fan. I would like to use a fan controller with these. All of the fan controllers I have seen use 3 pin connectors. All of the decent 120mm fans I have seen use 3 pin connectors, but there is only 1 3-pin header on my motherboard. How would I do it? I don't want to spend more that £15 on the controller. Something like this : http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/AKASA-AK-FC-06-BK-Gloss-Black-35-Speed-control-for-3-fans-and-2-USB-20-ports And for the fans I was thinking this http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/120mm-Arctic-Cooling-Arctic-Fan-12L-Quiet-Rear-Cooling-Fan for the rear and something like this http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/120mm-Coolermaster-Silent-Internal-Case-Fan-with-Blue-LED-Quiet-22db for the front intake. How would I go about connecting these to the motherboard and fan controller? I've only ever used molex fans.
If you have a fan controller you don't need to connect the fans anywhere else. I recommend the Zalman MFC-1 or better yet the MFC-1 Plus. Should be fairly affordable and is a very capable controller. If you want one with a graphical display, go for a 5.25" Scythe Kaze Master. That should be fairly cheap too, and looks a lot better than all the lame controllers that try to look like car stereo. Fans: Yate Loon fans are good if you can get your hands on them, and the Scythe S-flex (assflex lol) fans, while a bit more expensive, they're simply the best you can get IMO.
So the fan controller connects to the 3-pin header on the motherboard, and the fans connect, using 3-pin, to the controller? It makes sense now.
No, but fairly close lol. The fan controller is powered by a standard 4-pin molex, while the fans are connected straight to the fan controller with their 3-pin connectors. Nothing goes to the motherboard.
Those two controllers are too expensive for my needs. I've found some Yate Loon fans but they seem to be louder than other ones. Theres only a few places sell them and they seem to be mostly out of stock.
How much did you find them for? In Hungary they're on the cheap side compared to other name brand controllers. Ah well, umm, okay how about a Scythe Kaze Q?
I found a black one for £22. It might be cheap compared to most, but I'm only looking to control 2 fans and the Akasa does that job for £10 less. The Scythe looks nice and is only £13 + PP on QuietPC.com, but so far everything I have chose is on Scan to reduce the cost of postage. There is a Scythe Master on Scan, but it is over £30.
