[mre15]

I am looking for a good silent case and have shortlisted the above 2.

Whats peoples preference on these or are there others I should consider.

Also wheres the best place to buy from.

Cheers.

[paulktreg]

I have the Fractal case and it's certainly quiet but I think that's more down to the relatively low speed Fractal fans I have fitted, six in all. The graphics card fan is probably the loudest thing I hear when its pushed. I went for the Fractal mainly on it's clean looks and build quality but the foam does keep the noise down a little and it keeps things cool.

[andymet87]

Hi, I'm eyeing up the Silverstone TJ08B-E. Have you thought about this case?

it seems to have glowing reviews everywhere! Silverstone TJ08B-E Temjin Black Tower Computer Case - SST-TJ08B-E - Scan.co.uk

[Greg]

Fractal R3!

It's a super case!

!!!!

etc!!

[mre15]

The silverstone doesnt have any of the sound deading materials fitted.

The 2 I am looking at are supposed to be super quiet, the only difference between them seems to be the price.

Coolermaster is about £20 cheaper delivered.

[shadowboxer]

+1 for the fractal it's a very good case for around £70. Having said that it could be better,

Not much room behind the motherboard tray so fitting the back side panel is a little bit of a pain, I'm using a modular psu and it's still a very very tight fit.

Decent build quality but not perfect. My older CM690 Dominator Pure was much more sturdy. In places it feels cheap and "plasticy"

Cable management grommets are of poor quality. They pop out far to easily and are a right pain in the backside to get back in.

No eSATA on on the front panel.

[mre15]

Although the comments and reviews for the fractal seem better, I am still swaying a little towards the coolermaster.
It has a sata dock at the front which is a nice feature and a small but nice point for the misses is the sd card slot on the top.
The only down point in all the reviews is the fans arent as good as the R3 ones. I have some noctuas kicking about though if that becomes an issue.
Thanks for comments though.

[andymet87]

Have you looked at the Lian Li V354 ??

[mre15]

Originally Posted by andymet87

Have you looked at the Lian Li V354 ??

Too expensive and has quite a few niggly problems, back i/o plate not fitting quite a bad one actually.

[andymet87]

...and the Antec P180?

(as I'm sure you can tell I'm deciding what to buy as well!)

[mre15]

Currently using an Antec and not really impressed, the speed controlled fans are noisey at any speed.

I wont to try a different brand for comparison.

[RandomLee]

I was torn between the same two cases. Both seem well reviewed for the money so it was quite hard to decide but I went for the R3 in the end. The main reason is the glossy front panel on the 550 would be a total fingerprint magnet. I would have liked a card reader on the R3, more so than the bundled fan controller, but internal bay mount ones are cheap enough so it's no biggie.

[mraerosmith]

fractal r3 all the way just moved my media centre into 1 , and it makes my corsair 800d seem noisy and massive

[doyll]

Fractal R2 here and love it. I'm running 3x 120mm and 3x 140mm (2 of 140mm are on heatsink) and 140mm fan on PSU... Loudest thing in case is Corsair TX650 v2 until I push the CPU to 80% when case / heatsink fans run up to 70% + speed. i7 920 @ 3.5GHz makes lots of heat. In normal use the fans run at 35-40% (500rpm). 70% is about 900rpm. Max is 1300 rpm.

[danele]

Having owned a fractal myself I was massively unimpressed by its noise (maybe I had high hopes!) but my current case which is a silverstone raven rv02 is quieter. Also found everything ran quite a bit hotter inside my fractal.

[PlaybookHero]

Originally Posted by mre15

Although the comments and reviews for the fractal seem better, I am still swaying a little towards the coolermaster.
It has a sata dock at the front which is a nice feature and a small but nice point for the misses is the sd card slot on the top.
The only down point in all the reviews is the fans arent as good as the R3 ones. I have some noctuas kicking about though if that becomes an issue.
Thanks for comments though.

I have the earlier 500 model and it's a gem.

[LiverBlow]

Third contender is the Corsair 550D, a quiet case... but not great on cooling...

[WildgooseUK]

I for one would give the Fractal R3 the thumbs up


Am looking to buy this to replace my Antec 900 due to having cable management and it's a cracker to look at too.

[doyll]

Will be replacing my Noctua nh-u12p with 3 fan Phanteks PH-TC14PE in my R2 later this week. Won't have any room left to wiggle after that.

[pilsburypie]

Seems you have to choose between noise and cooling..... what case is the perfect balance? Corsair Obsidian 550?

[doyll]

Phanteks installed. Fantastic.. CPU is 9c cooler @ 100%

i7 920 @ 3.55GHz idle 750rpm @ 35-34-38-34 100% Handbrake encode 1300rpm @ 57-57-59-55c ambient 21c
i7 920 @ 3.55GHz idle 1300rpm @ 33-31-36-31c

[doyll]

Changed ET6 10% rpm @ 30c & 100% rpm @ 50c.
Temps are now @ 21c ambient
Idle 680rpm @ 37-35-39-34c 30-30-42c
Encoding 1170rpm @ 59-58-60-56c mobo 33-43-44c

In normal use the only sound is PSU fan... and fans @ 1170rpm are not at all loud... even full speed @1300rpm isn't loud.