Antec Solo and the others?

[millex]

Guys,
I´m planning to upgrade my old modified Foxcon case.

After reading some recommendations here on SPCR, I´ve decided to go for Antec Solo, mainly because of the rubber HDD suspension system (I use today too), compact size and because it can be relative silent.

May I ask the ones of you, who know Antec´s Solo - if my Gigabyte GTX460 will not be too long for it / if there is not a more ventilation friendly silent case with the rubber suspension possibility?

I will upgrade my system when the new intels i5-2500s arrive, so please take it into account, when eventually recommending your case..

Thank you.

[quest_for_silence]

May I ask the ones of you, who know Antec´s Solo - if my Gigabyte GTX460 will not be too long for it / if there is not a more ventilation friendly silent case with the rubber suspension possibility?

The GTX460s are quite short compared with most of those elder GTX260s: as far as I know, every 9" card like your one would comfortably fit in a Solo.

However, the Solo maybe would not be my first choice for such a system, even if I think the Solo may run it without causing you any serious hassle.

I'm not aware of any case which use elastic suspension (besides the Antecs), but as you have a mATX board, I might suggest either an Antec Mini P180, or even a Lian-Li PC-A05N-B: both call for some light to medium moddings, in order to cope with all your requirements.

[millex]

hi luca, thank you for your answer.

as the matx ff is not a problem for me, antec mini p180 looks like a nice ventilated silent case and its hdd dampening silicon gromets looks not bad too.

when living with gromets instead of elastic suspension, there are two more nice cases from antec - very affordable sonata proto and sonata elite.

what do you thing - will be the difference, in components temperatures, in these cases vivid?

thank you.

[quest_for_silence]

what do you thing - will be the difference, in components temperatures, in these cases vivid?

I cannot answer straightly, as I cannot do (and haven't done) any direct comparison between them.

However, those Sonatas are clearly less sturdy and seem to have noticeably less cooling power, so it's not unrealistic to foresee higher temps (maybe except for the disk drives) and overall noise level.
But, as you know, they may cost a lot less (the Proto, maybe less than half), or just a bit less (the Elite, here about 15 euros less), than the Mini.

To summarize: if the cost was not a serious issue, I guess that build a system inside a Mini will be, more probably that not, a superior pleasure.

[quest_for_silence]

However, those Sonatas are clearly less sturdy and seem to have noticeably less cooling power, so it's not unrealistic to foresee higher temps (maybe except for the disk drives) and overall noise level.

However, how much cooler (or quieter) it's not as easy to foresee.

If we look at the 902 review, which has similar internal layout and fans, we may think of about 5°C on CPU and GPU (wit a slight disadvantage for the 902 on noise level, maybe due to front openings which are absent in the Sonata Elite). Otherwise, if we look at the original Mini P180 review, we may see that GPU temp is substantially better, about ~15°C less, with a worsening in noise level (with reference to the 902) which SPCR judged "very minor, hard to hear". But we may note that in the Sonata Elite and 902 reviews, SPCR used a 150W videocard, while in the Mini P180 review the older 125W one has been used.

The Sonata Proto, due to the absence of the ample side intake, should have considerably lower cooling performance than their more costly mates, but probably it's a well balanced case for that price. If you want a cheap case with grommets for drives, I mean you could also look for the Precision series from Silverstone, while some other quiet options might be the Silverstone TJ-08 (expensive) and the Antec NSK-4000-II (again cheap).

[millex]

Luca, thx again for you reply.

The price is definitely not a big issue, also the Silverstones are not in my view finder. I´m in search for a quality case for silent computing with estimated air flow, cable management options and silencing details after every corner..so the P180 mini from Antec looks like an best option, EXCEPT of its unreplaceable top fan (and no future ATX possibility). Isn´t there any possibility to replace the original 20cm fan in P180mini (an adapter)?

Also considering the silent standards and prefering the 12cm fans, there are just few possibilities I mean - Antec P183 and Define R2 from FD. What do you mean? Don´t you have a secret tip please? Thank you in advance..

[quest_for_silence]

the P180 mini from Antec looks like an best option, EXCEPT of its unreplaceable top fan (and no future ATX possibility). Isn´t there any possibility to replace the original 20cm fan in P180mini (an adapter)?

I'm not aware of any pre-made adapter, but it should be easy to do (you will need just two slim rails and drilling eight holes on them in order to use any 120mm or 140mm fan), if in case.

Another option will be to undervolt the BigBoy, maybe feeding it with a 9-7-5V adapter, but it might give some chattering at very low speed (and even the switch may have some compatibility problem).
Doing so, it may be worthwhile to have the intake cover removed and a 120mm slow (<1000rpm) fan running.

A more radical approach is to swap the rear 120mm noisy TriCool with a good fan, and then pair it with an equally good intake one, stopping the 200mm fan. Any Nexus or Slipstream would work flawlessy, I mean.

Last but not least, if you won't go for any really hot CPU, you may try to use only the intake fan for the videocard, and no exhaust fan, relying only on to convection (removing the BigBoy would be advisable in that case, while a little chimney upon its grill will work great).

So I think the Mini P-180 should be a lot flexible with reference to cooling power and quietness.

However, remember that overall noise is also a function of distance from ears and placing (under a desk a system is usually much quieter than above it), and that BigBoy is the main and most effective cooling resource for the Mini.

Eventually, about the ATX mobos, usually IMO it's not an issue (unless you don't do SLI/CFX).

Also considering the silent standards and prefering the 12cm fans, there are just few possibilities I mean - Antec P183 and Define R2 from FD. What do you mean? Don´t you have a secret tip please? Thank you in advance..

Well, in my humble opinion the only way to do the things radically better than using a P183, it is to go for a Silverstone Raven (but trust me, it's really huge and ugly, as well as costly).

Those FD R2/R3 seems (are) really ok, but IMO they are not definitely better than the P-183 (and they cannot use the CP-series PSU, a very nice option for the P-183). They may offer some interesting colour schemes also.

[millex]

Thank you for your comprehensive answer.

I´ve decided to go with R3 from FD, with exchanged intake and exhaust fans. The only question is, which ones to use? Nexus 120mm PWM Real Silent Fans, or Scythe Slipstream without PWM - If so, 500rpm or 800rpm?

This PC sits under the desk.

Thank you

[quest_for_silence]

I´ve decided to go with R3 from FD, with exchanged intake and exhaust fans. The only question is, which ones to use? Nexus 120mm PWM Real Silent Fans, or Scythe Slipstream without PWM - If so, 500rpm or 800rpm?

Apart that Nexus PWM IMO are not so great fans, however you don't need any PWM fan, as usually mobos don't have PWM fan headers, but the CPU one (which control 3pin ones also). So a plain vanilla Nexus RSCF (black/white or black/orange), or a Scythe Slipstream would either work flawlessly, I mean.

For a straightforward build (so, no experiment allowed here), the only real option to me is going for much more costly fans, such as Scythe S-Flex ones, as they have far higher MTBF (even if, to be fair, after about two years I haven't already seen a Slipstream done for).

Always IMO such slow spinning Slipstreams are not advisable: if you are going to control both fans either by the mobo (using some software like SpeedFan/fancontrol), or by a fan controller (like the Scythe Kaze Server), choose something around 1000-1200rpm and slow them down (see the relevant SPCR reviews).
Go for the 800rpm ones only if you're planning to connect those fans to a standard molex connector, while the 500rpm has to be reserved to less powerful system (IGP or sort of the like).