Lian-Li PC-62 case with 80mm fans... or could it be imroved?

[CA_Steve]

Maybe you mentioned why earlier in the thread and I didn't see it...but, why the emphasis on weight? Are you carrying the PC around the house?

[Abula]

If weight is so important to you, go with Lian Li, aluminium cases will always weight a fraction of steel case, just chose quiet components and you will be fine, 3/6 of my current builds are on Lian Li aluminium and they are quiet, but you do need to be careful into choosing components that will not generate a lot of noise.

[alexb]

Maybe you mentioned why earlier in the thread and I didn't see it...but, why the emphasis on weight? Are you carrying the PC around the house?

No, but I HATE heavy cases that's super hard to move around, mod, etc... I know it's better for overall noise dampening, but I feel like a case doesn't need to be 30 lbs of deadweight!

[edh]

If you're still thinking about the Lian Li, here's a crazy reversed layout in a Lian Li with a pair of 180mm fans at the front:
http://www.overclock.net/t/1362810/case ... -abandoned

As an aside, yes, he did abandon the project due to the motherboard tray being faulty and causing a short but that was unrelated to the design. I do have a Lian Li PC60 still and do wonder about doing a similar conversion but air cooled of course.

[alexb]

What about Nanoxia DS1? Anandtech seems to absolutely love it, and they rate it as their best silent case with good airflow... why this is missing from SPCR's recommended cases?

[MikeC]

What about Nanoxia DS1? Anandtech seems to absolutely love it, and they rate it as their best silent case with good airflow... why this is missing from SPCR's recommended cases?

Doesn't stack up. Read our review

[alexb]

What about Nanoxia DS1? Anandtech seems to absolutely love it, and they rate it as their best silent case with good airflow... why this is missing from SPCR's recommended cases?

Doesn't stack up. Read our review

I have, and that's the question... while Anand likes Nanoxia the best, your tests show a different result altogether. Is it due to testing methodology used? I trust your reviews on silence above any other site, but Anand has been very good in OC and airflow testing over the years. They rank this higher than Fractal R4, and Corsair 550D, and equal to Fractal Max?!

[MikeC]

What about Nanoxia DS1? Anandtech seems to absolutely love it, and they rate it as their best silent case with good airflow... why this is missing from SPCR's recommended cases?

Doesn't stack up. Read our review

I have, and that's the question... while Anand likes Nanoxia the best, your tests show a different result altogether. Is it due to testing methodology used? I trust your reviews on silence above any other site, but Anand has been very good in OC and airflow testing over the years. They rank this higher than Fractal R4, and Corsair 550D, and equal to Fractal Max?!

Haven't read Anand review. You would have to study both and figure it out. My question about your last comment is... At what fan speeds or noise level?

[alexb]

Haven't read Anand review. You would have to study both and figure it out. My question about your last comment is... At what fan speeds or noise level?

They're overall impression was similar, they found chimney didn't do much unless it was OCed, high fan setting was preferred as low setting just made it too hot, so noise actually increased as everything worked just harder, and where their test was different than SPCR was that it did better at high fan setting than R4 and 550D and by some margin!

http://www.anandtech.com/show/6479/nano ... u-got-it/5

[CA_Steve]

The devil is always in the details..you have to look at the test setups to see the differences. Different CPUs were used with differing TDP, sockets and coolers. Different gfx cards were used with different coolers - while they both had similar TDPs (170W vs 160W), Anandtech had an Asus DCII type cooler and SPCR uses a blower style. Finally, Dustin's noise meter had self noise of 30dB(A), tested in his apartment (where he believed the noise floor was well below that) and measured stuff from a foot away. SPCR tests in an anechoic chamber, uses a noise meter with self noise of 10dB(A), has a typical noise floor of 10-11dBA, and measures stuff from 1 meter away.

[alexb]

The devil is always in the details..you have to look at the test setups to see the differences. Different CPUs were used with differing TDP, sockets and coolers. Different gfx cards were used with different coolers - while they both had similar TDPs (170W vs 160W), Anandtech had an Asus DCII type cooler and SPCR uses a blower style. Finally, Dustin's noise meter had self noise of 30dB(A), tested in his apartment (where he believed the noise floor was well below that) and measured stuff from a foot away. SPCR tests in an anechoic chamber, uses a noise meter with self noise of 10dB(A), has a typical noise floor of 10-11dBA, and measures stuff from 1 meter away.

Absolutely, for noise measurements, SPCR is second to none... the question is only around cooling and if Nexian does as well, or better than R4 or 550D, or is it worse?

I guess it depends on what sort of cooling I need. I am building i7-4770K which is 84 watts, plus Radeon R7770 which is only 100 Watts, so altogether my build seems to be much less demanding than Anand or SPCR. I haven't decided on what CPU cooler (some revision of Noctua), but that shouldn't make a huge difference. I am specifically going Haswell for best performance per watts used.

[CA_Steve]

I think whatever CPU cooler you get will be more of a determinant than the little differences between these 3 cases. Get the case with the features you like best. If you were throwing a 200W GPU in there, then the little differences could add up a bit more.

[xan_user]

for noise measurements, SPCR is second to none...

the term " second to none" doesn't really do the job SPCR near enough justice.

[quest_for_silence]

the question is only around cooling and if Nexian does as well, or better than R4 or 550D, or is it worse?

Cooling and noise are related, whether the noise floor is higher you can't compare cooling as well.

If we give a look to raw figures this assumption looks like even more true: according to Anandtech the DS1 should be quieter than the R4 of about... 0.5dB? Are you kidding? With a 30dB noise floor??? According to Anandtech, the DS1 should be cooler than the R4 of about... 1°C for the GPU (just when overclocked!) *but* at the same time it should be hotter of 3°C with reference to the CPU temperature... therefore I think the Anandtech quoted conclusions are highly questionable and personally I reject them alltogether as absolutely unreliable.

My very humble opinion about your questions is that the final choice should be between a Fractal Design R4 Titanium Grey or a Lian-Li PC-B10, because the first enclosure is probably the most performing one among your options, while the second one is the most "intellectually" pleasing to you while sporting an expected modest noise penalty (maybe around a couple of dB more).

About the other two enclosures, the DS1 *might* still be preferred just for aesthetical reasons over the R4, paying probably some penalties money, noise & cooling wise, while the PC-7H should be a tad less sleek but probably a bit cooler alternative (and way less expensive too) over the PC-B10.

Just my 0.2c.

[alexb]

the question is only around cooling and if Nexian does as well, or better than R4 or 550D, or is it worse?

Cooling and noise are related, whether the noise floor is higher you can't compare cooling as well.

If we give a look to raw figures this assumption looks like even more true: according to Anandtech the DS1 should be quieter than the R4 of about... 0.5dB? Are you kidding? With a 30dB noise floor??? According to Anandtech, the DS1 should be cooler than the R4 of about... 1°C for the GPU (just when overclocked!) *but* at the same time it should be hotter of 3°C with reference to the CPU temperature... therefore I think the Anandtech quoted conclusions are highly questionable and personally I reject them alltogether as absolutely unreliable.

My very humble opinion about your questions is that the final choice should be between a Fractal Design R4 Titanium Grey or a Lian-Li PC-B10, because the first enclosure is probably the most performing one among your options, while the second one is the most "intellectually" pleasing to you while sporting an expected modest noise penalty (maybe around a couple of dB more).

About the other two enclosures, the DS1 *might* still be preferred just for aesthetical reasons over the R4, paying probably some penalties money, noise & cooling wise, while the PC-7H should be a tad less sleek but probably a bit cooler alternative (and way less expensive too) over the PC-B10.

Just my 0.2c.

Thanks, I have no idea how much PC-B10 costs? It's sold out everywhere, any ideas where to find one and how much? R4 is very easily available and can be had for cheap on Craigslist, and even 550D I've seen around for a great discount, hence made those my short list...

[quest_for_silence]

Thanks, I have no idea how much PC-B10 costs?

It's surely around (but probably above) 300 dollars (here in Italy it costs around 240euros at least), but being a 2009 products IMO you'd better to contact directly Lian Li about it.

[alexb]

Thanks, I have no idea how much PC-B10 costs?

It's surely around (but probably above) 300 dollars (here in Italy it costs around 240euros at least), but being a 2009 products IMO you'd better to contact directly Lian Li about it.

Not worth it then, I can't find it in US or Canada, maybe I will drop an email to Lian-Li... thnx