Case under $200

Enclosures and acoustic damping to help quiet them.

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Shaderr
Posts: 5
Joined: Mon Apr 04, 2016 8:46 am

Case under $200

Post by Shaderr » Mon Apr 04, 2016 8:59 am

Hello. I choose atx midi tower air cooling case with good steel quality under 200$ with best temperature/noise ratio for i7-6700k, msi gtx 980 ti. I don't need 5.25 cages. I find silverstone ft05 and phanteks evolv atx. What quiet case you recommend for single gpu with good temperatures?

Abula
Posts: 3662
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 12:22 pm
Location: Guatemala

Re: Case under 200$

Post by Abula » Mon Apr 04, 2016 11:54 am

Welcome to SPCR!!!

The FT05 is probably the best air cooling on the market, but you will need a good plan to keep the AP181 under control, the stock settings are not good enough, you need to undervolt them heavily, so a motherboard like Asus with FanXPert will help you a lot. If you still find them too loud for your taste, you can upgrade them to AP182 that allow lower operation and noise, at the expense of cooling. Btw this is not a full steel case, the front and back are aluminium.

Once you quiet down the case fans, probably the GPU fans will be the noisiest, try to chose a GTX980Ti that its quiet, seems MSI GeForce GTX 980 Ti Lightning 6GB or go aftermarket with the Prolimatech MK-26 Multi-VGA Cooler.

Shaderr
Posts: 5
Joined: Mon Apr 04, 2016 8:46 am

Re: Case under $200

Post by Shaderr » Tue Apr 05, 2016 7:52 am

Thanks. What is the minimum rpm with AP181 fans on Asus motherboard? Performance AP182 better than AP181? I read on the official silverstone website(http://www.silverstonetek.com/product.php?pid=258) (AP181: 65CFM( 600rmp),noise 17dBA ; AP182: 60CFM (500rpm), 17dBA). MSI GeForce GTX 980 Ti Lightning length 33cm, I read from reviews ft05 maximum gpu lengths 312mm. What cpu cooler you recomend for good overclocking(none-window version ft05): Noctua nh-d15, Thermalright Macho rev B, Thermalright True Spirit 140 BW Rev A or others? Its possible with this case build semi passive build(in idle all fans disabled)?

Irrelevant
Posts: 95
Joined: Mon Oct 01, 2012 9:44 am

Re: Case under $200

Post by Irrelevant » Wed Apr 06, 2016 9:15 am

I've been quite pleased with my black Fractal Define S. Panel and frame are pretty hefty steel, with a truly excellent powder-coat. The front bezel and ModuVent covers are plastic, but have also held up remarkably well to some abuse and don't really look plastic-y. IMO, it's fairly good-looking, very quiet (the direct airflow allowed by removing the 5.25" trays makes a huge difference), and a steal at <$100. It also doesn't have the hardware compatibility issues that stem from the FT05's 90-degree orientation (hard-limited cable bend radius, poor performance with some CPU/GPU coolers, and "confusing" the thermal-management systems of some PSUs).

SPCR's review of the Define S mentioned resonance issues, but I haven't encountered any, even with two 3.5" drives (WD's most recent 2TB Red and an ancient 500GB Samsung) and both stock fans hard-mounted. YMMV, but if you do have issues, there are multiple cheap-and-easy solutions:
  1. Adjust the tension of the screws holding the HDD's to the trays. (Little known fact: a rubber's dampening performance is affected by how much pressure it's under.)
  2. Replace the stock grommets on the HDD trays with Sorbothane equivalents. (Another little known fact: silicone is not a very good decoupling material at the frequencies and intensities produced by HDD's and case fans.)
  3. Quality, butyl-based, constrained-layer damping sheet (eg, Dynamat) applied to the back of the HDD and/or motherboard tray.
EDIT: If you're trying to run semi-passive, the Macho with the FT-05 is probably your best bet, but I wouldn't recommend trying it with OC'd equipment. Also, I doubt it would stay passive for long, OC'd or no, and quality fans are essentially inaudible at their minimum RPMs, and far more pleasant to listen to than the hum, crackle, and whine that at least one of the power supplies in your rig is virtually guaranteed to produce.

Nec_V20
Posts: 49
Joined: Mon Apr 25, 2016 1:22 am

Re: Case under $200

Post by Nec_V20 » Wed May 04, 2016 9:16 pm

Shaderr wrote:Hello. I choose atx midi tower air cooling case with good steel quality under 200$ with best temperature/noise ratio for i7-6700k, msi gtx 980 ti. I don't need 5.25 cages. I find silverstone ft05 and phanteks evolv atx. What quiet case you recommend for single gpu with good temperatures?
I think that the CoolerMaster HAF XM would fit your criteria.

Aside from anything else it has two hot-swap bays which come in handy.

It can be fitted with four 200mm fans (1*side in, 1*front in, 2*top out) to keep everything nice and cool. I have mine with a Corsair H100i under the two 200mm fans and it is very quiet.

Unhedged
Posts: 10
Joined: Thu Aug 29, 2013 3:35 pm

Re: Case under $200

Post by Unhedged » Fri May 06, 2016 4:08 am

The Evolv ATX is primarily a custom water cooling case; it's not very good with air cooling. Gonna have to go with Abula on this and recommend the FT05 which is excellent for air.

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