Cooler Master Silencio 652S Tower Case

[Lawrence Lee]

http://www.silentpcreview.com/Cooler_Ma ... encio_652S

[quest_for_silence]

Thank you, Lawrence!

[Invisiblemoose]

Thanks for the review; seems about on par with my expectations. I've seen it around the $80 mark on Newegg, for what it's worth, though I was tempted to spend more for it back when it was new. I can live with all the faults except the lack of space behind the right panel -- that's the biggest complaint I have with my CM Cosmos 1000 (the original version). Incidentally the sound dampening on the Cosmos makes a big difference in smoothing out fan noise, muffling HDDs, and eliminating whine... Is the dampening on this case simply too thin?

[MikeC]

Incidentally the sound dampening on the Cosmos makes a big difference in smoothing out fan noise, muffling HDDs, and eliminating whine...

How can you tell? Have you compared it with and w/o the damping?

Here's why it makes so little difference:

Any foam less than say 1" thick, virtually regardless of density or other characteristics does virtually no sound absorption below about 1kHz. OK, if I'm being generous, I'll say 500Hz. Above that it does something, though not really as much as you'd think. We're not talking 10 dB. Maybe 2-3. But the foam in PC cases is rarely more than maybe 1/2" thick.

If you read my article about the construction of SPCR's anechoic chamber, you know that 8" thick insulation - made mostly from cotton of recycled blue jeans - was used to line the walls and ceiling.

But where is the noise (in terms of frequency) in a PC? Simple answer -- just look at the spectrum screen captures in any of our case/system reviews. There's always way more energy below 1kHz than above. The killer tone of the Silencio's fans is around 300Hz. The foam can't do anything about that, partly because it can't absorb such frequencies, and partly because the fans are at the openings of the case. Even if the case was full of foam, with the fans mounted at the vent openings, you'd still hear them plain as day.

Anyway, I go back you my first question to you: How can you tell the foam in your Cosmos case does anything?

[Invisiblemoose]

In the case of the Cosmos, you're right, it's not necessarily the dampening material that mutes the unpleasant internal noises -- the side panels alone are thick and heavy and might be fully responsible for the noise reduction. I'm not going to rip the stuff off to find out. There are 6 120mm fans mounted within the case (plus my GPU and PSU fans), and only one fan (the rear one) directly at an opening. (I like the white noise when I sleep.) Removing and replacing the side panels makes a significant difference for tonality and quality of sound, though the overall noise level likely doesn't change much.

I suppose I've just taken it for granted that the sound dampening material was helping, but the more I think about it now, I guess that's probably not the case. I've never used a PC case with panels anywhere as thick as the Cosmos unfortunately.

One area where I do believe the dampening is effective is with HDD seek noises.

My anecdotal experience is with those cheap sheets of sticky-backed sound dampening material you're supposed to cut into the pieces you need. I suspension-mounted a 3.5" HDD in a Shuttle SN68SG2, and that mounting essentially eliminated any vibrations reaching the case -- but you could still clearly hear the unpleasant seek noises. I stuck 2 to 3 layers of foam on the side panels and it reduced the seek noise to an inaudible level from the couch (HTPC use.) Even up close the quality of the sound was duller and softer, less clicky and harsh. I first applied only a single layer, but didn't notice a difference. I was surprised at how big a difference the second layer (plus a 3rd layer where there was room) made.

I can only imagine different sounds interact differently with different styles and thickness of dampening material -- perhaps I just got lucky with my Shuttle. I applied that same foam 3 layers thick into a DVD player trying to dull the sound of the spinning disc, and it did nothing.

[CA_Steve]

Here's how thin foam helps quiet a case: when it's on the side doors and the tight fit it provides on closure reduces vibration that would occur without it

[Das_Saunamies]

Thanks for the review. Looks like someone at CM fell asleep at the wheel - I hope they keep the 550 around so people don't have to buy the new one.

Here's how thin foam helps quiet a case: when it's on the side doors and the tight fit it provides on closure reduces vibration that would occur without it

I'll second that. The reduction in dB has not been much compared to the ol' DIY solutions.

Luckily we don't need bathroom tiles, bitumen mats, acoustic foam pads and sheets, elastic cords and silicone/hot glue as much these days! The selection of quiet, even silent components is pretty good now. Factory-installed foam panels are just a nice cherry on top of a quality build: they should stop that last bit of vibration (if you needed HDDs or use industrial fans) and mellow out the squeals and whirring (may save you an RMA/refund/reassembly/mod).

[hikeskool]

Man, I wish CoolerMaster would return to its roots. You know what I'm talking about, before they built "gaming" cases to appease the teenage boy rice rocket "gamer" demographic. Just simple, sleek, and beautiful. Like the old ATC-110:



I would pay up to $300 for an updated version of this case, with proper mounts for 140mm fans, front/top/side USB/audio ports, cable management, etc. Basically, make it the size of a Fractal R5, include 2-3 decent quiet fans, and design it for quiet use. Just modernize the damn thing, offer it in black, and we're off to the races. This case is a classic. Falcon Northwest used this bad boy for years for its most expensive PCs:



My ATC-110 is in my garage, covered up in a plastic bag. I can't get rid of her, every time I look at her I get nostalgic and remember how excited I was when she arrived at my doorstep over a decade ago.

...do I dare the impossible? Try to retrofit her for modern, quiet computing???

[SebRad]

...do I dare the impossible? Try to retrofit her for modern, quiet computing???

I would, in fact I did and my PC is in the very similar ACTS 201. Very quiet at idle with fans 300 (140mm) to 600rpm (80mm)
Load is still quiet, but not dead silent, and I'm not running low end hardware either, at the time i7 2600k and GTX560Ti was (and still is) pretty solid. I'm handling up to ~300w in my system and that gives you a lot of performance with modern components. Like i7 4790k + GTX980, high end Radeons and overclocking would be pushing it though.

I have done a good deal of work on the case, you can see earlier incarnation in this thread.
Some more up to date stuff in this thread and this one.

Regards, Seb

[xan_user]

...do I dare the impossible? Try to retrofit her for modern, quiet computing???

With he right mods, right parts and realistic goals, almost any case can be extremely quiet.

[hikeskool]

...do I dare the impossible? Try to retrofit her for modern, quiet computing???

I would, in fact I did and my PC is in the very similar ACTS 201. Very quiet at idle with fans 300 (140mm) to 600rpm (80mm)
Load is still quiet, but not dead silent, and I'm not running low end hardware either, at the time i7 2600k and GTX560Ti was (and still is) pretty solid. I'm handling up to ~300w in my system and that gives you a lot of performance with modern components. Like i7 4790k + GTX980, high end Radeons and overclocking would be pushing it though.

I have done a good deal of work on the case, you can see earlier incarnation in this thread.
Some more up to date stuff in this thread and this one.

Regards, Seb

Wow, that is a very impressive project! I need to review it in further detail. Well done!