Hi,
I'm preparing a new system which I want quieter than my current one.
I have made my choice about nearly everything but the case.
As the topic's subject indicates I hesitate between the 3700BQE and 2650BQE.
I can't find them in local retailers (I'll order on the web) so I can't get hands on experience.
Here is what I gathered on the web :
2650 :
+ smaller : better for me as I won't put many components in it.
+ air duct : I currenly have an exhaust duct for my CPU which improved a lot my temps.
- drive cage
3700 :
- bigger
+ drive cage
I will not do major modding on the cage. About the drive cage I got from different reviews that the 3700's got drives hotter but is easier of access.
Can anyone help choose ?
Thank
Sethi.
antec 3700BQE vs 2650BQE
Moderators: NeilBlanchard, Ralf Hutter, sthayashi, Devonavar
I have not looked at the 2650 too carefully, but one thing I noticed is that there is no fan in front of the 3.5" HD mounting, so I would not mount more than one HD there unless you mod it somehow or suspend the drives in front of the front intake fan. There are some air holes though so you'll probably get a little bit of air over the drives if you have enough negative pressure in the case.
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Ralf Hutter
- SPCR Reviewer
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Stay away from the 2650. It's less well-built than the 3700.
Read this thread. It contains a pretty thorough discussion of the 2650BQE.
Read this thread. It contains a pretty thorough discussion of the 2650BQE.
I just built a PC using the SLK2650BQE last week and can offer some opinions. FYI, I haven't worked with the 3700AMB/BQE before.
The 2650BQE is just a tweaked 2600AMB. Nice matte black finish (I find the AMB's too glossy). The 4/2/2 drive layout is okay if you don't have many drives. And only 2 of the HD mounts are rubber grommetted (includes matching shoulder screws). And like Metaluna mentioned, there's no fan in front of the HD cage, but it is perforated like the 80mm front intake hole (round holes only, not honeycomb like the 120mm exhaust).
This case is also 2" shallower than the 3700 so if you have a really long video card, or if the IDE ports are located near the AGP port, you may have clearance problems with the HD. I used standard flat IDE cables and did some cablegami to make it look nice w/Abit NF7-S v2. I would have had problems if I'd used rounded cables though. And the bottom 2 5.25" drive bays can't be used with standard length optical drives because it blocks off the floppy header & #3 DIMM slot on an NF7-S. This probably won't be a problem (or less of a problem) with the 3700 because it's deeper. Also, it only has room for 80mm intake, not 120mm like the 3700.
The air guide is nice though, it's also honeycomb grill, with an extentable air guide (it's sorta flimsy though). As with fixed airguides of any type, it may not be centered perfectly for your particular m/b. It's about 1cm too low and left of the cpu socket on a NF7-S. But the air guide is funneled (it's wider on the CPU side, so it still works pretty well as an exhaust for the Alpha PAL8045 that I mounted). Most of the noise comes from this side hole (because I was using the stock 80mm 40CFM Delta on the PAL8045). There's also a nice little gap between the 5.25" drive bays and the other fixed/non-removable side panel to hide extra PSU wires.
Overall it's a much better case (and value) than the 2600AMB. Versus the 3700BQE though... the 90* rotated HD bays is nice, plus 2 more HD bays. It also has room for a 120mm intake, but no side Air Guide duct, and it is bigger and heavier, so it's easier to work on stuff inside it, but not fun to lug around. If you've only got 1 or 2 HD and a couple optical drives, and probably won't be adding any more drives, then the 2650BQE is fine.
The 2650BQE is just a tweaked 2600AMB. Nice matte black finish (I find the AMB's too glossy). The 4/2/2 drive layout is okay if you don't have many drives. And only 2 of the HD mounts are rubber grommetted (includes matching shoulder screws). And like Metaluna mentioned, there's no fan in front of the HD cage, but it is perforated like the 80mm front intake hole (round holes only, not honeycomb like the 120mm exhaust).
This case is also 2" shallower than the 3700 so if you have a really long video card, or if the IDE ports are located near the AGP port, you may have clearance problems with the HD. I used standard flat IDE cables and did some cablegami to make it look nice w/Abit NF7-S v2. I would have had problems if I'd used rounded cables though. And the bottom 2 5.25" drive bays can't be used with standard length optical drives because it blocks off the floppy header & #3 DIMM slot on an NF7-S. This probably won't be a problem (or less of a problem) with the 3700 because it's deeper. Also, it only has room for 80mm intake, not 120mm like the 3700.
The air guide is nice though, it's also honeycomb grill, with an extentable air guide (it's sorta flimsy though). As with fixed airguides of any type, it may not be centered perfectly for your particular m/b. It's about 1cm too low and left of the cpu socket on a NF7-S. But the air guide is funneled (it's wider on the CPU side, so it still works pretty well as an exhaust for the Alpha PAL8045 that I mounted). Most of the noise comes from this side hole (because I was using the stock 80mm 40CFM Delta on the PAL8045). There's also a nice little gap between the 5.25" drive bays and the other fixed/non-removable side panel to hide extra PSU wires.
Overall it's a much better case (and value) than the 2600AMB. Versus the 3700BQE though... the 90* rotated HD bays is nice, plus 2 more HD bays. It also has room for a 120mm intake, but no side Air Guide duct, and it is bigger and heavier, so it's easier to work on stuff inside it, but not fun to lug around. If you've only got 1 or 2 HD and a couple optical drives, and probably won't be adding any more drives, then the 2650BQE is fine.