So, one of the things that's been frustrating to me about SPCR reviews is that a lot of the Aluminum cases are not even reviewed, noisy or not. I would like to see the measurements. And it's not like some of the leading Aluminum case manufacturers are not trying to make quiet cases, Lian-Li being a big example with its V1100 boxes, so it would be nice to see how well they've done. However the reviews are just not there on SPCR. There are reviews out on other sites, http://www.tomshardware.com rates a lot more cases than SPCR, and the reviews are pretty good, but it doesn't really rate them for how quiet they are. http://www.anandtech.com actually does rate them on sound, although its technique isn't as good as SPCR's, but it does at least do more of the aluminum cases. Here is a kind of merged comparison of the current rankings between SPCR and anandtech. The anandtech web site for this is http://www.anandtech.com/casecooling/sh ... i=2346&p=9:
(apologies on the spacing, no really good way to do this properly)
Code: Select all
SPCR Anandtech
ARM Stealth Foundation -not rated-
Fong Kai FK330 -not rated-
-rated lower, see below- Coolermaster Centurion 5
-Rated off the list!!!- Antec P160
-not rated- Chenbro XPider II
-not rated- Enermax Sea Hawk
-not rated- SilverStone TJ5
-not rated- MGE Viper
-not rated- Lian Li PC-V1000
-not rated- MGE Sidewinder
Silverstone TJ6 Silversone TJ6
-not rated- NZXT Nemesis
Evercase ECE4252 -not rated-
Coolcases / Chenbro PC-610 -not rated-
Ying Yang "Mars" YY-5603 -not rated-
Antec SLK3000B -not rated-
Chenbro Gaming Bomb Xpider -not rated-
Antec SLK3700BQE -not rated-
Antec SLK3700AMB -not rated-
Coolermaster Centurion 5 -rated higher, see above-
Antec Sonata -not rated-
Antec SX1000 series -not rated-
-not rated- Super Flower X-Mask
-not rated- Thermaltake Tsunami Dream
-not rated- Themraltake Darrier V6000A
-not rated- NZXT Nemesis Elite
-not rated- Chenbro Gaming Bom II
-not rated- Aspire X-Navigator
Antec P160
While Anandtech rated it #2, it's not on SPCRs recommend list at all. SPCR reivewed it, and did not like it, but then it is Aluminum, basically.
Coolermaster Centurion 5
#1 on the Anandtech list, but way down on the SPCR list. Maybe this one makes some sense, as Anandtech, while it found the box very quiet, said it did not cool well.
Lian Li V1000
Interesting that the Lian Li (aluminum) box did fairly well on Anandtech. It's not even one of the Lian Li quiet cases. There is a user review of the V2000 (very similar, but bigger) on SPCR, but no actual SPCR review. Again, I'm not saying the Lian Li's are all that quiet, but still, it would have been interesting to see an actual SPCR review, confirming it one way or another. Aspects of the Lian Li designs, with 120mm fans, and an almost inverted layout (which seems to have helped the Silverstone TJ06 somewhat), have certain thermal/noise advantages, and there seems a lot of interest in the line in the forums, so it is curious that SPCR hasn't reviewed the V1100 or V1200 at least.
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And so on. There are various other anomalies between the two ratings/measurements, but you can get the general idea. Some boxes for full SPCR review are suggested, the Silverstone TJ05 for one, but observationally there seem to be a fair number of Aluminum cases, highly rated by Anandtech, not rated or lowly rated by SPCR, which should also be considered for further SPCR review. It's hard to argue against measured results.