Antec 900 Vs Solo

reidcc · Post by **reidcc** » Thu Oct 23, 2008 3:37 pm

Hi-
Sweet deals at the Egg right now on cases. I currently have an E6300 build around an Antec P150, and yes I happen to love the case and the quiet. I have a Zalman Cooler and a 7600 GT Fanless Video card- so it is extremely quiet- even with 4 hard drives.

I want to begin buildup of another unit, and I can get a Solo Case for $50 plus shipping, or an Antec 900 for $60 with the purchase of an Antec Supply.

While I am not a huge fan of the bright blue glow and LED's of the 900, it kinda appeals to me because of its airflow. I assume I could swap out fans to ones without leds, but my main concern is noise. The Solo(really a black P150) appeals to me because of its quiet, but its airflow COULD be better.

So there is my problem- how much noisier would the 900 be? I would have to assume that when I end up with another Video card it would be a 9600GT, but most likely with a fan. What could be done to make the 900 quieter?

Thx
Chris

Fungi · Post by **Fungi** » Fri Oct 24, 2008 12:32 am

The Nine Hundred will let you hear all the fan sound really well because of its very open design. The Solo is a really silence oriented case, and airflow isn't too bad if you put some nice 92mm fans in the front and leave enough room for air to flow around. The Solo is going to be the better choice until you need so much airflow that the front fans are spinning so fast it becomes noisy, then some slow 120mms on the Nine Hundred will get better.
Also note that some longer cards will not fit in the Solo with all drive slots taken up.

reidcc · Post by **reidcc** » Fri Oct 24, 2008 2:13 am

Thx Funji-

The only fan I am using in my P150 case now is the Rear 120mm unit, and I am using the stock NeoHe430 watt supply, and my case wiring is a mess!!!

I am not a gamer at all, so I won't be going for an Ultra gamers video card, but something more mainstream. I suppose if I were to clean up my act with my new build, and finally get rid of that ##$$ IDE cable, and tidy up my wiring to help airflow the Solo would be a nice package.

It just seems that the 900 has so much more room, and I understand the trade-offs being more open.

Chris

Post by **NeilBlanchard** » Fri Oct 24, 2008 3:54 am

Hi & welcome to SPCR,

I'd use the Solo, for sure.

danielG · Post by **danielG** » Fri Oct 24, 2008 6:32 am

I'm not acquainted with the Solo. I only know the Nine Hundred on paper. My P182 came with three 120 mm Tricools.

The Nine Hundred comes with 120 mm Tricool fans, which are loud, even on Low. Replacing them with proper fans should tone down the noise a lot. Don't know if the 200 mm top fan is noisy or not, but that one should be hard to replace.

bozar · Post by **bozar** » Fri Oct 24, 2008 10:42 am

Go with solo and 2 92mm nexus fans in the front, you'll never get a 900 quiet.

Fungi · Post by **Fungi** » Sat Oct 25, 2008 1:13 am

Definitely replace the Tri-Cool fans; they're junk. Also note that even though the Nine Hundred seems like a big case, it's really not that spacious inside. It will hold more stuff, but it's not nice and open inside like you'd (or at least I did) expect.

speedkar9 · Post by **speedkar9** » Sat Oct 25, 2008 5:13 pm

The window on the 900 doesn't help with panel dampening either.

I bought an Antec Three Hundred (somewhat similar design) supposedly because of the airflow. Boy was I ever sorry.... That hard drive noise, CPU fan, PSU fan, [and did I mention the hard drive noise?] was seeping right out the front.

I ended up sealing off 4 of the 5 fan ports (the two front intakes, the top and side) but still it made little difference. The 140 mm Tricool atop rattles on medium and high speed, and is still noisy on low, due to its horizontal orientation. The same fan on its side does not rattle. The display model at the computer store already had its motor and blades come out of the fan housing.... the rest was had just crashed at the bottom of the case. Poor fan design. I can only imagine a bigger 200 mm fan being worse.

I ended up selling that case in favor of something more "enclosed". Decent space for a video card though... compared to say, a Sonata.