Compucase CI-6A21 Black Silent

FiXxXeR · Post by **FiXxXeR** » Tue Aug 12, 2003 2:44 am

Hello again SPCR fellows!

Love to post at this forum, since I always can rely on serious answears. I am very satisfied with my p4 2.4c update I got help with here recently.

Now I am about to get a new computer case. The oneI have now is soundabsorbed. I have done some moddings including outcut grills for fans, 80mm in middle, 120mm in top. The disadvantage I have come to realise with this system now is that the 120mm fan never really gets "in to business". My heavily modded power supply is taking most of the heat since it's underneath the 120mm fan and taking most of the heat. See link.

THE case I have been looking at has been around for some time I guess. It's the Compucase CI-6A21 (Black Silent). My theory is that a case with a 120mm intake and 120mm outtake fan will allow "quicker" airflow. My case above is hard to achieve that without increasing noise or further moddings. And my main concern is to have a 120mm fan outtake fan as close to the cpu heat area as possible.
Also, the 300w power supply that comes along (said to be silent, I dont care for the moment really), can it handle a brand new graphic card (haven't choosened yet)?

Post by **Ralf Hutter** » Tue Aug 12, 2003 5:17 am

The 6A21 is the same as the Antec SLK3700 with a different bezel. This case has the best airflow of any case I've ever used. My SLK3700 is cooled with one 120mm L1A Panaflo running at only 5 volts. Here's a picture of the relationship between the PSU, CPU fan and case fan:

If by "brand new graphic card" you mean something like an ATI 9700 or 9800, I don't think 300W will be enough. I think ATI recommends 350W minimum for those cards.

WannaOC · Post by **WannaOC** » Tue Aug 12, 2003 5:19 am

Have you considered just buying a normal case that is recommended then buying something like AcousticPak? It seems most cases marketed as "silent" are overpriced, don't work as well, and for the most part ugly. You could always buy a nice Antec 3700AMB or similar which has the 120mm fans like you want, is fairly cheap, is rated pretty quiet without foam, comes with a good Antec PSU, and looks decent. Buy some good acoustical foam and you have a quiet pc.

FiXxXeR · Post by **FiXxXeR** » Tue Aug 12, 2003 5:48 am

Thanks for replies.

At first I'd like to keep temps lower this time at first before installing any soundproofed materials.
Secondly I agree with you on all "silent brands". I don't expect it to be. That is up to me to configure myself. But my target is to get a smaller yet better airflow case.

Ralf, are you sure about 300w will not do?

Finally, I am going to look around another time, but in stores it seems like I can't buy any Antec cases. Haven't checked Internet stores in Sweden, probably possible.

FiXxXeR · Post by **FiXxXeR** » Tue Aug 12, 2003 5:57 am

hmm, I did find then Antec mentioned here.

Post by **Ralf Hutter** » Tue Aug 12, 2003 7:01 am

FiXxXeR wrote:Thanks for replies.

Ralf, are you sure about 300w will not do?

Instead of talking out my ass, I decided to go right to ATI's page and see what the say about this issue. For the 9800 and 9700 they recommend:

ATI Specs for Radeon 9800 wrote: RADEON™ 9800 Series of products requires connection to your PC's internal power supply for operation. Consult your system builder or OEM to ensure your system has an adequate power supply. Otherwise, ATI recommends a 300-Watt power supply or greater to ensure normal system operation where a number of other internal devices are installed.

I've read "350W" in various places but obviously whoever wrote that was making the same mistake I did.

Here's the Radeon 9800 page I quoted from.

So, according to that, you should be fine to use a 300W PSU with either of those high-performance vidcards. I suppose if you had a whole bunch of HDDs or other power-hungry components in your system you might want to think about a bigger PSU though.

Uwackme · Post by **Uwackme** » Tue Aug 12, 2003 10:28 am

As someone with a 9700pro, NF7-S, 2500+Barton and HyperX PC3500 ddr using the same case.....

DONT SKIMP, get the Fortron 530W. At $70 from NewEgg it's worth the added security of having no power problems. Once I started into overclocking just a bit...the 350W units were not strong enough. With the 530 I'm at 380/328 ATI and 220x10.5 Barton....120mm fans at 7v, panaflo M1A (2400rpm) on Alpha8042 hsf on CPU, Cooljag 313 (2800rpm) on ATI. I ducted the Panaflo using a "badong" duct to a second front panel intake vent using the bottom two 5-1/4" bays. So now I have 120mm + 80mm intake, and 120mm + 80mm exhaust.

I do need to modify the 530W next...use a single 120mm on the inside blowing OUT through it as it's 80mm's and fan control are the loudet things in the system now. Considering the power of the setup it's remarkably quiet.

I like the Compucase version better than the Antec3700. You can remove BOTH side panels, and install sound absorber, whereas the Antec is riveted shut on one side. Also, discard the intake "filter" as it is WAY too restrictive. Use a "central air" filter element instead.

Rule #1....if the crickets are the only thing annoying you, you achieved QUIET.

SometimesWarrior · Post by **SometimesWarrior** » Tue Aug 12, 2003 11:22 am

Uwackme wrote:DONT SKIMP, get the Fortron 530W. At $70 from NewEgg it's worth the added security of having no power problems. Once I started into overclocking just a bit...the 350W units were not strong enough.

Uwackme, both you and Ralf seem to be ignoring the findings of the sticky thread, How much will a 300w power supply run?. Look at shcnee's system at the beginning of the second page (short cut link). He's running gobs of stuff on a 300W power supply.

All the current draw testing done on this site suggests that 300W power supplies, if they are rated accurately, are even capable of running some dual-CPU systems. It's not hard to add up the wattages of all your components and see that you're getting nowhere near 300W, nor are you nearing the limits of a good 300W PSU's +3.3, +5, or +12 lines. MikeC's PSU tests have confirmed that good PSU's can handle full loads, and even go beyond their rated loads sometimes.

Let's not spread misinformation here. A good 300W PSU can power just about any system you can fit in a case. If you have evidence to the contrary that you want to share, please do so: it'll be the first time I've heard it said on this forum. Edit: Well, not the first time I've heard it, but the first time anyone's backed it up.

al bundy · Post by **al bundy** » Tue Aug 12, 2003 4:22 pm

SometimesWarrior wrote:...A good 300W PSU can power just about any system you can fit in a case. If you have evidence to the contrary that you want to share, please do so: it'll be the first time I've heard it said on this forum.

I was thinking the same thing here. A good 300W supply should suffice, yes? I too was a bit surprised by the 530W recommendation... man, that's a lot of juice...

Post by **Ralf Hutter** » Wed Aug 13, 2003 5:04 am

SometimesWarrior wrote:
Uwackme wrote:DONT SKIMP, get the Fortron 530W. At $70 from NewEgg it's worth the added security of having no power problems. Once I started into overclocking just a bit...the 350W units were not strong enough.
Uwackme, both you and Ralf seem to be ignoring the findings of the sticky thread, How much will a 300w power supply run?. Look at shcnee's system at the beginning of the second page (short cut link). He's running gobs of stuff on a 300W power supply.

Let's not spread misinformation here. A good 300W PSU can power just about any system you can fit in a case. If you have evidence to the contrary that you want to share, please do so: it'll be the first time I've heard it said on this forum. Edit: Well, not the first time I've heard it, but the first time anyone's backed it up.

Did you miss my second post in this thread? It's the one where I noted that I had been "talking out my ass' when I said that I thought ATI recommended a 350W PSU, minimum for their top-end cards. After I posted that I actually went to ATI's site and found that they recommend a 300W PSU. I then posted a corection in my second post and even linked the ATI page. Then I summarized like this:

"So, according to that, you should be fine to use a 300W PSU with either of those high-performance vidcards. I suppose if you had a whole bunch of HDDs or other power-hungry components in your system you might want to think about a bigger PSU though."

WannaOC · Post by **WannaOC** » Wed Aug 13, 2003 5:56 am

If you go with the 3700AMB it coems with a Antec 350. That should be more thna enough to power your setup.

Buckeye3d · Post by **Buckeye3d** » Wed Aug 13, 2003 8:54 am

Where can you buy a all black Compucase CI-6A21? Does the shade of black match most black drive covers?

angryowl · Post by **angryowl** » Wed Aug 13, 2003 9:03 am

I know of people who run this combo, a 200W supply with a Radeon 9800 Pro (and some of them even use the AIW, which I imagine draws more juice.)

So 300W is probably fine, unless you're running giant power-sucking cards in addition to your high end Radeon.

Post by **NeilBlanchard** » Wed Aug 13, 2003 9:11 am

Hello:

Buckeye3d wrote:Where can you buy a all black Compucase CI-6A21? Does the shade of black match most black drive covers?

I got one from New Egg with the stock HEC 300watt PS (which is very quiet *if* you have adequate air flow through the case) and yes, the black matches the Samsung CD-RW and Alps floppy and the Zip 250 black face plates.

My one reservation about the model that New Egg carries is the lack of any *plugs* in the front panel -- if anybody knows where I can get some USB (at least) for this case, I would appreciate it!

Directron *used* to have a CI-6A21 WITH the front plugs and WITHOUT a PS, for a very good price, but they apparently don't carry it anymore. I would look at the 6A19 that they have, instead.

http://www.directron.com/cslx6a19bl.html

and I would get the Fortron 300watt PS:

http://www.directron.com/fsp30060pn.html

for a total of $70 sans shipping -- nice! I really like this case -- the rubber grommets and sholder bolts for the HD come with it, and you *will* need to get your tin snips warmed up and cut out the fan grills, but after that, it is the best case going, IMO. If you don't need/want 120mm fans, then I'd get the Evercase...

Buckeye3d · Post by **Buckeye3d** » Wed Aug 13, 2003 9:18 am

Thanks for the reply. Yeah I saw that version Directron has...I don't really like how that big silver part makes it look. I'd like to find one that is all black.

FiXxXeR · Post by **FiXxXeR** » Wed Aug 13, 2003 9:41 am

About the Compucase, what's the difference between 6A21 and 6A19?? Can't see any difference except design on Compucase homepage. The 6A19 is just slighty more expensive in store I've noticed.

The PSU included with the 6a21 in the store where I would buy it, is named HEC 300w .... what the ... heck (

bad) is that?

The system would contain of:

p4 2.4c
geforce3 at the moment -> going to upgrade
2x256 pc3200
abit ic7
2 hds
cdrw
sb live 5.1
2x120mm papst
92mm zalman

SometimesWarrior · Post by **SometimesWarrior** » Wed Aug 13, 2003 10:16 am

Ralf Hutter wrote:Did you miss my second post in this thread? [...]

"So, according to that, you should be fine to use a 300W PSU with either of those high-performance vidcards. I suppose if you had a whole bunch of HDDs or other power-hungry components in your system you might want to think about a bigger PSU though."

Actually, that quote is the one I was nitpicking.

Honestly, unless you're using a full-tower case with every drive bay loaded, I think you could squeeze enough juice out of a 300W PSU. But if you really have every slot and drive bay loaded with peripherals, you may have to do some tricks to keep your system from going over 300W, such as staggering the spin-up times of your six SCSI hard drives. Sorry, Ralf, you're right--there is a point at which a desktop machine could need more than 300W. My only concern is that most people don't realize how distant that point is.

Harry Azol · Post by **Harry Azol** » Wed Aug 13, 2003 10:20 am

FiXxXeR wrote:The PSU included with the 6a21 in the store where I would buy it, is named HEC 300w .... what the ... heck ( bad) is that?

very good psu.. I believe the name of the company is Herochi (spelling is most likely incorrect)

Post by **NeilBlanchard** » Wed Aug 13, 2003 4:39 pm

Hello FiXxXeR:

FiXxXeR wrote:About the Compucase, what's the difference between 6A21 and 6A19?? Can't see any difference except design on Compucase homepage. The 6A19 is just slighty more expensive in store I've noticed.

The PSU included with the 6a21 in the store where I would buy it, is named HEC 300w .... what the ... heck ( bad) is that?

Just the bezel design is different. And they both have some silver on them -- I think the 19 comes with several colors in the grill: black, silver, blue are the ones I've seen.

The HEC stands for Heroichi (Electronics Co.?) and they have been around a long time. The 300 watt PS is very quiet as long as you have adequate case ventilation. The system I built with the CI-6A21 was:

Athlon XP 2500+ 'Barton" w/ Alpha PAL8045 & thermally controlled Enermax 80mm
Corsair "standard" 512MB (2-256MB) PC3200
80GB Seagate 7200.7 -- in grommets and very quiet
Samsung CD-RW (fairly quiet!

)
Matrox G550 (silent)
Alps floppy (fairly quiet!

)
100MB Zip drive
Zoom V.92 modem
(2) 120mmx25mm Enermax fans @ 4.5volts -- very quiet! But you *must* cut out the grills.

Uwackme · Post by **Uwackme** » Wed Aug 13, 2003 9:50 pm

Ive built 4 systems now with NF7-S/A7N8X v2.0 motherboards, 2500+ Bartons, and 9700pro/9800pro cards. One HDisk, one CDRW/DVD and 512M or 1024M of ram.

In trying to keep an overclocked 9700/9800 happy (HUGE 5V, 12V pigs) and the Barton/Northbridge/ddr happy at FSB speeds over 200Mhz.

530W is the lowest I've found completely stable and able to get the job done AND stay cool and quiet.

I've had 3 350Watt PS's simply NOT be able to meet the systems needs...dips in 3.3V rail, dips in 12V rail, etc.

All 4 were in 6A19 cases with 120mm intake/exhaust fans and cut grills.

But, you dont want to take my advise....dont. Best of luck.

halcyon · Post by **halcyon** » Thu Aug 14, 2003 12:08 am

Uwackme,

not trying to doubt your findings. Can you tell us what PSUs you have tried (makers/models)?

regards,
Halcyon

PS I'm running A7n8X, Xp 2800+, 2 x 512MB DDR400, 2 x CDRW, 2 x HD, Radeon 9700Pro, 2 x soundcard, 1 x PCI IDE controller, several USB devices on a 300W PSU Fortron and have also tried Seasonic 350W. Stable, naturally.

FiXxXeR · Post by **FiXxXeR** » Thu Aug 14, 2003 2:59 am

NeilBlanchard and Uwackme. Did you cut out the grills in the front of the case as well?
I believe the CI-6A21 is approx what I seek. I'll report in in a week or so about this matter and tell you results.

Post by **Ralf Hutter** » Thu Aug 14, 2003 3:54 am

FiXxXeR wrote:NeilBlanchard and Uwackme. Did you cut out the grills in the front of the case as well?

Look:

NeilBlanchard wrote: (2) 120mmx25mm Enermax fans @ 4.5volts -- very quiet! But you *must* cut out the grills.

and:

Uwackme wrote: All 4 were in 6A19 cases with 120mm intake/exhaust fans and cut grills.

Looks like they did cut out both grills.

FiXxXeR · Post by **FiXxXeR** » Thu Aug 14, 2003 7:15 am

Ralf Hutter wrote:
FiXxXeR wrote:NeilBlanchard and Uwackme. Did you cut out the grills in the front of the case as well?
Look:

NeilBlanchard wrote: (2) 120mmx25mm Enermax fans @ 4.5volts -- very quiet! But you *must* cut out the grills.
and:

Uwackme wrote: All 4 were in 6A19 cases with 120mm intake/exhaust fans and cut grills.
Looks like they did cut out both grills.

okidoki Ralf.

Uwackme · Post by **Uwackme** » Fri Aug 15, 2003 10:01 am

Yes I cut all the grills front + back. Also, I discarded the stock filter on front, and used a peice of "central airconditioning" filter. The stock filter is very restrictive.

On the system I use and really push hard, I also used a thermaltake ductmod, and a badong duct on the CPU...8045 Alpha-> ductmod -> TT smartfan (for testing with manual speed control at the moment)-> Badong duct-> with vent opening in the unused 2 5-1/4" drive bays, with front plastic parts cut and ready for modder's mesh.

I also cut the front vent plastic peice, and will put modders mesh in there also to maximize airflow, minimize resistence. Ill get the nice hex-pattern, paint it black, should look cool.

So net result is: 120mm and 80mm intake, 120mm 80mm exhaust fans. With 80mm intake blowing cool air straight on CPU.

A tip on the ABit's... bend the undersocket temp sensor UP til it makes contact with underside of CPU. This gets you very close to core temp reading....and fast up/down reaction to loads. Your temp will read higher, but then it's only really reading more accurately.

On the PS's....I tried Antec 380True, Nexus 350, QTec 350, and Fortron 300w/120mm and 350-60PN. They all had a hard time keeping 3.3 5 and 12V rails happy during peak draws running OC'd Barton/9700-9800's.

I even had mod'd my Nexus to a 120mm fan using the FPS300's 120MM fan case and it was nice and cool/quiet using 1800+TbredB in a K7S5A but once the NF7-S v2 arrived and the speeds went up....3.3 and 12V rails started dipping under max load.

Mind you, these dips can lead to crashes...and did. This is one tough compromise to work out...huge power demands from OC'd monster parts, good cooling, and quiet. I'm just trying to find the sweet spot.

FiXxXeR · Post by **FiXxXeR** » Sat Aug 23, 2003 7:43 am

*update*

bought the compucase 6a21 case yesterday and temps are about the same, but I haven't had time to cut the grills yet. expect more improvement there. the hec psu is as said silent as long as the airflow and case temps are good - althou it has a certain humming sound. haven't removed the grills from psu fan either witch i usually do.

i'll report back in a week hopefully when i've had time to cut the grills.

Compucase CI-6A21 Black Silent

Compucase CI-6A21 Black Silent

Hint

Re: Hint

Re: Hint

2 Questions...

200W in Shuttle XPC and Radeon 9800 Pro

Re: 2 Questions...

Re: Hint

The bezel....

hmmm

Re: hmmm

Re: hmmm

Cut'em