GMC Noblesse SE a good candidate for quiet case?

Enclosures and acoustic damping to help quiet them.

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soundOFsilence
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GMC Noblesse SE a good candidate for quiet case?

Post by soundOFsilence » Wed Jul 16, 2003 9:11 am

I was browsing through cases, I came across the GMC Noblesse SE case, newegg.com has it here, but they seem to be out of them. It is pretty well sealed, with a cover for optical drives, and has some sound dampening material according to some reviews. I think it may be even too sealed for airflow. But there is a door in the bottom that can be opened or closed when in need of more airflow, I can imagine a lot of DIYs for that area to seal dust and sound but still let airflow...

Does anyone have experience with this case? It has a pretty interesting exterior, and some cool extra (some useless) features. I like the fact that it does not look like a pc, but then again, I am not too hot about it.

Opinions?

CoolColJ
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Post by CoolColJ » Wed Jul 16, 2003 2:26 pm


George
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Post by George » Wed Jul 16, 2003 3:56 pm

I have the regular version (the one without the HDD selector or sound selector) I'm currently building a p4 system into it. The SE version also includes some extra bits like soft pads that are suppose to dampen vibration and stuff but since i dont have them I cant comment on their usefulness. There are 2 small slits on the front '"1 inch) and a 5 inch slot at the very bottom. It does allow you to mount hard drives behind 2 front 80mm fans for cooling. It has plenty of space for drives. One word of caution if you plan to use a full sized mobo then the 2 of the top 5.25 bays cannot be used for optical drives as they bump into the mobo. I suspect the same thing would happen with the bottom 5.25 bay. Overall I say its a good case for the price (regular version is 50 bucks) With some carefull modding I think one could improve the airflow.

soundOFsilence
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Post by soundOFsilence » Wed Jul 16, 2003 4:26 pm

CoolColJ wrote:same company that does this case

http://forums.silentpcreview.com/viewtopic.php?t=5977
That's right. I saw the X21 as well, and I think it look even better. But it seems to have much more restricted airflow. I don't know what can be done on it without making it look like a lamb chop.

Nobless SE seems to have a better balance of letting air in without letting noise out. Plus, the lower bay door can possibly be used as an adjustable air inlet if needed.

soundOFsilence
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Post by soundOFsilence » Wed Jul 16, 2003 4:34 pm

George wrote:I have the regular version (the one without the HDD selector or sound selector) I'm currently building a p4 system into it.
Where did you get yours? Is that the Ahanix brand or the GMC brand? Does it have a side window as shown on newegg.com? I think the HDD and sound selectors are pretty "useless".

When you say full size motherboard, you mean standard ATX? The tightness may be a problem if one gets separate CDRW and DVD drives.

George
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Post by George » Wed Jul 16, 2003 6:18 pm

I got it from SPCR supporter Exoticpc.com Its the Ahanix brand (mines didnt have any logo on the case -their current one seems to have coolcases printed on the very top) Side windows and multiport card reader are extra. Yes a full ATX mobo will not allow you to use 2 of the 4 top 5.25 bays (at least with optical drives -hard drives on adapters should be ok -bottom 5.25 may have same problem) You can still mount two optical drives on the 2 highest 5.25 . The problem is with the width of the mobo (SOYO 875 Dragon2) I think Full ATX mobos come in two widths as most cases have standoffs that can be repositioned. The wider mobos prevent optical drives from sliding all the way back and sitting flush with the front face. Its probably cause this case is shorter than a lot of mid towers. Even so if you dont need more than two optical drives and a full width mobo the its a pretty good case for the money-And in my opinion i think i looks pretty cool kinda like a mini mainframe

MAJOR CORRECTION : The case only has 3 5.25 bays up top The lowest bay is definately NOT usable with a full width mobo. The top one should be fine. As for the middle one I'm not sure at the moment since I had to RMA the mobo and dont have any other wide mobos on hand. Sorry for the confusion
UPDATE : OK got my mobo back, the middle bay is ok no problems clearing the mobo. So if you use a wide mobo dont plan on putting a optical drive on the very bottom bay or the lowest of the top bays.
Last edited by George on Sat Aug 02, 2003 9:15 pm, edited 1 time in total.

oogabooga
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Post by oogabooga » Fri Jul 25, 2003 10:58 am

Yeah - I have the standard version of the Noblesse case - it's a nice looking case, and can handle 2 80mm in the front and 2 in the rear. It doesn't have the best airflow through the front of the case, but that doesn't matter as I have reversed the fans in the back to blow in. It does look really nice - I have suspended my HD in the upper drive bays and placed the CDRW/DVD in the bottom bay which is convienient - I can leave the door closed. However, vibrations from the CD drive are quite noisy...

POLIST8
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Post by POLIST8 » Fri Jul 25, 2003 11:04 am

I like the bottom 3.5" bays next to the 80mm intake...

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