Silence is golden

In an ideal world, a PC would follow that old Victorian adage of being seen but not heard. With cases available in a variety of colours other than beige, as well as designs demanding to be seen, this is even more true today than 12 months ago.

But it is the home theatre PC concept that's brought the noise factor to the fore; after all it's not much fun watching a quiet passage in your favourite film when you have the soundtrack to Twister being generated by the inside of your PC's case.

Typically, a PC generates between 36 and 45dBa (decibels); anything rated at 33dBa and below can be considered a quiet PC, while a PC producing below 28dBa is generally regarded as being silent. The main culprits for all this noise are fans, whether it's the PSU, CPU, graphics card or case fans.

Generally speaking, in a low-performance system, many of the fans are redundant anyway - nothing gets hot enough to need specific cooling, with the exception of the CPU, and even this can be cooled by a passive heatsink.

The trouble comes when you are talking about high-performance systems. Performance equals speed, speed equals heat, heat equals cooling and lots of cooling means fans - and it seems many system builders think the more the merrier.

The quiet PC cases we've looked at use different techniques to produce a much quieter product. We've got a cross-section of midi towers, off-the-shelf quiet cases and ones you can put your own choice of power supply and fans into.

Antec SLK3700-BQE
As part of Antec's Solution Series, the SLK3700-BQE has many features found in the more expensive Sonata case. This one is no lightweight as it's constructed from high-quality steel and has a good build throughout with some thoughtful design features.

For cooling it comes with a single 120mm Antec fan, which is a ball bearing design spinning at 2,600rpm that comes with rubber mounting grommets to reduce vibration. The case can take another 120mm fan in the front, but unless you are doing serious overclocking the rear fan should be adequate.

Antec supplies the SLK3700-BQE with one of its Smartpower power supplies, the SL350SP. The Smartpower is Antec's latest line of power supplies and the SL350, as its name suggests, is a 350w model with an onboard temperature sensor that automatically increases the fan speed as the temperature increases.

The four 5.25in drive bays are hidden behind the front access door and Antec supplies tool-free mounts for all four bays. The two 3.5in bays with external access are also protected by the door. Both bays form part of a removable drive cage.

Running behind this cage are the power and data cables for the power button, reset switch, all front LEDs and the twin front USB ports, which we thought was neat and tidy. Unfortunately, there are no front audio or Firewire ports.

The SLK3700-BQE uses drive bays rotated 90 degrees with removable trays, which makes fitting any drive much easier than the standard positioned drive cage. Despite all these design features, the one that's the most helpful in building a PC is missing: the motherboard backplate is fixed.

Antec's SLK3700-BQE is a well-priced case with some first-rate design features. A three-year warranty is also provided for this and all Antec's cases.

Antec Sonata
Every so often a case comes along that stuns with its combination of build quality and finish, and Antec's Sonata is one of them. A medium-sized midi tower, it's finished in a high gloss Piano Black with matt black front panels - this is one case that doesn't need to be hidden away.

In a clever but simple design Antec has swung the main internal drive cage round 90 deg and fitted sliding trays for the drives. These trays have rubber mounting points to aid in reducing hard disk vibration. To make the power and data cable run cleanly, both are attached to the drive behind the cage.

At first glance it would appear that the 90 deg rotated main drive bay is the only tool-free feature, but on closer inspection the 5.25in bays have tool-free mounts too. The three 5.25in and two externally accessed 3.5in drive bays are hidden away behind a lockable door. The two smaller drives form a cage which is removable through the front of the case.

It's a tight squeeze to get your fingers in to release the sprung clips that hold the cage into the case; the SLK3700-BQE has a better design for these drives.

A small chromed plastic door in the lower half of the front panel hides the two USB, two audio and single Firewire ports. As with the SLK3700-BQE it comes with a 120mm ball bearing case fan prefitted in the rear panel and it also comes with a power supply.

This time it is a 380w member of Antec's Truepower family. The Truepower series of power supplies is Antec's flagship range with dedicated output circuitry for each voltage, and voltage feedback circuitry to improve power stability.

The devices also have a temperature detection system allowing fans to run as slowly as conditions allow, and extra connectors so the power supply can control any case fans in the same way. Although it's been available for some time, the Sonata still sets standards of finish and features that are hard to beat.

Beantech Igloo2
Beantech may be a new name to some but it has been making top-quality cases for some time. The Igloo2 is an aluminium case, which comes with case fans but leaves the choice of power supply to you.

A full-size midi tower, the Igloo2 has a brushed aluminium finish with a build quality not dissimilar to the likes of Coolermaster or Lian-Li, which are probably the best aluminium constructed cases on the market at the present time, and uses 1.1mm thick metal throughout its construction.

This is one case where once you've fixed the motherboard in place, you can put the screwdriver away. All the drive bays with front access - four 5.25in and two 3.5in - have tool-free mounts; the expansion plates are held by thumbscrews and the motherboard backplate is also removable, again by using thumbscrews.

Also held by thumbscrews are the two side panels, with the normal access one having a blue Perspex panel built into it. The internal drive cage, which can hold four drives, has rubber mounts to reduce hard disk vibration.

Beantech provides three 80mm fans: two in the front and one venting out of the rear panel. All three are Evercool EC8025M12S - a brushless, single ball bearing model, which spins at a modest 2,500rpm and has a claimed noise level of around 25dBa. The front two vertically mounted fans also double up as coolers for the internal drive bays.

Strangely the speed control for the front fans is hidden behind the bezel, so you have to take the front off the PC to slow down or speed up the fans. Just two USB ports and a single Firewire port are housed in the bottom corner of the front panel, protected by a flimsy plastic door.

Beantech's Igloo2 is a well-built, cheaper alternative to a full-blown Coolermaster or Lian Li aluminium case.

Chieftec BX-02SL
The BX series is the latest range from case specialists Chieftec, with improved design, more space and more tool-free features than previous models. The BX-02SL (SL stands for silver) could rightly be described as an enthusiast's case; it's big, takes lots of drives and has room for six case fans.

Constructed from good-quality steel, the BX-02 shows the build quality and finish we have come to expect from Chieftec. Although the motherboard backplate is fixed, there is just so much room inside the case, this doesn't present any problems and manoeuvring even the biggest ATX board is simple.

It is ingenious the way that the 5.25in drive bays are tool free. When you open the case you notice a row of round-headed screws. These are simply screwed into the drives. Once the drives are slid into the bays, the screw heads lock into the holding mechanism. All the bays with external access are hidden behind a door which forms the top half of the front bezel.

There are two 3.5in drive cages which hold up to six drives, with two having external access. The cages themselves can be removed by simply releasing a lever, which makes fixing any drives a doddle. Unfortunately, these drive cages have no tool-free features. The expansion plates are tool free, held in place by a clip.

For the enthusiast there are plenty of mounting points for cooling fans and, with the exception of the mounting point by the side of the motherboard tray and side panel, all have plastic tool-free mounts.

There are four 80mm fans, two each in the front and rear of the case. One of the front ones also doubles up as a hard disk cooler. Finally, there are two 92mm mounts: one in the side panel and in the front of the motherboard tray.

A panel in the base of the front bezel hides two audio, a single Firewire and two USB ports. The Firewire and USB cables are block ended, making fitting into a motherboard a much easier proposition than separate cables.

Chieftec's BX-02 continues the company's line of well-constructed, low-priced cases for the enthusiast.

Coolermaster Centurion Silver
Coolermaster pioneered the aluminium case for the desktop market and recently restructured its product lines into three lines; Premium, Main Stream and Value.

The Centurion Silver is one of the new Value cases and is made from thin 0.8mm zinc-coated steel with an aluminium front bezel. It's well styled but if you are expecting the build quality you may have come to expect from Coolermaster, you'll be disappointed.

It's not that it's particularly bad, but it in no way compares to the superb quality of the more expensive cases. However, at this price point why should it? To its credit Coolermaster has rounded off most of the edges inside, so there a very few to look out for while fitting your PC.

As you might expect for a value case there is no motherboard tray, so care needs to be taken when mounting a board as there is not much room for manoeuvre around the drive bays. If you're not careful the internals could get very cluttered.

There's plenty of room for drives, with four 5.25in and two 3.5in bays with external access, and a further two 3.5in internal bays. None of these feature any tool-free elements, but the internal drive cage is removable which makes fitting drives that bit easier.

The case comes without a power supply and just a single case fan at the front, but there is a mount for a rear fan. The front fan is one of Coolermaster's own 80mm Sleeved fans which has a spin speed of 2,500rpm and a rated noise level of 26dBA.

Housed in the base of the front bezel are the two USB, two audio and single Firewire ports. Both the USB and Firewire use standard block ends which makes installation a lot easier, but the audio ports use separate leads, so Coolermaster has to supply a diagram to show how they connect.

The Centurion might not be what you would expect from Coolermaster but, taken on its own merits, it's a reasonable, cheap case.

Quiet PC Acousticase C6606
At first glance the Acousticase C6606 from Quiet PC looks nothing special. In fact, it looks rather basic, but what makes it stand out from the rest of the current crop is what comes supplied with it - a full 15-piece acoustic kit for soundproofing.

This is a hefty case weighing in at 10.5kg, thanks in part to its steel construction, but, unfortunately, it doesn't have much in the way of tool-free components. Only the side and top panels don't need a screwdriver.

The case comes without a power supply or case fans, so you could add any of the appropriate Quiet PC products. The rear panel of the case can accept either a 120mm or 92mm fan, while a plastic panel in the front accepts an 80mm fan.

There are three 5.25in and one 3.5in drive bays with external access. The second 3.5in bay is filled with a unit holding two USB, two audio and one Firewire ports. This can be removed if you want to add a card reader and floppy disk, for example. Both the audio and USB cables have block terminals and loose connectors and it makes a pleasant change that these are well labelled.

Below these two is a single 3.5in bay and the whole cage unit can be removed by undoing a single screw. A second small bay sits above the power supply bay.

What makes this case special is the acoustic soundproofing kit. Consisting of 15 pre-cut pieces of acoustic foam, acoustic barrier mass and a specially designed acoustic composite material, the whole package weighs an astonishing 3.25kg.

It's up to you how much of the kit you fit - if you use it all you may have to keep an eye on the internal heat build-up of the case. The C6606 may be the ultimate offering for a quiet PC.

THE VERDICT
As you can see there are lots of techniques to produce a quiet PC case. An aluminium case as used by Beantech's Igloo2 may look good, but it also helps you in the battle to cool things down, as the whole case can be used as a heatsink, reducing the number of case fans needed.

Instead of using lots of small fast fans a much better proposition is to use one or two large (120mm) slow-moving fans, a technique used by Antec in its SLK3700-BQE and Sonata. Slow-moving fans cause less turbulence and therefore less noise. Whatever sizes are used, if they are thermatically controlled by the power supply or a third-party utility so much the better.

Another way to cut down noise is by using the same techniques as used in the car industry - sound proofing. In the same way as a car has soundproofing pads in the large metal panels of the doors, kits are available to deaden the vibrations generated in the relatively large areas of empty metal in a typical PC case.

This is something that Quiet PC is using with the Acousticase C6606B. If you are on a limited budget, Coolermaster's Centurion is worth considering and so deserves a Recommended award. Also worthy of an award is Antec's Sonata, as its combination of large slow-spinning fan, tool features and stunning looks makes it hard to beat.