Needed Silent Case Mid- or Full-Tower

[Cezar]

Hello.

Silent or close to silent, mid or full tower case with the lowest price is needed. It seems like Fractal Design R6 and XL r2 are the best I pruned out of the bunch. Do you know of any similar cases that have noise dampening and are cheaper than R6 which goes for around $130?

 

[Zerileous]

What are you planning to put in the case? If your goal is a silent system, that matters just as much as the case. Is it going to be the system in your sig? If you put the hottest components in the quietest case, it's still not going to be silent, so it all becomes quite a balancing act.

What is your budget? Less than $130 could be anywhere from $40 to $120. You can also add noise dampening yourself to a case, if you're on a tight budget. Do case fans have to be included in the budget, and do you plan to mount them using isolation hardware? There are cases with noise dampening at all sorts of price points, but the quality of the noise dampening itself is variable.

 

[Cezar]

Thank you for your response. Ideally I would want my current system to be placed in this new case. Honestly I do not really know what components I will put in it. As far as budget, the lower the better. I would love block and fans to be below $100 or around that amount for mid-tower. I believe full-towers would be more expensive, so anything that is a of a comparable quality(which will be more expensive) to mid-towers at $100 budget. I am interested in full-towers because it is not as crowded inside.

I will give some details and a background of what made me go shop.
Over all my Rosewill Galaxy-02 case is very noisy. I did not modify it or put any silent fans in it to reduce noise. Always wanted to upgrade it, but I would skip the upgrade.

My computer does not boot. I saw a spark in my surge protector when the power cable from my Samsung printer got stretched and almost pulled out from the surge protector when I moved the printer. I am not electrician, but I think because the power cable was pulling out of the surge protector socket the printer tried to draw more power through less metal contact and it shocked the rest of connected devices to the surge protector. My computer block, monitors and speakers turned off and then turned on for a second, but then the computer block turned off and never booted again. Another version is that it was rainy outside and the electrical grid got hit by lighting in that exact moment and that caused my mother board to die, but I did not have my computer equipment damaged in the last four years since I bought it. The surge protector seems to continue working, but I will probably throw it out. Whichever the case, it seems like I need a new motherboard, but it is hard to find a new z97 mother board or any other motherboard that would work with i5 4690k with 1150LGA socket. Despite motherboard not being responsive, my power supply fan seems to work when I connect green wire to the ground if I am correct that means that the power supply is alive. Not sure how often motherboards die while power supplies survive. Also, I did not smell anything burned when the computer block turned off. I do not know which other parts died as I can not test or do not know how to test them myself except for the test I described above for the PSU. If I am not mistaken it is the mother board since PSU is working(according to my test), motherboard does not beep, which is next in line for testing(according to what I know). Though the mother board can power my SD card reader, which gets an LED glowing when it is connected to the motherboard. If there is a known guide in what sequence and how to test system for faulty parts, please direct me there. That would be really appreciated.

Which ever the case, I already took apart my computer block. And now since I need to put it back with a new motherboard or motherboard and CPU I want to get first of all a new case, which should be as silent as possible for the least distraction during my work or studying. Second I want to get a UPS unit, which would protect my equipment in the future. Third, I need to put other parts inside, and which survived I do not know. I will either find and by a new LGA 1150 motherboard compatible with my i5 4690k or I will get something cheap like Ryzen 1600 $80 (it seems like it is comparable to i54690k since it is newer) $80 and a mother board (probably $130, have not looked for one yet). It is also possibility that my ASUS 970 card died, because the annoying LED that would not turn off when the computer was off does not glow anymore. The LED might not glow because mobo is dead, because PSU does not feed it, or it burned. In that case I have my older GTX 760. I am not sure if it would be able to run my 43" LG and 23" Dell monitors together even though it seems to have HDMI and DP ports. So I might need to upgrade the card to something comparable to what I had for the least price.



Also, I bought my system in 2014 for gaming. Now I rarely game, but want something that is still powerful or comparable to what I had. I went with Intel at that time because FX CPUs from AMD were much hotter and would need a replacement for the cooler right away, which would bring the AMD CPU close in price to Intel at that time. I think Ryzen 1600 runs at the temperature close to i5 4690k and would do fine with my Hyper Evo 212 plus cooler.

I have the laptop from which I am writing right now so I am not in a big rush, but want to get my main system back working.

If I said something that does not make sense, I welcome the feedback.
Thank you.

P.S. AMD had AM4 for a while. A few of its new processors come with TR4 sockets. Are TR4 sockets a standard from now on or is it just an appendix for a few of its flagship processors and AMD will continue to use AM4 in the future?

 

[Zerileous]

Rosewill Galaxy-02 case is very noisy. I did not modify it or put any silent fans in it to reduce noise. Always wanted to upgrade it, but I would skip the upgrade.

If you would like a new case, I'm am sure that you would be happy with a case like the R6. With <$100, remember you get what you pay for, but there are still a lot of serviceable options. They won't have all of the features of the R6, or may use thinner materials. I've found a few decent looking candidates. You'll still need to compare them, read reviews, etc to determine which has the best combination of airflow, features, and layout for you. Each comes with 2 quality fans. You may wish to purchase a third or even fourth fan in addition. Where available I've chosen solid side panels, because they are quieter and less expensive. CORSAIR Carbide 100R, Phanteks Eclipse P400S, Fractal Define S, be quiet! Pure Base 600.

I saw a spark in my surge protector when....My computer block, monitors and speakers turned off and then turned on for a second, but then the computer block turned off and never booted again.

While I believe a Ryzen 1600 system would be a very appropriate and reasonable upgrade, let's try to troubleshoot your old system some before we throw it out. Do you have access to another PC, or a friend with a PC, or a store that can test components? If not, the first step to a no boot situation is to remove everything not needed to get into bios. Preferably on an open bench. You'll have PSU, CPU, GPU (if your CPU has integrated graphics, leave the GPU out, RAM (preferably test one stick at a time). Leave any drives disconnected. Ensure that everything is plugged in and then check it out. If you can, hook up a speaker to the motherboard and listen for beeps. Have you checked the front panel power button, or shorting out the power button pins on the motherboard? Do you have access to a multimeter?

my power supply fan seems to work when I connect green wire to the ground if I am correct that means that the power supply is alive.

I would not assume that just because the fan spins it provides appropriate power. It looks like your PSU may still be under warranty, you could contact EVGA and see what they have to say about the situation.

P.S. AMD had AM4 for a while. A few of its new processors come with TR4 sockets. Are TR4 sockets a standard from now on or is it just an appendix for a few of its flagship processors and AMD will continue to use AM4 in the future?

AM4 is the standard for their typical desktop CPUs (4-8 cores). What we know is that AMD will continue to use AM4 for the Zen 2 CPUs (3xxx) due to be released later this year. TR4 is used for their Threadripper HEDT (high end desktop) CPUs, which find middle ground between standard desktops and servers in terms of core count and memory. They are mainly geared towards content creation, as typical tasks and gaming don't utilize that many cores. They also come at a price premium which makes them essentially unavailable to the budget builder. It is unlikely that TR4 would replace AM4, as they are substantially different in application. They would more likely develop a new socket for their typical desktop CPUs.

 

[Cezar]

Do you have access to another PC, or a friend with a PC, or a store that can test components?

I do not really know any other computer geeks that could test parts. The guy my friend knows that could potentially do testing is busy this weekend. I went to Geek Squat at Best Buy, but they ask for $100 to test it without fixing, which is kinda a lot considering the new parts might cost me $60 for PSU, $80-130 processor, $130 mobo, $100 for RAM and I think they will not add much value. I hope the drives are ok.

If not, the first step to a no boot situation is to remove everything not needed to get into bios. Preferably on an open bench. You'll have PSU, CPU, GPU (if your CPU has integrated graphics, leave the GPU out, RAM (preferably test one stick at a time). Leave any drives disconnected. Ensure that everything is plugged in and then check it out. If you can, hook up a speaker to the motherboard and listen for beeps. Have you checked the front panel power button, or shorting out the power button pins on the motherboard? Do you have access to a multimeter?

I hope links from imgur will show pictures directly. If no sorry for the look until I correct them.

I tried shorting out power button pins with the nickel plated screwdriver and switching reset button connection to power button pins. Neither made it work. The screwdriver is on the picture below. I hope the metal on the screwdriver is good enough to short the pins.



The speaker was connected to the motherboard and would not beep. On the picture with the speaker yellow cord is power button connector and blue cord is reset power connector. I tried switching them to see if power button was burned. Also, PSU was able to power case fans with periphery cable when those fans are directly connected to the PSU and not to the mother board.


It is interesting that the light on SD card reader is on when it is connected to the mobo via one of the USB sockets on the mobo.


I have a multimiter it is a cheap one. I bought for the car and used it to check the battery there. Do you think wiping it well with cotton socked in alcohol will remove any oils or acid from the use of it around the car?



Just additional picture of the side of the mobo to show if you can tell if it is damaged by chance.

I would not assume that just because the fan spins it provides appropriate power. It looks like your PSU may still be under warranty, you could contact EVGA and see what they have to say about the situation.

Sound advice. I will probably do it as soon as I figure out the suffixes or even before that. I thought that the warranty is 3 years or less, but it seems like they have warranty up to 10 years on some PSUs.

 

[Zerileous]

Cezar, none of your pictures work for me, please host them directly to the website using the attachment function.

Most case fans run on 12v DC power. The PSU has to supply power at 12v, 5v and 3.3v for the PC to work. The case fan proves that it can supply power at 12v, but not necessarily how much. That might be beyond our ability to test, however we can at least test that all of the others are at least functional at a basic level. You can use the multimeter and the 24 pin ATX cable to do this, after bridging the green and black to power on the PSU. There should be a VDC setting, for DC volts. Look at the pinout below, and bridge each wire to a black wire. They should read roughly the correct amount of volts. Do this with it disconnected from any components just to be safe.



Edit: maybe all of this is a little unnecessary. I would not connect a PSU that had experienced a power event like the one you described to any new hardware. If the PSU passes the multimeter test, then maybe the motherboard is bad. If you get a new motherboard, you would be wise to replace the PSU as well. If it fails the test above then you need to replace the PSU. By this logic, you should replace the PSU and then test it on the old components, and have it if you need to replace other components. Before doing this, please allow some other members to comment to see if they agree with my reasoning. I would advise looking into the warranty before purchasing a new PSU.

Also if you replace the motherboard and you can't test the CPU first, we do not know if it works either. It may be again better to buy the Ryzen system vs buying first a z97 mobo, and possibly having to buy a new LGA1150 CPU as well.

 

[Cezar]

PSU gives the power through all its pins according to the voltage in the chart above. The meter shows the following, 12.5 for yellow, -12.31 for blue, 3.42 for orange, 5.06 for red, 5.17 for purple, 0.12 for gray.

 

[Zerileous]

Ok, that's good at least. Next thing you should try is removing everything from the case, try to boot using integrated graphics with only CPU, memory, and PSU. This is the standard procedure to troubleshoot any no-post situation. It won't load the OS (drive not connected), but if the components work, you will get into the BIOS. Try one stick of memory at a time in each of the slots.

 

[Cezar]

I tried to start but it would not start. Used multi-meter to see if there is power in power button pins, and it shows 3.46 power from there.
Removed the heat sink to look at the processor.
How to test if processor gets its 12v from 12v pin connector? I tried to find a chart for that pin similar to 24 pin connector above to test for power, but could not find one.


My CPU 12v pin does not seem to supply power. I grounded multimeter on the ground that is at the power button site and checked every pin out of eight sticking out that are meant for CPU. Multimeter showed 0.1v on the second top pin from the left and nothing more. The rest of the pins have 0v. Or is it not supposed to show any voltage since we plug the pin from PSU into it?

 

[Cezar]

Talked to EVGA and arranged a cross ship RMA for PSU. So far good customer service. I hope it will arrive soon and I will get better understanding whether the PSU was to blame.
Yesterday I checked the remaining cable with multi-meter and all of them seem to work.

 

[Zerileous]

I think the RMA is the safest move, regardless of if you have to replace additional hardware, because it's hard to be sure that the unit wasn't compromised somehow. Glad that EVGA is taking care of you!

Not sure what you're asking about the CPU 12V. Were you measuring from the 8 pin connector above the socket? Are you measuring the cable with the PSU running, the cable plugged into the motherboard with the PSU running, or the socket on the motherboard with nothing plugged in. In the first two situations, you should get 12v across each of the top cables, and the bottom ones are ground. In the latter situation you won't have much if any reading.

Please clarify that in your previous testing this 8 pin cable above the CPU was plugged in. It is required for the computer to function.

I still would like you to remove the motherboard from the case to test, once you get the replacement PSU. I'm not clear if you've done that, and then reinstalled it into the case, or if the motherboard has not been removed from the case. This tedious step helps remove variables which is the most important element of troubleshooting.

 

[Cezar]

Yes, the cable was connected to the CPU 8 pin socket. What is interesting that when the PSU is not connected to the board 8 pin connector reads at 12v. However when I plug in 24 pin connector into motherboard and read CPU cable, it gives 0v. Also I noticed after some time that PSU was plugged into the mobo, the shield or radiator sink at the bottom right became warm while the radiator sink at the top left stayed cool.

Does not read while the main 24 pin is plugged into the mobo.
Reads when the mobo is unplugged and the UPS is in self test mode.

Additional pics of how I pulled out the mobo and cleaned the CPU before putting it back.

 

[Zerileous]

Did you try to read the voltage while the 8 pin connector was also plugged into the motherboard? The lower heatsink is over the chipset, which includes a lot of IO stuff, also depending on the system can control things like integrated graphics and memory controller, although those are usually on die now. The upper heatsink (not getting warm) is on top of the VRMs, or voltage regulator modules. These consist of capacitors, mosfets, and chokes/inductors which control how much voltage the CPU gets. They are fed 12V by the PSU and put out whatever voltage is set in the BIOS (or given power state, automatic voltage control, etc).

What I cannot tell you is if the cold VRMs is a symptom of the system not running and therefore the CPU is not drawing power, or a sign of the VRMs being a culprit because they are not running and keeping the CPU from getting power.

 

[Cezar]

I tried to measure while the PSU CPU cable is plugged into mobo, but it either did not read or I did not have a good contact from the top if it is possible to have contact in that position.
Got a bit busy during the week and writing just now.

 

[Zerileous]

It should be easy to measure from the top of many atx connectors. You should be able to see the top of the pin in the connector. It sounds like the CPU is not getting power. The component or components at fault isn't clear. Are you still replacing the PSU, or is this the replacement?

 

[Cezar]

Still waiting for PSU. The unit should arrive tomorrow, fingers crossed.
I tried measuring 12v connector from the top to the best of my ability. The results showed that the connector does not feed power.

Still need a case. I liked Phantex Eclips S400 mentioned above, but the drawback there is that it does not have a bays for DVD drive and card reader.

What could be my option if I wanted to buy a cheap case with a lot of airflow and a bunch of low RPM silent fans?
What size of fans would I need? How many of such fans would do the job of cooling Ryzen 5 1600 or i5 46909k with GTX 970 or 1070?

 

[Zerileous]

What do you mean by cheap? Need numbers. I think a case with good airflow is fine without the sound dampening foam. It might be a bit louder at load, but with PWM it will be fine at idle, and most people game with headphones on.

I would forget about 5.25" bays, personally. Most anything you would use a CD/DVD for, software wise, can be flashed to a USB drive and loaded in less time now anyway. Card reader I can see if you do a lot of photo editing etc, but it's easy to use a USB dongle for that too, since pretty much everything is either SD or micro SD now, you don't need a whole 5.25" of different slots anymore, unless you have some old equipment that you're using with a different card format.

 

[storm-chaser]

Still need a case. I liked Phantex Eclips S400 mentioned above, but the drawback there is that it does not have a bays for DVD drive and card reader.

I've had good luck with Coolermaster. They've made some great, quiet cases over the years. Here's one, but it might be a little on the small side for your needs...

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00OWAZUB8?tag=s4343sdfd-20



EDIT: You might want to check out the Silencio 650.

https://www.techspot.com/review/567-cooler-master-silencio-650/

 

[Blaylock]

So, looking at what you'll be putting in the case I could recommend any of the following.

Antec P101 Silent This is the one I currently use for my NAS that runs 24/7 though I can't tell.

Cooler Master Silencio Series (any of them really)

be quiet! (Any of these, though pricey)

Nanoxia Deep Silence Series (any)

 

[Cezar]

Got replacement PSU, but the motherboard still would not start or make noise. CPU fan does not spin and mobo speaker does not beep when I short the power pins. When metering CPU 8 pin from the top, it does not give a read.