[SOLVED] Looking for soundproofed case with decent airflow

[adamkiss994]

Hey all,

First off, I want to make sure that my build will fit into the new case:

Power supply: Corsair 550W CX550M CP-9020102-EU
Motherboard: Asrock Z370M Pro4
CPU: Intel Core i5-8400 BX80684i58400
CPU fan: Cooler Master Hyper H411R RR-H411-20PW-R1
Memory: Kingston HyperX Fury Black 16GB DDR4 2666MHz
GPU: Asus GTX1060 6GB GDDR5 DUAL-GTX1060-O6G
HDD: Seagate 2TB 64MB SATA3 ST2000DM006
SSD: Crucial 1TB MX500 M.2

Regarding the new case, my criteria are the following.

• No glass. I want everything inside to be obscured, I don't have RGB, I want it to emit no light at all. Will probably not connect the cables to the case LED lights either.
• Middle ground between good airflow and good soundproofing. Or more precisely, a soundproofed case by default that also has decent airflow.

I have had trouble deciding between this good soundproofed, but according to many, bad airflow option and this good airflow option, but i'm worried it will be loud, and the GPU light will be visible through the front mesh

I would appreciate it if anyone would help me decide by disputing the drawbacks of these options, or if you would provide a better option in this price range (about 80-90 euros maximum). I live in Hungary, but if you just provide any options I'll check their availability.

Thank you in advance!

 

[DSzymborski]

Unfortunately, soundproofing by its very nature results in constricted airflow. If you wanted an OK case in terms of sound that had OK airflow, there are lots of options as a compromise, but a perfect or nearly perfect case in terms of decible level will almost certainly have mediocre or worse airflow. This is a bit like asking for a salty pretzel that's low-sodium.

 

[adamkiss994]

Unfortunately, soundproofing by its very nature results in constricted airflow. If you wanted an OK case in terms of sound that had OK airflow, there are lots of options as a compromise, but a perfect or nearly perfect case in terms of decible level will almost certainly have mediocre or worse airflow. This is a bit like asking for a salty pretzel that's low-sodium.

I did suspect as much, but I am willing to compromise on both ends to find a decent option that works for my build.

I want to have decent and relatively silent built in case fans.

Also, what I am worried about is that I can't seem to turn off the white LED on my GPU at all. Can't find the option, tried multiple ways. So, with the Fractal's huge front mesh, I am worried it will be visible.

I am using my PC as a sleep aid, playing a soothing sound. If the sharp lights are visible I won't be able to sleep. Also, I just disconnected my HDD entirely because it gives off scratching sounds even when it is supposed to be completely idle, it was driving me mad. I even formatted it, it still gave the sound when literally empty of data, with indexing off and all.

That is why I was leaning towards the soundproofing option, but I also don't want my PC to boil. I will play Cyberpunk, so the airflow will have to deal with a AAA game like that. My current case is so horrible that I am ashamed I compromised on it (Modecom Logic H2, it literally has no case fans), but I used it for about 2 years and my PC never overheated. I played AAA games on it.

 

[DSzymborski]

I did suspect as much, but I am willing to compromise on both ends to find a decent option that works for my build.

I want to have decent and relatively silent built in case fans.

Also, what I am worried about is that I can't seem to turn off at all the white LED on my GPU at all. Can't find the option, tried multiple ways. So, with the Fractal's huge front mesh, I am worried it will be visible.

I am using my PC as a sleep aid, playing a soothing sound. If the sharp lights are visible I won't be able to sleep. Also, I just disconnected my HDD entirely because it gives off scratching sounds even when it is supposed to be completely idle, it was driving me mad. I even formatted it, it still gave the sound when literally empty of data, with indexing off and all.

That is why I was leaning towards the soundproofing option, but I also don't want my PC to boil. I will play Cyberpunk, so the airflow will have to deal with a AAA game like that. My current case is so horrible that I am ashamed I compromised on it (Modecom Logic H2, it literally has no case fans), but I used it for about 2 years and my PC never overheated. I played AAA games on it.

Actually, one of the best things to do in a case to keep it quiet is to go without explicit soundproofing and/or go very large. With a large case and/or one with excellent airflow, you achieve silence not by dampening, but by the components staying cool enough that you can keep the fans moving slowly. A stock Lian Li Liancool 215 is one that I'd look at; it's a good-performing case in thermals and the 200mm front fans can run relatively slowly.

Most RGB can be easily turned off, so I wouldn't worry about needing something explicitly non-RGB. I have plenty of unicorn vomit in my main rig, but I can turn it all of it off quite quickly.

If you're so light sensitive that even a permanent LED GPU name causes you some issue, why not simply cover it with some black electrical tape? I once had this monitor that had a power button with an LED that had the magnitude of a star going supernova and some tape fixed that issue easily.

As for hard drive, in your situation, you ought to simply going full SSD.

 

[Sithlord1138]

More effective cooling=lower fan speed=lower noise.
IMO "Air flow" as we know it, is a fake concept invented to make all the RGB demonstration units work because they can't have fans on side panels which is the most effective cooling solution. They blow directly at the entire motherboard at 1/4 of the distance of fans installed on the front panel and push all the warm air to the sides.