Sonata vs. Xpider

[Phetar]

I really do like the Chenbro Gaming Bomb Xpider case (I like the silver accents), although my original choice would have been the Antec Sonata. So my question is: just how noisy is Xpider? The review here didn't give a decibal rating. Furthermore, as I imagine, it's louder than the Sonata--so how could I bring the noise down to about the Sonata's level. Noise is a real important issue for me, but I really do like the Xpider--or should I just stick with the Sonata? I'm real indecisive here--but I have time to decide (I'm waiting for the Radeon 9100 IGP board).

Thanks for tolerating my nonsense and babble

 

[Crashman]

I have bad news, cases don't make noise. Fans make noise, hard drives make noise. Cases isolate noise, but it's impossible to tell you how many decibles any case will be once you put parts in it.

Qualitatively, thick cases tend to isolate noise better than thin ones, and the X-Spider is a fairly thick case. The Antec comes with a noise insulating drive cover, but I hate drive doors so I wouldn't buy one.

Anyway, if you use low speed fans (around 2000 RPM), you should have a quiet PC with the X-Spider, if that's your choice.

<font color=blue>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to a hero as big as Crashman!</font color=blue>
<font color=red>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to an ego as large as Crashman's!</font color=red>

 

[JP5]

Sure, just replace trhe stock fans with low RPM ones. Get a quiet CPU cooler too.

 

[dstell]

Currently I do not give a decibal rating rating to cases. Why?

Well, the fact of the matter is that measurements such as these need to be made in a sound proof acoustical enclosure of some sort in order for their values to have any serious meaning. I see these db, CFM, and temp numbers that other sites use when reviewing cases and I am here to tell you that they are total bunk. As you will see Monday the equipment required to acheive these measurements is expensive and these sites that are provding these numbers are either doing one of two things, winging it or using the numbers provided by the case manufacturer.

This is the bad news, but the good news is that we should shortly have a thermal test chamber and be able to start including thermal testing in our case reviews. If the case reviews continue to be as popular as they have been then, we might consider investing in acoustical and RF testing enviorments. This stuff is expensive and in order for us to do it we need to continue to see that this is something that the readers want.

Let me now get off my soap box for a moment and now answer your question.

The Sonata and Xpider are pretty close, but the Sonata is a little quieter. Why? Well it is because of the grill setup used by the Xpider, which is in fact a better in take to move air through the case, but is some what louder because you get a little more noise that leaks through from the fans.

It is important to note however that the Xpider with the 92mm fan in the fron and the 120mm fan in the cools far better than the single 120mm that is included with the Sonata. What is in fact exceptional about using the 92mm/120mm setup of the Xpider is that it moves a ton of air through the case and it is very quiet. Why? Simple, the 92mm & 120mm fans spin at lower RPMs which creates less noise.

Always remember that larger fans can move more CFMs with less RPMs, hence they create less noise.

The Xpider is an excellent case for a quiet PC situation, unless you use it with 80mm fans then it gets a little louder than with the 92mm/120mm configuration that I have described here.

Good question!

 

[slvr_phoenix]

One of the Sonata's biggest flaws is that it has the side-pannel venting <i>right</i> near the CPU fan. If you plug these up and add the intake fan the Sonata is really pretty quiet. Or if you get a quiet CPU and video card it's also very quiet. But the airflow of the Sonata is pretty good with the front fan.

Also a little trick with the Sonata is that if you don't mind a little more noise you can leave out the cover to the second external 3.5" bay (or to both if you don't have a floppy there), screw the intake 120mm fan's bottom holes to the tops of the 120mm fan's holes in the case (thus moving the fan upwards almost 120mm) and either leave the front door open or cut a vent in the front door. Whoosh! Lots of air fresh cool air blowing straight onto the CPU. The only flaws are the noise level increase and the slightly worse cooling for the hard drives.

<pre><A HREF="http://ars.userfriendly.org/cartoons/?id=20030905" target="_new"><font color=black>People don't understand how hard being a dark god can be. - Hastur</font color=black></A></pre><p>