What kind of case make a high-end, multi-GPU system silent? How about those tempered glass cases?

[modeonoff]

When I built my PC about 15 years ago, I used an aluminum case. It was silent. When my school bought a Xeon system few years later, even the case was very big, when I turned on the computer, it sounded like a vacuum cleaner. Even people outside the lab could hear it. Got lots of complains everyday. Five years ago, bought a HP Z workstation with dual-Xeons, top of the line Quadro and 64GB RAM. As I recall, it used some kind of liquid cooling for the CPU. The system was completely silent. Technologies have changed since then. What kind of case could make a high end system with 1-4 GPUs silent? Are those tempered glass cases good? I suppose if one could open the door easily, there must be gaps on all edges. Thus, sound could leak out.

 

[SoggyTissue]

best solution is quiet fans. no noise to contain = no noise at all.
liquid cooled systems create less sound because there is only 1 or 2 fans that cool the rad. and liquid cools everything inside. and again you can have silent fans on the rad.

fans make noise ... you should find the solution to the problem, not cover it up like a polititian.

 

[modeonoff]

Thanks. Sometimes I see people has an open case. I though this would make the system noisy as the fans are not contained in a sealed case. Wrong?

Which areas need a cooling solution? From youtube videos, it looks like these days, people need to cool the CPU (the only component needed to be cooled in the past) and the GPU. In addition, they put a few big fans on a few sides of the case. Do we need to put fans on the top, at the front and at the back of the cases?

Speaking of fans, in the past I was told to get large fans to make the system less noisy. Are there completely silent fans?

 

[SoggyTissue]

incredibly quiet fans yes. generally cost $5-$10 more than the same non-quiet model.

the use of larger fans was to reduce the number of fans to push the same volume of air through ... hence reducing the noise by elimination of more fans.

all depends on the case layout, some are designed for top fans, some for front, extraction from rear, etc.

fans are easy to replace, if a pump on a liquid cooler needs replacing, that takes more effort. but ofc the benifit of liquid cooling is that you only have 1 or 2 fans total (to cool the radiator)

anyhow, open cases are for people that dont know what airflow means ... they are focused on heat disipation to atmo.
airflow is like the wind rushing past a car window = more flow, more heat taken away from the system in general.
open case (no airflow) is just like sitting outside relying on the breeze to cool down. (this is an extreme case to highlight the difference)

so best solution to your problem: fewer LARGE + QUIET fans (less noise) + any case you like the look of (some are better designed than others but the choice is yours)
worst case scenario: many small loud fans, with 1990's case .... aka ear bleeder.

I think most noise can be canceled completely by a white noise speaker pointed at the offending noise machine. you wont hear anything past 15meters. well thats how the fbi do it (so i am told)

 

[modeonoff]

Thanks. What is "1990's case... aka ear bleeder".

Is tampered glass case recommended?

 

[SoggyTissue]

1990's case = flimsey metal that ends up vibrating due to the oscilation of the fans ... poor design ... amplifying noise and causing your ears to bleed ! lol.

generally i dislike any 'clear viewing window' thats made of plastic as plastic is flexible (good for absorbing impacts) which can promote sound propergation (which is bad for making pcs quiet). if its real laminated glass, it should be stiff enough to resist flexing too much (but more expencive).

you get what you pay for generally, a cheap case will be cheap materials. plastic instead of glass, flimsey instead of sturdy, do some digging into what the case is made of, or reviews from previous buyers.