In Pictures: Six Low-Noise Performance-Oriented Cases
Have you ever wished you could fit four Radeon HD 6970s in your chassis? We love the idea of large cases with room for our deluxe hardware. But we also despise loud components. These cases are designed to house lots of hardware, while minimizing noise.
Twice The Radiator Space
Though the Colossus uses a 230 mm exhaust fan, liquid cooling fanatics will be even more pleased by the 2.5” of space between its fan and the top of a motherboard. Above the factory fan are mounting holes for a single 140 mm or dual 120 mm fans, and creative builders will even note that hole alignment allows a 2x120 mm radiator to be installed beneath the original 230 mm fan.
Colossus Card Mounts
Screw-free mounting clips allow fast card installation and removal. The design works with every card we could find, though anyone who has trouble will find that the holes beneath this bracket are threaded for screws.
Additional Card Cooling
If a single 230 mm fan doesn’t meet your cooling needs, Bitfenix has you covered with a 140 mm bottom fan mount. A screw-on filter covers this normally-unoccupied location, though removing it requires laying the system on its side.
Power Air Filtration
A short filter beneath the power supply slides out from the Colossus’ rear edge to ease cleaning. At this point, we have to question why Bitfenix decided not to use a longer slide-out filter to extend coverage to the bottom intake fan mount.
Colossus For Colossal Motherboards
With 13.2” of card clearance, the Bitfenix Colossus could easily swallow a 12x13” Extended ATX (SSI-EEB) motherboard. Motherboards that size would, however, cover several of the case’s cable egress grommets, making cable installation messier (but also easier). The addition of an eighth card slot also allows the installation of a double-slot graphics card in an ATX motherboard’s bottom slot.
Fractal Design Define XL
Fractal Design hides all its tricks inside a nearly-monolithic design, which is externally enhanced by its anodized aluminum face panel. In stock trim, the textured paint even does a fairly good job of hiding the optional side-fan mount.
Define XL's Quiet Face
The Define XL supports two 140 mm intake fans, but includes only one. Also included is a 120 mm bay-fan mount, behind three of the four externally-latched 5.25” bay covers.
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Acoustic foam fills the door.
Defining Hidden Ventilation
Fractal Design has one of the most intricate ventilation system’s we’ve ever seen, highlighted by a row of vent holes long the right-rear edge, behind the motherboard. An exposed 140 mm fan removes some of the heat from the CPU area…
Hidden Fans Too?
…while a 180 mm fan removes the remaining CPU heat. Fractal Design places its top fan at an angle, blowing through a duct to the case’s rear vents.
Define XL Cable Management
A hinged door over the CPU support plate hole isolates the cable stow area from the main part of the computer. Though an intricate design, performance impact is likely negligible.
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Assmar There are some beautiful cases in this article. The Colossus and Raven are not two of them :PReply -
ta152h All different shades of ugly.Reply
It's surprising case makers don't understand these ugly boxes don't inspire, and something a bit different, and attractive would sell very well.
This is all junkyard material. Unimaginative rubbish. -
These cases aren't the best solutions for low-noise performance at all... ok maybe 2 of them are ok but not the best choices. Where are the specs by the way?Reply
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kinggremlin SHARCRASHThese cases aren't the best solutions for low-noise performance at all... ok maybe 2 of them are ok but not the best choices. Where are the specs by the way?Reply
This isn't a review of the cases, that is forthcoming. This is just a bunch of pictures of the cases that will be in the review.
I'm guessing the Raven was picked because it is a new release, not necessarily because it is a top performer. The FT-02, also by silverstone, is a much better looking case, and does have acoustic foam on the side panels. Cooling is outstanding. As far as cooling to noise ratio goes, the FT-02 should be quite near the top. -
JohnnyLucky I was not impressed with this batch of cases. Doors on the front panel? Gimme a break.Reply -
Destroysall The Fractal Design XL is a great case! Good cable management, great airflow, and good noise reduction. That would be my first choice out of this list. The Antec Sonata IV wasn't a bad case at all. Looks very good for a small "budget" oriented case. Second choice for me.Reply -
Crashman JohnnyLuckyI was not impressed with this batch of cases. Doors on the front panel? Gimme a break.SilverStone and Lian-Li didn't have them...Reply -
mattmock I recently got the RV02-E. The 180mm intake fans are very noisy at full speed. At the reduced speed they are still audible but much quieter and still provide enough airflow for my 2x GTX 570s. The hard drive dampening cage isn't so hot. I had to permanently remove one of my 7200 rpm drives to stop a very annoying resonance between two of the drives.Reply
I am currently building a wooden case holder that will go around my case and provide room to install thick sound damping foam. My hope is that I can get a very very quiet computer while still getting enough cooling.