Quiet OC Case (for recording)

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I'm trying to stay away from the Antec cases from now on. It's just been a giant headache.

Also, the Cosmos S is great for cooling, but all those vents make me nervous about the noise coming out (CPU, VGA, HDDs, PSU). I had my sights set on the Cosmos 1000, but I've heard it's a HDD furnace. :-/

Now you see my dilemma...

(Take into account that the computer has to be virtually silent at 10-15 ft away. Otherwise my mics will definitely pick them up. To put it into perspective, if I rub my fingers together about 5-10 ft away, I can hear them in the headphones!)

just liquid cool everything, rubber band mod the hard drive, and route your radiators into a different room = Dead silent PC.

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I know... it's weird. But I've had to literally rebuild so many parts of this case that Antec refuses to send me replacements (meaning I have to pay for all the parts that warp and fall apart.)

I'm sure other Antec cases are good, but the original P180 sucks imo.

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Hmm, figures. I can't afford to buy unreliable case.

I have an eye on that Corsair 800D, but the weeping of my wallet might keep me up at night.

Which Lian Li's would you recommend?

After looking around a bit, I'm gaining interest in the Lian Li PC-B25F and B25FWB. They have rubber grommets for the fans and hard drives, and damping on the ODDs and PSU.

Also, despite not having a door to block noise, it does offer the same damping by placing the front panel in front and allowing air to enter through the sides. I actually like this approach better because it has the best of both worlds. Damping and ease of access to ODDs.

I do have a few concerns, though. The metal-only cases that I've seen have issues with the doors. They tend to rattle a fair amount due to vibrations. Also, the 0.8mm aluminum cases I've seen are quite flimsy... would 1.5mm feel considerably more sturdy? Also, the HDDs are mounted backwards, so the cables have to run to the front (completely negating the whole point of that orientation, imo).

Though, this case pushes a considerable amount of air, from what I hear. It has three 120mm fans (2 in front, 1 in back), and two 140mm fans on top. I could change all of these out for Noctua fans if need be. The Antec P180 case is lacking in cooling, imo. Even with the giant cooler I have on my i7-920, it still runs hotter than I'd like (reaching mid 70s @ 3.36Ghz w/ 1.25v). Also, I could probably line the majority of this case in acoustic foam as well to provide more damping.

What do you guys think? Do any of you own this case?

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I was going to say this too, it's design is all about minimum noise.

Well, I actually already bought the Lian-Li PC-B25F as of a week ago.

With the AcoustiPack Ultimate inside, you can't really hear anything coming from the sides or front. Unfortunately, with the fans on their highest setting (2 S-Flex E's, 2 140mm Noctuas, 1 140mm Lian-li, Noctua NH-U12P Cooler) it is quite a bit louder than the P180 case I replaced. This is very disheartening, because I wanted an improvement with the money I spent. My CPU temps only improved by 3c-5c, though my HDD temps are probably 20c better due to the direct cooling (which should help it's lifespan). I haven't had a chance to check my video card, but I have a feeling it will be better too.

The problem is in the top panel. The two 140mm fans create a gaping hole at the top that essentially spans the entire length of the motherboard tray, and then some. This means that all the noise of the case leaks out from the top. This will happen with any case with an open top, though...

I really wish I could manufacture a noise shield to go on top of it without braking my bank. That would probably make this case silent.

I'd go with the Fractal Design Define R2, awesome case with good airflow!
( http://www.fractal-design.com/?view=...gory=2&prod=32 )

Oops, i should read the full post before answering my fault.

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NCIX is supposed to have it in the next couple of months.