TOP 5 Silent Cases for a Powerful Workstation

The Swedish brand Fractal Design has established itself well in the production of high-quality cases that combine a strict appearance and thoughtful organization of the interior space. The Fractal Design Define S Window model is made in a laconic Scandinavian style that will blend harmoniously into any interior. The front panel is solid, there are no doors, compartments or ports here. The only functional element, in fact, is the LED, an indicator of the hard drive. On the top of the case are three plastic Moduvent plugs that increase noise insulation. If cold is a priority, not noise, they can be removed and additional fans installed in their place. There is a large transparent window on the left side panel.

It has 2 interesting features. The first is, in fact, soundproofing. The right side wall is pasted over with soundproofing material, and Moduvent soundproofing plugs are used on the upper part. In general, the system perfectly absorbs noise, and the insides of the PC are only audible if a whole pack of coolers is running inside at maximum speeds. The second feature of the Define S Window is the thoughtful internal layout, which has 9 fan slots, provides direct airflow to the CPU heatsink in case of installing a large tower(180mm fits) and supports water cooling. Moreover, if you want to put a "dropsy", then a system with a radiator 420 mm long will fit into the case without any problems. In general, if you pull out all the trays, coolers, etc. from the case, then you could live inside it.

Other advantages of the model include a pair of rather quiet and powerful stock FD Dynamic coolers, dust filters on the front and bottom panels, as well as a pack of hidden seats for drives with anti-vibration pads. Hidden cable management provides space up to 40 mm wide, as well as built-in cable ties to securely hold wires. Considering all this, the model can be recommended not only to owners of CBOs, but also to those who want to get a stylish, silent, well-ventilated case for a powerful workstation.

The abbreviation DS 230 in the name of this body from Aerocool means "Dead Silence" (per: dead silence), which, you see, sets in a serious mood. The case fans are connected via a distribution board to the motherboard PWM connector, which allows to reduce the noise level to a minimum. At the same time, both side and front panels are equipped with soundproofing pads, and a cover can be installed on top that completely closes the ventilation holes, reducing the noise level to a minimum.

At Aerocool, they approached the issue of backlighting very well. Instead of putting RGB strips all over the place, they made some neat LED strips that run through the front of the case and illuminate the case from below on both sides. Moreover, the backlight can work both in static mode and in dynamic mode: there are all sorts of special effects like the breathing effect. The most interesting and useful of them is the color change depending on the selected fan speeds.

Without backlighting, the DS 230 looks stern, but not uninteresting. The eye immediately clings to the beveled sides of the front panel, which are decorated in textured aluminium. There is no front door, as Aerocool decided to completely dispense with external drive bays. Behind the plastic panel is a large dust filter. If desired, a 360 mm SZhO radiator can be placed behind it. In general, the internal structure allows you to place not only high processor cooling systems, but also the longest video cards. And screwless fastenings will greatly simplify the assembly process.

The only drawback is only one regular cooler, which makes a noticeable noise at peak loads and somewhat spoils the concept of "dead silence". Here you need to either add or pack inside not the most powerful iron, which does not need a cooling system verified to the smallest detail. Well, just a couple of hard drive bays can be a problem if the computer uses a lot of drives.

The Cooler Master Silencio range of quiet cases with built-in noise isolation has not been updated for almost five years, until the company released the new Silencio S600 TG case in 2019. It has a minimalistic appearance that is not without charm, a convenient front door with a tempered glass side window and a modular structure.

With the latter, everything is, if not excellent, then definitely good. Thanks to the ability to slightly change the layout of the hardware, a large cooler (height up to 166 mm), a CBO (length up to 280 mm), a huge video card(up to 398 mm), and a pack of various drives (there are 9 compartments with convenient latches instead of bolts). Plus the wires have a place to hide. Last but not least, the ventilation scheme turned out to be quite flexible and competent: it can be improved by additional propellers or by removing the cover of the front or top panel, so that all PC components never overheat. The built-in noise isolation also begs for compliments, through which only rather large, loud and hot video cards make their way. The chassis itself is equipped with two excellent stock fans, has dust filters and anti-vibration pads.

Claims to Silencio S600 can be presented on trifles. Metal mesh instead of a decent filter under the power supply, small compartment for the power supply, not the lowest operating temperatures. Although the latter is more true for hot HEDT platforms. Fortunately, the modular design provides a good balance between silence and thermal performance. Here, perhaps, is the entire list of problems noticed. And so, for its $250 Cooler Master Silencio S600 looks very decent and functional.

In the case of the Silent Base 801 Window, the folks at Be quiet have done some serious work on the improvements. Formally, this is just the second version of the corpus be quiet! Silent Base 800 Window without PSU , not if you look "under the hood", it turns out that this is a completely new and excellent model in all respects. It looks stylish (especially in orange), has a well-thought-out layout, is equipped with three internal coolers at once and will not create any problems during assembly thanks to its modular structure.

For example, the modular motherboard tray gives you the option to choose between standard and left-hand panel mounting. Modular power supply cover frees up space for additional coolers, while plenty of storage space for drives will help organize capacious storage for your libraries. In general, due to the large amount of free space inside the case, virtually any combination of hardware and cooling systems can be installed. I also really liked the small nuances: buttons for removing side panels, sound-absorbing material on some walls to reduce background noise, removable dust filters, a six-fan hub with a connection to the controller, compartments for hidden wiring and a transparent side cover that opens up a view of the internal hull decoration.

But not without a "fly in the ointment". On the one hand, the spacious case and the presence of three fans keep the temperatures of all nodes away from critical indicators even under stress tests. On the other hand, compared to silent cases of this level, the Silent Base 801 is much hotter. First of all, the reason lies in the weak perforation of the front panel, which reduces the efficiency of the two fans installed there.

Define R6 is another piece of art from Fractal Design. The company's engineers took into account the feedback from enthusiasts and ordinary buyers, and as a result, a practical case was obtained, which has a large weight, high strength, spaciousness and thoughtful design. It also looks interesting and minimalistic, like most other Fractal Design models. Especially in unconventional white.

This case is the embodiment of the saying "the devil is in the details." Inside, the case has a modular design that makes it equally easy to implement massive air or liquid cooling (there are 4 places for CBO), build in a large number of drives, place components of any size and choose the desired balance between the level of ventilation and noise isolation. Of those details, we note a useful PWM hub that allows you to control the speed of up to nine fans depending on the load on the system, side panels that are fastened with latches, which ensures their quick dismantling, a trio of quiet regular coolers and the ability to install a video card in a vertical orientation.

I also liked that the side glass now mounts like a regular panel without bolts, the front panel is removed separately from the external ports, and all dust filters have quick and easy access for maintenance. Against this background, there are only two shortcomings, and both are minor. The first is an uncovered 5.25 compartment through which dust enters the case. The second is that the top metal cover is hard to separate from the filter grill, which is why both parts get scratched.