Technical > PC Hardware Discussion/Reviews > Smaller or larger case?

Smaller or larger case?

First all unplugging the computer while it is running should not cause the motherboard to die.

Secondly the size of the case has very little if any effect on how loud the computer is. It comes down to the case design, the fans, how much heat is produced, the efficiency of the heat sink and how loud the hard drives and other components are.

You have to figure out what was the most significant source of the sound problem she was having and eliminate it, then work on the next most significant source.

Small cases do tend to have smaller fans. A small fan has to spin a lot quicker then a large fan to move the same amount of air, so small fans are almost always louder then a large one. Even with fans of the same size and air flow, some are quieter then others. Also enabling a form of automatic fan control in the bios might help as well so the fan isn't running at full speed when it doesn't need to be.

it did die.. sometimes it will POST sometimes not.. if it did make it to windows you would have small blocks and not soon after it would lock up.. then reboot it takes like 20 tries to get it to POST again since it would keep beeping about memory..

Now before you say bad memory.. I took her memory out and put it in my desktop and it runs fine.. matter of fact it's in my PC now.

reply to Subaru
What size fans are inside the case? You may be able to get by with replacing the stock fans with a higher quality fan. My Corsair 600T case has two 240mm fans, SIX 120mm fans and two 140mm fans. Unless I'm gaming, my computer runs whisper quiet. If you ask 100 people you'll find 100 different recommendations. I personally use Noctua fans for my 120 & 140's. They're very quiet at full speed, but for someone who wants zero noise they come with two resisters to slow them down even further.

Like other say the larger the fan, the more air it can move at a slower speed than a smaller fan.

Looking at a few itx cases on Newegg, many don't have case fans at all... I noticed a could fanless heatsink AMD's, but no Intels. This still brings us back to the "larger fan = less RPM's = less noise," but the smaller case will limit how tall the CPU heatsink can be. There are forums out there for dead silent computer builds. I forget where, but one may want to search them out. I know the last time I stumbled across them some of the builds were interesting.

reply to weaseled386

she turns it on and off like maybe 5-8 times a day

But she does not want to relocate it and I told her to get a laptop before she got the desktop. she wants a larger case I was looking at some mini ATX cases (her desk is a small glass desk) for her and she wants to sit the monitor on top of it.

If she wants something small then how about this: »www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a···11144138. It's the case I'm currently using. Stock PSU seems OK for me, even with a GTS 450 on it. Doubt she will have anything that high powered and that's a low end GPU now too. What kind of budget would you have for this? Also what would her use be with it? I suspect not much if she is using a mini-ITX already as those aren't usually that powerful.

Only thing she does is email and web browsing, I looked up that case but I have to see if it's ok not sure if she is keen on that blue LCD display.

It might be a little tall for sitting a monitor on top of but it wouldn't be any taller than a tower laying on it's side. It's about 9" tall, just a little less. Personally it was too tall for me with my monitor on it or maybe just because one was on it and the other was on the desk beside it (didn't want to put it on the flood but didn't have a choice in the end). The blue display is a temp display but IIRC it has a power connector (should anyway), can always unplug it if she doesn't like it.

reply to Subaru
Get suspend mode working on it, and go into suspend after 15 minutes of inactivity. Also get a keyboard with a power button and use Windows to configure that button to also suspend. Then she won't have to turn it on and off repeatedly, and it will be silent when she's sleeping (you said "bad" but I think you meant "bed")

Yeah I tried to get her in the habit of using the suspend mode

reply to Subaru
a little update she decided to stay with the same case.. she just hates the humming sound of any case.. and the only ones that i heard are pretty silent is they have 80mm + fans on them.

Now I ordered another motherboard and it's going to come at a later date (Monday) but I got the memory I can try on it but doubtful if it will work.

Bring me up to speed. So you using the old case?. And what kind of fan you getting? any links? And why not 120mm? Bigger doesn't mean louder if you get low enough rpm(1300rpm and lower), and air flow is what you want.

Also, could the humming be from the HDD?

using the old case since moving larger i'd be unable to use her ITX mobo.. Also her case has no fan unless you count the PSU as a case fan..

the hard drive is silent.. you cant hear it spin up or seek

when running you can hear the CPU fan which is the noise in question.

I was going to try it out but I forgot I did not get the same intel mobo this time but the newer one with DDR3.

Since she just looks at the internet and email it was pointless to spend all that extra money for a new case + mobo or trying to find something that did not require another CPU.
--
It's NOT Ni-kon It's NE-KON!




LG is NOT Lifes Good It's Lucky Goldstar!

would it fit a 120mm heatsink fan? for the cpu.

whoa.. no way way too big.. this is what I have it in now and it just makes it.

»www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a···35426022

reply to Subaru
putting the new mobo in now I will show you just how little room is in this case.. I will save the old board and I will see if I can get it running again in another setup.