Topsy-turvy HTPC case

Wrote a couple of critical reviews on Antec P182 (on Newegg and here), and immediately remembered the good old YY-0110 (YY0221 is a closest approximation available today).

It wasn't too good at all when I bought it. Well, to begin with, it was bought in 1999 (it was difficult to find and especially verify anything on Internet back in those times), and I had very little idea about what I was doing - it was the first time I was building a computer. Stamped steel, point welding, sharp edges, damaged threads. Resonated like a steel guitar. Inferior PSU, gave up the ghost pretty soon.

However, the role this box played in the transformation of a person with no practical skills into a person that is not afraid of any DYI work can't be underestimated.

...It all started with a freezing video card, Riva TNT2. It was freezing as soon as the card temperature was above 30°C (for comparison, XFX GF7950GT PVT71JYHE9 feels just fine at 130°C). And of course, there was no money to replace it. Well, the less money you have, the more is your motivation to turn on the brains, so I did. Took out the card, took off the heatsink, swore at lazy workers that didn't put the thermal paste right, fixed it, put it back, rejoiced. But there was a side effect to it - at first, Pulse was created, and it eventually grew into DIY Zoning...

But I digress.

All in all, this box had been in service until 2005 (running PIII/550 with 512K RAM), first as a workstation, then as a server. Then it was retired, and it was collecting dust - until the need for a new computer materialized.

That was when things got interesting.

By that time the noise finally got on my nerves.

Lian-Li PC-60 (the original, with three 80mm fans) was bad. Lian-Li V-Cool PC-V1200B, with two 120mm fans and a squirrel case, even on rubber grommets, was even worse. So the verdict was: no new case, YY will be modded, 80mm and 90mm fans will be thrown away, quiet 120mm fans will be installed, and the end result must be quiet enough to put it in the bedroom or into the entertainment center.

The case was gutted, metalworking tools were engaged, and in a couple of weeks the case was difficult to recognize: instead of one 80mm and one 90mm fans there were four very quiet 120mm Scythe S-FLEX SFF-21D (bought here). I can't say whether they really deliver promised 8.7dBA, but you can only hear them in a very quiet room at night, and you have to get down on your knees to hear them. Two intake fans at the front, one intake fan at the left (where the CPU is), and one exhaust on the rear (below the PSU).



PSU chosen was fanless (kind of) Antec Phantom 500. That was before I got disappointed in Antec PSUs after two consequent failures, both shortly after warranty expired. Interesting fact is that I'm seeing a sharp decline in Antec popularity recently - I guess I'm not the only disappointed one. Another disappointment was that as soon as the auxiliary fan kicks in, you realize that no, it is far from zero noise, it's much worse than regular - but that doesn't happen very often, especially if you're only using the computer as HTPC, and not as a gaming station.

After long consideration, fanless XFX GF7950GT PVT71JYHE9, fresh new on the market, was bought. That turned to be the worst disappointment of all: it didn't fit into the case. I was 4mm short. Sure YY is a big case, it's just that the motherboard compartment is more shallow than most... I said, the hell with it, cut out the hole in the side panel, and it works happily since.

That was the end of it, and it seems that the case turned out quite right. It is quiet as a coffin, and cold as a tomb.



CPU temperature (AMD X2 3800+) doesn't get above 49°C with the fanless video card (above), and doesn't get above 52°C with two G92 8800GTS/512 SLI (it is interesting that even those two monsters, the noise level wasn't bad at all). Hard drive is in a wind tunnel between two fans, I don't think it will ever overheat.

Bottomline...

It's been 10 years since I've started buying computers out of my own pocket.

• Bought two whole computers - HP Pavilion out of ignorance, Dell Dimension E521 because of crazy sale;
  
• Bought four cases - YY-0110, Lian-Li PC-60, Lian-Li V-Cool V1200B Plus, Antec P182;
• Got four cases as a present;
  
• Built total of eight computers (not counting endless tinkering with existing ones).
  

All things considered, this case is so far the best.

Yes, it is somewhat ugly.
But it works.
And it is cold.
And it is quiet.

And it is NINE YEARS OLD.

I don't think I'll be buying more cases anytime soon. There's a stack of old cases gathering dust in the corner, I'll just pick the one that fits the purpose the best and start hacking away...

Antec P-182: Mixed Blessing

When the time has come to build a new box, there were two primary considerations: one, I didn't want to rebuild an existing case, two, I got tired of "overpaying" (should've known better, but later about it), as was the case (or so I thought at the time) with Lian-Li V-Cool PC-V1200B.

Also, loud cases eventually got me tired, and a quiet case like this was probably the last straw.

So, after careful consideration, I decided to try Antec P-182.

Well... TANSTAAFL.

Lian-Li cases remind me or Sir Henry Royce (yes, the Rolls-Royce Royce): The quality remains long after the price is forgotten. Even ancient (vintage of 2002) Lian-Li PC-60 would be a very good case today, if not for noisy 80mm fans (there is a 120mm version, but alas, it was manufactured later).

P-182, on the other hand... Every step of the way shows the cost cutting measures. More the pity because the design decisions are basically sound.

P-182 is not as big as reviews would like you to believe. 8800GTS cards do fit into the case, but forget about installing hard drives or extra fan into the middle bay cage - the cables get in the way.

Cable management is a nightmare. Despite the fact that P-182 is considered an improvement over P-180 (I dread to think how bad *that* was), cables don't really have much place to be hidden at, plastic doors bend and become difficult to close, cables routed in the lower compartment tend to interfere with fan blades - not fun at all.

Fans were the last straw.

I am very disappointed to have trusted the opinion expressed by Silent PC Review in their P-182 review. I guess they have based that opinion on medium or low speed setting on the fans, neither of which is really acceptable for a person on a low budget in the middle of Arizona summer.

Interestingly enough, a separate review TriCool fans were described as "definitely not quiet".

Setting the fans or medium or low speed, given the fact that the box had one of the hottest (no pun intended) motherboards on the market (ASUS Striker II Formula), ambient temperature about 30°C, disks heating up to 43°Cб was absolutely out of question.

Had to replace the stock fans.

Decided to trust Silent PC Review once again, and bought Scythe SY1225SL12M (used other Scythe product, S-FLEX SFF21D before, liked them a lot - but the flow would have not been sufficient for this case).

This brought the price of the caseto $200 - the price of a comparable feature set, but better manufactured Lian-Li.

Also, when I took the fans off, it turned out that the underside of fan grills is quite sharp and rough, creating turbulence and without doubt adding extra wind noise. Had this happened before the component installation, it would've been OK to smooth them over, but with the motherboard and power supply installed, and cables routed, I said the hell with it.

The very last straw - turned out that the plastic door has a razor sharp edge. Lost a quart of blood and about 2"x1/4" piece of skin - it was kinda unbelievable to cause such a wound with a piece of, mind you, soft plastic.

All in all, after all was said and done, I had issued the last expletive and promised myself not to buy new cases, ever, even if it means that I will have to make them out of wood.

Now that I'm done with the criticism...

The case is relatively quiet, and relatively cool (as in temperature, not as in appeal).

All the fans except the drive compartment one are under variable speed control provided by BIOS. The last fan is simply turned on at 70% speed.

Hard drive noise is very well contained. I simply don't hear them (Seagate Barracuda, not quite known for being quiet).

Even the 8800GTS SLI is not audible until their fans get up to about 50% speed, with the cards themselves not heating up above lazy 70°C (for comparison,
XFX GF7950GT PVT71JYHE9 is feeling just fine all the way up to 120°C).

The only noise left after fan replacement is a slight hum of the fans - mostly video card fans. Doesn't interfere with listening to the music. Doesn't interfere with work. Playing games? I don't think you'd notice anything at all. HVAC turning on absolutely drowns all the noise produced by the box.

Is it possible to make the case quieter? Yes, by using a cooler motherboard and hard drives (Western Digital drives seem to be the best in this context nowadays). You can also use even quieter S-FLEX fans, but that'll be tempting the fate.

Is it possible to make the case cooler? Absolutely - just set all the fans at 100% speed (after the fans have been replaced, of course). Even then the case is quite acceptable, albeit noticeable.

In other words, am I happy with the case? Well, after all the time and efforts spent on it, mostly yes - provided I don't have to get in often, the cables are really annoying to deal with.

Am I gonna buy a comparable case again? Hell no. Either another of my dozen leftover cases gets an extreme makeup, or I'm gonna buy another Lian-Li. I don't think that would be much more expensive, and know for sure that the quality would be better.