I want to switch to a "silent" case, but

EDIT: thanks for all the help guys, I have decided on the Nanoxia Deep Silence 6. We'll see how well that goes, but I'm cautiously optimistic since that thing is gigantic and has enough options to mount fans.

I'd really like to get rid of my case and get something new and shiny. And with shiny I mean quiet. My current case is a bit of a disaster tbh., it not only looks really out of place in my office but it's also really dusty (I had to make some custom dust filters to make it bearable) and really loud.

So now I'm looking into really quiet cases, the only problem is that I'm running 2 R9 290s, both with the Tri-X cooler, and an aircooled CPU. That setup needs a whole lot of airflow to stay cool, especially the GPUs. Are there any cases with sound dampening and good dust filters that can provide enough airflow for this kind of system? I've already looked into the define series from fractal, mainly because I know that they're fairly quiet and because I trust the build quality from fractal. Would a Define R5 or a Define XL R2 with 4 noctua 140mm fans (2 at the front, one at the side for the GPUs and one at the back) be adequate in terms of airflow? I'd probably throw the harddrive cages out completely and get a 5.25 inch to 3.5 inch bay adapter for my HDD and SSD.

Has anyone made the switch from an airflow optimized case to a silent case before? How much of a difference was there in terms of temperature? Any Define-case owners with crossfire/SLI systems? Any other ideas in terms of silent/quiet cases with really good airflow?

Just for reference, I'm currently using a CM HAF 932 advanced with the standard fans and my top GPU sits at 84°C under full load while being fairly noisy. I'd like to cut down the noise as much as possible while keeping the top GPU at <90°C.

Fractal Define R5.

+1

My PC is now quite old, I have a pair of 7970's that dump a whole lot of heat inside that case. The case is a Define R3, not known for good air flow. I have to swap out my Noctua D14 for a Corsair H80i, because the heat from the top card was heat soaking the D14. Getting the heat from the CPU out of the case became a good idea. I then took the Noctua fans from the D14 and stole the 120mm fan from my wife's D14 to use as case fans. So there are a pair of 120mm Noctua pressure optimised fans as front intakes. and a 140mm noctua as an exhaust in the roof. That along with the H80i exhausting from the back.

Everything is nice a cool, is it quiet? F**K no! The 7970's still sound like leaf blowers and the sound to the H80i is horrendous.

So my point is, quiet cases are great in theory but if you are going to be putting hot loud things inside they are going to get hotter and the fans will spin faster. Make more noise but it just muffled a bit. If you want a quiet computer put quiet components in the box. Or spend shedloads of money on a full custom water rig.

They're austrian, they have stunning customer support and you get 6 freaking years of warranty on every single fan. Don't get me wrong, I'm open for all kinds of suggestions but the main part right now would be the case. If there are even better options for fans then that's great and another thing to consider, but right now I need to know whether it's even worth doing in the first place. Also those charts are for airflow through rads, but they'll be used as case fans.

Well that's..... disheartening. Watercooling is out of the question because I don't trust myself with that kind of stuff (and it would be pretty expensive). What about the XL R2 case from fractal though. A full tower should hopefully help a bit in terms of cooling, no? If I could keep my current temperatures and just make the whole thing quieter that would be great. I've played around with the fan settings some more and with a slight underclock my GPUs stabilze at 89°C with <50% fan speed.

So, large sound dampened case or a large case with good airflow and quiet fans? I'm open for all suggestions right now if a sound dampened case doesn't work out. Are there any cases built with SLI/CF in mind that can pull away the heat from the GPUs as fast as possible?

I've got to say for rads or any pressure sensitive situations , they are perfect .

They are the best mad fans I have ever seen , never have I had a wobbly NF-F12 , whereas my H440 as all four stock fans wobbly , and at equivalent sound levels the noctua destroys them .

Are these the gentle Typhos? http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=gentle+typho

The main point is that I don't even know if it's feasible yet and what case I should use, fans are not the highest priority right now. Yes, I put noctuas on the list because they're the first fans that come to mind when people mention silence, none of this is final by any means and I really appreciate your input on this, but you also don't need to throw a fit just because someone mentions noctua.

The whole "because austria" thing was supposed to be a joke (mainly because patriotism is basically illegal here), I'm not good with jokes so that's that. The warranty and their cutomer support IS a solid value add though, maybe it's not worth it over an overall better fan but you also can't just dismiss it like that.

Argh, case first, then we can go back to fans.

Here is how I cooled my 2 290's and 5820k :

Get a small rad ( double 120 / 140 or even single ) and place as the highest front input 

fill all intake , and take a good fan and point it at the 290's in a way that it forces hot air up 

rear + rearmost top output filled with bigger fans .

 

I would recommend getting a expandable CPU cooler , so you can expand to one GPU later when R9 290 blocks are cheaper .

 

I have a triple 120 in taking for my 1231( going to go 5820k thursday )  a G10 with the rad placed on the drive cage , the bottom gpu is left with the trix cooler on it .

I usually don't touch watercooling with a ten foot pole, it genuinely frightens me (yes I know, it's basically impossible to fuck up) and it would also be fairly expensive. I already have a pretty darn nice air cooler for my i5 4670k, and it stays cool even with 2 R9 290s in my current case. I really don't want to upgrade that one for an AIO that'll basically perform the same.

Maybe I've managed to corner myself in a really dumb situation here, but I'd like to reduce noise while sticking with air cooling.

install foam

Any experience with Nanoxia Cases? Especially the Deep Silence 6 seems interesting. Full tower with side-mounted fans for the GPUs and all kinds of other fan mounting options. Would I really be losing much in terms of cooling and airflow when I switch from my current case to something like this?

I know it's silly to put my kind of system in there but this seems really tempting. Don't get me wrong, it's still really expensive and I'm probably going to spend a small fortune on fans as well, but I really want it. Hmm, it has 2 140mm fan mounts at the side panel, that should hopefully be enough to pump fresh air inbetween the GPUs. Or I could try them as exhausts so it can spit out the generated heat from the GPUs as quickly as possible. Seems really fun to tinker around with, I think we may have a winner here.

Now, let's talk about NOT NOCTUA!

Any ideas in terms of fan configuration and/or which fans I should use? I think it holds something ridiculous like 10+ fans at maximum, that's probably not going to happen simply due to the cost factor, but 2 x 140mm at the side panel (either intake or exhaust), 2 or 3 at the top(exhaust), 2 at the front (intake) and an exhaust fan at the back seems "reasonable". I have no clue how good their included fans are, but maybe they can be used for the top exhaust or something.

Now we can talk fans, bring on the spreadsheets and charts!

Well, I don't think that the GPUs will stay cool without some fans at the side panel. The case sits to the left of my desk on the floor, I hope that this'll work out. Hmm, aren't both the Vardar and the GT pressure optimized fans? I thought that airflow optimized fans were better as casefans (static pressure isn't that important and they can just shove the maximum amount of air around, etc.) or am I mistaken here? Maybe I'll just get the case and try out different configs with the 5 included fans and whatever else I have lying around. The deep silence 140 fans that come with it are supposed to be pretty decent, and they're only 11 bucks per fan.... 

The case itself comes with 2 fan controllers, so it can control 8 fans without a problem. I could just get PWM fans for the rest if it's necessary. 

Well, as you already said GTs are not available anymore, or so it seems. And I would have to import EK vardars from the UK (that's 12 quid per fan + shipping of course...). I also have 140mm fan mounts everywhere, can they really keep up with airflow optimized 140mm fans?

Alright, thanks again for the information. So I just get the very best airflow to noise ratio fans I can afford, right? And that would be Gentle typhoons or EK vardars for the most part, even if they're 120mm. I'm not in the U.S., I live in austria. So everything in the EU would be just fine (Germany or France is usually the fastest when it comes to delivery though) because there's no import fees or taxes, outside the EU it'll be pretty annoying.

And I stand correct that you can't get gentle typhoons anymore, right? I've found the EK vardar fans at several UK bases stores (like here: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/search_results.php?keywords=ek+vardar&_=1421205493331), but shipping and currency conversion usually jacks up the price quite a bit. I've not found them in any of the PC hardware stores I know of, so it seems like I'd have to import them from the UK.

How good are these fans in terms of quality though? I know, not noctua, etc. but their build quality really is superb and I know that if one of them breaks in the next 6 years I'll have a new one arrive at my doorstep within 2 days.

Thanks for your help so far, I really appreciate it.

You can get EK fans directly from the EK webstore

http://www.ekwb.com/shop/radiators-fans-accessories/fans/ek-vardar-f4-120-2200rpm.html

Also I have some EK Vardars and I can say that the build quality is excellent, I would say the plastic quality is just as good as Noctuas (I got some NF-F12s as well)

Oh nice, I can pay in € and the shipping cost is reasonable. Didn't even think about that. So, since they're PWM fans, should I just get the 2200 RPM ones? I mean, I doubt that I want to run them close to 3000 RPM anyway, so paying the extra for the furious vardar doesn't seem like it makes a ton of sense. Or are they different in any other meaningful aspects (except for colour).

Other than color and RPM there is not really any difference between the furious Vardar and the F4 (2200RPM). You don't need the 2200 RPM ones, but I have the F4 and I really like them