be quiet! and Fractal Design make quiet cases, but they wouldn't be too quiet if the components inside are louder. If you get a case with good airflow and both the GPU and CPU have decently sized coolers they could run at lower speeds, but some noise will always escape from the back of most cases, and from the front with mesh front cases if components inside are audible, a thing to consider is what direction your case is facing on your desk.
But yes it is easier out of the gate to go for a case designed to be quiet, since you may need to provide your own fans to optimize a more open case for silent operation, which adds to the price. The advantage of getting a be Quiet case is that they come with a pair of their quiet fans.
On a more tight budget my suggestion would be to get a
Pure base 600/601 or a
Pure base 500, you also get nice quiet fans and can also invest the price difference compared to the
Dark Base 700 into a GPU model with a bigger cooler or a premium CPU cooler.
If the budget allows for $150-$190 cases then sure go ahead they look awesome, even though the
Dark Base 700 or
Silent base 801 wouldn't be quieter than their smaller siblings, they would be roomier and have better built quality. Another options could be the new
Fractal Define 7 or the older
Define R6, and from Phanteks the
Eclipse P600S. But I would still suggest to get a quiet GPU, a quiet CPU cooler, and a quiet PSU.
For the other strategy of getting a case with good airflow and relying on the fans having to spin slower some options that I think look nice include the Phanteks P300A, Phantks P400A, Fractal Design Meshify C, Fractal Design Meshify S2.
Here are two videos that touch on or test that idea of a quiet case versus an airflow one.
This video shows how an airflow-focused PC build can actually be quieter than a silence-focused build, featuring the Silent Base 601 vs. SilverStone RL06. Ad...
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Our search for the quietest gaming PC is going into air cooling territory! But does an air cooler provide enough cooling for an overclocked 9900K? Remember t...
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