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Not that long ago I've upgraded my home server and, as a part of the upgrade, I've picked up Antec Two Hundred (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129084) case for it when it was on sale for $30 or so. The server is now run by Phenom II x6 1090T with a stock cooler and 3 different HDDs (for now, gonna be more soon), generating pretty amusing amount of noise. The worst part is that the aforementioned case does extremely poor job with regard to noise reduction, having two venting holes on top and on a side for 120mm fans and it provides nothing for damping noise and vibration from HDDs. The problem is that the server is sitting in the same room where my desktop sits (and this cannot be changed) so despite my desktop being almost silent (Antec Solo rules!), server-generated noise annoys me to death. So I have to do something about it.

Thus I need a new case for the server. My primary concern is noise. I do not really care about air flow, nothing is going to be overclocked in there. I don't care about any aesthetic aspects of the case. It should have at least 4 but preferably 6 hard drive bays and it has to make my server as quiet as possible. And I'm looking for ATX mid tower. Now constraints. First, I am not in position to invest much more money in the server, so I would really like to stay in $100 budget. Furthermore, I have some cache on hand for that so I would prefer to buy the case in the nearby Micro Center (the one in KS). Only if you tell my that there is nothing that would satisfy my needs in there, then I newegg is an option. I know the Micro Center's selection is not huge but hope you can direct me to something decent.

Thanks for any input!

I use an Antec Soanata II, which I bought through Antec's B-Stock store (though there wasn't a scratch on it). I put a drive bay adapter in it so it holds seven hard drives total. With the stock Antec Tricool fans and a 400W Corsair power supply, it's pretty quiet.

The best change you could make would be to lose the stock AMD cooler. Make sure you don't have any fans smaller than 120mm (including the PSU) or faster than 1200 RPM. That ought to cut down on almost all of the noise. If those changes aren't enough, you can take the more drastic step of finding a case designed for quietness.

Thanks for the replay!
Yes, I was thinking about changing the stock cooler, as it is the one who produces constant noise. But there are also hard drives which are extemely loud in this case (and the same hard drives were used in Antec Sonata without producing such amount of noise thanks to it's suspension system). As soon as something access hard drives it is very loud. So I thought I need a new case anyway and see if it would bring a noise from stock cooler down to a tolerable level so that I don't need to buy a new one. On the other hand CM Hyper 212 Plus is less then $30 so it might make sense to buy it anyway... Well, anyway, I think I still need a new case.

I am actually in the process of moving to a tropical climate any suggestion for a server enclosure that would be good under moist conditions? This may be off topic but you guys seemed to know your stuff here.

I guess I'm just weird in that the thumpity-thump of the drives doesn't bother me at all. It registers so little I forgot to even mention it, but that is indeed the loudest noise my server makes.

Edit: Whoa old thread. Didn't even look at the posting dates.

local SEO: keep a dehumidifier in the room? And fans blowing over every drive.