# SilverStone Fortress FT02 - not silent?!



## a111087 (Oct 3, 2012)

I read a bunch of reviews and watched a lot of video review.  All of them claimed the case is silent or barely noticeable.  

I got this case today and spent a number of hours moving hardware from my Sunbeam bench to the new case, but Fortress is by no means a silent case...

I have no CPU fan, no gpu fan... Just two Hdd's (regular, not raptors) and bottom three fans working. (two fans at 250rpm and one at 800rpm) (top fan is disconnected)  I can still hear it just fine and it kinda bothers me.  I'm thinking about turning of one more fan.  

Hard drive temps are at 50*C... jesus!!!


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## Irony (Oct 3, 2012)

Are you using it in a silent room? Cause any case is going to be somewhat audible unless its entirely sealed or something. I'm sure with your cooling setup and fan speeds it can't be very loud at all. Lol, you would hate to hear the wind turbine that is my case


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## a111087 (Oct 3, 2012)

I can hear another one of my computers working in a different room, so trust me, I know what a loud case sounds like.  I also worked with some servers... 

Anyway, I think the grill on the bottom of the case is very restrictive.  I will cut that out.
The back on the bottom tree fans is also very restrictive (and almost unnecessary for the can under hdd cage).  Going to cut it down as well.  

Yes, my room is silent, but I've seen silent cases before and I know they are real. lol I'm not crazy.  I do have this case turned sideways to me and i noticed that if I will cover the bottom of the side (where the air is being pulled in) it cuts down quite a bit on the noise. (obviously it will just take more air from the other side)


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## Rowsol (Oct 3, 2012)

Isn't one of the fans right below the hd cage?  Also, nice case.  One of my favorites.

There's a fly in my room...


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## a111087 (Oct 3, 2012)

Rowsol said:


> Isn't one of the fans right below the hd cage?  Also, nice case.  One of my favorites.
> 
> There's a fly in my room...



Yes, there is one and I had to run it at 800rpm to stabilize hdd temps.


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## Irony (Oct 5, 2012)

I noticed with my fans that they're significantly louder if the mesh is on the intake side of the fan. Cutting that out would probably help quite a bit I would think


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## a111087 (Oct 5, 2012)

Irony said:


> I noticed with my fans that they're significantly louder if the mesh is on the intake side of the fan. Cutting that out would probably help quite a bit I would think



Yeah, will try to do that during the weekend.  Will post pics too.

The guy who sold this case to me also said that he was disappointed with the amount of noise coming from this case.


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## a111087 (Oct 28, 2012)

well, I finally got some free time to work on my case. here is what i've done:


suspended hhd's on rubber straps to eliminate quite a bit of small but strong vibrations
installed 12mm AccustiPack foam on the right door (that foam has some weight to it, so the door doesn't feel so flimsy anymore)
cut out two grills (couldn't cut the grill under the hdd cage, that was a tight space...). used nose pliers and sheet metal cutters because anything else was just too loud.  
installed pieces of foam on the top cover.  the top is where a lot of noise is coming out.
made a custom filler for the bottom intake that is facing me.  blocking that intake definitely cuts down on turbulence noise.  and doesn't really affect temperatures (this is really the best and the easiest thing you can do to lower the noise)

I'm not sure how much noise is any all of that removed (may be a little bit), but it sure lowered my cpu temps by a few degrees C (i'm using thermalright 120 ultra w/o fan) and i'm happy about that.

still even after all of these things, with just 3 fans running on low (plus 4th fan in psu which i replaced with a quieter one) the case isn't anywhere near being "almost silent case" that a lot of reviews claimed it to be! so, be aware of that.


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## Jetster (Oct 28, 2012)

The best you can do is turn down the fans


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## a111087 (Oct 28, 2012)

Jetster said:


> The best you can do is turn down the fans



all of them are already at 800rpm, any lower and system temps will jump.


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## GSG-9 (Oct 29, 2012)

I'm also on an FT02. The big advantage I found on the FT02 is I could put the case at ground level without worry of the case filling with dust.

I am not going for silent like you though, 360mm rad with all fans at fill speed. I can hear mine from the next room easy.


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## Jetster (Oct 29, 2012)

a111087 said:


> all of them are already at 800rpm, any lower and system temps will jump.



Then get a better cooling system. Take the 120 fan out of the top. That case is awesome. I cant think of a better case. But you cant have both. I run my 120s at 600 and my case is near silent. But I turn them up when im gaming or it hot in the house. People say all kinds of stuff in reviews but you have to be realistic. Fans make noise


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## a111087 (Oct 29, 2012)

Jetster said:


> Then get a better cooling system. Take the 120 fan out of the top. That case is awesome. I cant think of a better case. But you cant have both. I run my 120s at 600 and my case is near silent. But I turn them up when im gaming or it hot in the house. People say all kinds of stuff in reviews but you have to be realistic. Fans make noise



i have top 120mm disconnected.

bottom fans are not 120mm... they are 180mm and are very good, especially because they are worth $30 each.


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## GSG-9 (Oct 29, 2012)

a111087 said:


> iespecially because they are worth $30 each.



I would say amazing because of the noise to airflow


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## a111087 (Oct 29, 2012)

GSG-9 said:


> I would say amazing because of the noise to airflow



don't forget the unique air tunnel feature.  that makes a huge difference with passive heatsinks on GPU and CPU.


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## GSG-9 (Oct 29, 2012)

Also note Silverstone is AMAZING with RMA, I dropped a screw in one of those $30 fans without noticing it, snapped a fan. Silverstone sent me another.


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## a111087 (Oct 29, 2012)

GSG-9 said:


> I'm also on an FT02. The big advantage I found on the FT02 is I could put the case at ground level without worry of the case filling with dust.
> 
> I am not going for silent like you though, 360mm rad with all fans at fill speed. I can hear mine from the next room easy.



I'm just not gaming anymore and listen to a lot of music with open air headphones.  Layout of my room forced me to put this case really close to where I sit and the top of the case is only 2' away from my ears.  So, I hear the case pretty well despite my best efforts to silence it.


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## GSG-9 (Oct 29, 2012)

Not to go OT but what are you using for headphones?


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## a111087 (Oct 29, 2012)

GSG-9 said:


> Not to go OT but what are you using for headphones?



I'm using the lovely Grado Labs SR-60. They sound pretty nice and don't require amp.
Pads on them are also very soft and I can sit for hours each day with no pain or sweat. It is also very easy to find replacement pads for these headphones, but mine are still fine after about 2 years.


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## GSG-9 (Oct 29, 2012)

Sweet, I am using some old AKG K141s, I plan to make these last as long as I can.


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## EiSFX (Oct 29, 2012)

Well since you just said your sitting so close to your case i think your expecting way too much out of your case and fans i think sitting that close no matter what case or fans you are useing you will hear your computer running hell i think sitting that close you could have a completel fnaless system and still hear the HDDs spinning. Like i Said your expecting too much since your sitting so close and also in general really Fans make noise ther is no way around it and as far as i know there is no 100% silent case that uses fans


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## a111087 (Oct 29, 2012)

EiSFX said:


> Well since you just said your sitting so close to your case i think your expecting way too much out of your case and fans i think sitting that close no matter what case or fans you are useing you will hear your computer running hell i think sitting that close you could have a completel fnaless system and still hear the HDDs spinning. Like i Said your expecting too much since your sitting so close and also in general really Fans make noise ther is no way around it and as far as i know there is no 100% silent case that uses fans



I know all of this sounds like I sat down in the public restroom, then started complaining that people poop and fart in there.  But there are very quite (not silent) cases that use fans and I saw them with my own eyes.  It was a joy of not having any idea if there were on or off without looking at their power LED's.


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## GSG-9 (Oct 29, 2012)

I think the FT02 has great airflow, there are many cases aimed to be more silent, but they do not have* the same airflow.


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## arterius2 (Oct 29, 2012)

just in case you didnt, u know there are fan speed controls for the case fans right?


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## a111087 (Oct 29, 2012)

arterius2 said:


> just in case you didnt, u know there are fan speed controls for the case fans right?



lol, yes, i knew about them and they are all set to low. I've used bios settings to run fans at even lower speeds, but temp get too high.


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## Jetster (Oct 29, 2012)

you sure it not your video card. BTW I like your bathroom analogy


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## a111087 (Oct 29, 2012)

Jetster said:


> you sure it not your video card. BTW I like your bathroom analogy



I use passive Nvidia Quadro NVS 290.  I even went as far as replacing my PSU fan.


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## lZKoce (Oct 29, 2012)

I have read the whole topic so far and I don't understand really. My parents' computer is an old socket 775 machine. It has passively cooled GT210 and CoolerMaster Silent Pro for a PSU, and no fans- I am sitting next to it and I have to put my ear literally in the case to hear any sound. You have this expensive Sivlerstone case- which, btw, is my all-time-number-one-favourite case and it's so loud >? I am a noise-freak too, all I can suggest is may be swapping those Air Pentetrators with 140mm Noctuas and see if that works. I know you said you like them and they are 30 bucks each, but if that's the last resort- in the name of silence


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## GSG-9 (Oct 29, 2012)

lZKoce said:


> You have this expensive Sivlerstone case- which, btw, is my all-time-number-one-favourite case and it's so loud >?



The top is a metal mesh, from the sides it does a better job stopping noise.

Hey a111087 could we get a snapshot of the inside? Maybe we can point out any points of vibration we see (although I doubt it when you are this far into noise proofing it.)


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