I am trying to find a 4u rack case to move my old computer to. My problem is that the computer will be pretty mouch always on and it will run in the room I sleep in. Because of that I need a case, that will be as quiet as possible while housing an ATX motherboard, ATX psu and a GTX 1070 founders (270mm gpu length). I would welcome 8-16 HDD slots. In case that would create problems with loudness I can also get a separate JBOD and a controller, however I am not sure wether that would be any quieter and it would deffinitely be more expensive. Price is also important, but I will gladly pay a hundered dollars more for a quieter case. the 4U size is also not necessary, however I would prefer a larger case to have more space to work with inside the case. 3U would be pretty tight and I have plenty of rack space.
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Sounds like you're building a NAS + workstation/gaming PC in one. I'd recommend splitting those up into two systems; a low-power NAS can go somewhere not quite so noise-sensitive (e.g., closet or living room), and the more high-powered workstation can be shut down when not in use.
Drives make noise when they're in use, and the GPU produces heat when in use; neither is conducive to being quiet enough to sleep with (unless your hearing is already poor). Cases don't make noise; their fans do, according to the heat generated by the system. Low-power, low-heat system keeps things quiet. My workstation is a uSFF/TMM; the fan is whisper-quiet.
Drives make noise when they're in use, and the GPU produces heat when in use; neither is conducive to being quiet enough to sleep with (unless your hearing is already poor). Cases don't make noise; their fans do, according to the heat generated by the system. Low-power, low-heat system keeps things quiet. My workstation is a uSFF/TMM; the fan is whisper-quiet.
The computer itself is about 200w at peak. It will mostly be idle at about 50w and I plan to populate the case with noctua fans. What I need is a case, that can fit 120mm or 140mm noctua fans and the before mentioned drives if possible. I can not put the server into a different room. If I could I wouldn't be writing this post. My main trouble comes with the drives. All cases that I have found with enaugh drive bays obstruct the airflow so mouch, that I would need to ramp up the fan speed extremely high. And I did not find any JBODs that wouldn't be unbearably loud.
Plenty of 4U cases fit 120mm fans, e.g., the venerable 846 or RSV-L4500, or shorter R4000. The 846 with Arctic P12 or Noctua case fans and 920SQ is very quiet; the Rosewill cases take standard ATX PSUs. Both take standard motherboard sizes from ITX up to SSI-EEB; the 846 also takes SM's EE-ATX. Active tower CPU cooler or AIO allows the fan wall to spin slower.