Fractal Define 7 XL or R5 case for lower HDD noise?

I've watched several YT videos reviewing both cases but nothing that explicitly calls out the noise levels with several HDDs running.

I'm about to rebuild my unraid server and looking to buy the 7XL or R5, I already have 6 HDDs and will likely add some more in over time. At the moment, the server will need to be in my home office sitting 3 - 4ft away from me and I'm trying to understand how much noise isolation I can expect. Most of my drives are WD Blue 8TB but I have one Exos X16 14TB for parity. I've seen reviewes of the R5 that show some kind of dampening on the panels but I didn't see that with the 7 XL.

Anyone with some experience with these cases able to comment?

8 comments

I'm curious about this too. Also looking to get the 7XL but I don't want to put a mini data center near my feet with 10-20 7200rpm drives. Just one drive is fairly audible with my current chassis so I was hoping there's a way to dampen noise
I eded up going with the Define 7 XL with dark TG side panel because of the deal I got on it. So far I have 4 HDDs (including an X16 Exos drive) and 4 fans in it. Like u/ben7337 suggested, I put it in a closet about 15ft from me and I can't hear anything at all so this worked out pretty well. Will be adding more exos drives now that I'm more confident in the noise isolation.
As someone with both a Fractal Design Define 7XL with 9 drives in it and a mini version of the case with no drives, I can say the following.

You don't want any transparent panels, the solid ones dampen noise with the padding on them.

The noise dampening is perfect for low speed case fans or cooling fans.

The noise dampening will not stop the following

a) Fan stop and start sounds (in my case a pesky GPU that needed the fans on nonstop at slow speed because they rattled starting and stopping)

b) hard drive noises, it can reduce the whine, but the head parking sounds are inescapable in my experience thus far. However I am certain this will depend on the drives you have. Prior to having this case and internal drives, I had 9-10 external drives plugged in via USB, and those drives were inaudible for the most part without any noise dampening besides being under a table that had a cloth over top of it.

So if you need silent, you probably want 5400rpm drives that can spin down when not in use, or drives that don't make loud head parking sounds the way current larger/enterprise drives do.

Now as for other options to dampen noise further, I tried the following.

Surrounding the case with noise dampening panels. This didn't work and resulted in heat buildup.

Putting the case inside a shoe cabinet, this made the noise echo.

Putting the case inside the shoe cabinet with noise dampening panels outside. This worked for noise but heat buildup was a problem, so it wasn't viable.

Giving up and moving the server into a closet. This was the only thing that really made it inaudible, allowed me to run the fans faster, and didn't cause heatup issues, though the closet does get warmer than the room around it.
- Here's another idea for you and /u/ososoba
  
  It cuts much of the mechanical noise of an HGST (fairly loud) HDD down. I think the case and this mounting solution work in conjunction, with the case absorbing much of the sound and this mount dampening the clunks.
  
  Interesting, which noises does the hgst make? Asking because the noises I had issues with didn't seem like vibrations of the drive itself or it hitting any metal. It was clicks from the drive head parking or something like that, which is a feature on newer, particularly larger hard drives from what I understand, I don't think thicker rubber would really have any impact on the sound itself tbh
  
  This looks interesting, I have so many questions!
  
  I assume it takes up two slots that way instead of one right?
  
  Did you screw through the rubber stoppers? Or are you just using pressure from the knots to keep the HDD in place? I see screws resting on the stoppers but it doesn't look like they go through it.
  
  How well has it been holding up? Looks like you've had it for over a year now. And would something like this work?
- Thanks for the detailed response. I currently only have one drive that I hear audibly when it spins up, so I guess I'd continue to hear that. I might end up moving it to the closet like you did depending on what the noise profile is like. Only other consideration now is that I can buy a new 7 XL off FB marketplace with TG side panel for C$190 or buy the solid side panel version new for C$372 (+tax and shipping). I might end up with the TG version and store it in the closet for the cost savings.

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