Enermax Equilence Silent Case Review

In this review I looked at the Enermax Equilence.  This is a performance computer tower designed for enthusiasts and professionals who are building high performance and quiet PCs.  As I mentioned early in this review there are a variety of ways to build a silent case.  Some are built to be silent by routing airflow and using sound absorption foam.  These designs address fan and system noise and tend to cost more due to the design effort.  Other silent cases follow some of the silent case design principles but aren’t designed to be silent or address some of the common reasons for sound. 

The Enermax Equilence falls into the latter category and is actually designed quite well.

Equilence features a shaded tempered glass side panel that is secured with four screws.  Tempered glass is the hot thing right now and I’m glad Enermax included it.  On the reverse you’ll find a standard metal panel that has been shaped to appear much thicker.  This is done to allow for the heavy sound deadening material and to make the two sides match in terms of material thickness. 

In silent designs sound deadening is used to control vibrations and anything spinning can induce a harmonic sound that is often amplified when transmitted to a large chamber.  By adding a deadening material you lower the resonant frequency and thus eliminating vibration noise.  Other silent designs use a fabric and foam to block high frequency sounds and I’m happy to report there is a layer of fabric over the sound deadener. 

The front bezel features a highly polished acrylic panel designed to mimic the tempered glass and yet provide a weight savings.  There is more sound deadener behind this plastic panel which is good for acoustic control and yet bad for modifications.

Inside the case you have a pretty typical layout with a full width PSU shroud and plenty of open space around the motherboard.  The case supports up to nine fans and radiators at every location including a 240mm radiator on the side panel inside the case.  This location is rather restrictive but does offer a good modding opportunity when building custom water loops and RGB LED based builds.

In terms of modifications you are somewhat limited depending on how involved you want to get.  Paint and color change mods are rather straight forward.  The metal side panels will accept paint well and the black plastic parts can stay black without drawing too much attention.  Cooling is pretty good from the factory and given the silent nature of the Equilence any cooling change would be a step backwards.  However, if sound is no object I can see a metal side panel that is begging to have two 140mm fan holes cut in.  After that custom water loops and RGB fans are obvious build options.

Despite my avoidance of silent style PC cases I really like what the Enermax Equilence has to offer from the placement of SSD drives and hidden 3.5” drive rack to the full length PSU shroud you have a really good platform for a nice custom build.  I noticed there aren’t many modding options but that decision comes down to your level of involvement.  For the effort you’ll be buying this case because you want a stealthy silent case design and plan to add some custom cooling and lighting effects.

Silent Chassis Design
Tempered Glass Side Panel
Six Fan Speed Control
Open Interior
PSU Cover
Allowances for Watercooling
Extensive Sound Deadening

Cable routing can be difficult with internal radiator installs