Benchmarks: Noise
This is why the Corsair Carbide Series 300R chassis isn't our first choice. Sure, it's a smart-looking case with good cooling performance and plenty of room for upgrades, but the mesh panels allow noise to leak out at will.
The 3XS Z77 Performance GTX isn't overly obtrusive when idle, but you can hear it quite clearly. If you're hoping to keep noise levels down to a minimum, we'd recommend swapping out the chassis for a Corsair Obsidian Series 550D - it isn't officially available as an option in the 3XS Z77 Performance GTX specification, but Scan may make it available to customers who ask nicely.
It's a similar story when maximum CPU load is applied. The 3XS Z77 Performance GTX is far from being the loudest PC we've tested (we've tested some real jet engines in recent months), but it still feels more vocal than it needs to be. The Thermalright cooler actually does a grand job of keeping noise levels down to a minimum - there's hardly any increase when the CPU is running at full chat - but we're confident that a change in chassis would quite easily shave a few decibels off these readings.
The good news is that there's not too much fluctuation in noise, whether your workload is CPU or GPU intensive, the 3XS Z77 Performance GTX maintains a similar feel - it isn't annoyingly loud, but you can always hear it clearly.
