What is Digg?66 Comments
- merr, on 10/12/2007, -0/+45It doesn't count as blogspam if the blog is the original source of the content. Believe it or not, there are blogs on the net with actual, good, original content.
- Mootabolife, on 10/12/2007, -2/+18My cpu fan rotates so fast that its on the verge of blowing the side cover off.
- spritom, on 10/12/2007, -1/+11I went on the quieter-PC kick some time ago and refitted all the boxes in the house. 120mm fans and Zalman were my friend.
I remember blindly getting a "low noise" PSU....only to find out the "noise" it talked about was noise in the power delivery. - emceepecks, on 10/12/2007, -1/+10Why are you trolling? Go back to your cave.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -3/+11What? Wha-? I cant hear you!
- archlich, on 10/12/2007, -1/+9I don't want water running in my media center pc, do you?
- nevesis, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8Use P180 case, it's by far the quietest I have ever seen. (I think Antec's newest case actually may be quieter than the P180 but I haven't personally tested it. Also their Sonata is quiet, but the P180 is actually quieter.)
DO use copper - it transfers heat MUCH better. Also invest in high-quality thermal paste -- it makes a difference.
Do use large fans. The larger the fan is, the lower the RPM you can run it on, and the quieter it will be. Seriously, don't use anything below 120mm. This also means if you can run two fans at half the RPM, you'll have a quieter system than one fan at full RPM. - afruff23, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8@emanji
Are you ***** deaf? You know the reason it has such a high CFM rating and the name "Tornado"? You guessed it...it's as loud as and moves as much air as a tornado. It is probably the loudest 80 mm fan on the market. I have 2 in my case for rear exhaust, and the noise was so loud that I had to buy a fan controller. It is the loudest component of my system. - Leffe, on 10/12/2007, -2/+8Sigh, I can't believe manufacturers still produce hardware that needs FANS to do cooling... by God, that's what I call an engineering failure.
Fanless for the win. Solid-state storage for no moving parts is of course an even more massive victory, one that could bring down the skies. - quomen, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7You know..
If you YELL REALLY LOUDLY all the time,
I bet you'd hardly hear your computer.
..Just adding some tips and trix. - kosmoX, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6Just put the motherboard in a fish tank and cover it with mineral oil. You'll never hear the fans.
- DjOverEZ, on 10/12/2007, -4/+9How about building a quiet XBox 360, now that would be impressive!
- JaredRR, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6Water systems corrode over time. I ran several variations through the years and I find someone always breaks when I've got another deadline pending. So instead of doing work, I'm replacing old water blocks or hoses.
- skram, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6You are correct. It only matters if the surface area of the cooler is high. For example a aluminium cooler with more fins would work much better than a copper cooler.
- SpaceDreamer, on 10/12/2007, -2/+7I would add:
- Stay away from shiny all-copper coolers. Usually the aluminium ones do the job just as well and for much cheaper. And they have a much easier installing mechanism because they are less heavy. - jamend, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4And don't forget http://www.silentpcreview.com/ , the editor of which helped design the P180.
- dstz, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Not two people will agree on what is a silent pc. Most urban people will think a pc at 30dB is silent. Other will think that until you can't hear it at one meter in the night in a quiet small town, it's not silent. Diferent situations.
- hybrid11, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3The top after market cooling solutions are outdated on that site...
I would go for:
-CPU: Tuniq Tower or Scythe Infinity are currently the top dogs
-VGA: Thermalright HR-03
-Chipset on Motherboard: Thermalright HR-05 - sundancekid503, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3@JaredRR
I totally agree. Putting a water cooling system in my machine was fun, but over the long haul it just required too much maintenance and the maintenance always seemed to come up at an inconvenient time. If you use your machine for anything more than just mere recreation I'd say stay away from water cooling. The last thing you want to do when you've got a big deadline is spend half the day finding and installing a new pump. - spritom, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3@qbix
This was about 3 years ago and quiet PC's weren't all that popular yet, so some trial and error. I finally went with some 120mm SuperFlower PSUs from Directron in 400-450 ranges for 4 machines. I was quite pleased with them and haven't had a hiccup, especially considering their relatively low price (~$45). SuperFlower doesn't do the 120mm version anymore and now has a 140mm version that I haven't tried. Plus they seem to be going with plug-in cables for their PSU now.
I also have a small case with an mATX mobo and fitting fans to that was a bit of a pain. It has a couple of spots for 60mm fans and I tried about 4 brands before I settled on the Panaflo fans. I tried the 60mm "Stealth" fans, they had a deep resonating sound that was just too much when we were trying to watch TV. But the Panaflo fans work well.
I may do up another HTPC box and I'll be more careful picking the case this time so I can use 120mm fans instead of getting a compact case that forces some compromises. - xxNIRVANAxx, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I think a quiet power supply would possible produce less noise than a quite one.
- simpleid, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Antec P180 / ZALMAN CNPS9500
= pretty damn silent and -great- airflow.
I OC'd a C2D E6300 170% (1.8 x 1.70 = 3.06ghz for those of you bad at math) and 60c MAX on load, ~48c lowest idle and -> very silent with above hardware. - theblooms, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Man, back it the day, with my 9,000 rpm Deltas on my massively OC'ed Athlon T-bird was so damn loud I couldn't sleep with the computer on. I have since learned that silence, even if it means 12 FPS less in Doom, is truly Golden.
I finally switched them out from Vantec Stealths and un-OC'ed the system, and I, and more importantly my wife, are happier. - Spikito, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3I just rebuilt my PC, put it in an antec case. its got two layers of sheetmetal with foam rubber insulation, its made for watercooling, which i have. but i still have 2 120 mm fans on the radiator, which is also internal, and a 120 on the power supply, its way quieter and more efficient than my previous set up with 7 80's, a 120, and a thermaltake beetle
- DeepDoo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2quiet PCs can be very good to have if you don't care about maximum performance. If you want performance with silence, your best bet is not air cooling.
Water of Phase Change cooling is the way to go in that case.
Water cooling is almost idiot proof these days with things like Koolance Exos or Corsair Nautilus.
Phase Change is the best if you have the $$$ for it.
Air cooling can be very quiet, but you do have to sacrifice cooling performance for the silence.
I am thinking of building a completely passive cooled unit for a file server at the house. But I would never try to build something that was going to edit media or play games and worry about how much noise its air cooling makes. - deadordying, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I, for one, don't mind the noise of my PC's fans. I have it sitting directly next to my bed and it helps me sleep. The white noise it produces helps drown out more disruptive sounds from my roommates, traffic etc. and its droning is hypnotic and relaxing.
To each his own, I suppose. - msjacoby, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2My buddy fried his motherboard by stopping a fan with his finger to see how much noise it was making. I'm not sure that's the best advice.
- OBKenobi, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2I sliced the corner of my thumb off with a 120mm fan once.
- xxNIRVANAxx, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2WHAT DID YOU SAY?
- trudylee, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1OK just stop with your "get a Mac" comments. Did you know Macs are not for everyone? O RLY?
- JagoX, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Hmm...my PC is dead quiet and I didn't have to do very much to it. I was originally using the stock cooler for my Athlon X2 3800+ for over a year, the stock coolers on my Geforce 7800 GTs (I had SLI for about a year as well before I downgraded) and no fan speed adjusters.
The only thing I did was buy some better quality 13dB (high circulation) 80mm fans as well as some sound dampening padding, the fan speed controller that came with my PSU to make it's fan run at the lowest speed possible & now I use a 15dB CPU HSF that is just a little quieter then the retail version. My case is steel with a window and I'm not using any special noise dampeners for the HDD or optical drives. - jacobsor, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1The Antec P150 is a great case too. (That's the latest one.) Smaller form-factor than the P180, a fairly quiet power supply, and a great "rubber band" suspension system for the hard drives. It's also sold as the "Solo" without a power supply.
- schlagzeuger, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Antec Phantom PSU. 500W, SILENT, runs cool. It has a fan but it doesn't turn on until it reaches "danger" temps. My fan has never turned on, so this PSU is SILENT. Not "quiet, only 28dBA!" but SILENT.
Of course, it cost like $150, but that's worth the peace and quiet to me! - JagoX, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I don't think I'll _EVER_ use watercooling for any PC I own (or will ever build for anyone.) I know that it is all protected and sealed, but the act of putting WATER so close to ELECTRICAL components does not justify the danger. It is possible to build a near silent PC with the right fans & accessories.
- WetSplatter, on 10/12/2007, -3/+4Why not just invest in water cooling and go with a fanless radiator? Like the Zalman series?
- DNAString, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1"I immersed myself in the world of silent PC enthusiasts."
-From the Article
I'm not saying anything. ;) - corvairkid, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1I like quiet PC's but I hate "noise Nazi's." The kind of people who bitch and complain because the optical drive makes noise when it spins up or that they can still hear the fans, HDD's, etc when the thing is sitting in a room with bare hardwood floors, vinyl blinds, and no other furniture besides their desk and chair.
- snoox, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1you're point is?
- Blandyman, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1August 2006 was 5 months ago. You're acting like this was written with Mark, John, and the whole Jesus crew sitting alongside this guy.
5 months isn't bad when he gives you tips and information that are (nearly) timeless. - feucht, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Can I recommend SpeedFan, I just build a HTPC with a mATX board, and had problems finding a CPU cooler to fit, the one I got was noisy, though the case fans seemed to provide good airflow over the cooler anyway. SpeedFan lets you associate fans with temperatures and controls their speeds to match your desired temperatures. I managed to get the CPU fan down to a level where it is silent very simply. Saved my marriage!!
- trudylee, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0THere's also the Shuttle XPC X100... tiny and quiet:
http://www.silentpcreview.com/article661-page2.html
Idle:
Shuttle X100 - 21~24 dBA@1m
Apple iMac - 20 dBA@1m
Shuttle SD11G5 - 21~22 dBA@1m
2 x CPUBurn:
Shuttle X100 - 25 dBA@1m
Apple iMac - 22 dBA@1m
Shuttle SD11G5 - 23 dBA@1m - hutectro, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1OLD ARTICLE -----I have seen this article before ----------
The way to make a quiet PC is----- water cool it ------Their is plenty Web Sites on this subject !!!!!!!!! - hybrid11, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0that's kinda hot for idle, nice load temp though
- sleepydumbdude, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1This is what I need to do. I had my virus scanner set to go off at night for awhile and didn't realize it. I kept wondering why I kept waking up at 4 am every morning and found out it was because my computer was making noise doing tons of stuff.
- Glimjaur, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0Great article, to bad that it's terribly old and i read it when it was released almost a year ago!
- Tannerc27, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0the point of this article is about building a quiet pc. show me your mac that you built.
- Scrappy1850, on 10/12/2007, -3/+2my car made this AWFUL noise one time so i took it my mechanic friend. he crancked up the radio and said "DO YOU STILL HEAR IT?" i said "no" and the car lasted 5 more years.
- lateralus, on 10/12/2007, -3/+2Step 1. Purchase Mac Mini.
Step 2. Repeat Step 1 - guillem, on 10/12/2007, -3/+2Just go and buy a Mac mini X'-DDD
- Lugal317, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0Very cool. My Computer is a gaming machine and sports 7 fans. I've seriously had friends come into my room and think I was vacuuming. Next comp is getting the silent treatment for sure. Thanks for the tips!
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