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Silent PC build

M

Morgansaur

Weaksauce
Joined
May 3, 2010
Messages
90
I'm building a pc for my younger brother for Christmas. He is autistic, and the droning fan noise from his computer really bothers him after a while. He won't wear headphones. I'm thinking an ultra quiet build is the solution. It doesn't have to be fancy, he mainly plays WoW, Eve Online, and SC2. I'm sure he'll be getting Diablo 3 when it launches. Would like to keep it under $1200. He already has a 1920x1080 monitor.

I've pretty much decided on this:

Case: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811352013
PSU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817121083
Mobo: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131651
CPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103995
Cooler: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835610018
RAM: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231428
GPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131442
SSD: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820211530
$1105 shipped.


Much better than what he currently has, which is a ASUS CM1630 with a 4670 in it. My main concern regards cooling. I have no experience with passively cooled video cards, and I'm wondering if the R3 with only the included intake and outtake fan will be sufficient, or if I'll have to add an additional front fan or a 140mm to the top. I'd really like to keep as few fans as possible.

Any input is appreciated.
 
I would also vote for a Seasonic PSU unit, but to be fair I haven't used either particular model. Also, not to steer traffic away from Hardforum, but I highly recommend you check out www.silentpcreview.com and the forums they have there--they are obsessed with quiet computing and can make a lot of great recommendations. It looks like you're already on the right path though. SilentPCreview will have loads of reviews on case fans too so that you keep all that power adequately cooled (and cooled quietly).
 
Please answer the following questions:
3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.
6) Will you be overclocking?
9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? eSATA? Onboard video? etc.
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? 32bit or 64bit?
 
Adzsask said:
Same price, but a little quieter and way better cooling
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835185166
Also this PSU is much much better, and is fanless until 20% load, then fan turns on but is near silent (slow san ace)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151087
If the card runs hot, strap a 120mm to the harddrive cage blowing directly on the GPU heatsink.
Click to expand...

Can't recommend that CPU Cooler, it is very expensive, and massive. For a fact, it will not fit in the fractal case without an oversized mobo and a lot of tweaking.

I understand your biggest concern is sound, and I just actually finished putting together a silent pc build, though for a considerably higher budget/specs. However, the basics are the same.

For the case, I suggest an Antec P183, $140
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129174

This for me has been the best tradeoff in terms of price/cooling capability/silence. With the front gate closed, the Antec has triple layer sound insulating walls on all sides but the rear. It has a 4 fan slot configuration, with 2 in the front, 1 on top, and 1 in the back. It is decently sized, and has cutouts to allow for efficient wiring.

For the PSU, the above Seasonic x750 is amazing. It has a silent fan system that doesn't even turn on the fan under 30% load, and it doesn't have the coil whine some cheaper PSUs have.

The graphics card I'm not too sure of, I personally have an MSI GTX580 Lightning, and with custom fan settings tweaked using MSI afterburner, the fans never kick in loud enough to hear unless i'm gaming for 4-5 solid hours playing Skyrim or some other GPU demanding game. I would recommend the MSI 6970 for him, since he doesn't play the most demanding games, at $390

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127581


Also, having such an expensive SSD is probably unnecessary, especially if he mostly plays MMOs like WoW or Eve. I would get a 64 or 128 GB SSD, preferably the Crucial M4, and get a 1TB HDD. If you're worried about noise, don't worry, the new 1TB HDDs have no hum, and the Antec 183 will completely mute any sound.


Most importantly though, get GELID NFB fans for the case, at $20 each.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835426018

This may seem expensive, but they are amazing. I have two of these running at max rpm in my case, and they're still whisper silent! Plus, they move way more air than a stock fan would, providing better cooling.

With this setup temps in the comp will never go above 60 C, and you won't hear it even in the middle of the night. Guaranteed not to disturb/bother your brother. I'm a very light sleeper, and I fall asleep with this thing running all the time.
 
So this is a bit outdated, but you might find some ideas in this old thread of mine (the photo links are all dead). SSD technology has advanced quite a bit in the last four years, so you'll be able to do better than 8 GiB for sure! Total build cost for my setup was about $550. I used that box as a Gentoo Linux workstation, FreeBSD Unix sandbox, and eventually pressed it into service as a home firewall before the dog dragged it off the counter and mushed all the heatsinks! I'm currently using an ALIX board for the firewall, you might want to check those out, but they're *really* low power :).

-Nick
 
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