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Silent PC

I

iownyou14

Limp Gawd
Joined
Aug 14, 2004
Messages
473
Hi, i want to make a Silent PC (or as silent as possible) and i have a few questions.

1. Whats a good, sturdy case that is ... errr ... silent. Like can hold in the noise. Also, i dont want one with a side window.
2. Whats a good fanless CPU heatsink (or should i go water cooling but pumps and radioator fans make noise).
3. Whats a good fanless GPU cooler (dont answer if u say water cooling).
4. What interior padding should i use. Im thinking Paxmate but what else is good. Maybe multiple layers.
5. What are some good case fans that are silent but can get a good amount of air through.
6. Is there anyway to make the HD and cdrom drives silent. Also, what HDs and dvd/cdrw drives have low noise emitions.

Im already getting a fanless PSU. Also, this is for a P4 system.
 
i wouldn't recommend fanless cpu. todays cpus just run too hot. this one has a fan, but it's much more quiet: http://www.buildsilentpc.com/silent_cpu_cooler.php

reconsider the water cooling. the pumps are practically silent and you get much better cooling.

www.endpcnoise.com is good for info.

if u want total silence go for one of these: http://www.zalmanusa.com/usa/product/view.asp?idx=64&code=020

but it's a thousand dollars! more power to ya if u got the dough and some time... from what i hear it's not exactly easy to set it up. ;)

MuadDib420

Athlon 64 3200+ (2.2ghz stock)
gigabyte k8n pro nforce3 150
512 mb kingston pc3200 ddr
80 gb western SATA hd
XFX 6800 gt (370/1)
viewsonic vp201b 20.1 inch lcd
11070 3dmark2003
 
Case- Antec sonata
HSF- Zalman 7000alcu
PSU- Zalman or other fanless variety

Make sure you get some good 120mm fans
 
Case - one with dual 120's. Antec and Lian Lis both have cases in this category.

This Zalman power supply http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=17-103-213&depa=0 It is very quiet. Fanless PSU's need some airflow - even if just convection. The one 80mm in this is very quiet and qhat I would consider a safer choice.

GPU cooler - Artic Cooling,

120mm Panaflo L1A fans on EAR composite mounts

Paxmate or Spire will reduce any high pitched noises. Fleece to reduce noise level overall.
 
I recommend the 3700BQE over the Sonata. It has more room and better airflow (if it matters in your situation), plus it should be just as quiet as the Sonata. The optical drive door muffles the noise from the optical drives pretty well (though any case with a good door can do this).
As for GPU cooling, try the VGA Silencers by Arctic Cooling or whatever, they have a fan but it's not very loud at all.
Vantec Stealth 120mm's are okay for case fans, though 28dba isnt exactly silent, you can always 7v it. The SilenX 120mm 14dBA 1800rpm 58cfm Case Fan would be ideal.
 
1. Whats a good, sturdy case that is ... errr ... silent. Like can hold in the noise. Also, i dont want one with a side window.

I just got the LianLi PC-73slb. It's awesome but you need to make sure you have room for it because it's HUGE. Here is a good review on it: http://www.cluboc.net/reviews/cases/lian_li/pc-73slb/index.htm

2. Whats a good fanless CPU heatsink (or should i go water cooling but pumps and radioator fans make noise).

Tried water but it leaked. (a quart or so of water all over your new computer parts will make you reconsider your cooling options!!!!)
Ended up with the stock Intel HSF and BIOS controlled fan speed. It's totally silent most of the time, I'm not overclocked at all, but it can make quite a bit of noise when I'm burning a DVD or txfering a lot of files.

3. Whats a good fanless GPU cooler (dont answer if u say water cooling).

I have the Abit Siluro FX5600 in this machine. Totally silent heat pipe cooling until you go into a game or some app that uses 3D. There is heat pipe cooling available for some other vid cards as well, like the Zalman cooler for the 9800.

4. What interior padding should i use. Im thinking Paxmate but what else is good. Maybe multiple layers.

The LianLi case is already sound proofed.

5. What are some good case fans that are silent but can get a good amount of air through.

Again, the LianLi comes with some very quiet ball bearing fans. I have a PSU that can control fan speed on the case fans so that quiets it down even more.

6. Is there anyway to make the HD and cdrom drives silent. Also, what HDs and dvd/cdrw drives have low noise emitions.

LianLi thought of all this too. The HDs are all rubber mounted to reduce vibration noise and the front door of the case is rubber sealed to isolate noise from optical drives. A lot drives have utilities to quiet them if your willing to sacrifice performance for silence.

I'm very happy with this machine overall. I'd planned on water because the Zalman Reserator was totally silent but after spending 12 hours drying out parts from my first leak test I've got a brand new Reserator for sale now. I've come very close to silent operation with air and no danger of leaks. I'll leave it the way it is.
 
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