Silent Computer

skchow · « **on:** 16 Feb 2003, 06:25 am »

Well, this might or might not pertain to an audio computer forum, but since silence is imperative for listening, the idea of a silent computer maybe of some interest to some members. Here are some pictures of my "almost" silent computer, though most of the pictures has to do with decoupling a case fan from the case itself..

http://www.sunnychow.com/gallery/silentpc

The secrets of building a silent pc you ask? Well its the parts of course! I got most of what I learned from this site...

http://www.silentpcreview.com (no relation of course)

The parts:

Asus A7N8X Deluxe
AMD Athlon XP 2100+ w/ Artic Cooling HSF & Artic Silver
Seagate Barracuda IV 80 GB (one of the most silent hard drives around..)
Seasonic SS-300 (PSU, also very silent)
NMB 80 MM Case fans
ATI Radeon 9000 (Fanless video card).

Essentially I picked parts which made as little noise as possible while still being relatively decent priced. All in all it was a fun venture, and once you've experienced a silent computer, you can never go back to a noisy one.

Sunny.

nathanm · « **Reply #1 on:** 16 Feb 2003, 07:38 am »

Mmmm...Silencing my computer is a project I've long put off! What are those things holding the fans in place?

skchow · « **Reply #2 on:** 16 Feb 2003, 08:18 am »

earplugs sliced in half.

Decouples the fans from the case nicely.

Sunny.

mgalusha · « **Reply #3 on:** 16 Feb 2003, 02:09 pm »

Thanks for the links Sunny. For me this is very timely. I purchased a new Compaq for my wife last week and it's very nearly silent. This made me instantly hate my PC, which is using the same processor but it quite loud.

Time to purchase some new components it seems.

mike

bubba966 · « **Reply #4 on:** 16 Feb 2003, 08:41 pm »

Mike, you can get most anything you want to quiet your 'puter down here.
http://www.directron.com/silence.html

I actually had a bunch of stuff I'd picked out to quiet mine down and was going to pick it up with my tax refund. But I stopped by my local high-end shop to see if they had any near gear. Ended up walking out with a DV-38A.

Guess I'm gonna live with the noise for a little while longer...

jkarhan1 · « **Reply #5 on:** 17 Feb 2003, 05:26 pm »

Silent but expensive
http://www.signum-data.de/english/index_eng.htm
looks great also!

DTH · « **Reply #6 on:** 17 Feb 2003, 05:53 pm »

I have had a lot of good luck with these Zalman heatsink/fan products:
http://www.directron.com/cnps60001.html
(they make them for various processors). Very quiet.

I Also use sound deadening material in all my cases. Dynamat works well, but is sort of expensive. This company:
http://www.b-quiet.com/ has some knock off materials that do the same thing.

mgalusha · « **Reply #7 on:** 18 Feb 2003, 12:51 am »

I took the plunge and ordered some stuff yesterday from Silicon Acoustics. Three of the panaflow fans, a giant copper heatsink which doesn't need as much airflow and one of the seagate Barracuda V drives (24 db).

Since my PC currently has three high speed fans and 2 x 10K rpm scsi disks this should quiet it down nicely.

skchow · « **Reply #8 on:** 18 Feb 2003, 02:43 am »

Wow, it looks like you got all the good stuff. Let us know how it goes.

Sunny.

Phat Phreddy · « **Reply #9 on:** 13 Mar 2003, 04:46 am »

IceBerg II Watercooling solition and fortron power supply... ($130)

Passive cooler / heatsink on your GFX card... (or waterblock not found one yet)...

Use high quality fans like pabst or panaflow....

Line the case inside with carpet underlay if you can still hear anything...

Ahhh...

!!!

EchiDna · « **Reply #10 on:** 13 Mar 2003, 06:04 am »

Quote from: Phat Phreddy

Passive cooler / heatsink on your GFX card... (or waterblock not found one yet)...

here is a couple for you to look at:
http://www.dangerden.com/

http://www.swiftnets.com/products/mcw40.asp

Anonymous · « **Reply #11 on:** 13 Apr 2003, 10:41 pm »

1st post

It's a bit more work to have a fast power hungry computer that's silent so I actually downgraded to a slower computer so I could run the case fanless, no vibration or case noise dampening, and did a fan voltage reduction on the power supply.

This way I can leave this computer on 24/7 and be quiet enough for music and movies.

theborg · « **Reply #12 on:** 14 Apr 2003, 11:08 am »

Whoops, my bad, I had the permissions set wrong on this forum

"Guest," if you haven't already, you'll need to register to post here now. Thanks, and sorry about that

Phat Phreddy · « **Reply #13 on:** 15 Apr 2003, 04:19 am »

Problem is SW decoding the new 'HD' DVD's being released this summer needs about P4 2.2 for 720p and about 2.8 - 3 Ghz for 1080p

With a water cooling solution not only is it quiet I can try OC'ing it a bit...

TheeeChosenOne · « **Reply #14 on:** 18 Apr 2003, 06:10 pm »

skchow,
Wow. Thanks for starting this topic thread!

MY PC is waaay toooo loud. I built my PC with "quiet" parts a year ago, but s still too loud for listenting to good music.

I think it's time for me to try some of these products.

TheeeChosenOne · « **Reply #15 on:** 2 Jun 2003, 10:59 pm »

If you guys want the most highly rated "silent" PSU on the market, it's:

Online Review:
http://www.silentpcreview.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=Sections&file=index&req=viewarticle&artid=81&page=1

User Reviews:
http://forums.silentpcreview.com/viewtopic.php?t=3365&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

Best Price is Here:
http://exoticpc.com/cgi-bin/merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=EPC&Category_Code=PSU
You will get the genuine article if you buy from these guys, otherwise they will give you the PSU for free! (as per the thread above)

FYI, I've read many experts say that a 300 watt PSU is all you really need--regardless of what you put into your box. The 400 watt unit though is more efficient, so it will end up saving you some money over the long term on electricity.

DTH · « **Reply #16 on:** 2 Jun 2003, 11:26 pm »

I have 2 Silenx PSUs in my various computers. They are as they claim, very quiet.

Silent Computer

Anonymous