Building quiet PC from scratch, what to get?

[Hookem]

Lian-Li's fit, finish and build quality is just outstanding.

And the choices are almost endless.

I have used the Plus II in probably 30 builds and every client just loves that case.

And I agree that have a simple elegance that is very attractive.

They are made of aluminum...So using them for a foot stool is a bad idea.

Performance PC's usually has the most up to date selection of their cases.

Mid-Towers.

Lian-Li Midtower Cases : Performance-PCs.com, ... sleeve it and they will come

Full tower.

Lian-Li Full Tower/Server Cases : Performance-PCs.com, ... sleeve it and they will come

As far as fans you really cannot beat Yate Loon's...Dirt cheap and very good fans indeed...Jab-Tech is a good place to purchase them...They come in H (high) M (medium) and L's (low)...The L's 7 volted are super quiet.

120mm Fans

Since most motherboards are coming with passive coolers on the north and southbridge's I really like the Thermalright SI128 SE...Paired with a 120m/m L series Yate and you have a setup that will blow down on the motherboard cooling the north and south bridges...The L series Yate's have very good static pressure considering how quiet they are...Probably have to use the motherboards fan controller to get it uber quiet.

Ultimate CPU Cooling Solutions! USA

I personally stay away from cases with doors.

You could certainly do worse than Lian-Li, Yate Loon and Thermalright.

IMHO of course.

[vvs_75]

Originally Posted by Hookem

If you can say how much you want to spend it would be much easier to recommend a complete parts list, soup to nuts, that will give you the best bang for the buck within your budget.

I like the clean and elegant look of Lian Li cases, especially LIAN LI PC-7B with two 120mm fans. I will look at other Lian Li cases from the links you provided as well.


I see that you like Thermalright SI128 cooler. I checked Newegg rating and best rating goes to ZALMAN 9500A 92mm 2 Ball CPU Cooler which is cost the same as SI128 cooler. My guess that the SI128 quieter and have more fans options?

Also since Corsair 520W PSU quieter then 400W, could be 620W even quieter?

At this point I just bought AES16 soundcard and trying to decide which case to get. So I am looking to spend about $700 for the rest remain components. If spending few extra $$ give me less noisy system that’s fine since I won’t do upgrades for a long time.

Thanks

[Hookem]

Do you want quiet ???

Or virtual silence ???

The systems I build are high end gaming, video editing, rendering and CAD machines.

So quiet they are...Silent ???

I dont think so.

Hard to make a overclocked, dual video card machine that is run for days at a time silent.

Just listening to music is not real taxing on a system...So "near" silence is achievable.

You start rendering in 3d Studio Max...Or gaming for 48hrs without stopping and heat really comes into play.

You start taking performance hits when the temps get up to a certain temperature.

I do have clients that are CEO, CFO type guys who want everything...And quiet is one of those things.

Never had any complaints from guys who want quiet...I just tell them straight up if they want some hot-rod computer it will not be silent up front.

Back in the day we built them by turning the case into swiss cheese and throwing a fan in every hole...And they were loud...I have found there is a difference...There is sound from a computer that can be annoying.

But if the only thing you are hearing is the air moving through the case and some very slight fan sound it is usually not annoying.

Certainly at low enough dba that if you are playing music at even low volumes you cannot really hear it.

It is certainly easy to get a very quiet computer that will perform at extremley high levels...I mean dual or quad's running all cores at 100% with very good temps overclocked with overclocked video cards to boot.

Zalman has cut their teeth in the computer world making quiet components.

The Theramlright stuff falls right in line with Lian-Li...The build quality and mounting hardware is just jaw dropping compared to just about any other manufacturer.

Fans are a very objective thing...That is why Thermalright does not sell them I guess...You pick the fan for you paticular application.

I have used many Zalman sinks per customer request...But if I make up the parts list...Thermalright.

I can tell you one thing...Newegg hardware evaluations should not be taken with even one grain of salt.

Stick with some of the many very good forums that excellent advice can be had from guys that have forgotten more about computer than I will ever know...And I have 7 years building box's under my belt.

[Kilane]

There's a lot of video cards and such with fan-less heatsinks that might be suitable as long as you're not planning on taxing anything.

I love Lian Li, but if you're looking for cheap you can probably get a solid body case for cheaper, depends on what your budget is.

As far as component recommendation, Rosewill's PSU's (the bargain ones on Newegg) actually hold up to load pretty well, don't blow a ton of money on "expensive RAM" unless you're deciding to run with DDR 3... and make sure you don't get sucked into thinking that the more cores the better. Nothing out there can use that kind of architecture effectively in apps... yet.

[Hookem]

As far as the Zalman you mention from newegg.

It has a 92m/m fan...I can assure you that you want a sink with a 120m/m fan.

80m/m and 92m/m fans have a annoyance factor that 120's have much less of.

Way more cfm versus dba with 120's.

I can assure you this...Newegg's customer evaluations should not be taken with even one grain of salt.

I usually will find the loudest component and 5 or 7 volt the fans to get a good balance between them and the loudest component.

I hate fan controllers...Just way too unreliable...And a nightmare when it comes to wire managemnet...I'm not down with rat's nest in my build's...They have to look "professional" when you crack the case open.

The Corsair power supply's are not the quietest around...But very quiet and the build quality is very good...Most of them are made by Seasonic to their specs...Funny thing PC Power & Cooling are no doubt top of the heap in the supply world...But their "Silencer" series with one 80m/m fan will run you outta the house when you start putting the tax on your box.

I have used the 520, 550, 620, 650 and the 750 Corsairs and they are very quiet compared to most supply's I have used and that is most of them on the market...Get around to trying the latest and greatest at one time or another and I like em !!!

[Hookem]

I will comment on multiple cores...There certainly are not many app's that use multi-core technology.

But if you are like me and multi-task...The more the merrier...I am stuck on the Q6600's right now for the multi-taskers...And the E8400's for the video guys...Address SSE4 and overclock like a mad man.

Most of my clients want the most expensive processor out there...Guys are crazy...But hey...I aint sorry for their wallets.

[floydenheimer]

Not all Yate Loon fans are created equal. The Yates at Petra's Tech Shop are the only sure thing I know of. They have closed corners and a more curved blade while Yates from other places might not. This will make them quieter and move more air. It's worth the extra $1-2 if you're about silent efficiency.

Petra's 120x25mm fans here.

[vvs_75]

Thanks for the comments. Sorry if its sound like I want something crazy, I am sure that whatever I buid in the end with your help here, make and keep me very happy for long time.

Ok so far I ended up with these two cases: Antec Nine Hundred Black Steel or COOLER MASTER RC-690. Please feel free to help me make my mind . If there is something better from your point of view in this price range please feel free.

I also like Lian LI LIAN LI PC-7B and Lian Li PC-K7B but some people mentioned that aluminum very thin in those cases.

[Hookem]

Petra's is the only dealer that I know of that buys from Yate Loon

I have gotten some bad ones from J-T...But that has been a year plus.

The closed ends are a pain if you are using a Thermalright...Bust out the hack saw and pliers...And I have cracked the bodies on more than one...The black ones are not that bad...The clear UV ones are very brittle.

So floyd is giving you the dope on where to buy "genuine" Yate Loon's.

[FasterThanEver]

> Ok so far I ended up with these two cases: Antec Nine Hundred Black Steel
> or COOLER MASTER RC-690.

These cases have several fans. One fan running off 5 volts will be quieter than 3 fans running off 5 volts. You might need 3 fans if you build a PC for gaming with a quad core CPU, overclock it, slap on a huge CPU cooler and add a high performance PCIe graphics card. All in a case with fans and vents front, side and rear.

if your PC is just for audio playback and it will be in your listening room, you don't need all that stuff and you may be unhappy with the noise level you get.

> Please feel free to help me make my mind

You need to make some decisions about what kind of PC you want.

Some of the people provided advice about building an audio PC with good performance for that purpose. That involved a relatively low clock speed dual core CPU on a motherboard with integrated graphics.

Other people suggested the latest, fastest, biggest of everything. You need to realize that the real difference is in what you want from your PC.

Bill Hunt