[its_cheez]

Dear forum,
following my first post on soundcards I would like to ask your advice on other computer components. Please could you share any good websites on the subject. My current plan is: asus k8v-deluxe mother, athlon 64bit 3200+, 1 gB ddr400 pc3200 ram, emu 1212m, thermaltake tsunami case

what do you all think?

plus advice on:

1. cooling solutions (quiet case and cpu fans)

2. quiet disk drives (large, 160gB minimum)

3. good quality cd drives for ripping and playback

4. stable, quiet, well ventilated, powerful PSUs

Thank you once again,
John

 

[Jasper994]

If you are looking at full sized, you might have a look at the Antec Sonata for a case it comes with a PSU as well.

 

[skitlets]

Some of the best quiet fans are made by Panaflo. For 80mm fans, the Panaflo L1a is definitely the way to go. However, I suggest you for a case that uses either 92mm or 120mm fans. Larger fans can push more air at lower rpms (and noise levels) The same goes for your cpu cooler. Thermalright makes some of the best air cooling heatsinks, and the newer models usually use 90mm fans. For budget power supplies, Fortron (or sparkle, same psu) has stable power supplies using 120mm fans. As for hard drives, Seagate makes some of the quietest around, and comes with a 5 year warranty, which is far longer than other desktop hard drive manufacturers.

 

[bigears]

its_cheez, hi

you can find excellent information here:

http://www.silentpcreview.com/section10.html

About the hard disks: Samsung or Seagate. (in some countries Seagate has 2 years warranty and Samsung 3 years)

I would take special care with the choose of the Cpu heathsink.

 

[bLue_oNioN]

Quote:

Originally Posted by its_cheez Dear forum, following my first post on soundcards I would like to ask your advice on other computer components. Please could you share any good websites on the subject. My current plan is: asus k8v-deluxe mother, athlon 64bit 3200+, 1 gB ddr400 pc3200 ram, emu 1212m, thermaltake tsunami case what do you all think? plus advice on: 1. cooling solutions (quiet case and cpu fans) 2. quiet disk drives (large, 160gB minimum) 3. good quality cd drives for ripping and playback 4. stable, quiet, well ventilated, powerful PSUs Thank you once again, John

1. Look for a steel case, or if you prefer aluminum, one with some thickness.

2. Seagate Barracuda IVs and Samsung Spinpoints will give you the highest performance to noise/heat ratio.

3. Lite-On and Plextor are the two brands I would look for.

4. I would look for a SilenX.

 

[thomaspf]

I know of two companies which offer completely fanless systems. Not just components but complete systems with warranty etc.

http://www.deltatronic.de/pc/index.html
http://www.hushtechnologies.com

I have this system at home and it performs really well so far. The Samsung disks are the quietest option.

Cheers

Thomas

 

[Jasper994]

Quote:

Originally Posted by thomaspf I know of two companies which offer completely fanless systems. Not just components but complete systems with warranty etc. http://www.deltatronic.de/pc/index.html http://www.hushtechnologies.com I have this system at home and it performs really well so far. The Samsung disks are the quietest option. Cheers Thomas

damn... that thing is... sexy...

 

[llmobll]

I second the Sonata case. I have one and man what a diff. I've been building quiet cases for a while, the Sonata offers perfect cooling solution with the 120mm fan aswell as a great power supply. I'm also running a number of Zalman quiet products. CPU heatsink and video card zalman heatsinks. This thing is soo silent I need to get within 6inchs to make sure its on sometimes.

 

[JazzJackRabbit]

Quote:

Originally Posted by thomaspf I know of two companies which offer completely fanless systems. Not just components but complete systems with warranty etc. http://www.deltatronic.de/pc/index.html http://www.hushtechnologies.com I have this system at home and it performs really well so far. The Samsung disks are the quietest option. [image was here] Cheers Thomas

Nice option, but too expensive: for marginal decrease in noise that you won't even notice because hard drive is still the noisiest component in the PC hush will cost twice as much.

its_cheez
1.Any case with good ventilation. I would not recommend Sonata as many ppl do here, Sonata is probably the most overrated case right now. The front intake is too restrictive so you will either have to mod the case, or turn up the fan RPMs or risk overheating the drives, neither is a viable option IMO. If you do not believe me, go to silentpcreview forums, Sonata shortcomings has been discussed there lots of times. For CPU cooler I recommend Zalman7000, while not as fancy as the newer CPU coolers it still performs at the very top.
2. In the order of preference Seagate, Samsung, Hitachi (with new firmware). Also for best result you should suspend your harddrives or at least mount them on rubber gourmets.
3.Plextor Premium for CDs, for DVDs hard to say, Plextor kind of dropped the ball here, the design is excellent, however persistent hardware plagues both 708 and 712.
4.Enermax Noisetaker (you might have to swap the fans as the default fans are sort of clickety), also there is a chance that you might get a "bad" noisetaker with coil whine. If it wasn't for the coil whine I'd say the noisetaker is one of the very best (also because of this coil whine you might opt for v2 Noisetaker). The other option is seasonic.

 

[VitaminJosh]

Quote:

Originally Posted by JazzJackRabbit Nice option, but too expensive: for marginal decrease in noise that you won't even notice because hard drive is still the noisiest component in the PC hush will cost twice as much. its_cheez 1.Any case with good ventilation. I would not recommend Sonata as many ppl do here, Sonata is probably the most overrated case right now. The front intake is too restrictive so you will either have to mod the case, or turn up the fan RPMs or risk overheating the drives, neither is a viable option IMO. If you do not believe me, go to silentpcreview forums, Sonata shortcomings has been discussed there lots of times. For CPU cooler I recommend Zalman7000, while not as fancy as the newer CPU coolers it still performs at the very top. 2. In the order of preference Seagate, Samsung, Hitachi (with new firmware). Also for best result you should suspend your harddrives or at least mount them on rubber gourmets. 3.Plextor Premium for CDs, for DVDs hard to say, Plextor kind of dropped the ball here, the design is excellent, however persistent hardware plagues both 708 and 712. 4.Enermax Noisetaker (you might have to swap the fans as the default fans are sort of clickety), also there is a chance that you might get a "bad" noisetaker with coil whine. If it wasn't for the coil whine I'd say the noisetaker is one of the very best (also because of this coil whine you might opt for v2 Noisetaker). The other option is seasonic.

I can't agree with you more about the Sonata. I also hate the way the hard drives are mounted side-ways with the case's width. It makes it near impossible to fit an IDE->SATA adapter if you ever chose to. Zalman (Fortran) power supplies are a really good option as well, so is the OCZ PowerStream if you replace the fan.

There's always the Reserator 1 for great silent video/CPU cooling.

 

[thomaspf]

The hard drive is certainly the noisest piece but it is really not that bad at all.

http://www.silentpcreview.com/article152-page1.html

this article talks about the noise from the Samsung drives and describes the seek operation as audible if you move your ear within a few inches of the drive.

Cheers

Thomas

 

[llmobll]

Marginal Decrease in noise?

Sorry but i'm going to have to dissagree on this. Try and find a case that can accomidate a 120mm fan in the back, yet is not very tall. I also lined the sides of my case with dampning matterial. The reason I say this is i have always built comps. with the idea that you can have a silent box without trading off speed. HD included.

Yes the HD is the noisest component. I sold my on ebay and got some quiet Maxtor drives. Pretty much any modern drive is silent. You could even spend extra on a Silent drive, however they tend to be slower. I have 2 45gb maxtors that I never hear.

The thing I love about the Sonata is its size aswell as its ease of use. Its very easy to work with, thumbscrews and the lot. I know you can buy all that "useless" stuff seperate, but I've learned that alot of people find it difficult to put together a decent case when they don't have it spoon fed to them. It' is very pricey, but to me the past year of utter SILENCE has convinced me that this is the best case for the buck. Granted new cases are probably out, but geez this case is very very nice.

You could even mod it more, adding a couple of stealth fans, but my comp is overclocked from 1.3 - 2.0 ghz and i haven't modded it at all.

 

[EasyRaider]

llmobll, have you checked your HDD temps? If they run hot, their lifespan will probably be shortened quite a bit. I would recommend a front fan with that sideways drive cage. Another trick is to tape up all the little openings in the inner front (not the case cover), except for the main grill. This should direct more of the airflow over the drives.

I'm not saying that the Sonata is a bad case overall. But the general consensus is that there are clearly better options on the market.

Anyway, drive seeks are typically the noise you notice from a silent PC. If you never hear your Maxtors, then you have one or more of the following:
- some incredibly quiet specimens
- elastically suspended drives
- high ambient noise
- a physical barrier blocking the noise (or being very far away)
- reduced hearing
- your drives hardly seek at all (you don't use them?)

 

[EasyRaider]

I suggest a slower, cooler CPU. You'll get somewhat longer encode times (for FLACs or whatever), but you'll save money and have an easier time keeping it quiet. Fine-tuning a high-performance, air-cooled comp for minimum noise is not trivial. Unless you absolutely need the performance, or have PC silencing as a hobby, I suggest you take one of the easier ways out: buying a pre-built silent PC or buying components which require little cooling (hence practically ensuring a quiet result). Alternatively, you could try to duplicate someone else's successful setup.

But definitely check out silentpcreview.com if you haven't already.

 

[Solude]

Its not quite the rocket science you guys are making it out to be. You need a solid case with NO fans, ONE harddisk and ONE optical drive, a quiet power supply and use the retail fans from Intel or AMD. No overheating, no noise.

I tend to find the fancy case fans, heatsink fans and such to be far worse than retail stock ones and offer no advantage other than lower temps. Electronics can run at 60+ celcius 24/7 with no detremental effects. And if you don't believe me go touch some nice class A stereo or mono block amps sometime. Sorry about the resulting burn though