[Soundbuff]

I've decided to replace my current PC with a new quiet one. I bought my current PC about three years ago from a local dealer. It has more than enough speed and power (Pentium 4, 1.4 Ghz) for what I use it for (mostly Internet browsing and PC audio...hardly any games). The main problem with my PC is it is too damn noisy. It has at least five fans going all the time and sounds like a small windtunnel after it's been on an hour. I cannot enjoy music on this computer without using sealed headphones. Also, it only has about 40 gigs of storage and that has turned out to be woefully inadequate since I started getting involved in PC audio and ripping CD's.

I visited the dealer and found out it is impractical to upgrade this computer. The motherboard and CPU cannot be fitted with a quiet fan to replace the noisy Pentium 4 CPU cooling fan because all the parts are discontinued and are not supported by the manufacturers anymore. I have also been told this computer might be too old to support a hard drive capacity greater than about 160 gigs. It looks like it will be far cheaper and better to start from scratch and buy a new PC using parts that are all purposely designed to be quiet. I'm hoping to place an order for a new one in about a week or two after doing a little more research.

I need to get a PC based on a traditional tower shape due to space limitations (no cubes or horizontal designs like the Hush models). It must be very quiet because it has to sit right next to me. I cannot hide it in a closet using long cables. Also, I do not have the knowledge, time or patience to build a custom PC by myself. So far, the only website I have found where you can buy a custom quiet PC using a standard tower shape is www.endpcnoise.com You can place custom orders for PC's based on a Pentium 4, AMD Athlon XP, or AMD Athlon 64 chip. They're all in the 2.6 to 3 GHz range of speed so they are very fast. I am told the noise level of the systems run about 26 decibels which should be practically inaudible under normal circumstances.

Here are the components for the system I am thinking about ordering:

Asus K8V SE Deluxe Motherboard
Athlon 64 2800+ CPU
Zalman CNPS 7000-ALCU for opteron CPU Cooler
512 MB PC-3200 Kingston RAM
250 GB Samsung Quiet Hard Drive w/Smart Drive Enclosure
Nexus 350W NX3500 Power Supply
Nexus Breeze Case
MSI FX 5200 128MB Video Card
2 Samsung 52x24x52 CDRW Drives

With a few others items, this system will cost around $1,500 and will use a total of three fans for cooling. The Nexus Breeze Case comes with noise-insulation and uses two large and quiet 120mm fans to circulate air slowly from the bottom of the case and out the back of the PSU. The fan on the Zalman CPU cooler is also very quiet. The MSI video card has no fan nor do any of the other parts have fans. I am told it will probably not be possible to hear the system or to tell it is on from noise alone unless you place it in an empty room with hardwood floors and put your ear close to it.

Here's a few questions for all of you:

1. Is this a good setup for a quiet PC used mainly for audio and Internet browsing? It's probably overkill in a lot of ways, BUT I don't want the computer to be too far behind the technology curve. I want it to last at least 3-4 years before it has to be junked. Please remember I have to go with a tower shape and do not have the time or ability to build a custom PC by myself.

2. For maximum quietness I believe it is best to use one hard drive only. The maximum capacity hard drive they sell is a quiet Samsung model that has 250 GB of storage. That is probably enough for me but a higher capacity may be better in the long run. Do you have any recommendations for a larger quiet hard drive? Where can you get it? The said they would install other drives if desired.

3. Do you know of other sites similar to www.endpcnoise.com that sell custom quiet PC's based on a tower shape?

4. Which runs the coolest: the Pentium 4, Athlon XP, or Athlon 64?

Thanks for your ideas

Soundbuff

 

[uzziah]

i'm surprised no one has answered you yet. you and i are basically in the same boat, save that i probably have a lower budget than you. check out silentpcreview.com. excellent site with solid reviews. basically, buying a faster/more expensive pc is generally a good idea if you can afford it, as you have realized it will take longer for it to be out of date. check out the responses people gave me in this forum to "pc shopping list" and "building a pc". hopefully folks will give you some definite reccomendations, but they may be tired of answering all my questions

don't be dismayed; the folks here are great; i'm sure you'll get some help

if you can build yourself i'd really suggest it as you will save money and get exactly what you want

the zalman cpu fan you suggested is supposedly very good
check out seasonic psu's (power supply unit)
depending on what kind of a video card you're looking for (will you be playing games?), you may be a candidate for heatpipe cooling as an alternative to a vid card fan

 

[Divinesin]

Well if you want to build your own pc (and it will be alot cheaper) i'de check out www.newegg.com or www.zipzoomfly.com newegg lists fans and there decible ratings. And believe it or not even with a 26db rating your probly going to hear a low hum, though with headphones on it probly wont be noticeable.

If you want to buy from an online store i have several links, might want to check out these. They dont sell 'quiet' pc's, but you can alwase order new fans for like..15 or 20 bucks. 25db quality fans.

Here are the links....

http://www.gamepc.com/

http://www.hypersonic-pc.com/

http://www.abspc.com/

http://www.velocitymicro.com


I'm not sure of the prices on the pc's but you should be able to get quality service AND a good pc from these sites. As for the processor i would personally go with a Pentium4 if your not going to be gameing. They multi-task MUCH better than Athlon64's and if you go with a 3.0ghz or even a 2.4 ghz (which would even be fine if all your gonna do is listen to music and surf the web). Basicly what matters the MOST is the graphics card with games, though of core there is alwase a Graphics Card bottleneck if you choose a highend graphics card and a 2.4ghz cpu. For a HD i would go with a maxtor or western digital. My western digital 250gig is SILENT, cant even tell its on. The kingston ram is good and i'm not sure about the mobo but i am sure any would do for you.

The one thing you might consider is getting a dvd-r, there pretty cheap now and have good speeds, along with quiet burning and allow a much higher capacity than cd-r's. (So you could get one cd-r and one dvd-r, which would be perfect). ALSO if you want the PC to last without upgrading, i'de get a much better graphics card than the FX 5200, atleast a Geforce FX f900XT or a Radeon 9800 PRO. Both very good cards and will place even new games well. (just incase you decide to pick up some newer games).

Hope this helps, if you have anymore questions just ask.

 

[Nospam]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Divinesin ...For a HD i would go with a maxtor or western digital. My western digital 250gig is SILENT, cant even tell its on...

Umm... are you sure it's a Western Digital? I only ask, because every single WD drive I've owned (got 2) or seen has been LOUD, as in it sounds like a jet engine. Every other person I've spoken to about this has agreed that WD drives are about the noisiest ones out there.

Of the drives I've owned, I'd rank them as follows (noisiest to quietest):

Western Digital (it's not even close)
Maxtor/Quantum
Hitachi(IBM)
Seagate

 

[CSMR]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Soundbuff Asus K8V SE Deluxe Motherboard Athlon 64 2800+ CPU Zalman CNPS 7000-ALCU for opteron CPU Cooler 512 MB PC-3200 Kingston RAM 250 GB Samsung Quiet Hard Drive w/Smart Drive Enclosure 2 Samsung 52x24x52 CDRW Drives Nexus 350W NX3500 Power Supply Nexus Breeze Case MSI FX 5200 128MB Video Card

Good choices. The K8V turns off the CPU fan when not needed. You should only need one case fan. It should be a low-power system and you may be able to use a fanless external PSU brick; otherwise look at http://www.silentpcreview.com/article28-page3.html. Why two CD drives?

 

[eastside504]

if you decide to build your own PC (cheaper and better quality parts) i recommend buying the parts from Neweggs because they have great service ( returned a few items and they RMA it without a problem). You can build a better computer then the parts you listed for $1500. Get a steel case and dampen material, this will reduced vibration and reduce the noise. Buy quality case fans (panaflo, papst, nexus), and a fan control so you can control its speed.

 

[uzziah]

so really what you need to ask yourself is "do you feel lucky....

no, i mean "do you really want to build it yourself," not just that "you can" build it yourself. as everyone is stating, this is a cheaper way to go, and you'll be able to get better parts for your money.

once you've answered that question, we can start nailing down a shopping list for you

 

[Soundbuff]

The computer will probably NOT be used for games. That's why I chose to skimp on the video card. I love games but free time is so scarce with career and everything else, and modern games are so time consuming compared to the ones I remember as a kid (Pac Man, Defender...hehe

) so audio and Internet browsing will be the main uses.

The next step up in video cards that they offer are the ATI/Radeon 9250 ($15 more) and the MSI 5700 128 MB with ZM80C Heatpipe ($160 more). Any thoughts on these?

I think the suggestion to replace one of the CDRW drives with a CD/DVD RW drive is a good idea and I will do that.

I'm not entirely opposed to the idea of building a system myself...BUT keep in mind the most I have ever done in the past is to install a modem and my M*Audio Revolution soundcard in a PCI slot. And there are SO many wires going so many different places and all kinds of other strange things in there...certainly it would be best to let someone who knows what they are doing put it together.

Do you all generally favor the Pentium 4 over the AMD 64 or XP chips?

 

[SDA]

Which one runs coolest... that's a tricky question. I want to say Athlon 64, but IIRC the older Northwood-core P4s like the 1.6A and 1.8A were nice and chilly. If you want modern, fast parts, then it's the Athlon 64. If you don't, things get a little messy..

If you don't game or do 3D work, you don't need anything quicker than an FX 5200 or Radeon 9000/9200. The cheap option there would probably suit your needs just fine.

 

[Edwood]

Quote:

Asus K8V SE Deluxe Motherboard Athlon 64 2800+ CPU Zalman CNPS 7000-ALCU for opteron CPU Cooler 512 MB PC-3200 Kingston RAM 250 GB Samsung Quiet Hard Drive w/Smart Drive Enclosure Nexus 350W NX3500 Power Supply Nexus Breeze Case MSI FX 5200 128MB Video Card 2 Samsung 52x24x52 CDRW Drives

Try looking into the newer Athlon 64 90nm 939 (Winchester) chips. They run significantly cooler than the older 130nm chips.
Or look into Mobile Athlon 64 chips.

Also, look into Thermalright XP-90 or XP-120 cpu coolers. They are huge, but they allow you to pick your own fan, and tweak it to your preferences.

Quote:

4. Which runs the coolest: the Pentium 4, Athlon XP, or Athlon 64?

If you rate the fastest CPU's in their product lines, Athlon 64 is the clear winner.

When you factor in older chips, and mobile ones, the verdict is not as clearly defined. Especially when undervolting and underclocking come into play.

-Ed

 

[Konranjyoutai]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nospam Umm... are you sure it's a Western Digital? I only ask, because every single WD drive I've owned (got 2) or seen has been LOUD, as in it sounds like a jet engine. Every other person I've spoken to about this has agreed that WD drives are about the noisiest ones out there. Of the drives I've owned, I'd rank them as follows (noisiest to quietest): Western Digital (it's not even close) Maxtor/Quantum Hitachi(IBM) Seagate

About westerndigital and maxtor drives. i have two maxtor 80gig HD's and one western digital HD's, 5 case fans, (7 including my PSU) and have a low hum to my computer. Once i cut out all my fans to check to see what was the loudest thing, and it was the standard HSF over my processor, which isnt loud at all. As for Hitachi and Seagates i have no idea, i know about a year and a half ago a few IBM models had problems and many of them were returned, not sure if they fixed this or not. As for seagate, they get very rave reviews but can be expensive as well.

 

[Apothecary]

How much are you willing to spend to make it silent? http://www.frozencpu.com/cgi-bin/fro...html?mv_pc=414

Water cooled systems can be VERY silent for a little less.

If you want a more conventional system.
For hard-drives I believe the quitest on the market is the Seagate Barracuda IV.
SilentX makes a fanless PSU.
For a fanless videocard look at the Sapphire Ultimate line. I wouldn't buy any geforce FX cards, as radeons from that generation are far superior in terms of performance and price.
The zalman HSF is great.
For case fans look to upgrade those to papst of panaflo. Those 2 are the industry leaders in quiet fans. 120mm is the way to go.

 

[MikoLayer]

i dont really play 3d games either... so far i have been using radeon 8500, but matrox p650 really ticked my fancy cuz i watch a lot of video and 2d IQ really matters to me

newegg had refurbs for $97 shipped, my card came in 2 days after ordering (cant stress enough how much newegg rocks

) to my dismay, the card didnt come with DVI-VGA connector, which means 2-3 more days of wait till the adapters arrive from buy.com. i will let you know how i like my new toy once i have it up and running. after i yanked out the radeon, i was reluctant to put it back in. the video card i am using now is nforce IGP, and this is a ghosting galore, i kid you not >.< its amazing how crappy 2d can look.. (went from 1280x960x32bit@85hz to 1152x864x16bit@85hz)

 

[Nospam]

FYI,

Outpost.com has the 200GB Seagate for $70 after rebate. Not sure if these have a 5-year warranty (bought one a couple of months ago, and it only had 1-year labled on the box).

 

[robzy]

Do not go watercooling as previously suggested, it just isnt worth the hassle and money. It will be quiter but remember that you still ahve fans on the radiator and that you add a pump into the mix.

Rob