Project: Silent PC (Storage and Bit Perfect Output)

[TheGhostBelow]

I have the scythe ninja and i run it in completely passive mode. If your case/ motherboard don;t support it thing you might try one of the new artic cooling heatsinks

 

[LeonvB]

Quote:

the cpu comes without a cooler. not sure if the motherboard does

All mobile chipset based boards come with a cooler. I would recommend AGAINST using a huge and above all heavy cooling block. The mobile CPU's don't have a protective heatspreader, so you can't use heavy coolers without the risk of breaking the CPU (literally!). Some of those coolers are more than 10 times the weight the CPU package is designed for.
In any case, the N4L doesn't have a normal bracket, you'll have to use the stock cooler. Should you choose to use the Aopen or Gigabyte mobile boards, and a large cooler anyway: be very careful when placing it AND when moving the PC around. I'd also recommend against the Gigabyte in general, as it is of very low quality. I haven't tested the latest Aopen, but the 855GM and 915GM versions were high quality boards.

If you want to run passively, I'd recommend using either HDD coolers or 200Gb Fujitsu (2.5", 12.5mm high) drives. Those drives can take a little more heat, plus they use less power. The 200Gb version will be available shortly, but at a price.

Even with the "lesser" fan, stock cooler, etc. you can still get down to 20dB of sound. The company I work for builds Pentium M based HTPC's ever since the Pentium M became available. Believe me, you really don't need every bit of exotic stuff that's available on the market.

 

[Sparky191]

Dual Core Mac Mini? With external FW drives?

http://www.lacie.com/products/product.htm?pid=10476
http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/ministack/

 

[alex_cs]

PC

dont like macs.

 

[Sparky191]

http://www.hushtechnologies.net/

 

[philodox]

Personally, in my experience, 2 120mm fans don't make much more noise than one as long as they are of good quality. I just built a computer for a friend that has a 120mm intake and 120mm exhaust. Nice and quiet. If you do buy a case that has a 80mm fan in it [my case has a 80mm intake and 120mm exhaust] you may want to think about volt modding the 80mm fan... otherwise they can be quite noisy. Make sure that your PSU has a 120mm fan as well. I use an Enermax Liberty, and it has a 120mm intake and no fan on the back... combine that all with my Zalman heatsink [with a 120mm fan as well] and my computer makes basically no noise unless you put your ear right up to it.

 

[jbloudg20]

MY Delta 120's are louder than loud. They SCREAM. Then again they are Deltas.. nad I AM pushing just a tad under 500CFM.

 

[philodox]

Like I said, they still need to be quiet fans.

I think that 2 is a better way to go just because the increased airflow will allow you to run them at a fairly low RPM and in the end you have less noise.

 

[Computerpro3]

Watercooling ftw if you want silence and performance.

 

[jbloudg20]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Computerpro3 Watercooling ftw if you want silence and performance.

Bah my watercooling setup would be loud too.

 

[LeonvB]

Papst best 80mm is 12dB. You'll never notice it's running. Tagan TG330 uses 80mm fans. It stays below 20dB, as long as you keep the load low. It's pretty cheap too (good choice if you're on a tight budget). 80mm fans are not universally flawed.
My take: you want 80mm fans, you don't want to voltmod but you want good ones. With the current selected setup, your using around 80-90W tops, so a single 92mm case fan would suffice. Anything more is overkill.

My quick pick in fans:
80: Papst 8412 N/2GLE, Zalman ZM-F1
92: Papst 3412 N/2GL, Zalman ZM-F2
120: Papst 4412 F/2GL
The 120mm should be on a regulated fan connector: it puts out 28dB at full speed, but it's much higher capacity than f.i. the Nexus. If the board keeps the rpm down, it's much quieter than any of the other 120mm fans.
The Zalmans are my "budget" choices: at 3 USD, they're hard to beat.

Quote:

MY Delta 120's are louder than loud.

Delta fans are notoriously loud, but high capacity & reliable (although still 20000 hours less MTBF than Papst). You don't want those in a desktop, they're more server oriented fans (Intel uses them in their servers).

 

[philodox]

Quote:

Originally Posted by LeonvB Papst best 80mm is 12dB.

How much does it cost, and how quiet is their 120mm fan?

All I am saying is that voltmodding is a great little tweak if you already have an 80mm fan and want to quiet it down... which was the situation I was in. I think that most 80mm fans which come with the case will need this treatment, however, with the exception of those beefy TT 120mm's, most 120mm case fans will be nice and quiet from the start.

 

[uzziah]

closet + any pc = silent

that's my advice. forget spending money on silencing, get some long cables for usb hub, monitor, kbm etc. and put er in the closet

 

[c0mfortably_numb]

I have been an AMD fanboy, since getting screwed back around 2001 by Intel's 820 chipset and Rambus...Ugh brings back nightmares thinking of that machine.

With that said I think I may be ready to try Intel again, after reading the latest Maximum PC, dream machine 11 review. This year they built an Intel Core 2 duo based system, they stated that it ran so cool they removed the heatsink/fan and it ran within operating temps, I wouldn't recommend that but that shows you won't need a bunch of noisy fans in the case ...

So if I was going to build a quiet computer, (which I probably will in a years time) I would get the Antec P180B or the Sonatta II Case Intel Core Duo2 probally keep my Western Digital WD3200KS (16MB cache sataII) extremly quiet, fast and reliable, and add a Seagate 750GB for media storage, PC Power and Cooling Ultra Quiet Power Supply Stick with name brand ram (Corsair or Crucial) For a motherboard there is a new Nvida Chipset coming out soon for the core 2 duo.

Right now I have a DFI Lanparty NF4+. Athlon 64 3200+, 1GB Corsair XMS (matched) Geforce 6200 PciE, WD WD3200KS, Emu0404, Audigy (for the few games I play) A-Top XBlade Case

 

[CSMR]

There is a "computer as source" forum here. I don't recommend computer as source for critical listening unless you can put your computer in a separate room. (Or storage in a separate room and a fanless workstation with an enclosed laptop hard drive.)