[minya]

Quote:

Originally posted by Orpheus costed

cost

- Chris

 

[vwap]

Quote:

Originally posted by minya cost - Chris

Now now.. let's not get all spellimatically and grammatically and superiomatically and.. blah. forget it.

 

[wildmonkeysects]

Have the Shuttle 51 mini case/mobo/supply with a quasi heatpipe, which was relatively quiet, minimal whine, just a little vibration...not as whisper quiet as claimed, but PFG...all was well till I added a Matrox Parhelia triple head video card which has the usual irritating whiiiiine fan.

Borrowed a common studio trick, added 15 foot ps2 and db15 extensions for the keyboard, mouse, and monitors, and stuffed the 51 box in a cabinet. Just enough airflow to breathe, enough padding to keep quiet. Much better.

 

[Ebonyks]

The pump noise acually can be an issue. Ehiem's run very quietly, however, they have a tendency to vibrate. I had to pick up some dynamat, and wedged it under my case (my pump hangs out the side of my case, ghettotastic

)

It's really pretty much silent, that damn PSU fan is the only noisy one left

 

[Orpheus]

try the Auralex... that dynamat stops the case from vibrating, but i think you'll get even better results when combined with the Auralex, since the foam's job is to actually absorb the acoustical energy, and nut just mechanical vibration. the only problem is that the thicker auaralex's actually absorb better, but are of course, thicker. ...the 3" one i bought just barely fits in the case, and i had to push down on the case while screwing it back together, like a overfilled suitcase.

but anyway... it works pretty well. i've glued the auralex to the top and sides. on the bottom where the motherboard rests, i've inserted smaller pieces where i could, but i avoided any location directly over the motherboard to facilitate better breathing.

now that my computer's so quiet, i'm starting to get really annoyed by the fan in my sampler and in the mixer's power supply. i would open them and do the same acoustic treatment, but i don't want to lower their resell value...... stupid. that sampler (Akai S6000) is just like a normal computer, with card slots, drive bays, and CPU fans. so annoying...

 

[Ebonyks]

I really don't need it. Without the vibrating, the noise from the pump is neglegable. Besides, i've got to replace my videocard first, my funds are going to be tied up for some time

 

[Maniac]

Well, here goes my own quiet computer project...

It started more than a year ago, and was redone again after I moved from Vancouver, BC, Canada to Taiwan...

Current setup is as follows:

AMD Athlon XP 2500 Barton running at 171MHz*12.5 (well below max overclock)
Asus A7N8X Delux
ADATA DDR 400 DDR SDRAM
ATI Radeon 9700Pro
Seagate SATA 120GB HDD
NEC USB 2.0 card (used to provide clean USB output to USB DAC, beleve it or not, most VIA and nForce based USB controller are quite bad)
350W Dual fan PS


The CPU is cooled with an Alpha 8045 topped with a sleeve bearing fan (lowest noise) running at 5V instead of 12V.

Radeon 9700Pro is cooled with an Zalman heatpipe cooler (the bigger one, forgot the model number), pluse one 92mmx10mm fan that also runs at 5V instead of 12V

Seagate 120GB HDD is on top of 3 layers of bubble sheet, and cooled by an intel P4 CPU fan running at 5V as well.

Another 92mmx25mm fan is in front of the system to bring cooler air into the area. Again, running at 5V

The two fan power supply have the original exhaust fan removed, and the thinner intake fan sits in exhaust's old spot. The now empty intake fan hole is sealed with some electrical tape. This is done to force the air to go the long way through the entire PS, instead of the short cuts. This power have switchable fan speed, now set to LOW.


Total cost (in USD):

Fans:
Intel fan = free, we got a pile of old one at work.
other fans = less than $10 USD total.

Heatsinks:
Alpha 8045 = $30 USD
Zalman heatpipe = $30 USD

Power supply:
I didn't replace any power supply, as I was building a new one. this one costs only about $10 USD more than the cheaper one... so I guess I should count the price difference...
$10 USD

The total extra spending is about $80 USD.


Oh, did I mention that this computer have NO CASE whatsoever? So minus $80 for a proper case... so FREE...


(I suppose I cheated a bit... just a bit.

)


The result?

DVD/HDD idling: Absolutely cannot detect if the computer is on or not except at midnight or later, when "other" human's activity had be reduced to mostly sleeping. At that time, only a very quiet whirring (not annoying at all) can be heard.

DVD spin up to speed can be very loud, but that can be fixed by dropping the top speed using Nero's utility..

Seagate's Barracuda 7200.7 SATA series is EXTREMELY quiet, even quieter than the famous Barracuda IV. It is a bit louder when seeking, but to me, it is rather reassuring sound, telling me that the HDD is working without me looking at. Still very quiet.



My own conculsion: Quiet enough to let me hear myself think. Most friend complain that they cannot tell if the computer is on or not except by looking at the spinning fans.

 

[Maniac]

And oh, I'm not selling my computer, incase anyone is getting any weird ideas...

 

[Maniac]

Quote:

Originally posted by lan Modern CPUs produce too much heat from so it's tough to get those running quiet. I decided I couldn't deal with the fan madness anymore so I've quieted my computer a while back. The compromise was that I basically downgraded from my overclocked P4 running SCSI drives and optical drives all the time to my older setup. it's now

Well, there's two way of dealing with high heat from the modern CPUs...

Brute force way, and the cheaper elegent way...

Brute force way... Well, just install water cooling, and have a POWERFUL and quiet pump, and a big rad. Both installed a bit of distance from your normal area of activity. This WILL cost money...

Elegant way (IMHO) Get a VERY BIG heatsink for each of your CPU. Alpha's micro forged monster heatsink is one ideal choice. Taisol's weird looking, tri-heatpipe heatsink also seems to be worth a shot.

Shroud your computer's power supply (or the exhausting case fan) so that it pulls air from the monster Alpha heatsink. This should lower both the case temperature and CPU temperature. As the air heated by CPU will not stay inside your case, but exhausted out right away.


Should you feel the need to use even lower speed fan or no fan at all... underclock AMD Athlon's multiplier is a good choice too... Barton series seems to be a good choice with bigger 512KB cache.

Quote:

Originally posted by lan - dual PIII coppermine (slot1) with no fan. i use a much larger fan @ 7V to blow over the general area. don't plan on doing this with a P4 or athlon. you need a PIII coppermine or tualatin with large enough heatsink. - seagate barracuda 4 (the quietest harddrive) - for the power supply, I changed the fan to run @ 5V. - i've firewired my other harddrives and dvd recorder so i can turn them on/off when i need to. This computer is insane quiet. My heater is most annoying noise in the room now. Do I freeze or listen to music? Nah, that's what the tubes are for, to heat my hands. [/B]

Anyone know how to box up some cold or warm air? I'd love to box up some "thermal" energy here and send it to you.

Taiwan is a bit warm now, and air conditioner is often louder than heaters. (I've heard Japanese Daikin AirCon's stuff, INSANE quiet, the price is a little insane too...

)

 

[Maniac]

Quote:

Originally posted by Orpheus hmm.... well, i never checked temperature readings.... but so far i haven't had problems with overheating. to me the Silencer works fine. but i guess for more power hungry components like p4's and athlons there could be problems... i dunno.... my dell's a p4, but it has its own proprietory fan system, including cold air intake from the outside..... but somehow it is very quiet. my rack-mount case actually even has 2 more fans that draws air through a filter.... but i disconnected those. so the only fans are a tiny one for the CPU mounted on the huge heatsink, and the fan for the power supply. ....i would like to try a water cooling system if it's even quieter, ...but of course, slot 1 is old technology.

Well tweaked air cooled technology is going to be better than watercooling. IF all you want is cooling retail CPU QUIETLY... I know, I've sold both, used both... And I'm currently running with Alpha heatsinks...

UNLESS if you are planning elaborate watercooling or trying to do some insane stuff, don't bother with watercooling. It costs too much and may not end up with the result you want. Cost is often secondary, but if it cannot guarantee result, then it really isn't worth spending all that much to find out. (I've already done that...

)

 

[Maniac]

Quote:

Originally posted by teknophyl My computer was super loud too. It's an Alienware with an AMD XP1800 so it runs pretty hot. It originally came with 3 case fans but there are 5 case fan slots. So I took out all 3 old fans and put in 5 Silencer fans. That helped SO MUCH. Then I replaced the CPU fan and heatsink with a Thermaltake Volcano 7 and that helped alot too. Finally, I replaced the chipset fan (although it is the smallest fan in my computer, it was now louder than the largest one). I used a Papst 412 40x40x20 mm fan and attached it to one of those Sharka/Zalman gold-colored heatsinks. http://www.sharkacorp.com/cgi-bin/TL...alogno=zmnb32j Now, for a gaming machine, it's super quiet. I'm very proud of her.

No offence... But Volcano 7's thermal sensing fan is quite loud... even at the slowest speed. (I've clipped that sensor off, so it was constantly running at the slowest speed)

 

[David Mitchell]

You all should visit Silent PC Review and their forums. You know you're getting quite quiet when you start isolating hard disk drives from the drive cages. I'm far from that point, but may get there yet!

 

[Maniac]

Quote:

Originally posted by David Mitchell You all should visit Silent PC Review and their forums. You know you're getting quite quiet when you start isolating hard disk drives from the drive cages. I'm far from that point, but may get there yet!

I thought about that... But Seagate's HDD is THAT quiet... No cage needed, not to mention that Seagate's HDD is a bit on the hot side... I won't feel confortable putting it in a cage...

 

[zbuddah]

i have three fans total running in my system:

1.4 GHZ t-bird
GF 2 gts

my chipset fan started to rattle so i took that off and left it bare with the stock heatsink. = no noise from chipset

i used to have a sanyo denki on my swiftech mc462a , i replaced it with a panaflo L1A, i haven't resorted to pulling out the aluminum pins and lubing it with artic silver yet

and i'm running a stock enermax.

My GF 2 card's cooling fan died also so i threw away the heatsink and fan and replaced it with an old PIII aluminum heatsink which i pasted on with artic silver paste, so now its running passively. no noise yay!

I used to think was was super quiet but its been getting on my nerves lately and i might just try the foam mod. just need moola hahah

so now the loudest thing in my pc is my power supply and my freaking WD hard drive, and for some reason everytime my pc boots up i can hear the memory test run through it sounds like a very very high pitch whine, and i know its not from the HD but from the memory anyone else hearing this?.

BTW CPU voltage decreased to 1.65 volts speed decreased to 1.33ghz to acheive temps(idle browsing) of 52*C running hot but darn acceptable to me and worth every bit of db.

 

[aeberbach]

Simple answer - and I've spent the money and wasted the time to know this is just about the quietest there is right now:

Antec Sonata case - comes with speed-controlled power supply fan and 120mm speed-controlled case fan.
Zalman CNPS7000 (massive copper thing, slow 92mm fan)
Zalman ZM80C-HP video card cooler (big passive unit, no fan)

The power supply and CPU fan won't be heard when the case is closed. You can't hear the drives because the case has a cool mounting system isolating the drives from the case with rubber grommets and special screws. You'll be looking at the font panel to see if the LEDs are on.

Take care of:
- moving the case - the CPU cooler is way overweight and could damage the mainboard if knocked heavily
- power supply quality - I suspect mine has been causing crashes lately but have yet to test it against a known good unit. Buying from a place with a good return policy is always a good idea.