My complete silent rig for my mum

[Reyn]

My complete silent rig for my mum (pix, and more pix to come)

I have finally finished this rig for my mum, it is pretty much complete silent, you won't be able to hear a thing even with both side panels opened UNLESS you stick your ear inside the case then you can hear the wine sound of the HDD given it's a low rmp 40GB.

Since it's so quiet, I have decided to have both side panels removed to improve air flow, after all, the whole computer has no fans.

Spec:

P4 2.8Ghz Northwood, no HT (Thermaltake Rocket fanless cooling)
512MB Generic 400mhz DDR RAM
40GB 7200rmp HDD
Geforce 4 MX-440 (Passive heat sink cooling)
Antec Phantom 350w fanless PSU

I will however add a Panaflo 80mm low speed case fan and undervolt it to 7v once summers comes JUST IN CASE if the phantom can't take it.

Here are some pics:

No more this junk:

 

[l3ored]

HAH your mom needs a water cooled computer? she must be teh cs 1337!

 

[Reyn]

she doesn't, i chose it for it's sheer silence. The rocket is not for over clocking.

 

[Vrykyl]

id be seriously worried about that water cooler getting knocked over - a stray foot/dog/falling desk based object whacks it and its bye bye cpu cooling.....

 

[trailnut]

Nice build, Reyn. I'm building a new quiet system for my wife and am seriously considering the Phantom for a power supply. Keep us posted on how it holds up over time.

 

[hitokiri_808]

Nice setup, what kind of cpu temps are you getting?

 

[Reyn]

Nice build, Reyn. I'm building a new quiet system for my wife and am seriously considering the Phantom for a power supply. Keep us posted on how it holds up over time.

when you buy the phantom, make sure to ask what batch it is. The old batch (2004 batch with black QA stamps on the sides of the PSU), quite number of them ( not all ) had problems, dies after 3 weeks of usage. My one is from the old batch and I hope it doesn't blow up or I have to get it exchanged.

 

[Reyn]

Nice setup, what kind of cpu temps are you getting?

CPU idle @ 20-22'C these days because the weather got cold. colder it is , better it is for the rocket.

Most of the times it idles @ 24-25'C. Reaches no more than 31'C at load.

But still, it's autum here in Sydney. Not sure about summer yet.

 

[m3pimpin]

Nice build!

 

[Reyn]

I covered the interior with foam, not acoustic foam, just normal anti static foam. It really helped in reducing the pump sending vibration to the rest of the cases.

 

[Celeron_Phreak]

Looking AWESOME!!! I want to go water cooling, but it's not portable enough for me.

 

[trailnut]

Thanks for the tip on the Phantom. I'll keep my eyes open when I purchase one.

 

[threeme2189]

very nice...i wish my pc was quieter...no more VROOOOOOOM of the crappy fans and fan grills grrr.

 

[Reyn]

keep in mind that there's a difference between a quiet system and a dead silent system.

My system right now is dead silent, like I said, if your head is more than 10cm away from the case, you won't be able to hear a single thing. I tested it 2am in the morning with all the doors and windows closed, I still couldn't hear my computer is turned on.

BUT, if you're going for a quiet PC, it's a whole different approach given that it's almost impossible to make a powerfull rig "silent". One product I have came across is the acoustipack. They are basically professional sound absorbing foams. They help the computer reduce alot of noise and vibration (these foams are brick heavy). I didn't purchase this product because it's abit expansive + it won't have much effect on my computer (already dead silent).

 

[shard]

why not WC the vid card?

 

[Reyn]

why not WC the vid card?

It's a Geforce 4 MX-440 dude, a fan is even a over kill for it.

 

[WillysNut]

Nice work. I can relate to my parents not wanting noise. However...neither of them could begin to understand or accept the concept of water cooling. "You're gonna cool my computer with water?....but it's plugged into the wall!!!!" Congrats again..nice build.

 

[shard]

fan = noise, thus not dead silent

 

[Vertical_Zer0]

Looks beautiful... and expensive

 

[Kevin007]

nice Like it