Need to built a QUIET computer

[Dc5e]

alright, my brother has just asked me to help build him a quiet computer. He wants to be able to have this computer on 24/7 and not really disturb him while sleeping.

And i don't think he'll be overclocking this for your infomation.

So far i'm thinking about a P4 800fsb chip, whichever one is cheapest, and anything for the motherboard. But what would be the best and quietest air hsf? I'm currently thinking of the Zalman-7000 alcu or cu. I've heard that is pretty quiet. But is there anything else i could get that would make it even quieter? would a slk heatsink and a really quiet fan work?

as for other parts, were probably just going to use his existing stuff.

Right now his computer is a athlon 1.2ghz with a volcano 7. its quite noisy and he would like an upgrade and make it much quieter.

 

[Skiing Squirrel]

Has he considered watercooling? Other than that I would suggest a heatsink with something that can support a 92mm fan and put sound dampening material all around the case.

 

[xanderjobizzle]

Get a good quiet case from antec (i would sigest an Antec Life Style Series Black Case With 380W Power Supply). I would also get an SLK-700 w/ an 80mm fan. I just got both the case and the HS and i love it so much. Its so quiet. I would get them from newegg their pretty cheap!

-Xander

 

[tom10167]

A big factor is how hot his room is, but here are a few postulations.

-Big fans at low speeds will push decent air and still be dead silent
-All aluminum cases, all copper heatsinks
-Brown Bread sound dampener, cheap and effective
-Rubber washers on all screws
-Seagate HDDs


At this point, your computer is quiet enough where you definitely will not get disturbed. I sleep about 4" from my case, and I don't hear it, barely at all. If you really want a "silent pc" then search around, sandwiched/suspended harddrives, undervolting, etc. is probably overkill for this case.

 

[Captain Slug]

Case material is unimportant compared to fan placement. Here are a few things I recommend

- Pentium 4 1.8 - 2.4ghz
- Ducted intake fans w/ filters on the inlet end. One for the cpu & chipset, one for the video card.
- passive cooling on the video card. Such as the Zalman ZM80-HP
- 5200RPM Hard drives in fanless bay enclosures
- Zalman CNPS7000a-cu on low setting
- Antec or Sparkle Power supply with adjustable speed fans

Here are some products I recommend
Enermax Adjustable fan - 80mm or 120mm
Aluminum mesh or foam filters
Duct kit (or you could just use dryer hose)

The longer and more curved the duct, the more it will muffle fan noise.

 

[Dc5e]

well my brother probably wouldn't want to do watercooling so he wouldn't have to worry about leaks or anything.

So what do you guys think is better? a Zalman-7000 or a SLK with a quiet fan?

As for a computer case, i'm not sure what i'm going to get for him, I don't think the case will make a HUGE difference.
For a graphics card, he may use his existing geforce2mx. He's not really a gamer and doesn't need anything high end.

Were trying to keep this computer as cheap and quiet as possible.

He'll probably use his existing hard drives, and i'll probalby help him sandwhich them if they're one of the loudest parts.

I believe we have a general idea of what we can build now, so were probably gonna maybe get a 2.6c with some cheap decent case. maybe cut out the fan grills on the case to minimize sound and use quiet fans. And we'll try to use rubber on most of the screws and foam between joints.

 

[Ralf Hutter]

I don't think the case will make a HUGE difference.

Actually, the case will make a big difference. If it has good airflow you'll need to use less fannage to keep it cool which will reduce the noise level. If you're looking to save money I'd suggest looking at one of the Evercase 4252's from Newegg. They have great ventilation, are fairly well built, have front USB 2.0 ports and are real cheap.

Here's a listing of the ones they carry.

 

[Freezermug]

Ralph did you have any problems fitting the Zalman flower on the intel board with intels passive northbridge heatsink. The pictures I have seen look as if the passive northbridge is fairly large and tall (unless its just wierd picture distortion) and that it would hit the zalman.

Im interested in a similar quiet system setup that you have in your sig thats why im asking.

 

[DayUSeX]

or just get a shuttle XPC and run the thing in "silent" mode in the bios cant hear the bugger.

 

[eab]

My moms comuter is set up like this and you can barlely here it:

thermal take volcano 6 with 80mm fan supper guled on.

5200rpm 13 gig WD hd

Radion 7200 with passive cooling.

Some cheapo power supply I had laying around.

Some cheap case of newegg.

amd tbrid 1.3ghz

I can barely here it when its on

I never worry about temps either, mostly its used for email and office tasks but my brother occalsily plays dod or Cs on it and dosn't have a proplem.

Main thing is avoid fans smaller then 80mm.

Also do a fourm search on seilent PC and you will get a bunch of other threads.

 

[Dc5e]

would the shuttles be much quieter? i was thinking about that too, because my brother lives in a apartment near his college and he'll probably be bringing it back and forth... and if its even small enough he could bring it back and forth with him all the time if he needs to.

well he also has 2 hd's in his system right now, so if he gets a cube, i'm not sure what he's going to do about them.

 

[Deathknight]

If you have not read cmcquistion's excellent guide on building a quite pc, I suggest you take a look because it has alot of excellent info.

http://www.ocforums.com/vb/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=225234


Also you may want to head over to http://www.silentpcreview.com. They have alot of great info for building silent PCs as well as forums dedicated to that very subject.

 

[Como]

Personally, i dont think a loud hard drive owuld bee too big a problem, chances of the hard drives being used when he is sleeping would be slim, just set them up to stop spinning after like 10 mins of inactivity. (its annoying when exiting a game, or just going up to the computer, but it keeps the noise down...)

 

[Luie]

7Volt mod all the fans.
That'll make it very silent.
That's what I did to mine.
Barely audiable.

 

[Smartiepants]

www.silentpcreview.com

They have lots of helpful stuff on this issue there

 

[Ralf Hutter]

Ralph did you have any problems fitting the Zalman flower on the intel board with intels passive northbridge heatsink. The pictures I have seen look as if the passive northbridge is fairly large and tall (unless its just wierd picture distortion) and that it would hit the zalman.

Im interested in a similar quiet system setup that you have in your sig thats why im asking.

Nope, no problem at all. It clears the NB heatsink by about 1/4".

 

[DayUSeX]

would the shuttles be much quieter? i was thinking about that too, because my brother lives in a apartment near his college and he'll probably be bringing it back and forth... and if its even small enough he could bring it back and forth with him all the time if he needs to.

well he also has 2 hd's in his system right now, so if he gets a cube, i'm not sure what he's going to do about them.

yeah they are bloody quite, when you run the fan in silent mode in the bios, because it uses a smart fan, and default it ramps up with use, but if your CPU can take the heat no point in having that. Loudest component would be your hard drive, so just get a seagate, they are the quitest.

 

[Cyrix_2k]

run the acoustic management utility for the HD you get too. Lower performance, but the hard drive won't make as much noise.

 

[fuzzba11]

I would recommend one of the Small Form Factor PCs such as the ones made by Shuttle/Biostar. My good friend just built a Pentium 4 box for his little sister to take with her to college and he said it is absolutely silent and runs like a dream. Definitely the best thing you could do at this point in time IMO