Extremely quiet (silent) PC recommendations

[Brocky]

I’m looking at building one of two systems in the next few days and would like your opinion on the potential noise of the systems. One is going to be a Fractal R3 which will be placed on the laminate floor under the desk, and the other a Lian LI V351B placed ON the desk next to the monitor.

The spec for the 2 systems are very similar (listed below) but the important issue is the lack of total noise generated by the system. I have a horrible feeling that although the R3 will be the quietest, but once placed on the floor it will resonate through the laminate flooring adding to the noise.

The V351B will be placed on the desk, so much closer to me but off the floor. I’m concerned that this box only 18” from me will be too noisy. I’ve read that these boxes fitted with the usual fans etc. are quiet but does anyone know if they are near silent?

I’m looking for the near silent option, so if you have any experience with these boxes in close proximity please share.
Cheers

Lian Li PC-V351B Aluminium Micro ATX Cube Case - Black
AMD Phenom II X6 Six Core 1055T 2.80GHz
Gigabyte GA-880GMA-UD2H AMD 880G (Socket AM3) DDR3 microATX Motherboard
Scythe Shuriken Rev.B Quiet Low Profile CPU Cooler
Corsair XMS3 8GB (4x2GB)
Gigabyte GeForce GTX 460 OC 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card
Corsair VX 550W ATX Power Supply
Samsung SH-B123L/RSBP 12x BD-ROM / 16x DVD Writer Drive - Black
Samsung SpinPoint F4 EcoGreen 2TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM
Crucial RealSSD C300 64GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive
Akasa Dual 2.5" SSD/HDD Mounting Kit

Fractal Design Define R3 Midi Tower Case - Black Pearl
AMD Phenom II X6 Six Core 1055T 2.80GHz
Asus M4A87TD Evo AMD 870 (Socket AM3) DDR3 Motherboard
Akasa AK-CCX-4002HP Venom CPU Cooler
Corsair XMS3 8GB (4x2GB)
Gigabyte GeForce GTX 460 OC 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card
Corsair VX 550W ATX Power Supply
Samsung SH-B083L/RSBP 8x BluRay ROM / 16x DVD±RW Drive - Black
Samsung SpinPoint F4 EcoGreen 2TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM
Crucial RealSSD C300 64GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive
Akasa Dual 2.5" SSD/HDD Mounting Kit

 

[mp260767]

what are the systems going to be used for ?

i would think the 460 might generate a bit of noise, and the cube with 80mm fans, not sure how good the supplied ones might be.

have you thought of getting a modular psu for the cube , to allow for less cabling and better airflow ?

under the cases, unless they have soft rubber feet, some sort of rubber mat etc would be worth a look at.

 

[Tealc]

Neither of those coolers will be particularly quiet. The Scythe uses a thin fast fan to reduce it's overall height while the Akasa uses a 1900rpm fan which by all accounts is pretty noisy even when wrapped up inside a case at least at full pelt. If you run them slow then things may be different.

I suppose it all depends on what you consider 'quiet' as it may be different from what others may consider quiet.

 

[Hagar]

The power supply will be a key factor in whether you can hear the PC I have a seasonic which rarely kicks in with a fan.

Good airflow will be key to quiet operation as I am sure that the low profile cooler may not be as effective as a larger one. You may find that a cooler that hardly turns the fan is more effective.

I have the X6 with a thermalright ultra 120 extreme cooler with a PWM akasa apache 120mm fan and it does not spin up under 40 degrees and generally the heatsink maintains a CPU temperature of 32C for normal use. I have two case fans which are not PWM but are volted down to 10V this gives good airflow in my Lian Li midi case.

Aluminium cases can hum a little and I have gone through with insulation tape under edges which can vibrate together for example the side fixing cleats. This has improved the low level noise.

 

[TrojanWhore]

I have no experience with either case, BUT, I do have a few tips for ultra quiet computing...(although ppl have beat me to it in most cases)

-for cooling, a large heatsink (TRUE etc) would be ideal paired with a low rpm fan such as the akasa apache (have 2 on my H50 watercooler).

- do you need it to be near silent while gaming/other graphically intense tasks? because almost all 460gtx/5850s etc are near silent while on desktop 2d mode, you may have to manually configure fan speeds to achieve this though. If you need silence in game too, then you may have to consider a full on water loop (CPU+GFX) or a 3rd party gfx cooler (zalmanVF3000 or accelero extreme coupled with some low noise 120mm fans

-as nkata said, a layer of tape between contacting aluminium surfaces will help massively (electrical or duct tape is best IMO)

- now the main reason I took the time to post....
If the only thing putting doubt in your mind about the R3 is the resonance into your flooring, buy 2 squash balls or similar, cut them in half, and place your PC on top of these with the cut edge facing the floor and your PC on the rounded side, like little domes, my dad is big on high end hi-fi equipment and swore by these until he shelled out for some overpriced metal spikes to do the same job!

 

[Brocky]

what are the systems going to be used for ?

i would think the 460 might generate a bit of noise, and the cube with 80mm fans, not sure how good the supplied ones might be.

Mainly 3D work, office, films, and music.

Would the MSI GeForce GTX 460 Cyclone 1024MB be quieter than the Gigabyte, anybody?

Neither of those coolers will be particularly quiet. The Scythe uses a thin fast fan to reduce it's overall height while the Akasa uses a 1900rpm fan which by all accounts is pretty noisy even when wrapped up inside a case at least at full pelt. If you run them slow then things may be different.

I suppose for a quiet CPU solution a Thermalright IFX-14, but would this need a fan in an R3 case?

The power supply will be a key factor in whether you can hear the PC I have a seasonic which rarely kicks in with a fan.

I've selected a Corsair PSU because reviews generally say how quiet these are, correct me if I'm wrong.

I think I'm inclined to go with the R3 because of the wider range of no fan CPU coolers, and better free airflow reducing the need for excessive cooling.

Does anyone know if the R3 it has rubber feet like the Lian Li cases?

 

[Brocky]

- now the main reason I took the time to post....
If the only thing putting doubt in your mind about the R3 is the resonance into your flooring, buy 2 squash balls or similar, cut them in half, and place your PC on top of these with the cut edge facing the floor and your PC on the rounded side, like little domes, my dad is big on high end hi-fi equipment and swore by these until he shelled out for some overpriced metal spikes to do the same job!

What an excellent idea, thanks TrojanWhore I'd have never thought of something so simple.

 

[Tealc]

The larger the cooler the better and quieter the cooling can be.

The lower end air coolers tend to compensate with faster rotating fans. ie. Akasa Venom has 2 x 1900rpm while Noctua DH-14 has 1 x 1300rpm and 1 x 1200rpm yet cools a lot better, or at least it does according to several overclockers on here. Not sure how they are on AMD platform though and you may have fitting issues because they are so big.

There's also a passive Thermalright HR-02 cooler that uses airflow of your rear fan slot which is emmense.