June 2011 - quietest gaming rig

SqualidChimp

SqualidChimp

SqualidChimp

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I'm being driven to distraction by my main computer. It's like listening to rats in the walls.

So, currently I have 6 internal hard drives, case fans as well as a power supply that are all annoyingly loud when not gaming. I've come to realise that buying a "gaming psu" was not good for the low noise levels I'd like while not gaming.... so I might just buy other bits n bobs to make a quieter system, and maybe put all those extra hdd's into another case. So this is where you come in. :) I'd appreciate any and all tips to make this quieter.


Currently I have:
  • 850W gameXtream OCZ power supply (obnoxiously loud)
  • Antec 900 case (relatively quiet OEM fans + 1 moderate to noisy side case fan)
  • 5x internal sata HDDs (mostly samsung 1 and 2 tb, 1 hitachi 2tb - lots of annoying hdd whine, spin up noise)
  • new Asus directcuII 6950
  • stock cooler on i7 860, on a gigabyte p55a-ud5 (1156) motherboard
So far, I'm thinking I'd be best getting another case and putting 4 of those internal hdd's into it, leaving one for storage - I have a 120gb SSD on order. I dont know if any of the "quiet" PSU's are actually any good / have enough grunt. Maybe I should go down the watercooling route. I dont know :(

Help me obiwan kenobi, you're my only hope...
 
PSU get noisy when pushed (heating up, fan spins...). So efficient, powerful PSUs are more quiet. I'd say a XFX 850W will be quiet (and even OTT for a single 6950). The graphics card noise can be a pain too, but the Direct CU should be fairly silent. If you want total silence from the PSU, then a passively cooled PSU. Seasonic have a model IIRC, the X-650 is apparently really quiet too.

A good custom CPU cooler (Gelid Tranquillo, MUX 120, Dark Rock Advanced, Silver Arrow) if the stock CPU fan is getting noisy, then you have cases with noise suppressing materials like the Fractal Design R3, or foam kits for cases (dunno how good these are). If it's HD noise, then there isn't much you can do about it apart from having case with good noise insulation.

You can reduce the spin up noise by always leaving the drives spinning. I have the same thing with the Samsung F3 which doesn't bother me, but it's quiet once they get going.

Or just get a 5.1 / 7.1 gaming headset :)
 
for the HDD noise its probably best to get a server if you really need all that space. however, i know about as much about servers as i do about quantum physics, so im not going to even start recommending one of them.

for the case i would go for something with that noise reducing foam built in. the only one i can think of is the fractal design XL, but with all the complaints of build quality im not recommending one of those

for PSU's go for the XFX 750W modular if you are planning on going crossfire any time soon, or the 550W non modular one if you are not (which has mysteriously dissapeared from the OcUK shelves)

you could also make it a hell of a lot quieter by fitting a custom cooler on your processor. the silver arrow is the best your going to get. i would be very surprised if it doesnt fit in your case, but its probably best to check (ive looked online and cant find anything saying the max cooler height supported by the case)
the silver arrow is 163mm tall, so from the motherboard to the side of the case you will probably need 168mm to accommodate the processor itself
 
I suppose you're right. If you have loads of storage drives and you want to use them efficiently and quietly, a NAS box would be a good idea, but not cheap.

If the PSU is a hindrance, replace with a good efficient PSU. XFX are well regarded in pretty much every department. Except looks :) That green-ish fan looks sick in a bad way.

Seasonic are the daddies though. They make great PSUs, and quiet to boot. X-650 / X-750 would be my choice, if you can afford them. They are more in the Corsair flagship AX series class.
 
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PSU sell well on ebay so i'd swap that, those gameXtream are bad on noise.
Seasonic are worth the money and don't devalue.
I have a coolermaster silent pro M (not gold) and find it outstanding.

Make sure all your unused hard drives shut down in power saving settings and you're fans/case is free of dust.

And lastly you can control you're CPU fan to self adjust to keep under xx degrees.
I set mine to a minimum of 70% (inaudible) and try and keep below 40degrees
 
The noisiest bits in order are: PSU, CPU fan

so, I guess that's the order I need to replace them in.

I was thinking PSU Bequiet dark power 850W, and maybe an apenfohn matterhorn for the CPU cooler. What do people think of those? Is there anything quieter?

The reviews I've seen dont seem to have direct comparisons eg "this seasonic is quieter than the Bequiet blah blah blah"

I need to find a "Quiet PSU roundup July 2011"... cmon review sites! :)
 
If you are up for it? why not try watercooling? That will be nice and quiet :)

If you need any help regarding that area, click the link in my sig ;)
 
Seasonix X series / Corsair AX series - Passive and hence silent at idle/20% load and among the quietest when the fan does kick in. The benefit here is that 2 years down the line when your PSU fan inevitably starts to get louder, you will still have a completely silent PSU most of the time. If you don't run at full load that often, the life of the PSU fan will be further extended.

Any decent CPU tower cooler that accepts 120mm fans + Scythe Gentle Typhoon (pick your speed) - at 7v the GTs are quiet and virtually inaudlbe at 5v.
 
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Swap the PSU fan. OCZ/FSP older series were known to have faulty fan control circuits and besides drive their fans far too fast, assuming that the PSU is the only fan in a system. I've done theree PSUs like this now and never got a shock because I was careful.

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18261286

Bungee your hard drives around your case. Might be a squeeze to get 6 in there but you could use your spare 5 1/4" as well as your actual HDD drive bays

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18269719

Any aftermarket CPU cooler will be quieter than stock but aim for one with a large heatsink, slower moving 120/140mm fan for best results.

Block up side fan unless you are cooling Crossfire as the side fan interrupts airflow.

The 6950 should be reasonably quiet. The Direct CU has a fair sized heatsink compared with other stock offerings so shouldn't need to ramp up their fan speed excessively, although you may need to watch out for excessive idle speed.

Reducing computer noise can be expensive but a lot of the things you can do, such as swapping PSU fan and bungee hard drives is quite cheap and can give excellent results.
 
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Thanks for all the excellent suggestions. I have swapped PSU fans before and it did work quite well (probably reduced noise by about 80%). I think Im going to put the gameXtream PSU in a spare case and maybe mod the fan at some point. I would really like a modular PSU now having looked into them. Nowhere seems to sell the newer X-series seasonics, and they are supposed to be quieter, more efficient, better rails than the bequiet PSU mentioned above. :(

@Shayper - I had thought of water cooling, but I've no idea of how annoying or loud water pumps might be having never tried it :) I have often kept tropical fish and even the little tank I have now, the small pump on that has an annoying drone (It's kept in another room). One problem for another? Sure I'd get lower temps, but Im not really overclocking much at the moment - just want peace when I need it without having to switch to another computer.

I do have an aftermarket side case fan going but it's quite quiet.

I'd like to put a better cooler on the CPU, and cant seem to find anywhere with the one I'd like (and OCUK dont even stock it) :( Sucks to be me. Maybe I should look into this water cooling lark more - I wonder if it would be much cheaper / what the noise difference would be than a really good quiet air cooling solution.
 
I've always been someone who thought silent PCs were completely pointless since you won't hear your PC over a film or a game anyway. That was until the Steam Sale started and I left a game downloading over night and the noise was extremely annoying. Now that I had noticed the noises they just wouldn't go away :p. Since then I've RMA'd my PSU (The fan was making a noticable vibrating/buzzing noise under no load), sold my H50 in favour of a Silver arrow 'cause the H50s pump made a buzzing noise, got rid of a no brand 120mm fan for an Arctic Cooling F12 'silent' fan and I'm going to order a fan splitter so I can control all my case fans from the Bios :D. Pretty expensive but worth it in my opinion.
 
I discovered the Corsair AX series is based upon the Seasonic X-series and OCUK do in fact sell those. Add to that an impressive 7 year warranty from Corsair - that's the PSU problem sorted anyway! Thanks for pointing me in the direction of those or I might never have realised :)
 
sadbuttrue said:
Seasonix X series / Corsair AX series - Passive and hence silent at idle/20% load and among the quietest when the fan does kick in. The benefit here is that 2 years down the line when your PSU fan inevitably starts to get louder, you will still have a completely silent PSU most of the time. If you don't run at full load that often, the life of the PSU fan will be further extended.

Any decent CPU tower cooler that accepts 120mm fans + Scythe Gentle Typhoon (pick your speed) - at 7v the GTs are quiet and virtually inaudlbe at 5v.
Click to expand...

^^ This

You won't get a better PSU than the Corsair AX series if you have noise in mind.
 
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