New quieter case

Dr.EM

Dr.EM

Dr.EM

Soldato
Joined
15 Jun 2006
Posts
3,900
Location
Swindon
Hi. I have decided that I would like to make my computer much quieter. It is a ready assembled machine and at the moment there is very little that can be done to silence it. So I thought the best thing to do would be to move it into a more suitable case and get a new CPU cooler, PSU and some of that sound deadening material. I have very limited knowlege of computer hardware though so am not sure on what is suitable.

The computer uses currently a 250W PSU, a Micro ATX motherboard and one case fan. It has a Radeon 9600 card, an Audigy 2 card, a 120GB HD and a DVD/CD-RW drive. The processor is a Sempron 2800. I have been looking through parts and am thinking about:

Lian-li PC-G50 or PC-7
Tagan TG330
Thermaltake Golden orb 2

But have very little idea if that is all suitable. Mostly, i'm not sure on how the CPU cooler might fit to the board, and whether there is enough space to fit it. Also, that case looks nice (G50), but i'm not sure if it will be very suitable for fitting the acoustic material to :confused:

Any advice or other suggestions much appreciated. I would like to keep this under around £100 if possible. Also, I don't think this can be done as well as the silencing, but because I have a Micro ATX board, it would seem I have the option to use a small case. If there is any way to use a small case and still have the silencing treatment that would be great, just haven't seen any silent micro PSUs.

A picture of the current inside is here if it helps:
 
The antec P150 is a great case and very quiet. Has a quiet psu with it and hard drive suspenders to stop hard drive noise. Might be worth looking into.
 
Slightly off topic, but when you do change the case, make sure you clean the dust off that graphics card :eek:

Topic: Lian Li PC7+ or Akasa Eclipse
 
Thanks for the suggestions :) . I prefer the appearance and dimensions of the G50 case, but will prioritise on the acoustics anyhow. I like how the P150 has the acoustic treatment and quiet PSU already in place, it works out good value like that. I'd still prefer the G50 if it will take the acoustic material, but would need a PSU too.

My motherboard says MSI KM4M on it and i'm not sure if it will accept the Golden orb cooler, that type of cooler seems to need quite specific mounting :confused:
 
Yeah, i'll definately consider that one actually, it seems to have the sound material built in so works out cheaper. Must be pretty solid build, looking at the weight, 14Kg :eek: .Only qualm being it is rather big.
 
Have a Tagan 330w, excellent PSU - very quiet & adequate for my needs. Would love to recommend it, but its ATX 1.3 & has only 18A on the +12V Rail (single +12v Rail :( ), which could be a problem later on. Squeeze a-little more for the Tagan TG380-U01 380W ATX2.0 Silent PSU (CA-001-TG) ;)

sound deadening material
Click to expand...
Don't people here shun those? i.e. they add heat & are not really effective. Anyway, I suggest you try out the new case first (make sure its got 120mm fans), if not happy with them I hear the Akasa Amber's are very silent & effective. But, I doubt your GFX will be very quiet with all that dust :confused: Get a can-of-air & then Google 'Cleaning your rig' :D

EDIT: If Socket 754, for HSF I recommend the excellent Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro CPU Cooler (Socket 754/939/940) (FG-000-AR), for £14.95 its a steal!
 
Last edited:
Ok, for the PSU, if i'm likely to need more power, I was thinking that the Akasa 400w paxpower would be good. It measures a nice low 18dB and seems good value. Something I noticed there though, that PSU and a few others use a 120mm fan mounted underneath. The Antec case has the PSU mounted at the bottom of the case. So that the fan isnt obstructed, the PSU would need to be fitted upside down? The Lian-li case seems to have the PSU mounted sideways.

For the acoustic material, your right and and I probably would try it first without. The amber fans will be my first choice if I require them.

The cooler you suggested looks good in that it is easy to fit with just a clip and no screws. Its rating of 0.8 sone equates to a rather high 29dBA though, but apparently the sound is less annoying as the sone scale takes the human perception of a sound into account and is not a flat measurement. If you have that cooler yourself, would you say its quiet (i'm looking to the point that its virtually inaudible in a normal room).
 
No, I don't own a Freezer 64 Pro (but seriously considering getting one). But I'm sure for the chip you are using, reduce the speed (RPM) & it will be virtually silent :)

PSU, recommended the Tagan because they are built better, more reputable, etc - I heardly hear my 330 despite it having 2 80mm fans :)
 
The speed is adjustable through software isn't it?

If I go with the Tagan, I think it would have to be the 330 like you have as the 380 is a bit of a strech (either way 330 is quite a lot more than the currently installed 250). I'm not decided totally on that yet though.
 
Dr.EM said:
The speed is adjustable through software isn't it? {snip}
Click to expand...
Depends on mobo, either in BIOS & or in Windows through software like Speedfan. Being Socket 754 (mobo), I'm sure it supports Cool 'n' Quiet therefore it should be able to :)

Though, donno if the Freezer 64 Pro has an external volume-like knob to control it (anyone???) :confused:
 
Last edited:
I think that fan doesn't as some by the same make mention different speeds and thier respective noise levels yet that one does not.

Looking into cases again, i'm not too keen on how the PC-G50 seems to have its USB and headphone jacks on the top. The Silverstone TJ08 is looking quite nice. I originally thought it would be too expnsive, but from looking at others it seems it's not really. It can take advantage of the fact I have a Micro ATX board so the system can be smaller. So, it's more between that and the Antec P180, which is likely to perfom better on the acoustic front but is really quite large.

So, at the moment my thinking seems to be toward the Silverstone TJ08 with the arctic cooling CPU cooler and probably the Akasa 400w supply. I would then add the acoustic treatment if it was felt to be needed. Because I am running a fairly low powered machine in there, I expect I can lower the CPU fan and probably the case fans to achieve a good balance of noise and temp.
 
Ok, not to seem like i'm changing my mind too much, but that P150 case does sound good for what i'm trying to achieve. I'm not hugely keen on the appearance, but it seems like one of the only ways to achieve a quiet system for my sort of budget as it includes the PSU. But my question is about that PSU, the Neo HE 430. It sounds like a great PSU, but apparently earlier runs of production had incompatibility issues with certan chipsets, Nvidia, Intel and VIA. Is my MSI motherboard likely to use any of these? Even so, the currently sold ones should be the updated fully compatable models :confused:

Also, it seems unlikely, but could I mabye use the Scythe CPU cooler with no fan? I imagne it has enough cooling for my Sempron 2800 processor, but then its a very big cooler for a very small board and mounting seems unlikely.
 
I'm fairly sure the supplied one is normal sized :confused: in which case the answer should be yes. The supplied one is listed as "ATX 2.0" if that helps.
 
1. Do not - under any cicumstances - use any kind of sound deadening material in a modern computer. It insulates the heat inside the PC and the fans have to run faster to get rid of it. One of the reasons the Akasa/Lian Li type rigs are made of aluminium is that they become giant heat-sinks taking the heat away to the outside world.

2. Without a shadow of a doubt the AC Freezer Pro series is the best noise/performance/cost cooler on the market. I'm a confirmed Intel man, so I have not used the AC Freezer 64, but the Freezer 7 Pro is fabulous for low cost, low noise and low temperatures.

3. Before you buy a new case, try swapping out the CPU cooler alone and see how much difference that makes by itself. The LED fan at the front is probably quite noisy too, so turn that off. How loud is it now? I reckon pretty quiet.

4. I would stick with your PSU choice, they are highly under-rated PSU's. Don't get the blue LED one though. It's noisier and will earn you a look of scorn from the nice man behind the counter in OcUK :rolleyes:

5. I would probably steer clear of mATX cases if you really want silence - you need a big air volume so that low cfm fans can change the air slowly without it heating up too much. The PC-7+ with 2 Akasa Amber 120mm fans is recommended over and over again, because it works. If you want easy silence, that is the path of least resistance.

It's probably still worth me pointing out that if you want cool and quiet, Akasa Eclipse is always my #1 choice. BIG air volume = cool and quiet. But it's the Anti-mATX :D
 
Last edited:
Thanks for the suggestions :)

The case i've been looking into a lot recently is the Antec P150. That case includes a kind of deadening material inside it, but it is not the normal sort and is a thin coating. It's more to stop vibrations I think. In a review, that case ran with lower temperatures than the others they had.

I will use the Freezer pro then, but I expect I will want to run it on lower than full speed and just need to confirm there is a painless way to do so ;) . I was using speed fan to check temperatures, but also noticed that my CPU fan runs at a rather high 5000RPM, so your probably right thats the biggest noise contributer.

The P150 case includes a PSU worth quite a lot by itself. The reviews i've read of that case reckon its very good and the included PSU is definately useable. It seems like one of the only options for keeping this around £100 (except for not changing the case at all). That case isn't aluminium though, but the reviews seemed to say it had very good thermal performance. But yes, if I do choose a "PSU not included case", then i'll stick with the (LED-less) Akasa :)

I would quite like to use the PC-7 case with amber fans yeah. I prefer its appearance to the P150 myself, but with that case I will have to buy the PSU and those fans, and it will take it all a bit over budget. I will still keep it in mind though.
 
hp7909 said:
Depends on mobo, either in BIOS & or in Windows through software like Speedfan. Being Socket 754 (mobo), I'm sure it supports Cool 'n' Quiet therefore it should be able to :)

Though, donno if the Freezer 64 Pro has an external volume-like knob to control it (anyone???) :confused:
Click to expand...

I don't think its a Socket 754 mobo, from doing a couple of googles it looks like socket A. Is there a socket A heatsink anyone recommends?
 
Akasa AK-825 Air-Cooled Copper Base Carnival Cooler is what I have on my 2400xp at the moment.

Not much to compare it with as it replaced a Silver Mountain 2Q with a delta bolted to it. :p
 
Its just an old wives tale that the case absorbs heat..

Sound deadening stuff absorbs heat which is why it causes higher temps, not because it blocks off the heatsink effect...

The HDD cage is made to take away heat, and thats about it ;)

Im not saying sound deadening stuff is good, ive never used it... but i doubt it makes much difference
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom