Build with silence in mind ?

HACO

HACO

HACO

Soldato
Joined
6 Oct 2009
Posts
4,110
Location
London
Hey all

For my new build (it will be 6-core Ivy-E based) I'm considering silence to be of upmost importance, so there are a few steps that I've considered:

* Getting a pre-noise dampened case from OcUK
* Getting watercooling (mainly for silencing the GPUs)
* Getting silence optimized fans (for replacing case fans and radiators)
* Getting a very silent PSU


So basically what fans are best at having the best performance at low noise levels? I keep reading good things about Noctua fans but they're a bit expensive so I'm not sure if they're worth the extra money. Corsair has silence optimized SP series fans.

What about PSU? Any recommendations?

Thanks
 
If you truly want silence with watercooling you'd need fairly high end stuff thats designed for quiet running, cheaper setups/kits/aios will have varying levels of pump noise. Ideally I'd say something like a decent size tower cooler with some gentle typhoons on it.

Best fans I've found for quiet operation are akasa apaches - at min speeds they are far quieter than any other fan at similiar speeds I've tried, however once they start to speed up a bit they aren't that different to any other "silent" fan but with less airflow for the noise level compared to some. (Or atleast other fans are capable of significantly more airflow for only a little more noise but if you truly value silence over anything else I've not found anything that matches the apaches).

PSU wise I'd reccomend anything based on the seasonic 80 plus platinum with hybrid mode as they will run passive upto about 250watt (860 model) and the fan comes on fairly low speed after that which I can barely hear if at all until about 400-500watt load.

If your doing a completely new build including GPUs I'd reccomend looking at those with the Gigabyte WF3 cooler as it can handle 450watt of heat making it possible to turn the fans right down with a custom fan profile and still stay within temp margins.
 
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I've had akasa apache's on push, with Hardware Labs gts lite rad and they were really quiet at mid speed, around 800rpm. At 1000+ they started to get louder. As for pump, I had xspc x20 and it was fairly quiet, but I had it sitting on piece of neoprene foam.
I think yiu could also try a D5 at lowest speed or other pump which have speed regulation.
 
got a load of these noiseblocker black fans with green fins for my wifes pc and now im a bit jelly as it makes no noise at all lol! My previously undetectable pc now makes a definite humm.
 
These Enermax fans are extremely quiet (and look cool):

YOUR BASKET
1 x Enermax Cluster UCCL12 120mm Fan £9.98
Total : £12.26 (includes shipping : £1.90).



For the PSU: BeQuiet's units come with one of their Silent Wings fans, and they are indeed silent.
 
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