For a quiet life

jasoncb · 17 Nov 2006 at 21:23

hi, about to build a pc and wanting it as silent as possible. so what would make the noise in my pc?

what cpu cooler (intel LGA775) would be the quietest? and sata2 hard drive?

i assume those would be the main culprits but any other suggestions would be great.

Dr.EM · 17 Nov 2006 at 21:33

Stock graphics card coolers are noisy, change it for an aftermarket one or have a fanless card installed

Raikiri · 17 Nov 2006 at 22:41

Graphics - Thermalright HR-03 fitted with the 92mm fan of your choice
CPU - Ninja with a 120mm scythe S-flex 800rpm or similar
HD - Samsung Spinpoint S-ata 2 in an enclosure

weescott · 17 Nov 2006 at 22:52

A case with 120mm fans.

Passive PSU

FunkyT · 17 Nov 2006 at 22:59

Are Zalman CPU coolers any good for the "silent" option?

matt100 · 17 Nov 2006 at 23:08

you could get a passive gfx card, passive psu, a sythe ninja running passive on a lower end c2d cpu, shove that all in a p180 and you'd struggle to hear it tbh.

Joe42 · 17 Nov 2006 at 23:13

weescott said:
A case with 120mm fans.

Passive PSU

Nope and Nope. Vast majority of 120mm case fans are very noisy. No need for a passive psu, a seasonic or corsair will be silent from 30cm anyway but a lot cheaper and will last a lot longer.

Raikiri said:
Graphics - Thermalright HR-03 fitted with the 92mm fan of your choice
CPU - Ninja with a 120mm scythe S-flex 800rpm or similar
HD - Samsung Spinpoint S-ata 2 in an enclosure

Scythe s-flex fans all click, no good for a true silence enthusiast.
Get a nexus 92mm fan if you're getting one, these are the quietest 92mm fans there are.

You need to go and have a good read of a few articles over at Silent PC Review.

Sources of noise vary, but i'd say what you need is a board with passive chipset cooling, a Thermalright ultra 120 with a nexus 120mm fan, a Nexus Drive-A-Way silent enclosure for your harddisk, you can put almost any disk in that and it will be silent. You need either a graphics card with a silent cooler such as the power colour X1950pros or the Galaxy 7950 gt with zalman cooler, or an after market cooler. Get a seasonic or corsair psu and a good case such as the p180 and you should have a near silent pc.

lay-z-boy · 18 Nov 2006 at 00:04

hdd: Samsung/Seagate hard drives

case fans: nexus 120mm fans

case: lian-li case without a side window

g70
v1/2000+
pc -767
v1/2100+

imo, are all awesome

cpu: tuniq tower for the cpu, the fan on the lowest setting on the dial is inaudible

mobo: don't get a motherboard with fans all over the place, asus do heatpipe mobos that work well with air cooling.

gpu: ive heard good things about ati's x1950xt cooler, the 8800 cooler is inaudible.
arctic cooling x1/2 are also super quiet

psu: seasonic

if you get an asus mobo, hook all the fans up to the mobo and enable ai quiet