How quiet can PC's get?

Rimsy

Rimsy

Rimsy

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Ok so I'm thinking its getting near time to replace my aging rig with something newer and shinier. Not massively bothered about having the fastest of the fast but I do enjoy gaming so want a fair bit of grunt for my 24" monitor.

The thing that really does bother me is noise - my current setup is one noisy sod so I'd really like something as silent as possible. How quiet can one get these days for around a grand?

I see OCUK have some sort of system configurator but last time i checked most of the "silent" options were out of stock.
 
Veeeery quiet if you get the right case, fans, and coolers.

OcUK have a range of pre-noise dampened case for your perusal: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/productlist.php?groupid=2362&catid=2297

There are also cases that come optimised for silence from the manufacturer, such as the Bitfenix Ghost: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-087-BX&groupid=2362&catid=1850

As for fans and coolers, Noctua and BeQuiet have a reputation for silence. I have a BeQuiet PSU that is essentially inaudible even under load.
 
Water cooling is another good option for quiet rigs. It's somethign I plan on looking into after xmas as mine is a bit on the loud side during gaming.
 
I think the careful selection of components can help this more than any case. My suggestion would be to shop for things that are specifically quiet. I went for the option of having lots of big, but relatively slow spinning fans, that way I move lots of air but without any audible noise.

I run a Corsair 400r as the case, with the two front fans running at max speed constantly. I moved the standard rear exhaust fan to the side intake position and run this at about 1000rpm, set on a curve up to it's full 1200 as the cpu temp increases. Even at 1200rpm this is pretty quiet.

I then have 3 of these http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=FG-003-XG&groupid=701&catid=2331 as exhausts in the roof and rear. Using the motherboard software I run them at about 600rpm the vast majority of the time and again these will ramp up as the CPU temp increases. Luckily the fan expert software lets you control the fan curves and the speed at which they raise up and down, by making sure the changes happen slowly even when they do ramp up you dont get the sudden change in fan noise so it's hard to tell.

I also have one of these cooling the CPU again set so the fans run slowly. http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-020-AL&groupid=701&catid=2330&subcat=2337 At idle they spin at about 600 rpm, again upping as the CPU temp changes.

One of the biggest areas I was able to reduce noise was by picking my PSU closely. I run the Corsair AX760, this doesnt need to turn it's fan on until your pulling something like 500W+, as my entire system never exceeds that wattage it never turns its fan on effectively making it silent.

I also picked my graphics cards carefully making sure it was a quiet cooler design. The twin frozr on the MSI cards is basically inaudible at idle settings.

In short the loudest part of my case are the front two intake fans, but even those are quieter than just the fan in my old PSU was before I upgraded. It's in no way silent but unless you need to sleep in the same room you would never notice. Even the quietest of music or game noises completley drowns out the sound made by the PC and this was mainly achieved just by carefully controlling the fans.
 
thanks very much guys (particularly Binnsy) for the responses. I think water cooling is a bit beyond me but it seems possible to achieve a pretty quiet system with air from some of these posts. :)
 
You can have an entirely silent PC, passive heatsinks are available, along with GPU heatsinks, a company not so long ago released a custom built passive gaming PC.
Noisiest thing was the CD drive if used.
 
Truely silent isn't really possible. I'm down to the point where the electrical humm of my monitor is about the noisiest thing.
 
The right fans are the key

I enjoy whisper quietness using an accelero extreme cooler for my 7970,

The akasa Apache fans are also fantastic for the CPU and case cooling,very silent
 
For CPU cooling I've found the H80i is more audible than the Alpenföhn K2 - this seem to be common with CLCs versus air coolers.

I tried a Seasonic Fanless 520W PSU but found it emitted a noticable buzz compared to nothing from my Corsair RM650. The TX650 series also had some electrical noise. This is likely to not be heard from a few meters away and with fans whirring. See here

Controlling fans with Speedfan / EasyTune are a good way to reduce noise and Be Quiet, Noiseblocker and Scythe seem to get favourable reviews. See here and here

Ditching mechanical HDDs for SSDs helps too.

I agree a lot with BinnsY:

BinnsY said:
big, but relatively slow spinning fans, that way I move lots of air but without any audible noise.
Click to expand...

BinnsY said:
Using the motherboard software I run them at about 600rpm the vast majority of the time and again these will ramp up as the CPU temp increases.
Click to expand...

BinnsY said:
I also have one of these cooling the CPU again set so the fans run slowly. http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-020-AL&groupid=701&catid=2330&subcat=2337 At idle they spin at about 600 rpm, again upping as the CPU temp changes.
Click to expand...

BinnsY said:
One of the biggest areas I was able to reduce noise was by picking my PSU closely. I run the Corsair AX760, this doesnt need to turn it's fan on until your pulling something like 500W+, as my entire system never exceeds that wattage it never turns its fan on effectively making it silent.

I also picked my graphics cards carefully making sure it was a quiet cooler design. The twin frozr on the MSI cards is basically inaudible at idle settings.
Click to expand...
 
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The question is not how quiet can a PC get , but how much effort are you willing to go through to make it quiet ?

it costs money, but decent fans + a fan controller. Got a HDD? bungee mod that in your optical bays if you have room. Rubber grommets for fans + a number of other mods will set you on the right track.
 
Pump whine on watercooled all-in-ones is an issue for me. Because once I get fan noise down to a barely audible level, I then hear the high-pitch pump whine. It's not loud but it's annoying. Don't know if that can be avoided with custom watercooled set-ups? I have a Corsair H100i but have checked out countless vids also capturing pump whine noise on other all-in-one coolers.

Does anyone know of a truly silent pump? Silent as in you don't hear it even with all the case/rad fans turned off. Not as in "I can't hear it above the noise of my fans".
 
My antec 620 is virtually silent, all pumps have a slight hum. If your's has an obvious whine to it there's a chance you might have an air bubble trapped, tip your case on its side and give it a gentle jiggle you might just find your noise improves.

Aside from going for proper water cooling then no it is virtually impossible to get a silent pump, and still there is electricity and moving parts involved one way or another I bet you can hear something if you are sensitive to noise. of course with a full WC loop you can use a shoggy sandwich below the pump.

I found the loudest thing in my case with all my fans dialed down was my HDD, once I bought some 4mm bungee cord from a well known auction site and strung them up in my optical bays everything was much more silent, now all I can hear is the very faint hum of the pump and for the first time my GPU fans that are whisper quiet
 
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murah said:
My antec 620 is virtually silent, all pumps have a slight hum. If your's has an obvious whine to it there's a chance you might have an air bubble trapped, tip your case on its side and give it a gentle jiggle you might just find your noise improves.
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Right. I did come across that tipping tip in the past but no joy. Thank you though.


murah said:
Aside from going for proper water cooling then no it is virtually impossible to get a silent pump, and still there is electricity and moving parts involved one way or another I bet you can hear something if you are sensitive to noise. of course with a full WC loop you can use a shoggy sandwich below the pump.
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Cheers. What proper water cooling pump would you recommend?
 
Danny75 said:
Right. I did come across that tipping tip in the past but no joy. Thank you though.




Cheers. What proper water cooling pump would you recommend?
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all of the ones OCUK sell are pretty damn good as they tend to be virtually submerged in the liquid they are pushing creating a barrier for sound to get dulled by. Notable ones are the D5 vario , even the XSPC 750 res/pump combo is pretty quiet by accounts
 
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