How to make a quiet top range PC?

skipper847

skipper847

skipper847

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My PC at the moment sounds like its going to fly off some where its that noisy. This is one reason i want a new one. Im Proly asking too many questions but i want it right be for i click the buy button. Any way how noisy are these new PC today and how can you make them silent but still run top of the range games etc. I dont mind a bit of noise as making them totaly silent will proly be impossible but i wouldnt mind a quiet PC for watching films and been on late at night if i want to record something??.

Ive tried cleaning it and cleaning the fans and even changed the CPU fan recently as it stopped working so it looks like its on its last legs.
 
Change the case for one that doesnt wobble/vibrate.

Change the fans or add a fan controller.

Ditch a stock intel/AMD heatsink for a aftermarket jobbie.

Add sound deadening to a case.

Pick a good GFX card with a good stock cooler or an aftermarket version.

Pick a PSU that isnt running flat out all the time so the fan in it has to spin up a lot.
 
current PC is a q6600, 4gb quad 2.40ghz xfx 5770 and proly over the top 1000wat PSU.

I mean this PC is still prity good its just the noise and ive not brought anything for my self for ages. :P

I dont want water cooling as thats another thing what can go wrong.
 
Noise = moving air. So, on the whole, the more powerful your machine the noiser it will be to dissapate the heat. It's all about the compromise about what's an acceptable level of noise for you.

I'd recommend starting with a case like the Clorsair 550D or Fractal R3 where you can add or remove fans and insulation to match exactly what you need for your rig and ears.
 
If you went with something like below you would barley hear it.

The PSU fan turns off when in low loud situations and the fractal fans are quiet and the case has sound dedining.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Corsair Professional Series AX650 High Performance 650W Modular '80 Plus Gold' Power Supply (CP-9020006-UK) £109.99
1 x Fractal Design Define R3 Midi Tower Case - Black Pearl £69.98
1 x Corsair A50 High-Performance CPU Cooler (Socket AM2/AM3/LGA775/LGA1155/LGA1156/LGA1366) £26.99
1 x Fractal Design 120mm Silent Cooling Fan £7.49
Total : £229.45 (includes shipping : £12.50).

 
I'm running a q6600 aswell with a 650w, no noise from board or psu, just the background noise from the fans which I'll be replacing soon. Only Issues I've had is grinding hard-drives so switched to green ones nice and silent :)
 
jamesfreddie said:
It wouldn't be that much quieter than a half decent air heatsink.
Click to expand...

If you WC the whole lot GPU and CPU etc it would be way quieter, GPU fans I find are the biggest culprits.

But if you wan't some serious advice get a fan controller even if you get quiet fans so you can ramp em up when benching and back em off for day to day. As previously said Moving Air = noise just need to control that moving air effectively.
 
Cool Breeze said:
If you WC the whole lot GPU and CPU etc it would be way quieter, GPU fans I find are the biggest culprits.

But if you wan't some serious advice get a fan controller even if you get quiet fans so you can ramp em up when benching and back em off for day to day. As previously said Moving Air = noise just need to control that moving air effectively.
Click to expand...

You still need moving air with watercooling.

Unless you go with passive rads.

Also a good graphics card cooler is not very loud.

Ie. http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-022-AL&groupid=701&catid=57&subcat=787
 
Big heat sinks and lots of quiet fans shifting air in a sensible direction at low rpms.

Good case that doean't resonate.

Highly efficient PSU that is running at optimal load within range of idle to full blast. More efficiency = less wasted energy converted to heat.

Non chattery high rpm hard disks.

My HTPC build can barely be heard at a distance of 1 foot.
 
Most of the noise is resonance. The biggest benefit you'll notice to quietening a case is sound deadening as Stulid mentioned. Especially in large desktop/tower cases with big metal side panels. Fan speed controllers and PWM help. Also using SSDs in place of mechanical drives help and if you must use mechanical drives, rubber isolating grommets between the drive and case help. Same with fans.

Basically it's kind of like sound proofing a submarine. Do what you can to isolate the noise transferred to the shell and frame.

Water cooling is great, provided you isolate the pump and radiator/fans from whatever you've attached it to. If you just bolt it to a panel or frame, you'll have the same problems with resonance as you would with air cooling.
 
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