Noise expectation (or lack of)

miffy · 10 Jan 2008 at 17:40

Hi,

A year and a half ago I ditched my desktop PC for a laptop (a MacBook) and one of the reasons for this was the almost lack of noise laptops make in general usage. It exceeded my expectations for quiet operation, but the time has come where I need a Windows machine again (Parallels is too slow, and Bootcamp has too many quirks).

So I built a machine out of some old parts - Athlon 2800+, old IDE hard drive, Nvidia 5900 Ultra, old cheapy case from years back and with a new iGreen 500W PSU.

The only thing quiet in this setup is the new PSU! The noise drives me insane, and I just need something quieter. The main culprit is the fan on the CPU cooler and the hard drive. And I suppose the cheapy case probably doesn't help?

My question is, if I were to buy some new parts - basically an entire new machine with the parts listed here:

Would this machine prove to be as noisy as my current machine, or would the nice case, newer CPU fan and newer hard drive etc keep the machine a lot quieter? I don't really want to spend any money on water cooling etc to get it really quiet - seems stupid if I'm not going to be overclocking much. Would a third party HFS for the CPU be better than the stock intel one?

I know noise is very subjective and so it's hard to judge how quiet something is going to be, but it would be great if you could dispense any advice!

I suppose one other option is to get a PC laptop and plug that into my monitor, but I like the idea of the large drive space a desktop can offer, and the better graphics performance (not that I play many games).

Thanks!

jak731 · 10 Jan 2008 at 17:51

add a Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro CPU Cooler (Socket LGA775) as i think is a lot quieter then the stock cooler and maybe get a e2200 for £3 more, check MB compatibility first though.

also get a fan controller or use software to ajust your fan speed

what is the pc used for if you dont mind me asking?

miffy · 10 Jan 2008 at 18:18

jak731 said:
what is the pc used for if you dont mind me asking?

Primarily it will be used for programming Windows only technologies (.NET basically), possibly some video playback, storage of video files and backups, and maybe the odd session of Counter-Strike Source, although I haven't had such an urge for so long it doesn't seem too likely that I'll be wanting to play it too often.

I was thinking about an ATI 3850, but I just don't think I'll ever use its potential, and the passive cooler on the 8500 card seems to be a decent bet.

The freezer 7 Pro seems a good bet - I've heard it mentioned often here, and the extra £3 for the 2200 seems a no-brainer!

mnemonix · 10 Jan 2008 at 19:26

The Lian Li is a nice case but don't let anyone tell you an aluminium case is quiet. Unless you deaden the panels with something like Acoustipac it will rattle & resonate like anything.

Something like a Silentmaxx hard drive enclosure will quieten your drive and help isolate it from the case with it's rubber mounts.

If you're not overclocking, many cpus can be cooled passively with a Scythe Ninja if airflow through the case is good - a couple of Noctua 800rpm case fans on controllers will do this.

I've run a 3700 and an Opteron 165 in otherwise fanless systems with no problem.

skanky · 10 Jan 2008 at 20:20

i know i'll get slated for saying this but i just brought a dell vostro 200 for use as a HTPC (so basically quiet is good) and once powered on, its virtually silent!

i thought my self build with ninja, sammy hdds, 7v'ing my fans was quiet but nothing compared to the dell. i would go as far as saying its as quiet as my T60 laptop with the fans slowed to the lowest level using NHC.

Werewolf · 10 Jan 2008 at 20:35

If you want a quiet machine an Antec Sonata 3 is a very solid case, with a very quiet PSU and designed to be quiet (I built a new machine up for my nephew using one and it surprised me how quiet it was, even though I had a Sonata V1 already).

miffy · 10 Jan 2008 at 21:38

Thanks for the responses. I was thinking about a dell now you mention it, and so maybe a Vostro would suit my needs pretty well. The Sonata case also looks good, and it's kind of fun putting it all together, so now I'm really stuck! I'll have to give it some more thought, although I wont pursue the Aluminum Lian-Li case after this advice.