obtaining a silent pc setup

mythrandyr · 9 Mar 2009 at 19:40

hi guys,

i'm currently using an antec skeleton performance chassis, 1200W Thermaltake toughpower and a Zalman CNPS9500A. The performance of all 3 components is truly awesom but the noise level is a little on the off side.

What i was going to look into was a way of making a practically silent pc rig at the cost of cooling.

what i was looking at was the following setup but i don't know what the accoustic environment would be like: NZXT Lexa Blackline Midi Tower Case , Thermalright Ultra-120A CPU Cooler and a Zalman ZM600-HP Heatpipe Cooled 600W.

like i say though, i'm only considering it at the minute and i don't know how much quieter that would make the system, on the plus side though i do have ssd's so i don't need to concearn myself with noise or heat from the hard disks.

laters,

Myth.

MidnightLamp · 9 Mar 2009 at 22:57

fwiw the 850 and 1000w versions of zalman psu are quieter as they use the larger 140mm fan. i think the zm600 is still very very quiet

my water pump is louder than my ZM1000.

for silence id prolly go for a roomy case, and lots of 120mm fans rigged up to a controller so i could have them all spinning at their lowest RPMs.
also, when you eliminate fan noise, you begin to hear gfx card squeel. especially in games and if its a newer one, my 4870x2 is loud in game

EsaT · 10 Mar 2009 at 09:08

mythrandyr said:
NZXT Lexa

Very light weight bling-bling trash.
So lightest vibration is going to cause vibration induced noise and case fans cause turbulence noise because of restrictive meshes. (and probably resonate themselves because of bling-bling plastic)

Here are guidelines for recognizing quiet case:
http://www.silentpcreview.com/article75-page1.html

Case being able to contain sound is useful especially against noises of high end graphic cards.

MidnightLamp said:
i think the zm600 is still very very quiet

Only in city
The fan started at 5.0V, higher than many other quiet power supply fans. The system was easily audible at 1m...
As the load increased, so did the fan voltage.

The unit performed quietly only at <150W load, and would most likely be amongst the loudest components in a typical "quiet" system. It's strange, since Zalman's product pages are littered with talk about "ultra-quiet" systems — maybe they're talking about ultra-quiet relative to the typical high-end gaming rig.
http://www.silentpcreview.com/article688-page5.html

vincent1989 · 10 Mar 2009 at 09:24

you want something like an antec p182, 3-speed fans, triple layer side panels. dust filters, compartmentalised design etc.

do it!

oh, and slap an xilence redwing on the thermalright 120a, it's almost non existent noise (quietest fan i've seen/heard) and pushes a lot of air

freddie64 · 10 Mar 2009 at 10:12

A p182 is good start, but is still only as quiet as the parts you put in it.

EsaT · 10 Mar 2009 at 15:08

freddie64 said:
A p182 is good start, but is still only as quiet as the parts you put in it.

Wrong in this case, while no practical case can keep noisy components quiet good case makes quiet/average parts lot quieter.
Because of proper design P182 can contain noise of components making total quieter than if parts were in open frame.

Likewise my damping mat lined Lian Li A71 makes it very hard to hear seek noises from seven HDDs and door muffles intake fan noise "by couple hundred RPMs".

shadowscotland · 10 Mar 2009 at 16:13

I'm with EsaT on this one - heavy well constructed cases will further reduce the noise of 'quiet' components, as do doors (or anything that blocks line of sight like a desk)

It's only if like me you have a fanless pc that the case is almost irelavent - But gaming pc's need fans, so use a quality case

If I had to get a fan assised PSU it would be the enermax 82+ (modu or plus) if your system is pulling 200w or so, which a single highend card gaming pc will. 385w single gpu or 600w duel gpu.

The TRUE with a quality fan at 5v is still very good (and resonable quiet) run passively or with a duct to the rear extract fan it's even better.

GPU squeel is a major issue with quiet gaming pc's as was raptor seak noise pre SSD's
But that what headphone are for

HighlandeR · 10 Mar 2009 at 21:44

do agree a Steel or heavy solid build case does dampen and keep the noise in, but also at sametime just being careful with the parts u put inside the case can make all the difference.

I had a coolermaster stacker with a corsair p/s and zalman heatsink and no other fans inside my case with the zalman fanmate set too lowest and gpu was passive.... the pc was silent, not quiet but silent and that was with the side panel off and sleeping 1 meter away from my base unit

So its a combination of the 2 factors that come into play....

My next idea I was toying with was too simply move a quiet or silent pc into another room or downstairs, run a long hdmi cable and bluetooth wireless keyboard/mouse. However I think im far too early maybe best too wait for Wireless TFTs see if there any good and for Wireless USB too come out...... I think im a good 2-3 years out !

EsaT · 11 Mar 2009 at 08:57

HighlandeR said:
and bluetooth wireless keyboard/mouse.

Otherwise good but Bluetooth is for short ranges only and doesn't tolerate much any bigger obstacles in line of sight.
But now that we've left Windows 9x era behind at least you don't need to wire also reset button to your room...

HighlandeR said:
the pc was silent, not quiet but silent

Silent is something which doesn't produce any noise and can't be heard in any conditions, no matter how low ambient or how small distance. So I doubt that any PC with moving parts fits to that... the least one with mechanical HDD in Stacker's HDD cage or Zalman HSF.
If we limit closest distance and ambient noise level rises then it could be possible.
(my definition of very quiet ambient is environment where in certain weather car driving on road 1,5km away sounds noisy)

shadowscotland · 11 Mar 2009 at 11:31

EsaT said:
(my definition of very quiet ambient is environment where in certain weather car driving on road 1,5km away sounds noisy)

If that with you outside I'd agree - If inside, you need new windows

spcr have a very good artical on 'what is a silent computer' and the answer is an inaudible one (read the artical if you need to know the differance).

From a design point of view, making an inaudible computer is a tough challenge, but it is possible to do, unlike a silent computer. There are two basic approaches which can be taken:

Fanless, with costly, custom enclosures for passive cooling of components. Most often modest heat producing components are used, but some ambitious products allow the use of very hot components and near-cutting-edge performance. (this is what I do)

Fan-cooled, with careful optimization of heat generation and performance in a more conventional enclosure. High performance heatsinks and high quality fans are musts. The ability to run multiple fans at slow speed without risk of overheating is critical. (this is what most 'silent' pc's are 99% of the time what I recomend)

With each approach, care in component choices are critical. Cooler components make lower noise easier to achieve, but hotter, higher performance components can also be used successfully.

I know it's a little off topic but to many of these type of threads get bogged down because quiet and noisy are qualitative terms that refer to human perception, not the physical phenomenon of silence.

HighlandeR idea of a pc in another room is only one step away from a pc under the desk or in a cupboard. These being both very good ways to passively quieten any pc. They also save you money as you don't by bling if you never going to see it

gt_junkie · 11 Mar 2009 at 13:00

shadowscotland said:
If that with you outside I'd agree - If inside, you need new windows

That said - EsaT's location does state Finland.

If it was Tommi Mäkinen out for a test drive then i suppose there's a chance he'd hear his car through a window... even if he had triple glazing!

gt

shadowscotland · 11 Mar 2009 at 14:37

Doh! should have spotted that - 5.3million people in that amount of land mass should give most a quiet night

HighlandeR · 11 Mar 2009 at 23:40

shadowscotland said:
HighlandeR idea of a pc in another room is only one step away from a pc under the desk or in a cupboard. These being both very good ways to passively quieten any pc. They also save you money as you don't by bling if you never going to see it

Yeah tbh cant be bothered with my previous idea... although nice benefit of just running some fans keeping it quiet but well cooled might be still an idea I know a few guys that just shoved there thing in a solid cupboard and its blocked a lot of noise but the temps go way off.

Id idealy love too get some japanese gups on my WD Green drives but I bet the temps rise way up.... and that just means may need another fan too assist in cooling.

Maybe one day we will reach the point where its just a heatsink the size of half the case for the gpu/cpu and we truely have quiet pcs !

EsaT · 12 Mar 2009 at 10:40

HighlandeR said:
Id idealy love too get some japanese gups on my WD Green drives but I bet the temps rise way up....

WD Greens aren't really that slow drives, that's confirmed by yet another review:
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/storage/display/640gb-hdd-roundup_14.html
(and Caviar Black simply crushes competition in most areas)

gt_junkie said:
even if he had triple glazing!

Good luck for finding anything else than such windows in here... you might want to limit search to buildings older than 50 years.
We can't afford to have wind blowing through cracks around window or from cold inner glass of double glazed windows.

There's railroad 300m away on other side of forest and in that weather (=probable strong inversion layer) it's easily possible to hear train for 20 seconds when it's approaching and minute after it has passed...
With ventilation hatch open you could nearly double those times if car noises don't drown them.

shadowscotland said:
Doh! should have spotted that - 5.3million people in that amount of land mass

You have to deduct 10% of area because of it being water... and other 10+% is probably too swampy to build.

shadowscotland · 12 Mar 2009 at 16:59

HighlandeR said:
Id idealy love too get some japanese gups on my WD Green drives but I bet the temps rise way up.... and that just means may need another fan too assist in cooling.

Got a raptor in my Gup no fans and no problems (but the waterblock may help

)

You only get problems with the GUP if your drive is half height etc. but Koolance Solidifying Thermal Compound will sort that out :cool:

HighlandeR · 12 Mar 2009 at 21:11

Id love too go watercooling but at the rate I change my pcs not nearly worth the hassle

Quiet pcs arent that far away and doable, am enjoying the WD Green drives purely for downloads/storage and aint too fussed about performance exactly, idealy be nice too get a SSD for C drive though.