Quiet media centre for my bedroom

[FrankJH]

REFERENCE DESCRIPTION QUANTITY PRICE COST REMOVE
FS-045-SH Shuttle XPC SN25P Aluminium Barebones System - AMD 64 (Socket 939) (FS-045-SH)
£229.95 £229.95
CD-033-LG LG GSA-4167BAL 16x16 DVD±RW Dual Layer ReWriter (Black) - OEM (CD-033-LG)
£22.95 £22.95
HD-024-SA Samsung SpinPoint P HD160JJ 160GB SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (HD-024-SA)
£45.95 £45.95
KB-054-MS Microsoft Comfort Curve 2000 Keyboard (KB-054-MS)
£14.95 £14.95
CB-054-GE Akasa SATA-2 60cm Silver Data Cable (CB-054-GE)
£2.50 £2.50
NW-074-NG Netgear WG111T 108Mbps Wireless USB2.0 Adapter (NW-074-NG)
£32.95 £32.95
Subtotal £349.25
VAT £61.12
Total £410.37

Already have an opty 144 and 1gb of corsair (do you think 1gb is enough for media centre?) as well as a copy of XP MCE 2005, mainly just for music - but might put usb tuner in at some point in the future. Also got a choice of gfx cards ( either a 7800GT or an X800 - hoping either of these will be quiet enough when in 2d mode after music has stoppped).

Do you reckon this is a decent system? Also which do you think would be better ( or neither)- performance wise - a wireless network bridge or the usb stick on the list above?

Any ideas or advice would be great - cant afford too much more money but might be able to add a little if necessary.

Thanks

 

[Sandmaster500]

I know its more money, but i believe the 200 & 250gb sammy spinpoint as they run faster, cooler and quieter (new series i believe).

Could save money and get a nForce 6100 mobo and maybe a silverstone LC series case or silverstone sugo/aspire X-qpack/Antec Aria.

Just my thoughts

 

[ste_bla]

Could you prehaps get something like a x300 which has passive cooling and prob would produce less heat also cheaper

 

[BigDom]

I prefer Belkin wireless stuff. It supports a password system for the encryption which is easier than keys.

 

[Phil99]

1GB is easily enough for a MCE PC, I don't think the memory usage on my P4 MCE has ever really reached close to 512MB, but it's got a gig in it as I had some spare.

 

[Al Vallario]

That spec is more than enough for a media centre PC. I'd have thought 512MB RAM would be enough for a general HTPC, but 1GB should have you set for video recording when you get a tuner

PS - Stick with the NETGEAR wireless adapter, Belkin have a pretty poor reputation when it comes to wireless networking

 

[BigDom]

PS - Stick with the NETGEAR wireless adapter, Belkin have a pretty poor reputation when it comes to wireless networking

I run 100% belkin in my system and it runs just fine.

 

[Al Vallario]

I run 100% belkin in my system and it runs just fine.

Glad to hear it's working okay for you, but others haven't been so lucky. NETGEAR should be fine

 

[Conrad11]

Hi there,

I don't know how you define quiet, but to me that would not be a quiet system.

Just thought I'd let you know, but its all about how people percieve noise.

Thanks...

 

[FrankJH]

Hi there,

I don't know how you define quiet, but to me that would not be a quiet system.

Just thought I'd let you know, but its all about how people percieve noise.

Thanks...

Do you have any ideas how I could make it quieter?

People in the SFF forum say there are 25P's and 26P's that are completely quiet in 2d with comparable hardware?

I am sticking with netgear because my router is netgear and in wireless tech I believe its best to stick to same manufacturer and they are both "rangemax" kit

I would love to be able to afford a x300 passive cooler, but as i already have the 7800GT / X800XL , hopefully these should be quiet enough in 2d - but I was after deadly quiet to be honest, as long as its only the graphics i could change this later i guess if it really bugs me

Will consider the upgrade in the spinpoint, was thinking they were all of the same range, but thank you

Thank you everyone, more advice would be great

 

[Conrad11]

Hi there,

If you are after deadly quiet, then you are going about it the wrong way. But I repeat again: noise is due to perception and I am very noise sensitive so my views may be extreme.

Heres how to quieten some of your hardware:

Choice Of Cases

Many people are under the illusion that cases make a big difference in noise and how much is produced. The true fact is that they do not really. All sound is caused buy is things moving, for instance Fans or the Hard drive disk. All the case does is holding it together. The only thing that can make a case “loud” is the vibrations of fans or hard disks to the case. So essentially, you can buy a really cheap case and it is “quieter” than an expensive “quiet” case, as long as you have the right equipment.

Bottom Line: Cases don’t really make a difference to the noise level that much.


Choice Of Hard Drives

In my opinion, this is the most expensive part of silencing a computer. The hard drives have disks in them which spin and cause noise. You also get noise when the drive is seeking data, known as seek noise. IDE is quieter than SATA because they are a little slower. The best known make for quiet hard drives would be Samsung but Seagate are also known to be quiet too.

If you really want a quiet hard drive then the best thing would be to go for a 2.5” Laptop style hard drive as they are incredibly quiet and are practically inaudible. These are much more expensive and have low space limits. On OcUK the highest is 120GB. I have no real experience of all the Laptop hard drives so it would be unfair for me to say that one is quieter than the other but western digital say this about their laptop hard drives: WD Scorpio™ delivers best-in-class performance with power requirements comparable to much slower drives. In addition, you'll get the quietest 2.5-inch drive on the market, and the one with ruggedness, reliability, and data-protection features that actively watch over valuable data.. So I would suggest getting these. Remember you will need a converter to use these in a desktop PC!

Bottom Line: IDE is quieter than SATA and 2.5” is quieter than 3.5”.


Quietening a Hard Drives

There are options to make a 3.5” hard drive quieter and some of them are quite effective too. Here they are:

• OcUK PC Anti-Vibration Hard Disk Mounts (Pack of 4) - These are to absorb vibrations from the hard drive to the case and thus making your hard drive quieter but you are still able to hear seek noise. They mount your hard drive in a 5 ½ Bay instead of the normal 3 ½ Bay.
  
  
• OcUK Silentmaxx Aluminium Hard Drive Enclosure - These are probably the best thing, in my opinion, if you want to silence a hard drive. They cover the hard drive completely and mount on the vibration absorbers in the 5 ½ bay like above. They are covered with a big heat sink so your drive doesn’t get too hot. They are easily re useable and I have heard they work very well. On the OcUK website it says: ” Reduces hard drive noise by over 95%”. It doesn't fit on a 2.5" drive.

They are other cheapo options:

• Hard Drive Suspension - You can actually suspend your hard drive using rubber string to absorb the vibrations
  
  
• Lopez's Quide to Stealthing Drives - This is a Mod's guide to stealthing Drives
  
  
• You can also run your hard drive out of the case on top of some fabric or bubble wrap or similar to absorb vibrations.

Bottom Line: The hard drive enclosure is the best option for quietness of 3.5" drives, but the suspensions and other methods do help. Suspending a 2.5" Laptop hard drive with the rubber string as shown will be the quiestest hard drive option

Quietening Power Supply

The fan in the power supply is what makes a power supply loud or not. There are several options you can go for to make it quieter AT YOUR OWN RISK!!! - Voids Warrenty

1. Replacing this fan with a quieter spec'ed fan.
2. Voltmodding the Fan - either setting the ran to 7V or 5V with a voltmod.
3. Vibration absorbers - not that effective but if fitted will stop vibrations of the fan to the psu.

All of these are dangerous as you can electricute yourself, or your PSU could blow as there may not be enough airflow to cool it down, etc.

Quietening CPU (FAN)

This is also dangerous for your CPU as it might not get enough air to cool down and could break your pc TRY AT OWN RISK

1. You could either voltmod this fan to 7V or 5V.
2. You could control the speed via the computer controls.
3. Buy a passive heatsink - most expensive but quietest option.
4. Buy a quieter specced CPU Fan


Quietest Option
Passive Heatsink
No Case Fans
Replace Fan in PSU
2.5" Hard Drive with hard drive suspension techique.


Useful Links

How to Build a Quiet PC – ways to quieten your pc
Silent Pc Review – reviews on equipment and also some ways to quieten your pc
Stealthing Drive Guides – Mods guide to stealthing a drive
Suspending Hard Drives - Guide to suspending a drive



Hope this helps.

BTW, stick with netgear they are good.

Thanks...

 

[FrankJH]

thank you very much for your indepth reply, i really appreciate it

 

[supafly]

It would be great if we could order a near silent pc from ocuk, or at least given an idea how noisy components are by stating their db level. I need a new pc for work, but am put off by the fear of a noisy system. I really fancy a shuttle 26p with 500gb hd, 2gb ram and 24 inch lcd as opposed to my current pentium m laptop.

 

[Conrad11]

Hi there,

I have only pinched the surface of creating a quiet system there, only showing how to get a quiet hard drive really, I hope to create a whole thread on it for all components soon, hopefully that could get stickyed and then that would help people trying to create a quiet system

Thanks

 

[BigDom]

Glad to hear it's working okay for you, but others haven't been so lucky. NETGEAR should be fine

*shrugs* Just going by my experience that it's been the easiest to setup, easiest to work with etc.

Netgear is a good make, just going by my experience that Belkin work fine and are a doddle to setup. I've not tried Netgear or Linksys and I'm sure they are fine just saying I don't have any issues whatsoever with a 100% belkin system.

 

[BigDom]

thank you very much for your indepth reply, i really appreciate it

FWIW the spinpoints are quiet, I can't say I've ever heard mine. Whilst you can go further in the quest for quiet spinpoints IMO are not going to be something to worry about. PSU, Chipset fans, Case Fans etc. yes, spinpoints nope.

 

[FrankJH]

FWIW the spinpoints are quiet, I can't say I've ever heard mine. Whilst you can go further in the quest for quiet spinpoints IMO are not going to be something to worry about. PSU, Chipset fans, Case Fans etc. yes, spinpoints nope.

Yeah , its the assorted fans are my biggest concern to be honest.

If I have to get an x300 i will, but I will try both the options i already have first. I am hoping in 2d they will be ok, or at least to sleep thru it