silent pc...what have i got to do :mad:

Reality Bites · 1 Feb 2007 at 22:14

I've just built a sugo rig and had just the 2 standard fans in there.

I wanted to add a third in the middle slot and thought i'd order 3 coolink 80mm fans to do the whole lot. These things are meant to be 11db at 12v!

i've put them in and it sounds like it's going to take off now. I've even left all the fan controllers on low so they are meant to be 9db!

what have i got to do to get a silent (or as close as) pc... :mad:

Darkwave · 1 Feb 2007 at 22:29

Switch to 120mm fans.

The Akasa ambers are supposedly very quiet.

Reality Bites · 1 Feb 2007 at 22:30

Ulfhedjinn said:
Switch to 120mm fans. The Akasa ambers are supposedly very quiet.

in a sugo? :confused:

Raikiri · 1 Feb 2007 at 22:42

Get nexus fans, corsair PSU and the Silverstone NT-06 Lite cpu cooler. Also if possible mount the HD using elastic.

Reality Bites · 1 Feb 2007 at 22:45

i've got the nt-06 lite.

the fans i have bought (£8.50 each! :eek:

) are meant to be 11db!

the psu fan isn't too bad....i just can't work out why these fans are so bloody loud!

Joe42 · 1 Feb 2007 at 22:46

Reality Bites said:
I've just built a sugo rig and had just the 2 standard fans in there.

I wanted to add a third in the middle slot and thought i'd order 3 coolink 80mm fans to do the whole lot. These things are meant to be 11db at 12v!

i've put them in and it sounds like it's going to take off now. I've even left all the fan controllers on low so they are meant to be 9db!

what have i got to do to get a silent (or as close as) pc...

The problem you're having is the dba ratings most manufacturers use are what we professionals refer to as utter BS

Having said that, the coolink fans look promising, but i've never tried one and i've yet to see a review of one.

If you turn them all off is it quiet?
You should be able to do this for a few seconds without the risk of overheating.
If it is, and these fans are still noisy even at really low rpms, you'll have to ditch them and get some other ones.
However its likely that something else such as a harddisk or gpu fan is making more noise.

Silencing a small case like that is difficult, but certainly not impossible.

For alternative 80mm fans, i recommend the zalmans, or if money is no object the nexus 80mm fans. Both are excellent, and when i compared the two with the zalman undervolted it was a very close contest.

Raikiri · 1 Feb 2007 at 22:48

What graphics card/cooler are you using, PSU too?

Reality Bites · 1 Feb 2007 at 22:50

so do you think these coolink ones can be returned? They certainly aren't 11db!

i don't mind spending the cash on decent kit as long as it works!

if i stop all the fans.....it's perfect.....!

the GPU cooler is a arctic cooler so is very quiet. The sad thing is....the standard fans seemed quieter!

i've got a raptor in there at the moment, but i'm taking that out cos of the noise. going to replace it with another 400gb samsung.

Reality Bites · 1 Feb 2007 at 22:51

Raikiri said:
What graphics card/cooler are you using, PSU too?

arctic silencer and a seasonic 600w

Joe42 · 1 Feb 2007 at 22:56

Reality Bites said:
so do you think these coolink ones can be returned? They certainly aren't 11db!

Not for that reason, because they will have some fancy meaningless test method that gives them that figure. You can return them under distance selling as unwanted if its within 7 days of purchase and they are in as new condition. If all else fails flog em on that auction site.

i've got a raptor in there at the moment, but i'm taking that out cos of the noise. going to replace it with another 400gb samsung.

Personally i never compromise performance for low noise, have you considered a harddisk enclosure? I've found the raptor can be virtually silent in a decent harddisk enclosure. You would need a spare 5 1/4" bay though.

Definitely no problems with the gpu cooler/psu, they should be very quiet. I recommend you try a zalman, as i said compared to the nexus there was very little difference. They are very cheap too, for what they are. You will need to use the supplied resistor cable though, at full speed they aren't quiet. The airflow is still good with the resistor, comparable to the nexus.

Reality Bites · 2 Feb 2007 at 06:55

i'll have to sell them on then....not happy after just spending £25 on three fans to find that they are noisy as hell !

i'm not too fussed about performance anymore...i only use this machine for downloading, browsing and streaming videos/music etc.

which zalman fans should i look at?

WJA96 · 2 Feb 2007 at 08:52

Before you buy anymore fans - can I suggest you try one of the original 80mm Silverstone fans set to 5V down by the hard drives. I think that will do. You have good quiet cooling on the PSU and graphics. The other big heat source is going to be the hard drives. If you only have 1 hard drive then I'd even ditch that fan. Three 80mm fans are really not necessary unless you've stuffed that case full of passive hardware. The big side vents do a great job of allowing air over the motherboard and out through the PSU.

mnemonix · 2 Feb 2007 at 10:09

As WJA64 said... at least try some fan speed reduction cables, not even "quiet" fans are particularly quiet running at full speed and a good silent pc design will use a decent control setup to keep fan speeds at a minimum based on temperature.

Contrary to popular opinion Zalmans and Akasa Ambers aren't particularly quiet either - if you want to find out more about genuinely quiet fans I would suggest www.silentpcreview.com where they use rigorous test methods to measure sound levels and cfm.

As Joe42 suggested, Nexus 80mm fans, or as an alternative Noctua 80mm fans are a good bet, but they're even more expensive than what you have and if you are expecting silence you will still be disappointed, more so if you simply run them at full speed.

Legend · 2 Feb 2007 at 10:28

mnemonix said:
As WJA64 said...

That's WJA96 by the way...

Reality Bites, quiet fans will still be quite noisy when run at full speed. I have a few of the Scythe S-Flex 1200's, and my motherboard fan controller automatically keeps 2 of them running about 800rpm. When I turn off this speed control and let them run full speed, the noise difference is very noticeable.

I don't know what your total spec is, but the 600w PSU may be overkill. There is the 430w Seasonic S12 that I've just installed in a system for someone and it's almost inaudible. I've also installed the NT06-Lite cooler as you have, which is obviously fanless, and with your other components there, the source for noise would indeed appear to be the fans, with some contribution from the PSU possibly.

Definitely check out Silent PC Review, and use their forums to see what other peoples experiences have been.

Joe42 · 2 Feb 2007 at 16:01

mnemonix said:
Contrary to popular opinion Zalmans and Akasa Ambers aren't particularly quiet either.

I've never tried the ambers but i directly compared a nexus with a zalman 80mm and with the supplied resistor the zalman was on par with the nexus. Considering the price difference, i'm recommending the zalmans.

Reality Bites said:
which zalman fans should i look at?

The ZM-F1 is what you want. There were some other versions but i think they are all being phased out and replaced by these.

Reality Bites · 2 Feb 2007 at 19:08

all the fans i've installed are running at 900rpm....they sound quite rattly

I've got 2 hard disks in there so i think i'll keep the fan there, but i'll change it back to sucking the air out as i think the noise if from the draft against the case.

I know the 600w psu is a little overkill, but i had it from an atx machine and can't really justify selling it to buy a new, lesser power one.

how can i 5 volt mod them all?

i think the fan controllers only turn them down to 7v?

WJA96 · 2 Feb 2007 at 20:37

Reality Bites said:
how can i 5 volt mod them all?

The Silverstone ones are 4-pin and therefore are dead easy to 5V or even 7V mod if you like.

Reality Bites said:
i think the fan controllers only turn them down to 7v?

The three biggest heat sources in your case are covered (CPU/Graphics/PSU) by quiet fans already.

If I recall correctly then the AC cooler fan doesn't vent or draw air from outside the case, it uses air from inside the case and vents it out inside the case so I would say the the standard fan at 5V at the front blowing in and the standard fan (5V modded) blowing out at the back should keep that side balanced and just leave the PSU fan to draw air through the side vents.

I really don't see what the third central fan adds to the system in terms of airflow in or out.

Reality Bites · 2 Feb 2007 at 22:56

the standard silverstone fans are 3 pin.....how do i 5v them?

Joe42 · 3 Feb 2007 at 00:01

Reality Bites said:
the standard silverstone fans are 3 pin.....how do i 5v them?

Like this.

Although obviously don't just poke the wires in, you would need a molex connector to solder them on to.

Personally i find that too much faffing about so i usually buy resistor cables. You may have some options in the bios to lower the rpm, most bioses do.

WJA96 · 3 Feb 2007 at 06:08

Reality Bites said:
the standard silverstone fans are 3 pin.....how do i 5v them?

Really? I've had 2 Sugo's, and an SJ-08 and they all had 4-pin connectors. Shame. Yes, you'll need to buy a step-down cable I'm afraid.