Silent rig

eracer2006 · 21 Apr 2007 at 04:51

currently i have

antec 900 - 2 front fans, one 120mm fan, and 1 40mm(iirc) in the back
ocz psu with a blue neon fan in the top
tt120
HIS graphics card, again with a fan.

I want a silent system, and one where i can turn it off without any lights emmiting.

So what are the best silent fans for me to get to replace all that.

PSU and gfx i guess need to stay the same, and i could turn off the fan in the heatsink.

also, can i get a side panel for the antec 900 that is like the otherside - window and gril-less ?

w3bbo · 21 Apr 2007 at 06:35

Replace the case fans with Noctua or Yate Loons.

Your Psu will probably have an 80mm fan not 40mm - you can either replace the fan to a quieter version (voiding the warranty and risk of electricution) or buy a new psu with a 120/140mm fan such as the seasonic and corsair range which seem to be quiet.

Your CPU heatsink needs a fan unless it is designed to be run without one. Replace the heatsink with a sythe Ninja or Tuniq Tower( both can run fanless).

You can also replace the stock fan on the graphics card - depending on the model to a quieter version.

....Or you could simply watercool the lot

eracer2006 · 25 Apr 2007 at 03:40

the idea of water + £1200 of equipment that i cant afford to replace still bothers me immensly!

WJA96 · 25 Apr 2007 at 06:22

Just sell that case. Nothing with that many fans in it will ever be quiet.

You should also consider a silent CPU cooler like the Thermalright HR-01

The system in the picture is genuinely silent - the only noises that can be heard are the HDD and optical disk drive when they are running. There are two 120mm fans running at 5V. The one on the back is an intake and pushes air through the HR-01 cooler, the one on the front is an AC Fan 12 and blows outwards.

The GPU cooler is a silent AC Accelero X1. Any 2 120mm fan case can be set up like this (the case in the picture is a Jeantech Fado but the Akasa Zen is identical internally).

As far as I know, there is no solid side panel option for the Antec 900 Gamer case.

SiriusB · 25 Apr 2007 at 13:09

eracer2006 said:
the idea of water + £1200 of equipment that i cant afford to replace still bothers me immensly!

Watercooling kits are really high quality these days and the chances of a leak are pretty slim. Also, for those who are really worried, I believe you can buy non-conducting fluid for watercooling. So even if the worst did happen it wouldn't blow your parts.

copsey · 25 Apr 2007 at 13:54

The mCubed BigNG fan controller is incredibly effective at controlling noise. If you have a lot of fans you can keep them under control and have them ramp up automatically as the temperature increases - 4 channels of independant temperature -> fan speed control.

And the noctuas are near silent at full speed anyway. Far noisier is the PSU fan even in the quiet PSUs, such as the seasonic.

WJA96 · 25 Apr 2007 at 14:36

SiriusB said:
Watercooling kits are really high quality these days and the chances of a leak are pretty slim. Also, for those who are really worried, I believe you can buy non-conducting fluid for watercooling. So even if the worst did happen it wouldn't blow your parts.

It's partly true - they don't leak very often and if you use the non-conductive fluid there isn't any great problem. The motherboard below worked fine after it had dried out and I just brushed the fluid residue off it with an old toothbrush.