Quiet PC build please help!?

lancer

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I need, ok i want to build another pc, but this time i'm going to actually think it through correctly. first off i need all my componants to be ultra quiet, from the fans to the harddrive to the dvd drive to the HSF to the psu.. I don't want to hear them at all...BUT, they all still need to be powerful enough to cool my comp down. This is the basic outlay

CPU: Duo 2 cpu (undedermined speed)
Mem: you choose, will need to be ddr2
PSU: 500w +
DVD: actually already have it
HD: 300gb + x2
mobo: whats best?
case: again you guys choose (this actually will be used on my old pc as the new one will use the old case....)
GPU: again help me out here

I'm going to be doing some shopping myself.... any ideas and help will be useful, i'm thinking like $800 right now to spend, as a guesstimate.
 
Sorry it took me so long to get back to this thread...

But you really need to register here if you are serious about this - these guys know their stuff (though when we say SILENT they can get a bit obsessive about it).

I will share ONE thing with you - avoid the Nexus Breeze case and update the thread with the sort of power you seek for your GPU (an old AGP ATI 9600 can be passively silenced - I have one and it has been rock solid).
Also I commend Tagan PSU (or derivatives made by them internally) to you. Let us know how it goes...
 
I plan to build a machine that is powerful and silent, ok its doesn't need to be 0db, but as quiet as possible.
 
I went to several of these sites when I wanted to have a top notch performing PC, I eventually went with something that had a medium Noise level because I could NOT get the power I wanted out of the machine without noise, it was simply NOT possible without spending a few hundred extra on a water-cooled system.

Look here for fans... http://www.silenx.com/ I have them very quiet for the CFM of air they move, not as silent as they claim but EXCELLENT for the price.

http://www.buildsilentpc.com/
These guys show step by step the considerations you should take into account when bulding a silent PC...

http://www.endpcnoise.com/
These guys are almost as good as what MFG showed the link to, many GREAT parts/pieces to get what you need, although, I doubt you will get the kind of performance you want at the price range you are asking...

EDIT: I almost forgot, unless MFG knows the US equivalent name or sub-company to Tagan, I doubt you will get a Tagan PSU here in the states, I Looked and looked and did not find a distributor... they will ship from the UK but be prepaired to pay heavy shipping fees..

More Links:
http://www.hardcoreware.net/reviews/review-118-1.htm
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,1950230,00.asp
http://www.siliconacoustics.com/ Never used... but looks good...

If you like what you find...
<---- You know what to do :laugh:
 
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If you want fast video forget quiet unless you go water cooling and that gets messy if you're thinking dual vid cards someday.

Aside from that the noisiest part will be the case fans. As said above look for a case that takes 120 mm fans and has solid side covers.

Next step is going to be sound insulat the inside of the case to absorb the gpu noise. I use cork. Foam rubber is supposed to be better but finding it may be hard. Roll cork is sold for in hardware and hobby supply stores. There are precut foam kits for some cases but they are not cheap.
 
If you want fast video forget quiet unless you go water cooling and that gets messy if you're thinking dual vid cards someday.

Aside from that the noisiest part will be the case fans. As said above look for a case that takes 120 mm fans and has solid side covers.

Next step is going to be sound insulat the inside of the case to absorb the gpu noise. I use cork. Foam rubber is supposed to be better but finding it may be hard. Roll cork is sold for in hardware and hobby supply stores. There are precut foam kits for some cases but they are not cheap.

Passive cooling works fine even on some of the fastest video cards out there, the downside is the heat sinks used are soo heavy they may bend your card or cause slot problems later...

choose wisely, although water-cooling is the best advice...

and contrary to negative opinion water-cooling is the safest and easiest way to get the speed no one else can touch with little no NO noise...

Keep in mind water-cooling is NOT a fad, and is here to stay...

It has been used since the lat 80s and early 90s...
 
we may be moving to a place where the upstairs as the ac coming out of the floor, i could position my pc next to one of the vents connect tubing between that and the pc, and voila and a/ced pc, what ya think? :)
 
i may look into the water cooling, the budget was just a number i threw out, i can pretty much spend whatever.... although i am frugle with myself.
 
nVidia cards are silent. ATI's X1950 series is silent.

A limited number of TAGAN psus are sold by newegg.com. However you will largley be importing them from europe. If you have the money I recommend you do so.
 
why are they that good, anyway i should be going to england in sept, so i'll just pick one up.
 
we may be moving to a place where the upstairs as the ac coming out of the floor, i could position my pc next to one of the vents connect tubing between that and the pc, and voila and a/ced pc, what ya think? :)

if you have the noise of an AC system you need not even consider trying to take your PC below around 15 dba in my opinion - it will simply be lost in the background. So what you need is far closer to quiet than silent in this area - and this sound a good plan....

On the other hand if you are crazy enough to go wild with water cooling why not get truly funky and look into peltier - this is super cooling and silent (mains hum apart) which allows you to overclock insanely - only big drawback is bucks plus another box just for the cooling unit next to your PC. Should provide you with some entertaining googling though ;)
 
if you have the noise of an AC system you need not even consider trying to take your PC below around 15 dba in my opinion - it will simply be lost in the background. So what you need is far closer to quiet than silent in this area - and this sound a good plan....

On the other hand if you are crazy enough to go wild with water cooling why not get truly funky and look into peltier - this is super cooling and silent (mains hum apart) which allows you to overclock insanely - only big drawback is bucks plus another box just for the cooling unit next to your PC. Should provide you with some entertaining googling though ;)

While I agree that peltiers can aid in SUPER OVER CLOCKS, it comes with much more risk than water-cooling on it own, due to the ambient ai temperature vs how cold th cathode will be, even if you surrond the peltier with foam and sealant, you WILL get condensation...

TRUST ME ON THIS... I speak from experience, although I was lucky I didnt blow anything up...

Water-cooling is simply easier and the best cooling per $...

Mike A!
 
yeah i looked at that peltier, and i think not MFG!! :)

Can someone let me know what a good watercooling cost/quality system is.

I don't plan to overclock at all, so it will just be keeping my system cooler.

Or is water cooling pointless if you don't plan to o/c a system.
 
yeah i looked at that peltier, and i think not MFG!! :)

Can someone let me know what a good watercooling cost/quality system is.

I don't plan to overclock at all, so it will just be keeping my system cooler.

Or is water cooling pointless if you don't plan to o/c a system.

Yes and No...

If you like the fact that your system will be that harder to tell that it is running then a water-cooled system is by far the way to go...

Once you install a water-cooling system; particularly if you are also cooling the video card, you will only have need for (2) case fans... simply to keep air moving in and out of your case...

you can set these to turn at their slowest speed, so you will not hear them...

I would look at a ZALMAN Reserator setup which should cost you about $200 plus shipping...

I would venture to say that this water-cooling setup would benefit the over-clocker the most, but you will hardly hear anything coming from the PC anymore.

:D
 
You're better off aiming for quiet, not silent :)

Edit: It goes without saying but the quieter you want it, the less performance you will get from it, as a general rule of thumb, but itf you look into the engery efficient cpus from AMd or Intel you can gt a touch more perfomance.
 
...TRUST ME ON THIS... I speak from experience, although I was lucky I didnt blow anything up......!
we want a video! (The one where you DO blow something up maybe?) I actually knew about the condensations issues and find the whole peltier thing hilarious - hence my hint towards google fun...

The reserator is not only a sound solution - it is a neat piece of furniture (I have a sneaky feeling EP might have such a beast about - were there pics? /me awaits linkage ;) )
 
we want a video! (The one where you DO blow something up maybe?) I actually knew about the condensations issues and find the whole peltier thing hilarious - hence my hint towards google fun...

Well I was VERY lucky, my computer (with an ASUS mobo I might add)...
**Please excuse my selfish plug for ASUS**
Shut itself off saving me on the order of $400 for the processor alone...

I guess the condensation was shorting across two pins nad it would auto-shutdown

It was kewl that it didnt blow up, but I wasnt going to test to see which two pins were being shorted...

:D
 
heh you'd be suprised how water proof computers and such are these days :)

Why else do you think datacentres have water as a last ditch fire extiguishing measure??
 
heh you'd be suprised how water proof computers and such are these days :)

Why else do you think datacentres have water as a last ditch fire extiguishing measure??

Actually that is propaganda from the FSSA... they were the proponents of the 1992 mandate requiring sprinkler systems in all US buildings over one story or ANY building which previously had some form of water-sprinkler suppression system.

Their reasoning was flawed as well... they wanted to regain the strength they once had over the requirements for fire suppression since the use of HALON was banned after it was found to be carcinogenic...

Today we have halotron, and the fire suppression "experts" will tell you they will "help" with your planning and even "suggest" the companies to use.

The whole industry is a farce... it is almost as economical to follow off-site security back-ups and rebuild a data-center from scratch, then it is to place a water-suppression system in ANY data-center...

A little side note, I found all of this information out when I deployed to the middle east, I aided in choosing the Haloton system when the Fire Marshall INSISTED we use water, well guess what?

There is NO STANDARD... even the guidelines are only that, they can NOT enforce fire suppression standards even back here in the United States...

They simply put you on a "blacklist" and say they will not be held responsible.

I assisted in setting up the fire-suppression for the single largest forward deployed data-center any of the Co-Coms (CENTCOM, SOCOM, SOUTHCOM, EUCOM) has deployed forward of 22,500 square feet of data-center, totalling over 225000 cubic feet, consolidating all of US CENTCOMs assets.

The halotron systems are much more expensive but even an accidental release of the system ONE time, pays for itself for the amount of damage a water-based system would have cost in our data-center, without counting lifecycle replacements our data-center was based at 17 million dollars...

Yea let me place some water over that....

LOL

I dont THINK SO!!
 

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Also Hi EP and people. I found this place again while looking through a oooollllllldddd backup. I have filled over 10TB and was looking at my collection of antiques. Any bids on the 500Mhz Win 95 fix?
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Just did some crude math and I apparently joined almost 18yrs ago, how is that possible???
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