Dead Quiet PC?

[ViperVin2]

I am looking to make PC dead quiet, if that is even possible anymore. I am running an Athlon TBird 1.2GHz on Asus A7N266 with an EverCase Mid Tower Case (Case Link). I only use this computer for two things: downloading and burning Right now its on the loud side while I sleep since it has an Alpha PAL6035 w/Sanyo Denki Fan. The Sanyo Denki is supposed to be quiet, but I want to replace it with another HSF that would be very quiet. In addition to the HSF, I want to put a rear exhaust 80mm fan, just to keep the CPU around 50c.

So, which heatsink and 80mm fans should I get to keep the PC near dead quiet, all under ~ $30.

Thanks.

 

[screw3d]

Grab a Thermalright SK-7 from SVC and chooose any queit fan that u like.

Most probably you'll get spare change from $30.00 with this setup.

It still wont give u "Dead Quiet" though, but close!

 

[BG4533]

Once you quiet down your fans, you will probably hear noise you have never noticed before from your HD and PSU. With that said, it is not possible to make a silent computer. It is possible to make one you cannot hear from more than a foot or two away though. To achieve this goal you may have to go over the $30 a bit. The SK7 would be a good HS to use. SVCs 80mm NMBs will me cheap and keep you in your price range. The are not silent, but they are quieter than nearly all stock PSUs. For a little more money and a very quiet solution, you may want to take Panaflo L1As and run them at 5v or 7v. They will be silent, but will not flow much air.

 

[Batman5177]

a dead silent pc is possible but it will cost you a lot.

there are fanless PSU's, i think zalman makes them, and they're expensive.

there are solid-state hard drives, but they are expensive and rare, but they are totally silent. no motors, and your data is saved even when you power-off.

you'll probably have to run without a cd-rom drive.

you can buy one of those huge zalman flower heatsinks that dont require fans, but then dont count on overclocking.
zalman also makes passive chipset coolers and also the heatpipe video card cooler.

also, minize the number of case fans, and use only panaflo/nmb's.

see? it is possible if u want to try.

 

[PraetorianGuards]

Viper, I have the Zalman CNPS-6000Cu which is pretty darn quiet(running on an XP 2000+). However, it's ~35 so I guess that's over your price range. I would try to get the SVC GC-68. At $5 it can't be beat because it's super quiet and cools resonably well. You could then get a Zalman Northbridge heatsink for $6 and then maybe a 80MM panaflo. That would all be under $30 and would go a long way towards making your pc quiet. For near silent, you're probably going to have to invest in a new psu and vga card cooler. For a psu, I would personally recommend the Antec TruePower series. They are darn silent and are some of the most reliable psu's out there. However, the psu is about $70. But IMHO it's worth it, I upgraded to the Antec from a generic psu and it was like night and day. Anyway, hope this helps. Good luck!

 

[isaacmacdonald]

Cheapest way to go quiet:

1. Mod your existing PSU, replacing the existing 80mm with this-

2. If your existing CPU heatsink accepts 80mm fans, get the another one from directron, otherwise you'll also need a 60mm->80mm adapter. If standard speed yeilds more than sufficient cooling, consider grabing a potentiometer from radioshack ($2) and lowering the RPM slightly for even less noise.

3. Use zalmann passive cooling for your video card (between $15-25 depending on which one you need).

Obviously you should make sure you aren't using active cooling for the northbridge. The last noise culprit will be your HD. If you have an old HD consider upgrading to a new seagate or western digital.

The thing to note is that ambient heat will increase a bit when you use the quiet fans (less cfm). Make absolutely sure that your case is well ventilated. If you have any problems, try using a dremel to allow the heat to escape a little more easily. And absolutely DO NOT use any kind of noise control padding or insulation. It is exceedingly counterproductive (rasies case temp tremendously but only lowers sound slightly).

I can't say enough about the directron fans (link above). I have 2 of the pabst 12dbs, and the directrons are certainly as quiet (if not more quiet) and come in about 1/2 price.

It is possible to construct a completely silent computer, but the price will be much more steep.

 

[pelikan]

I would recommend reading at SilentPcReview. They have great guides and forums.