help with building a silent pc

[cnfusionisnxt]

Hi can anyone help more i'm looking for recommendations for building a silent pc. My specs are AMD athlon x2 6000 with stock cooler, 4gig ram, 500g hd, radeon 4670, sony blu ray player and sony dvd rewriter. I'm not so bothered about a htpc case but am looking for something better than the budget case i have as it sounds like a jet engine and intrudes when i'm listening to music and watching movies. I'm no expert and would value any recommendations of cases to buy, looked at lots of reviews but non the wiser really.

Thanks, Lewis.

 

[koshling]

http://www.silentpcreview.com/

Personally I love my P182 (would go P183 now for a new build)

 

[imported_Scoop]

Originally posted by: koshling
http://www.silentpcreview.com/

Personally I love my P182 (would go P183 now for a new build)

Just don't use the top fan on P183 and it's great.

But I second that you should go to the SPCR site and take a look at their latest reviews. They usually contain comparables to the top 'performers'.

 

[cnfusionisnxt]

Went to http://www.silentpcreview.com. Went with your reccomendation koshling got a p183 on order now.

Thanks for your help!

 

[aigomorla]

just remember silent and overclocking doesnt play very nice together.

Your gonna need to compromise some of 1 for the other.

 

[imported_Scoop]

Originally posted by: aigomorla
just remember silent and overclocking doesnt play very nice together.

Your gonna need to compromise some of 1 for the other.

That's why I like SPCR's heatsink reviews which focus on low airflow rather than having a jet engine blowing at it.

Personally I don't give a dam what my system sounds like when I have my headphones on and playing Crysis. Having a silent system while idle is my main priority, though certainly my case of choice is suboptimal. But I have a budget to consider.

 

[Zap]

Hello cnfusionisnxt, and welcome to Anandtech forums.

It is not very easy to build a "silent" PC using normal components. However, it is possible to build a "so-quiet-I-can't-hear-it-unless-I'm-specifically-listening-for-it" PC.

Beyond the new case (I would have gotten an Antec Solo instead of the P183 based on your component list) you will want to replace the CPU heatsink with a quiet aftermarket unit. Most of the big "tower heatpipe" style heatsinks can be fairly quiet if you run the fan on low, while still doing a better job than the stock unit. If you have a chipset fan you will want to replace it with an aftermarket unit as well. Finally, the video card fansink might need replacement with something like an Arctic Cooling Accelero S2.

Once you start down the slippery slope of making your system quiet you will start to notice all the parts of your computer that makes noise. For instance, make your CPU fan quieter, then your video card inherits the title of noisiest part. Once all your fans are quiet, your hard drive ends up being noisiest. Enjoy the ride.

 

[Zepper]

One of the recent CoolerMaster cases was quieter than expected per a review I saw. Plus it's a relatively inexpensive midTower box.

.bh.