Quiet Case (I'm talking damn near silent)

[nadthomas]

What products would you guys recommend to keep a case silent using normal conventions( no water ). I am building a computer for someone and they want it as silent as possible. This system will never be overclocked and will not be put under much strain.
Tell me what i should use for the

1. PSU
2. CPU cooler
3. Additional case fans( if I find them to be necessary)

I would prefer to not have to modd any of the fans except for maybe droping them to 7V using a connector.

 

[Naythn]

1. I've heard that the new Antec PS units are quiet
2. The default P4 cooler is extremely quiet
3. Anything with a low dBa rating will be quiet ( probably < 30)

 

[tritium4ever]

There are "stealth" power supplies that use fans that are practically silent. As well, you can equip your heatsink with a Vantec Stealth Fan, preferably in the 80mm version (the 60mm fan only outputs 12CFM, which is not enough to cool a modern processor). These same Vantec fans can be used in the case to provide excellent airflow with near silent operation. Granted, these quiet power supplies and fans aren't cheap, but the peace is well worth it. Heck, the only fans in my system are all at or below 35dBa and I'm still getting annoyed at the noise (granted, there are five such fans). Think of a quiet system as an investment in sanity!

 

[Phunktion]

I'd suggest going as low in db ratings as possible and any 30db components are not low in db enough if you want it to be quiet.. you need everything to be as low in db's as possible to begin with because sound adds up when multiple components come into play.. sure one 30db fan is not so loud but add another and maybe another and the sound gets far louder..

Hard Drive choice is THE most important thing with a quiet setup.. these suckers have the most annoying and loud whine once everything else is quieted down.. the one and only suggestion right now is the Seagate Barracuda IV.. they are the most quiet, practically silent drives around and are reasonably fast.. trust me if you get any other drive you'll regret it down the line as the whine seems to get louder as you modify the PC further to make it quieter..

PSU's.. personally I'd suggest an adjustable fan Dual Fan PSU like an Enermax as it can probably be set to really low levels.. personally I went with a single fan 300W Sparkle PSU and replaced it's fan with a Panaflo L1A..

CPU cooler.. I'd go with an Alpha PAL8XXX (not sure if you're system is P4 or XP) but definitely go with this cooler.. for the 80mm fan it uses I suggest an Enermax Adjustable fan to keep the setup flexible.. or a Panaflo L1A may suffice..

Fans.. for the quietest go with Papst fans.. if you can't afford that then get some Panaflo L1A's, Vantec Stealth's, or Enermax Adjustable fans..

 

[nnnyyy]

I just recently finished building a system and I am very satisfied with the noise level.
For the case, I went with a lian li pc65. It has 2 ADDA 80mm intake fans (which are almost inaudible at the lowest speed setting) and 1 80mm exhaust fan.
For the PS, I went with the new antec true power series. It has dual fans and runs MUCH quieter than the enermax ones. It also has 2 molex connectors for FAN ONLY that are both temperature controlled.
For the heatsink, the retail p4 northwood fan is real quiet. Otherwise if you have an athlon, go with any 80mm heatsink (alpha, ax7, svc).

Im pretty certain that this combo is as silent as it gets without any mods or "premium" parts.

 

[Neurofreeze]

Those new Vantec Stealth fans look very nice. The 80mm one in particular has good specs. There are some better Pabst fans, but some Pabst models (particularly, the ones I want...) are impossible to find State-side, and ALL Pabst fans are insanely expensive. The Vantec Stealth looks like good compromise, I've seen them for about 8-10USD each; 80mm 21dB 26CFM. I haven't seen any testing on just how accurate those specs are though, but if they're off, they're probably not off by much (unlike the PCP&C silent fans).

For some quick dB math, 10dB increase is a doubling of percieved sound. Two uncorrelated sources of equal dB combined results in a 3dB increase. So two of those fans plus a Barracuda IV (24dB for the 60-80GB drives if I remember correctly) would make 27dB total, you could add another four of those fans and it'd still add up to only 30dB. That would probably be your most ideal yet not insanely expensive setup. Also, I'd suggest either the Alpha8045 or the Thermalright AX-7 for your heatsinks if you're going AMD. Or the Alpha8942 if you're going Intel.

If you're REALLY REALLY REALLY cheap, Panaflo L1A's are around $3 without the $1 tail. They're 21dB but only 24CFM. Piece of crap. But they're quiet and cheap.

Generally, 35dB is considered the max suitable level of noise for a PC in an office type of environment. So for home, especially for bedrooms, I'd aim for <30dB. I've heard that the stock P4 fan is something like 30dB by itself.

Oh, and I'd also suggest getting a one fan PSU and replacing the fan. The Enermax is pretty quiet for a PSU with two fans, but it still has two fans. Although, I still personally went with an Enermax for my quiet rig, so it's definitely do-able.

 

[joinT]

<< Hard Drive choice is THE most important thing with a quiet setup.. these suckers have the most annoying and loud whine once everything else is quieted down.. the one and only suggestion right now is the Seagate Barracuda IV.. they are the most quiet, practically silent drives around and are reasonably fast.. trust me if you get any other drive you'll regret it down the line as the whine seems to get louder as you modify the PC further to make it quieter.. >>



AGREED 100% - Only now after equiping practically all my rigs w/ Cuda 4's - do I notice fan noise...
I also have to agree that the P4 stock hsf is very quiet & efficient.

Get the biggest case fan u can if u decide to use one & run it at 7v.

 

[Bryan1129]

If you want quiet you should be looking for db's of around 20/21 not <30.

Panaflo L1A's are pretty quiet and cheap for case or cpu fans.

You can also mod an old power supply with a Panaflo to make it quiet (that's what I did).

Keep in mind hard drives make noise too - so a Seagate Barracuda IV is good.

 

[yakko]

Queit PC has some nice case fans.

 

[spanner]

In my opinion these are the best fans available as far as noise goes, the price went up a tad but you get free fan screws and thermal grease . These things do not dissapoint, even better would be to use rubber isolator mounts for the fans

http://www.pcpowercooling.com/products/alarmandaccesories/silencerfan/

these guys also make super quiet power supplies but they cost way too much. I have an enermax whisper 465 and I can guarantee its quiet, I heard Antec make some quiet ones too.

CPU fan wise I don't reallt know, Zalman makes fanless ones but I have no idea how well they cool, basically make sure its much less then 30dB.

Lastly the case: go for one with fan grills and not just holes, these things make the most noise in my setup but overall its still pretty quiet

 

[hmsrolst]

RE PSU's I think the Enermax Whispers are anything but. If you don't want to mod, I'd go with a PC Power and Cooling 275W Silencer unless you really think you need 300W. I haven't used the Antec True Power PSU'S, but people do say they're quieter than Enermax also.

 

[Bakwetu]

PSU-Zalman ST300BLP <25dBA
CPU cooler- For athlon Alpha 8045 or thermalright ax7 with a silent 80 mm fan such as Papst 8412NGL 12db, 19.4 cmf. For P4 Alpha PAL8942
Casefans- papst again 80mm 19db, 26 cmf. I'm thinking about buying a compucase 6919 and put one or two papst fans in the front and a 120 mm papst 55.3CFM, 26dBa with a potentiometer at the back

 

[Jhhnn]

The first order of business is a case that breathes well- something that lets air flow thru easily, with open airways front and rear. An Antec sx-635 will do nicely, or a sx-8XX or 10XX if you want it that big. The Enermax clones are also good, don't buy one of the clones with Enhance psu- decent psu, but noisy. They're all the same basic Chenming boxes, just trimmed out differently. It's the bezel and grille design that sets them apart from others- they practically cool themselves, there's so little resistance to airflow.

The Antec and Enermax psu's are relatively quiet, while the Zalmans are supposedly very quiet. Siliconacoustics sells an open frame 300w psu that doesn't require a fan at all. It's not standard size, though, and make sure you're sitting down when you see the price....

Either a P4 or AthlonXP will run a lot hotter than your P3, so a really big heatsink is required in order to use a quiet fan. The 8XXX Alphas are among the best, as is the AX-7 and the AVC Sunflower. They'll all allow the use of quiet low power fans, like the L1a panaflos, PCP&C Silencers, some Papst and Adda models. Any of them also make for quiet case fans. On the cheap side, the GC68 from SVCompucycle and others is quiet, too, just not as quiet. Avoid boards and vidcards with chipset fans- they're usually cheap and noisy.

The Seagate Barracuda IV's are supposedly the quietest HDD's- haven't tried one yet.

Have fun, noisy computers are miserable

 

[NewCompGeek]

Remember that an addiontal case fan of the same DBA will increase the TOTAL by 3 DBA

Example: (2) Panaflow L1A 20dba TOTAL = 23

 

[Tranquility]

I'd recommend the following setup:

Quietpc.com power supply unit
low wattage cpu + passive heatsink cooling
low wattage graphic card + passive heatsink cooling
Fanless motherboard
Seagate Barracuda ATA4 + Quietpc SilentDrive

or if you want it even more quiet there is a company selling passive liquid cooling
the case looks kinda cheesy but this thing uses no fan calmpc.com

 

[alpineranger]

The best thing I did to quiet down my case was to replace my old hard drive with a Seagate Barracuda IV. It's unbelievably quiet for a performance hard drive. A not so close second place in the quiet hard drive department would go to the D740X ("L") Maxtor with the Fluid Drive Bearings. I've also purchased these (for friends and family), and in my experience is often a faster drive than the Barracuda IV. At idle, either of these drives is quiet enough for me, but the Seagate in low noise mode (slower seeks) is basically inaudible at all times.

 

[greg]

Ditto the seagate, I have 4 80gb in my system and I swear to God I could bite down hard on them when they are thrashing and not feel a thing.

I replaced the enermax whisper fans with two panaflo L1A's, another in the front for the HDs. Extremely quiet. The damned CPU cooing fan is the loud thing now...OEM AMD cooler.

 

[mandrake88]

get a full tower case and replace all the fans with panaflo or sanyo.
get the fans here:
http://www.allelectronics.com

the sanyos have speed sensors the pana's do not.

 

[greg]

>> replaced the enermax whisper fans with two panaflo L1A's, another in the front for the HDs. Extremely quiet. The damned CPU cooing fan is the loud thing now...OEM AMD cooler.

I have since replaced the oem crap fan with a newegg 60-80mm adpater and I simply placed an adjustable 80mm fan from newegg in there and my temp have not changed more than 1C. I adjusted the 80mm until I could not hear it anymore and off I went. The systemis nearly dead quiet. My chipset fan broke on my 8kha+ so I just left it off. 3 months later and no problems or even a hot heatsink. Very very quiet and on the quick side.