Quiet system for those sensitive to noise?

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BlueWeasel

BlueWeasel

Lifer
Jun 2, 2000
15,944
475
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I'm putting together a dual-core system for a friend of mine who has an inner ear condition that makes him sensitive to even slight noises. He's got a relatively quiet (to me) Dell system now, but he says the noise does get to him sometimes.

This will be his system at work for engineering and basic CAD design, so stability, speed, and minimal noise are priorities. He doesn't game and the system will never be overclocked.

Here's what I'm looking at putting together:

Antec P150
Seasonic 430W PSU
AMD X2 4200+
GeForce 7600GS 256MB (fanless)
MSI Neo4 NF4 939 board

Other quiet PC changes:
CPU: Replace the stock AMD 80mm fan with a Panaflo L1A
Northbridge: Replace the whiny NB fan with the Zalaman passive heatsink
Front case fans: Use 2 Nexus Ultra Silent 92mm fans for the front intake
Rear case fan: The stock Antec 120mm Tricool fan should be sufficient

The computer will be put into a wooden cabinet (with doors), so that plus the P150 should be silent for someone sitting 4 feet away. I had initially planned on getting the P180 case, but it's just slightly bigger than his cabinet and the P150 seems to be just as quiet.
 
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Shadowknight

Diamond Member
May 4, 2001
3,959
3
81
If he's willing to blow the cash on an $1,100 case, Zalman makes a passive one. Hush sells computers (not just the case) that are completely passive A few things as to your parts:

CPU cooler: get a Scythe Ninja. You can run it passively, not noise to worry about.
HD: Get a laptop hard drive recommended over at SPCR, they're quieter than any 3.5 drive. Get a Smartdrive 2002C to enclose it it, then rest it on foam at the bottom. The rubber bands in the P150 have been known to fail, so I wouldn't use them, personally.
Dampning: Get some Acoustipack v.2, apply to as many places as possible in the case
Fans: Get a fan controller and a Nexus fan. NO front fans. You don't need them, and it's more noise he would have to deal with.
Consider a P180, as it has a door to block out direct noise. The walls are thicker than the P180, acting at least as a TINY benefit vs. the dampning built into the P150. Put the Acoustipack (mentioned above) as many place as possible, including the interior of the door, to help absorb noise from CD-ROMS spinning and noise from air being sucked into the case - Whoops, scratch that, since it won't fit into his cabinet. Oh, well. Still, consider putting foam inside the cabinet to help suck up cavity resonance.
Fan Mounting: Get some Verax rubber sticks to help prevent vibrations from being transmitted to the case
Northbridge: Sounds fine

Should be fine with those changes. Good luck for your friend.
 
Zap

Zap

Elite Member
Oct 13, 1999
22,377
7
81
I agree with Shadowknight regarding Scythe Ninja. Good choice on the fanless video card. Perhaps consider a motherboard that's fanless to begin with.

Speaking of fans, consider ditching ALL the case fans, and then using a single undervolted Yate Loon (or a Nexus) 120mm fan on the Scythe Ninja, and ducting it to the rear case fan spot.

Though notebook drives are quieter, I'm not sure about their performance relative to any average desktop drive plus personally I wouldn't be able to deal with their lower capacity. I'd say that a drive which is completely decoupled and inside a case which is inside a wooden cabinet would be quiet enough. Just do some research and choose a drive that you can change the seek strategy - some can and some can't. The point is slightly slower seeks, BUT the seeks become near inaudible to most.
 
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aidanjm

Lifer
Aug 9, 2004
12,411
2
0
how many drives will the system contain? they can be a big source of noise. the p150 allows you to suspend up to 3 drives in the 3.5 inch hard drive area. Drive suspension can make a big difference in the amount of vibration passed from the drives into the case (which causes irritating noise). I use a 2.5 inch Samsung notebook drive as my operating system drive. They are much quieter than the standard 3.5 inch drive. Idle and read/ write seeks are pretty much inaudible. Then I add in a couple of SATA 3.5 inch drives for data storage. The operating system drive is the drive that gets thrashed the most, e.g., it's accessed every time you open up a program or load a new page in the web browser, etc. So there is more potential for irritating noise. So I think it is important to use a 2.5 inch drive for the operating system and programs. Data drives can be 3.5 inch, as you tend to access these drives only sporadically.

I don't think you need two fans at the front and another fan at the rear. Probably only need 1 fan up front, 1 rear (plus the fan in PSU). A front fan will drop drive temps by 10 degrees. You probably don't absolutely need it - but for that extra bit of security and safety I think it is a good idea. If you undervolt the front fan and rear fan (e.g., using a zalman fanmate) they will be pretty much inaudible anyway.
 
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A5

Diamond Member
Jun 9, 2000
4,902
5
81
I'd recommend a different motherboard - the stock fan on the MSI screams like no other, and you'd have to modify any passive unit to avoid the video card.

If he can still hear a Dell, then you really don't have a lot of acoustic room to have anything above 1 120mm fan. This means no case fans at all, just a fan on the CPU heatsink...
 
BlueWeasel

BlueWeasel

Lifer
Jun 2, 2000
15,944
475
126
Thanks for the advice, guys.

Scythe Ninja: I've heard the P150 is a tight fit, and was afraid that a HS having the size of the Ninja wouldn't work. Also, using a X2 4200+, would running it passively provide adequate cooling? I'm not concerned about ultra-low temperatures -- I just want the processor to be stable at the stock speed.

Internal drives: There's only going to be a single 250GB SATA 3.5" drive. I've heard good things about the WD KS drives and Seagate drives are always whisper quiet.

I've read that the Zalman NB cooler will work on the MSI board without interferring with the video card, but with it being such a tight fit, it might not. What's a recommended NF4/939 board that is fanless?
 
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alpha88

Senior member
Dec 29, 2000
877
0
76
I use a ASUS SLI-Premium, which is passively cooled.

I find my 120mm Late Yoons to be totally slilent inside my case (and I have good hearing).

If you can get the Scythe to fit, you would be able to do with a single fan in my opinion.
 
Zap

Zap

Elite Member
Oct 13, 1999
22,377
7
81
If you're going for the Scythe Ninja and you see this in time, Newegg has it (with a 120mm fan) for $38.99 with free shipping as an 8 hour special. Pricing probably ends at 5pm today (Thursday 5/4).
 
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dBTelos

Golden Member
Apr 17, 2006
1,858
0
0
If the Ninja is near the exhaust, then you can do w/o a fan on the HS even with the 4400+ on there. For the HDD, maybe look at this or this.
 
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zagood

Diamond Member
Mar 28, 2005
4,102
0
71
Be careful with it in a wooden cabinet, easy for those to clog up with hot air. If you need to cut it, cut a hole on the bottom for intake, and on the back right where the exhaust fan(s) of the case is/are going to be pointing. Duct the exhaust (both case and PSU) out of the cabinet if he's not going to be moving the machine around very much.

-z
 
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aidanjm

Lifer
Aug 9, 2004
12,411
2
0
Originally posted by: BlueWeasel
Internal drives: There's only going to be a single 250GB SATA 3.5" drive. I've heard good things about the WD KS drives and Seagate drives are always whisper quiet.
Click to expand...

that's crazy. :p why not add a cheap 20 Gb or 30 Gb notebook drive for the operating system. Gives a less noisy system, also gives better performance in my opinion when the data and OS/ programs are on separate drives.
 
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aidanjm

Lifer
Aug 9, 2004
12,411
2
0
Originally posted by: BlueWeasel
Scythe Ninja: I've heard the P150 is a tight fit, and was afraid that a HS having the size of the Ninja wouldn't work. Also, using a X2 4200+, would running it passively provide adequate cooling?
Click to expand...

The Ninja isn't really passive in the p150, because (depending to some extent on your motherboard) it sits right near the rear 120 mm fan and right underneath the PSU (get a PSU with a 120 mm fan, which will be positioned just above the Ninja).
 
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dBTelos

Golden Member
Apr 17, 2006
1,858
0
0
aidanjm, you can always create a OS partition to give that 20-30GB effect your/OP is looking for.
 
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aidanjm

Lifer
Aug 9, 2004
12,411
2
0
Originally posted by: dBTelos
aidanjm, you can always create a OS partition to give that 20-30GB effect your/OP is looking for.
Click to expand...

not really, if you are looking for silence/ are irritated by noise, the 2.5 inch notebook drive is preferred, because it doesn't make anywhere near as much noise as a standard 3.5 inch drive.
 
BlueWeasel

BlueWeasel

Lifer
Jun 2, 2000
15,944
475
126
He's not as sensitive to random HD seeking noise compared to the continuous buzz of a fan. Besides, he'd much rather sacrafice a little HD noise for speed and capacity. The smaller notebook drives can't provide that.
 
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Bobthelost

Diamond Member
Dec 1, 2005
4,360
0
0
Hard drives should be samsung spinpoints, very quiet.

NOT barracudas, after around the 7200.5 time they stopped being classed as quiet. WD might be alright, but they are not the low noise drive of choice (with the exception of the raptors, which for some reason are rather liked by SPCR)
 
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dBTelos

Golden Member
Apr 17, 2006
1,858
0
0
Originally posted by: aidanjm
Originally posted by: dBTelos
aidanjm, you can always create a OS partition to give that 20-30GB effect your/OP is looking for.
Click to expand...

not really, if you are looking for silence/ are irritated by noise, the 2.5 inch notebook drive is preferred, because it doesn't make anywhere near as much noise as a standard 3.5 inch drive.
Click to expand...

I wasn't talking about quietness. I was talking about ruducing seek times by making a 20-30GB primary partition for the OS to reduce seek times by putting the OS on the inner cylinders, because you also said to buy a 30GB notebook drive because quietness AND because they are smaller so performance is better. Which is what the above is correcting.
 
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dBTelos

Golden Member
Apr 17, 2006
1,858
0
0
Originally posted by: Bobthelost
Hard drives should be samsung spinpoints, very quiet.

NOT barracudas, after around the 7200.5 time they stopped being classed as quiet. WD might be alright, but they are not the low noise drive of choice (with the exception of the raptors, which for some reason are rather liked by SPCR)
Click to expand...

Just to make sure I remember why.. isn't this because Seagate was the first to use Fluid Dynamic Bearings in their HDDs, so they were quietest for a while. Then WD, Samsung, etc started using FDBs and the playing field was even again, right?
 
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Bobthelost

Diamond Member
Dec 1, 2005
4,360
0
0
Originally posted by: dBTelos
Originally posted by: Bobthelost
Hard drives should be samsung spinpoints, very quiet.

NOT barracudas, after around the 7200.5 time they stopped being classed as quiet. WD might be alright, but they are not the low noise drive of choice (with the exception of the raptors, which for some reason are rather liked by SPCR)
Click to expand...

Just to make sure I remember why.. isn't this because Seagate was the first to use Fluid Dynamic Bearings in their HDDs, so they were quietest for a while. Then WD, Samsung, etc started using FDBs and the playing field was even again, right?
Click to expand...

I think so, but i also get the feeling that seagate took a bit of time to improve the acoustics, as a feature to sell thier drives on. Even with FDB there is a fair bit of difference between different drives and manufacturers. (Pass in other words ;))

Incidentally i heard that seagate were planning a new range of HDs designed to be very quiet, but as far as i know it's just a rumour.
 
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dBTelos

Golden Member
Apr 17, 2006
1,858
0
0
Oh I understand that the capasity, RPM, cache, etc are not the only differences from drive to drive, I ijust thought that the FDBs kind of put Seagate in the lead for a while.
 
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