Silent PC Challenge: <$2000, Custom, No Water - Need Help :-)

[lysisergic]

Hello everyone. Long time reader, been out of the pc game for about 4 years now, and am getting back into it. My long standing pet peeve has been pc noise, and I am commited to building as quiet a PC as I can while spending under 2k.

Three rules:
1) The system MUST support at least 3 DVI Monitors
2) No Water (I'm not that hardcore)
3) I am willing to sacrifice both money and performance in favor of added silence

Note: I have monitors, so disregard them.

If you "silent pc" experts out there can look over what's below, and help me out a bit, I pledge to return to this forum with a report of the end product for everyone to check out. This forum seems a bit quiet on the "silent custom builds" front, so no doubt it could use a good thread in that area.

Here is what I have so far (all on my own research thus far):

CPU/Heatsink: Zalman CNPS 9500
Ideally, I would love to have passive cooling on my CPU, but I doubt I can pull that off. I don't really care that much about speed, will likely go with an AMD 64 X2 4200+, unless there is something out there than runs cooler than this processor, allowing me to use some form of passive cooling? Anyone have experience with quieter CPU Heatsinks? FYI: I don't plan to overclock (much ;-) ).

Video Card(s): 2x Gigabyte GeForce 7600GT
A no-brainer it would seem. No noise, and 4 DVI monitors at once (in 2d). I don't want to spend more on a better card for one main reason: They have fans.

Computer Case: Gigabyte 3d Aurora
Probably the thing I am the least attached to, and the hardest thing for me to research. I could definitely use some advice here. I do not want a side or top vent. I do want a big case. My apt. is quite dusty.

Motherboard: ASUS M2N32-SLI Deluxe
Passively cooled (a must), and I want to use NVIDIA Chipsets, as I like to match my GPU and Chipset vendor. Seems like a real winner from Anand's latest review of it.

Case Fans: SilenX Intrema Pro
I am completely sold on a fan that pushes 60CFM at <14dBA. This seems to totally outperform the other popular option, the Yate Loon, which does 47CFM @ 28dBA

Power Supply: SilenX iXtrema Pro
600 Watt Power Supply using one of the fans above for the exhaust. SLI Certified.

Hard Drives: 2x WD Raptor 36.7BG 10k ATA150
Are these noisy? I could enclose them with a SilenX Luxurae HDSS if necessary. I like high performance, but if these are super noisy, I can get something cheaper. Any ideas? I don't need a ton of HD space.

Memory: 2x Corsair XMS2 1GB CAS:4
They have heatsinks, which is nice. The cooler my memory, the better. Must have 2 GB's total.

DVD Burner: Lite-On 16x/5x
Everyone seems to like this "LightScribe" stuff, so why not?

CD Burner: Lite-On 52x/32
Sticking with Lite-On for no particular reason, just staying consistent


This totals to about $1750, without shipping, so I have some room to wiggle if you guys suggest better, more silent components.

What do you think?

 

[Bobthelost]

Originally posted by: lysisergic
Case Fans: SilenX Intrema Pro
I am completely sold on a fan that pushes 60CFM at <14dBA. This seems to totally outperform the other popular option, the Yate Loon, which does 47CFM @ 28dBA

Power Supply: SilenX iXtrema Pro
600 Watt Power Supply using one of the fans above for the exhaust. SLI Certified.

Hard Drives: 2x WD Raptor 36.7BG 10k ATA150
Are these noisy? I could enclose them with a SilenX Luxurae HDSS if necessary. I like high performance, but if these are super noisy, I can get something cheaper. Any ideas? I don't need a ton of HD space.

What do you think?

Those fans are shite. The specifications are faulty to boot. If you want low noise then you want 1400rpm or less yate loon fans. If you want more air moved then just make a hole for a second 120mm exhaust fan.

The PSU is also sub optimal, either a Corsair 500W or a seasonic 500W would be more appropriate.

If you want better performance then go for a single 74GB raptor, it'll also be quieter than two drives and generate less heat. They are fairly quiet.


Other comments, the M32 is loosely based upon the A8N32 isn't it? In which case it's a real power hog, it does run passivly but it generates a hell of a lot of heat. Look at Lian Li or the antec P180 for your case.

 

[lysisergic]

Wow, that's a pretty strong diss against SilenX. I guess it was too good to be true. Anyone out there purchase and use this stuff?

The Yate Loon is pretty loud though (28 dBA for 47 CFM). How about these Scythe's?:
http://www.3dcool.com/product_info.php?cPath=66_90_94&products_id=1759

49 CFM, 1200 rpm, 20.1 dBA.

Thanks for the suggestion on 1 HD, you're right - less heat, less noise. duh. I was thinking of setting up a RAID, but might not be worth it for the noise/heat generated.

Why Lian Li? Are they silent?

Keep in mind I care mostly about silence, if the system runs hot (but runs), I am ok with that.

Thanks for the input.

 

[WobbleWobble]

Yate Loon and SilentX don't rate their fans the same way, nor do other fan manufacturers. There's no standard in measuring dBA, so you'll see some conservative ratings from some manufacturers while others rate them more aggressively. Buy one of each and you'll see what I mean.

The newer Raptors are quieter. They also have faster seek times, which is what makes HDDs feel faster.

While the CNPS 9500 is a fine heatsink, check out the Scythe Ninja and consider running that passively.

I agree with Bobthelost on his Seasonic PSU recommendation, as they are known to be the quietest fan cooled PSUs.

Check out www.silentpcreview.com and its forums for more component advice.

 

[dexvx]

1) Get a Core2 Duo E6300. At full load, it puts at half the power as an X2-3800, barely puts more power than the EE-SFF X2-3800, while offering about 30% more performance. Less power output = easier to cool = less noise.

2) A 21dBA fan is not necessarily "noiser" than a 20dBA fan. dBA is just a measure of pressure. The type of noise they generate determines how loud it is.

3) A single 7900GT might be easier to cool than 7600GT's in SLI. I know for sure 7600GT's in SLI eat more power, so an after-market cooler for the 7900GT should be able to cool it down to quiet levels. Performance wise, a 7900GT will stomp 7600GT-SLI any day.

4) Old Raptors suck. If you're going raptor get the newer 150GB ones. The older ones (4 years ago?) will get stomped by newer 7200 rpm SATA drives.

 

[letdown427]

Don't get SilenX. Honestly. Just, trust 'us'

Seasonic S12's are good 'silent' PSUs.

Yate Loon's are good fans. Nexus fans are late yoons with resistor's built in to keep rpm down. In all fairness, most 120mm fans will be damn quiet below 1000rpm.

Samsung Spinpoints are quiet hard drives. I'm not so sure the Raptor will be worth it really...

Heat is a bad thing for silence as you'll need fans to keep stuff cool and working...

Good luck either way. Make sure you tidy those wires etc for the last touches to keep it cool, and minimize noise from air turbulence etc.

Read SPCR aswell. All of it


Get a Scythe Ninja too, that's the best option for very low airflow conditions(very quiet conditions) If you go for a Core2Duo then it may not fit, either way, there're much better options than a Zalman IMO.

 

[diablofish]

Originally posted by: lysisergic
Wow, that's a pretty strong diss against SilenX. I guess it was too good to be true. Anyone out there purchase and use this stuff?

The Yate Loon is pretty loud though (28 dBA for 47 CFM). How about these Scythe's?:
http://www.3dcool.com/product_info.php?cPath=66_90_94&products_id=1759

49 CFM, 1200 rpm, 20.1 dBA.

Thanks for the suggestion on 1 HD, you're right - less heat, less noise. duh. I was thinking of setting up a RAID, but might not be worth it for the noise/heat generated.

Why Lian Li? Are they silent?

Keep in mind I care mostly about silence, if the system runs hot (but runs), I am ok with that.

Thanks for the input.

I've got the Scythe's and they are pretty quiet. The problem with my case (Silverstone TJ-05) is the hard drive rack is mounted tight to the front intake fan which causes a lot of noise due to the airflow through the small holes. One of these days I'm going to add more holes to improve the flow and reduce the noise.

 

[silverpig]

Two hard drives are twice as noisy as one... Go with a single 74 GB raptor. I have one and it's pretty quiet, but you can check out storagereview.com for their measurements.

 

[crt1530]

Those SilenX "stats" are bogus. It is not possible to push 60 cfm at 14 dBA unless you're taking the measurement from 10 meters away. Go to Silent PC Review and read up. The main thing you'll want to buy is some sort of fan controller to undervolt whatever fans you end up buying. I just purchased an Antec P180B. I'm going to buy the Zalman ZM-MFC1 and some 120mm Yate Loons. You can buy them for $3.99 ($3.49 if you buy >3) at Jab-Tech.com.

Stick with one hard drive. The antec P180, P150 and SOLO cases come with soft hard drive mounting systems that will prevent hard drive vibrations from spreading to the case and creating more noise. Those three cases are set up to be fairly quiet as is. Lian Li cases are very nice, but not as quiet as the Antecs I mentioned.

My picks would be the following:

CPU Heatsink: Scythe Ninja with one of the 120mm fans you're using in your case.

Video Card(s): Anything passive is silent.

Case: P180, P180B, P150, Antec SOLO are all very popular over at SPCR. The P180/P180B are larger than the P150/SOLO

Motherboard: A passive ASUS is a good idea for Intel or AMD.

Case Fans: I'm going to use the Yate Loons. The P180 has room for four 120mm case fans (not including whatever fan you put on your CPU heat sink). If you really want to spend $10 more per fan, do it, but it doesn't make sense to me. Regardless of which fans you buy, get a fan controller. Based on what I've read, I'm going with the Zalman, but I can't recommend it from experience.

PSU: Seasonic S12 models are highly regarded for low noise (the 500 and 600 watt models are SLI certified). I'm thinking of buying an Antec Phantom 500.

Hard Drive: Stick with one hard drive. The WD740GD I have is quieter than my older and slower Western Digital drives. If you really want to go all out and don't care about taking a performance hit, get a laptop drive.

Memory: Doesn't matter (noisewise).

 

[DaveSimmons]

Check out SilentPCReview.com articles and forums.

Antec Solo case (P150 variant)

Seasonic S12 PSU

Motherboard with heatpipe chipset cooling or thermalright HR-05 chipset HSF (not DFI they don't play nice with Seasonic)

Fanmate-undervolted Nexus fan for intake, Scythe or Nexus fan for exhaust

Scythe Ninja with Nexus 120mm fan

1 x 7900GT with Zalman videocard HSF (as fast as 2 x 7600GT) -- or possibly Artctic Cooling exhaust-style instead
Edit, missed this:
> 1) The system MUST support at least 3 DVI Monitors
You don't mention gaming, if you don't need gaming power you could get cheaper 2 x 7300GS from Asus or Gigabyte for under $60 each, both use passive cooling.

 

[smopoim86]

 

[Boztech]

You could always just buy this..

http://www.endpcnoise.com/cgi-bin/e/std/sku=p4_775pwrhouse.html

 

[Pabster]

The best "quiet" fans are Papst. But they're tough to find and expensive when you do.

 

[dawza]

Fans: Yate-Loon as stated by others previously are near-silent when undervolted. GlobalWin 120x25mm fans are excellent as well; CoolerMaster makes a UV-reactive 120x25mm fan that has received acclaim over at SPCR. Whatever fans you decide on, get a good fan controller- the three fans mentioned undervolt pretty well on PWM or on a resistor, some fans do not like PWM.

No need to spend the $$$ on Nexus or Scythe when cheaper options will work just as well. And never rely on advertised specs- your best bet is to read fan reviews/feedback over at SPCR.

Heatsink: The Zalman is decent, but overpriced compared to its peers. An SI-120 with a 120mm fan spinning at <800RPM will work just fine. Or, a Ninja with a slow-spinning fan (or possibly even fanless). Either can be found for ~$35 + shipping.

Video cards: You can get a single PCIe passive card, and a cheaper passive PCI card with DVI. Will be quiet either way, but you can save >$100 by going with a PCI card for your third monitor.

PSU: Seasonic S12-430 or 500. Near-silent, reliable, proven.

HDD: If you really do not need that much storage space, consider using a laptop (2.5") HDD. More expensive per GB of storage, but dead silent, VERY cool-running, and easy to mount (stick it upside-down on top of a block of soft foam). The SATA 2.5" HDDs hook up to the mobo SATA ports directly- no adaptor needed. Otherwise, I again defer to SPCR for 3.5" HDD recommendations, as well as mounting methods.

Memory- Any reliable brand. Heatsinks may or may not help cooling, depending on your airflow. Total heat output will not be changed either way. Buy heatsunk RAM for the bling, not added OC potential.

Opticals: Unless you anticipate running these constantly, Lite-On is OK. BenQ is generally regarded as higher quality in terms of burning, and IMO, are slightly quieter/smoother-running.

Visit silentpcreview for more advice. They are the quiet PC experts.

FWIW, what you want to accomplish can be done for far, far less than $1750.

 

[lysisergic]

Wow, a ton of help. Holy cow, thanks to all! I'll re-compile my list later on tonight (a list which of course reads totally differently now), but a quick couple of shots:

1) I'm really considering a laptop HD (as mentioned by crt1530 and dawza). Dawza - you mention placing it upside down on a block of foam. Are there... sturdier ways of securing a laptop HD that you know of? That seems a bit flaky to me, I definitely kick/knock my computer around everynow and again (it's under my legs )

The alternative to a laptop HD would seem to be the Samsung Spinpoints (as mentioned by letdown427), they do well at storage review on the sound tip.

2) Another cool thing is that everyone mentions a fan regulator. What are the nicest ones that I should look at? I see the Zalman ZM-MFC1 (mentioned by crt1530), but he has no experience iwth it. Anyone have any experience with anything else?

3) Glad to hear of the options for the Video Cards. I didn't know I had options, so I appreciate the words of wisdom. I'll check out the 7300's in SLI, for performance below that I'm not sure my ego will allow it

Thanks again all, a bigger follow up post with the new specs tomorrow.
lysis

 

[bX510]

i like that laptop HD idea.

 

[WobbleWobble]

My favorite way of quieting down a HDD is using the suspension method. If you do it right, you won't have to worry about your HDD if you accidentally kick your PC or something. Laptop drive are quite a bit more expensive and aren't significantly quieter. Let's compare apples to apples.

I personally like the Sunbeam Rheobus because it lets you control fans from 0-12V. Some limit you to 7-12V.

 

[Cerb]

1. Suspension! Accept no substitutes! It can be hard to initially setup, but it is worth it for the lack of vibration noise. Stretch Magic(tm) is awesome. I even have my CPU fan mounted this way, now .

BTW, check SPCR for quietness...some new laptop drives are actually pretty loud. I have a Samsung SP80 w/ Nidec motor, and love it. I wish I'd gotten the 8MB cache version (I just happen to get a drive where it makes a real performance difference! Argh!), but it's the second quetest drive I know of (next to old 'Cudas).

2. If you don't want to make one, Sunbeam. You can disconnect the LEDs if you don't like them, or cover/angle them if they are too bright. It's cheap and good quality.

3. You might want to look into the ?600 cards. Get passive ones, and add a fan nearby. Even at 5v or so, a fan will help, and if decoupled even a little bit, an already quiet fan inside the case will be nothing to worry about for noise.

 

[Talcite]

First, you gotta tell us what kinda of games you play. We also need to know what your definition of noisy is. If your computer is quieter than the surrounding area, then you have nothing to worry about. I find anything near 30dba rated from 1m away is near silent for me. I have a fish tank in the same room.

Anyways, now off to the components.

CPU HSF: Look at the Scythe Ninja. It has good cooling and it's totally silent. Although you'll probably need a fan on it. Depends on the CPU.

Vid Card: Get the gigabyte 7600GTs with silent pipe II. They cool nicely and are totally quiet

Case: The P180 has sound deadening panels. It takes the sharp noises out of computer noise. Lian Li's have a very "open" construction. It doesn't deaden noise at all. Unless you get that new one that's got like 4 layers of panels or something. Don't know how well it works though.

Mobo: Most of them are passively cooled. Problem is Asus is having QC/bios update problems with their M2N series. I'm not sure about this specific one though. It's high-end, so it might be better off.

Case Fans: The P180 comes with 3 fans already that are pretty quiet. You should build it first then change the fans if you think it's too noisy. As others have said, Yate loon, Papst and others are very quiet. I doubt you'd need to change the stock antec ones though. They're quite quiet as well.

PSU: There's no contest. The seasonic S12 series is built for quiet. Highly recommended.

HDDs: Don't touch the 10k RPM drives. They're fast, but also a racket. You should look into the Samsung spinpoint Spinpoint P120 series. Make sure you get the revision with the nidec motor. Some people have also complained about them not being quiet at all. It's a luck thing. You should buy from somewhere that has an exchange policy. Look into AAM aswell. Get a single drive and suspend it.

RAM: it's fine

DVD/CD burner: I hate optical drives, they're ALL loud. There's nothing you can do about it though. That's why I suggested the P180. It's got a case door.

Hope that helps a bit. SPCR is a great place to look for info regarding this stuff.

 

[lysisergic]

Talcite (and others): Do you think I can get away with passive cooling on an AMD processor that fits the Asus M2N32-SLI Deluxe Motherboard? If you tell me which you consider the most likely to succeed, (and how likely to succeed) I'll give it a shot in the name of silent pc'ing. Consider that I'll have 3 case fans max (likely the Nexus ones) in the Asus P180, and no active cooling anywhere else (i.e. not on GPU, Chipset or Memory).

Thanks.

 

[Talcite]

You can get away with passive cooling on the e6300. There's two fans on the P180 that are in very close proximity to the CPU HSF. Look at the review of the P180 on SPCR. One was a setup for a near-silent PC. The other setup was for the ultra powered PC. You should look into thermal tape or something of the sort to block off some vents. It's not totally necessary though. It'd be a good idea on a passive setup though.

 

[Cerb]

Yes. Try ducting it through the rear or top. I've found foam board and hot glue to be awesome for making ducts (light, strong, still mashable when needed, and don't transfer vibration well). You may be able to get away w/ just blocking one exhaust hole, too, but a duct wouldn't hurt (the idea behind the duct is to make the exhaust fan the CPU fan, since the CPU fan is just recirculating warm air). Note that among its other features, RivaTuner can give you a graph of the past several minutes of GPU temps, which will be very handy on top of speedfan or MBM's CPU & mobo monitoring.

Get enough parts that you can do it the normal way (active), but try to do it passive, and stress the hell out of it (gaming, CPUburn, 3Dmark. Prime95, etc.). I know several folks at SPCR have had good success w/ the P180 and passive CPU cooling. Check out the gallery section of the forum before making your final plans.

Edit: Talcite refers, I think, to the 12-page review of the P180, not the initial short one.

 

[dawza]

With respect to the laptop HDD mounting, what I did was simply take double-sided mounting foam squares (3M makes these, available at any craft store) to secure a piece of 1/2-3/4" foam larger than the actual HDD to the bottom of my case. Then, I stuck some of these squares on what is normally considered to be the "top" of the drive (non-PCB-side) and secured the HDD to the aforementioned foam. The foam tape is secure, yet readily removable with a little effort and some 91% alcohol. I can turn my PC on its side and the drive remains secure.

Most of the 5400RPM laptop HDDs are near-silent, and some 7200RPM models come close. I have a Samsung 80GB SATA 2.5" HDD, and can attest to its lack of any noise with the case closed. Vibration is non-existant as well when foam-mounted. You could always suspend the drive, and it would be a simple matter with a 2.5" HDD.

You can certainly achieve similar if not identical results noise/vibration-wise with a standard HDD, but it will require somewhat more effort in choosing a drive and mounting it properly. One huge advantage of laptop HDDs is that you can entomb them in a no-airflow location and they will still operate at reasonable temperatures due to their much lower power consumption. When building a silent yet stable PC as possible, any chance to reduce a source of heat is a plus.

The Sunbeam rheobus is a great fan controller, and cheap to boot. It uses resistors and not PWM, which can be a plus in terms of avoiding PWM-intolerant fans (which click when on PWM).

As far as video cards go, it would be helpful to provide what kinds of games you play, at what resolution, and at which quality settings. I would strongly advise against going SLI in your case, though, as you will lose dual-monitor support in SLI mode, and if you want to SLI two low or medium-end cards, you would be better off (in terms of money, heat/noise, power consumption, and usually performance) with a single high-end card. The 7600GT is a fine mid-range GPU, and would couple nicely with a PCI card with DVI (or a cheap PCIe-DVI card in the second PCIe x16 slot, but running in non-SLI-mode) to support a third monitor.

Edit: Just re-read the storage review links provided by a member above- note that while the dB levels are comparable between 3.5" and 2.5", the author did note in the 2.5" roundup:

When it comes to subjective seek noises, notebook drives as a whole again weigh in well under that of today's typical desktop drives. Even the Momentus 7200.1 and both Travelstars, three drives which feature seek times that approach that of desktop drives, remain inaudible when operating in our testbed

A minor point when soft-mounting perhaps, but worth noting nonetheless. And, of course, a degree of performance is sacrificed when going with a 2.5" drive vs. a comparably spec'd 3.5" model.