Since this isn't a "REAL" hardware site

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Pederv

Golden Member
May 13, 2000
1,903
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Where do can I find information on the components needed to build the fastest completely fanless system?
If there is no such thing as a completely fanless system, where do I find information on the components needed to make a ultra quiet system?
I'm talking so quiet that I can hear the refrigerator in the garage before I'll hear the PC.
 
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imported_LoKe

Lifer
Jun 4, 2005
19,723
1
0
Get some ram with heat spreaders, a Core 2 Duo or Core 2 Quad, and a passive VGA cooler. Pick up the ThermalRight Ultra 120 and strap a Yate Loon on it (volt mod it if it's still too loud for you). For the PSU...well...you'll have to do some research on this. I've heard the SeaSonic S12 series is extremely quiet. I've modified a few PSU's in the past and replaced the fans with Yate Loon's, but that voids warranty, could be extremely dangerous and isn't a very good thing to do in general.

Grab two more Yate Loons and put one at the lower front of the case, for intake, and another at the rear for exhaust. That *should* be OK, and very quiet.

Or you could go with watercooling...
 
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nonameo

Diamond Member
Mar 13, 2006
5,902
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You might be able to do something custom-designed, otherwise you'll need fans for anything significantly fast.
 
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MetaDFF

Member
Mar 2, 2007
145
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76
It depends on what kind of performance you want from your fanless PC. Obviously a massively overclocked fire-breathing PC isn't going to get by without any fans, but if your performance demands on the PC isn't that large, it might be possible to setup the PC with after-market coolers and low RPM fans to provide sufficient cooling.

For example at Thermalright Ultra Extreme 120 heatsink is sufficient to cool a stock clocked X6800 C2D without any fans mounted on it.

I don't of any website off the top of my head, but I would start by looking at reviews for aftermarket coolers to see what parts they can passively cool (Thermalright comes to mind ;))
 
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Duvie

Elite Member
Feb 5, 2001
16,215
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71
Problem is....most all water cooling system still have radiators with fans...most of which are external to the case and thus hard to mask the sound....

Look at volt modded fans....120mm...maybe even get a 200mm fan...the larger the fan the lower the rpms needed to push the same air.....


The most silent pC I have heard was an X2 in a sonata case of MarkFW900....I could not hear if it was on....I am sure a good Core2duo in the range of the 6300-6600 non oc'd and perhaps even drop the vcore can go almost passive on the cpu sink....just direct that big case fan to blow air across it ....get power supply with single largest fan....some enermax ones I think you coudl adjust the fan speed as well....
 
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Pederv

Golden Member
May 13, 2000
1,903
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Originally posted by: MichaelD
Google works well. Case to build a totally silent system around. How much money have you got?

BTW; do you have an example of a "real hardware site?"
Click to expand...

Seems most hardware sites are geared towards the fastest system for the target price range. Very rarely do you see a sight campare system components to try to achieve the fastest fanless system. Down clocking a current CPU may result in enough power reduction to allow fanless cooling of the CPU.

Originally posted by: MetaDFF
It depends on what kind of performance you want from your fanless PC. Obviously a massively overclocked fire-breathing PC isn't going to get by without any fans, but if your performance demands on the PC isn't that large, it might be possible to setup the PC with after-market coolers and low RPM fans to provide sufficient cooling.

For example at Thermalright Ultra Extreme 120 heatsink is sufficient to cool a stock clocked X6800 C2D without any fans mounted on it.

I don't of any website off the top of my head, but I would start by looking at reviews for aftermarket coolers to see what parts they can passively cool (Thermalright comes to mind ;))
Click to expand...

Theroretically you could use a laptop to fill my requirements, but I'm asking fo the fastest possible PC.

And how about a forum to talk about how we use all the individual computer components, represented by the forum names, to do things, like robotics, creating interfaces with the analog world, etc. Everybody here just doesn't play games and do folding@home, do they?
 
Denithor

Denithor

Diamond Member
Apr 11, 2004
6,298
23
81
What are you looking to do with the system?

If you just need basic/low end cpu you could consider something like this which is totally fanless. Add a PS that has a single large fan or even the completely fanless Antec Phantom and you have the start of a completely quiet system.

And by the way, it's pretty rude to say this isn't a "REAL" hardware site. Many of the people on these forums (myself included) have years and years of experience building and supporting all levels of computers and systems.

EDIT: Ah, you are looking for speed not just silence. Your best bet then is a C2D undervolted with a large heatpipe heatsink and a large, slow rotation fan. Avoid the P35 chipset motherboards as they have higher power draw than the older 965P boards. Check out these charts to see why Intel is prefered to AMD. And note that the e2xxx chips are going to provide similar performance at even lower heat due to less on-die cache.
 
Zap

Zap

Elite Member
Oct 13, 1999
22,377
7
81
Originally posted by: Pederv
where do I find information on the components needed to make a ultra quiet system?
Click to expand...

SilentPCReview.com

Those guys are more fanatic than I am about low noise.
 
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BadRobot

Senior member
May 25, 2007
547
0
0
Been building my own computers for 10 years now. I'm 22 and do tech support for a company in forbes top 15.

I play video games and enjoy catching computers on fire via over clocking them at every chance possible....not that i have ever acheived this though...quite disappointing actually :(

I'll be going to the Intel Channel Conference in a couple weeks ;) and they better raffle off a x38 mobo with a 9770/9650 or else!

Edit: I just re-read your post...and no I don't build robots :confused: if that is what you meant by "hardware" webpage
 
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Gannon

Senior member
Jul 29, 2004
527
0
0
Originally posted by: Pederv
Where do can I find information on the components needed to build the fastest completely fanless system?
If there is no such thing as a completely fanless system, where do I find information on the components needed to make a ultra quiet system?
I'm talking so quiet that I can hear the refrigerator in the garage before I'll hear the PC.
Click to expand...

Watercooling with a waterchiller is the way to go, or buy an expensive evaporative cooling systems.
 
Y

Yanagi

Golden Member
Jun 8, 2004
1,678
0
0
Originally posted by: Denithor
What are you looking to do with the system?

If you just need basic/low end cpu you could consider something like this which is totally fanless. Add a PS that has a single large fan or even the completely fanless Antec Phantom and you have the start of a completely quiet system.

And by the way, it's pretty rude to say this isn't a "REAL" hardware site. Many of the people on these forums (myself included) have years and years of experience building and supporting all levels of computers and systems.

EDIT: Ah, you are looking for speed not just silence. Your best bet then is a C2D undervolted with a large heatpipe heatsink and a large, slow rotation fan. Avoid the P35 chipset motherboards as they have higher power draw than the older 965P boards. Check out these charts to see why Intel is prefered to AMD. And note that the e2xxx chips are going to provide similar performance at even lower heat due to less on-die cache.
Click to expand...


I actually like this idea, couple that with some SSD drives and youve got a pretty silent system. If you got money you can always purchase a couple of CPUs and see which one undervolts the most at a given speed and fleabay the rest of them to someone else :)
 
taltamir

taltamir

Lifer
Mar 21, 2004
13,576
6
76
Your first step should be getting a sound insulated case... its the cheapest and most effective thing to do for noise levels... getting quiter fans or passive alternatives should come afterwards.
 
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mcvan

Member
Apr 13, 2000
164
0
0
Originally posted by: Pederv
Where do can I find information on the components needed to build the fastest completely fanless system?
If there is no such thing as a completely fanless system, where do I find information on the components needed to make a ultra quiet system?
I'm talking so quiet that I can hear the refrigerator in the garage before I'll hear the PC.
Click to expand...
Pederv -- The obvious answer to your question is Silent PC Review

Your second sentence suggests an open mind about how to achieve what you seek, which is good: Fanless does not necessarily mean silence. Silence, from a human perception point of view, occurs when you don't hear it. I work around computers that have fans, that make noise, yet most of the time, I don't hear them. Why? Because the noise they make is unobtrusive, smooth and very low in level, and thus fades very quickly into the background.

The funny thing is that some fanless devices are much noisier than comparative devices that are audibly, obviously fan cooled. Case in point: I have a fanless PSU that measures well under 20 dBA/1m, yet the noise it makes is instantly audible and annoying, and the audibility gets worse the longer you're exposed to it. It's a 800~1000Hz pure tone caused by resonating capcitors or transformers. In contrast, many 20~22 dBA/1m 120mm fan PSUs are initially audible, yet become inaudible within a couple of minutes.

The main benefit of a fan is far cheaper and much better cooling. Period. There's simply no contest in cooling between a good forced air design and one that relies only on convection. Amazingly, a component that's audible without a fan (because of hum, buzz and other low level but audible / inconstant tonalities) can actually be made to sound quieter with the addition of a smooth quiet fan that adds a bit of masking pink noise. Naturally, the quality of the fan noise is critical, and this is one of SPCR's ongoing obsessions -- to find smooth, nice sounding fans that still move lots of air.

Please read this piece: What is a "Silent" Computer?

Finally here's a couple of DIY project articles by guy who went all out with a system of very hot components to make it as quiet as possible. The actual components don't matter much -- they could be the latest quadcores and 8800 ultras -- what matters is his approach. (Tho there are various different ways to achieve the same goal... this is what makes PC silencing interesting.)
Quiet OC'ed Pentium D 830 System
Quiet DIY OC'ed Pentium D 830 System, Part Two
Superquiet Superclocked DIY Core 2 Duo System
from last article[/i]
How quiet is this system? Well, if the DVD isn't spinning and the hard disks aren't seeking, the only perceptible sound is the faint hum of the LCD power supply echoing off the wall six feet away. Obviously the house and neighborhood must be totally quiet to hear this. By comparison, my company laptop is outrageously loud.
Click to expand...

Best of luck with your silencing endeavor.

I'd be interested, btw, in reading about your trials and tribulations -- and hopefully, eventual success -- in an article for SPCR. Just PM or email me. ;)
 
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Thund3rb1rd

Member
Aug 24, 2007
103
0
0
totally silent system => put tower in one room, drill a hole in the wall, run all necessary cables for monitor, kb, mouse, usb extension cable (this can be used for external cd/dvd drive), etc. through hole, fill hole with expandable foam
 
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Pederv

Golden Member
May 13, 2000
1,903
0
0
Originally posted by: Denithor
What are you looking to do with the system?

And by the way, it's pretty rude to say this isn't a "REAL" hardware site. Many of the people on these forums (myself included) have years and years of experience building and supporting all levels of computers and systems.
Click to expand...

I'm not complaining about the quality of the information given on each component of a computer. I note that there is no place on this site to talk about putting all those components together and creating something interesting.

Thanks Zap and mcvan for suggesting SPCR, I guess a hardware site that does it all doesn't exsist.
 
MichaelD

MichaelD

Lifer
Jan 16, 2001
31,528
3
76
Originally posted by: Pederv
Click to expand...

I note that there is no place on this site to talk about putting all those components together and creating something interesting.
[/quote]

:confused: x1,000 Uh...General Hardware doesn't cover putting it all together? The other forums don't get questions answered on the individual parts?
 
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imported_LoKe

Lifer
Jun 4, 2005
19,723
1
0
Originally posted by: Pederv
I guess a hardware site that does it all doesn't exist.
Click to expand...

We have a section for each individual piece of hardware, a section for putting entire computers together, as well as diagnosing problems. We have sections for software/programming/various OS's/more. What exactly are you looking for? :confused:
 
myocardia

myocardia

Diamond Member
Jun 21, 2003
9,291
30
91
Originally posted by: LoKe
Originally posted by: Pederv
I guess a hardware site that does it all doesn't exist.
Click to expand...

We have a section for each individual piece of hardware, a section for putting entire computers together, as well as diagnosing problems. We have sections for software/programming/various OS's/more. What exactly are you looking for? :confused:
Click to expand...

The Fanless section, obviously.:D
 
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