Who has the quietest PC at AT?

[Grendel99]

A quiet computer seems to be everyones priority these days. I would like to know who thinks they have the queitest PC here at AnandTech and how did you do it?

I know I don't have the quietest machine here, but I know there are some REALLY dead silent ones around. So lets have em'. Please post specs, fans, dba, cfm, and case you used!

Thanks

 

[SWScorch]

Definitely not me (my main rig has 9 fans, my secondary rig has 5 fans, and one of them [a 120mm Sunon] is louder than a Black Label Delta.) However, probably anyone with a decent watercooling rig or any OEM computer should bve near-silent. Its hard to compare levels of noise on paper because somone might have a rig with a lower Db rating but the noise is more annoying than a slightly higher Db system elsewhere.

 

[fatbaby]

My computer is the quietest!

Stats:
p3 600 mhz (no hs)
256 sdram
27gb harddrive
16x10x40 cd-rw
16x burner
gf3 ti200 (no hsf)

WIth no case fans, ps fan or anything

AT 5 DCB!!

 

[ShinSa]

<< My computer is the quietest!

Stats:
p3 600 mhz (no hs)
256 sdram
27gb harddrive
16x10x40 cd-rw
16x burner
gf3 ti200 (no hsf)

WIth no case fans, ps fan or anything

AT 5 DCB!! >>




5DCB? you mean 5dB??

I think you forgot to calculate in the sound of your harddrive.

Anyways I dont have the quietest case on AT but my friend who just picked up an deimension 4400 is pretty quiet. I cant even tell if its on or not.

O wait, Never mind. I have the quietest PC.

Im turning mine off right now.

 

[cirrus1]

/me turns his notebook's HD off and starts to brag

(after 2 mins of Civilization III)

crap....now the cpu fan switched on

 

[Grendel99]

Wow, no fans at all? You said no HS (heatsink), but I hope you have one, just with no fan What are your temps like?

 

[Packy]

he forgot to mention he runs it in the fridge

 

[prontospyder]

what are the temps for these quiet machines?

 

[Zap]

xlo, decibel measurements are on a logarithmic scale, not linear. I think (someone correct me if I'm wrong) that a 10dB increase means 2x the loudness, so that 27-37dB difference makes the orb TWICE as loud. Or something like that...

Now on topic...

I've built relatively quiet systems for myself and my GF.

My GF's system is a P4 1.6 (not Northwood) with the retail-box HSF and a Leadman 300W dual-fan power supply (manufacturer claims it is quiet). No case fans, no Northbridge fan and the video card is a Geforce2 MX with a heatsink only. System runs cool and quiet. The loudest part of the system is her IBM Deskstar GXP 75 hard drive.

My system is a Celeron 1.0A overclocked to 1.33 using the retail-box HSF, Eagle power supply (loudest fan in system) and an Enermax adjustable fan set to medium-ish. The video card is an eVGA Geforce2 GTS 64MB with a huge passive heatsink replacing the normal little hsf. No Northbridge fan either. I have three hard drives, all Maxtor/Quantum 540X series 5400RPM drives. Two 60GB on RAID 0 and a single 40GB as drive C:. I'm going to replace the single drive with a single 80GB Maxtor "L" series 740X 7200RPM drive (fluid bearings). According to Maxtor, the noise output at idle of the 540X is 30dB while the "L" series 740X is 27dB.

I feel that these systems give a good compromise in terms of relatively low cost, ease of assembly (no fancy modifications), decent performance and low noise. I do know that both these systems outperformed the ones they replaced while being NOTICEABLY quieter.

 

[spanner]

Mine is pretty quiet but maybe not the quietest.

Enermax 461 power supply (about as quiet as they get)
3 80mm pc power and cooling fans (super quiet, best 80mm fans on the market if you ask me)
1 slot type exhaust fan (these things are generally quiet)
Taisol low profile heat sink

1.2 ghz athlon
Epox 8k7a + 512mb PC2100
IBM 75GXP 45gb and old 13gig HD
toshiba dvd drive
lite on CD-burner
Radeon 8500

The key was changing the power supply and dumping the stock case fan.

This thing used to bother me a lot but now my ears are 1 foot away from my PC case and it doesn't bother me. Now if only refrigerator compresors were queiter atleast at night. Oh and get this, after spending so much money quieting down my pc they start construction of a new hall right outside my room. Oh it never ends

 

[HouRman]

My computer is at 55db right now 3 inches from the front of the case with an SPL meter.

If I record the sound and then alter it into reverse phase and produce the sound through a speaker, Maybe I can cancel out all the noise.

If the noise cancelation technology becomes cheaper, I wouldn't be suprised if cases in the future have specs such as "-20db noise cancelation". Now that would be sweetness.

 

[MrThompson]

While I the my Swiftech Quiet Power's noise level is below what I can measure with my SPL meter, fatbaby's fanless system has me beat.

 

[lebe0024]

My roommate (bobcpg) easily will have you all beat.

one fan : 80mm panaflow L1a in the PSU.

watercooled EVERYTHING (except psu).

insulated HD with watercooler.

NO FAN ON RADIATOR. (it's on window sill (sp?) instead). AND his CPU says at just a few degrees above ambient.

 

[Fireman]

WHADID YA SAY??

 

[Grendel99]

Holy crap that's quiet. Is he overclocking at all? Is it AMD or Intel?

 

[overdoze]

how quiet do you want? I can do it as quiet as you want including 0dB How? by moving the pump and the radiator to a remote site.

My rig:

1.2 thunderbird at 1.33
Iwill KK266
seagate HD most quiet hardrive in the whole wide world
Watercool CPU, NB, video, PSU
2 120mm fan for the radiator rated at 43dB. Using fan speed thermal control. At idle the fan run at 7V which is roughly 29dB