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Mmm.. coffee-cooled computers!

I see a new Zalman product in the works! (The Brewer Tower: Brew your coffee and cool your CPU at the same time!)

Get a Zalman VF700-AlCu to replace your stock cooling. You'll sacrifice a card slot but it works very, very well. The -Cu version is considerably heavier and just isn't needed unless you're into serious overclocking (in which case you should be thinking about liquid cooling).

For people who haven't bought cards yet, pick one with a 60mm fan instead of the reference 40mm fans. MUCH quieter. I went with Leadtek.

This site has a lot of ideas:
http://www.silentpcreview.com/

An earlier guy wrote about how he ran cables to his garage and kept his keyboard, monitor, mouse, so he couldn't hear any noise from his computer. It only cost him a few hundred plus labor. But there are alternatives.

Here's some of mine:
Get a passive power supply (check the article this whole thing is about, or google for some, or check the SPC site at the top of my post)

Get a passive CPU cooler (they do exist) or use one of the ones that can mount a 120mm fan, make sure all fans are very low noise 120mm fans that can move more air than smaller fans, but at much less noise.

Here's an example of a passive CPU heatsink (its quite big, but can handle fast modern CPU's)
http://www.thermaltake.com/coolers/4in1heatpipe/cl -p0071SonicTower/cl-p0071.htm

You may want to consider some of the recent AMD64 cpu's that run quite cool and low voltage, but yet very good performance. Like the venice version of the AMD64 90nm 939 pin 3000+ cpu.

Memory doesn't matter so much, you can use them as is.

Get a graphics card that is passivly cooled. For example, I bought this one and I love it:
http://www.giga-byte.com/VGA/Products/Products_GV- NX66T128VP.htm
Its a nvidia 6600gt pci-express.

An alternative is to get one of the mobos that support the Pentium M CPU. That cpu is normally for laptops, but has great performance and very low power and heat. You can also get older graphics cards that are cheaper and passively cooled and put out less heat (my 6600gt gets pretty how) if you aren't going to do any gaming.

Replace the chipset fan with a heatsink
I used this one on my asus a8n-sli deluxe mobo:
http://www.zalmanusa.com/usa/product/view.asp?idx= 71&code=014

As for hard drive, check this:
http://www.silentpcreview.com/article258-page3.htm l
Its a 200 gig SATA hard drive with noise levels of 21db idle and around 24db while writing.
If this is still too much, get an older 5400 rpm hard drive and enable the noise reduction technology on it. Many many hard drives have utilites you can download from manufacture to enable noise reduction in operation. It slows the performance a slight amount but can often reduce noise quite a lot. I dont know if laptop drives are any quieter, but you could purchase one and use one of those adapters to plug it into a normal IDE plug.

Get a well designed case. Here's a review of a system that runs cooler than an open air test bench and can use a single 120mm 5.5 volt case fan:
http://www.silentpcreview.com/article254-page4.htm l

Or if you really want to go extreme in case design, there was a case a couple years ago that was almost $1000 and it was basically one giant heatsink with stuff so you could passive cool cpu and video card to the outside of the case, so you could operate it fanlessly if you wanted.

For fans, if the uber quiet 120mm fans are still too noisey, then run them at 7v or 5v instead of the normal 12v. You can greatly reduce the noise this way and its not a hard thing to do.

This page has a bunch of info and PDF/xls tables on differant fan characteristics with undervolting. You can get fans down to 15 or less db when you run them at 5 volts (the ones that work at that speed)
http://www.silentpcreview.com/article25-page1.html

If this is still too much, you can go with eve

Easy. This is what I did, paid a visit to directron:
http://store.yahoo.com/directron/zmnb47j.html
$5 and you are set. Was very easy to remove the old fan, it just had some plastic studs you pushed out.
I have a asus a8n-sli deluxe mobo and it works great for me.

Here's the zalman page:
http://www.zalmanusa.com/usa/product/view.asp?idx= 71&code=014

In fact, it's better to have big heatsinks and big fans - the bigger the fan is, the more air it moves, so you can turn it down, it spins slower than a small 60mm fan and so generates less noise. Oh yeah heatsinks - I've a Zalmann Flower heatsink, and last night I had to do some hardware fiddling, and I removed the CPU fan, and decided to quickly run my computer without the CPU fan and to my surprise the CPU went to 50 deg C (unloaded) and stablised there. My CPU is an AMD XP 1700+. I run it without a CPU fan. It didn't melt down. It's all due to the massive Zalmann Flower heatsink - tho didn't dare running the computer under load ;) Putting the 92mm fan back in reduced the temp by 10 degrees - tho I can turn the fan down for quieter operation - it's all a balance. I would guess this would be better as it has a 120mm fan. Turn it down very slowly = quiet, but still gets plenty of air shifted over the heatsink.

I would actually recommend getting the fastest CPU you can afford, underclock that to something usable, big heatsink and biggest fan you can get, but turn it down as far as you dare - ditto intake/exhaust fans.

Or just do what I do and get a fanless Mini-ITX motherboard for my servers ;)

In fact, it's better to have big heatsinks and big fans - the bigger the fan is, the more air it moves, so you can turn it down, it spins slower than a small 60mm fan and so generates less noise. Oh yeah heatsinks - I've a Zalmann Flower heatsink, and last night I had to do some hardware fiddling, and I removed the CPU fan, and decided to quickly run my computer without the CPU fan and to my surprise the CPU went to 50 deg C (unloaded) and stablised there. My CPU is an AMD XP 1700+. I run it without a CPU fan. It didn't melt down. It's all due to the massive Zalmann Flower heatsink - tho didn't dare running the computer under load ;) Putting the 92mm fan back in reduced the temp by 10 degrees - tho I can turn the fan down for quieter operation - it's all a balance. I would guess this would be better as it has a 120mm fan. Turn it down very slowly = quiet, but still gets plenty of air shifted over the heatsink.

I would actually recommend getting the fastest CPU you can afford, underclock that to something usable, big heatsink and biggest fan you can get, but turn it down as far as you dare - ditto intake/exhaust fans.

Or just do what I do and get a fanless Mini-ITX motherboard for my servers ;)

Might want to check out this new fanless case from Zalman: http://www.zalmanusa.com/usa/product/view.asp?idx= 151&code=020

Noiseless GPU cooling by Zalman
http://www.zalmanusa.com/usa/product/view.asp?idx= 138&code=013

Ultra-silent PSU - any under 20DB will do.

Quiet CPU cooler by Zalman
http://www.zalmanusa.com/usa/product/view.asp?idx= 145&code=005009

Get voltage limter for the CPU cooler

Then get 1 intake fan below 20 DB for the front (92 mm if you can accomodate it), and one identical exhaust for the back.

And you're golden...

Actually one of the most important bits - dont buy a cheapass case, those are usually really thin .. if it's built like a russian tank, that means less noise from ventilation AND HD spinups etc as well.

Noiseless GPU cooling by Zalman
http://www.zalmanusa.com/usa/product/view.asp?idx= 138&code=013

Ultra-silent PSU - any under 20DB will do.

Quiet CPU cooler by Zalman
http://www.zalmanusa.com/usa/product/view.asp?idx= 145&code=005009

Get voltage limter for the CPU cooler

Then get 1 intake fan below 20 DB for the front (92 mm if you can accomodate it), and one identical exhaust for the back.

And you're golden...

Actually one of the most important bits - dont buy a cheapass case, those are usually really thin .. if it's built like a russian tank, that means less noise from ventilation AND HD spinups etc as well.

Zalman's Reserator I think has the pump submerged, and a couple others do as well. This doesn't even have a fan on the resevoir.

This looks like it might be the nicest watercooling kit I've seen, though it has a price tag to match (Newegg - $238).

I hope that it's actually going to be about a silent PC - passive cooling, solid state storage.

Well, I've been 'building' entirely silent PCs for a couple of years. I can say it's more of a pain in the ass/wallet then one would initially think.

First, I bought a CalmPC. That company seems to have gone under, and it only supported a lower end CPU at the time. I ran it with a P3-1Ghz, which was fine for a lot of things. There were no moving parts; they used a funny convection cooling system. The PSU/CPU/VGA were all cooled this way.

Well, the 'funny' convection system shat on itself and basically destroyed one motherboard a couple of days ago.

So I just ordered a Zalman TNN system. When all is said and done, it's not _that_ much more expensive (well, ok, it's like $1200.- for case+PSU), plus I think it looks cool. At least not like a PC, so it will look better with the AV equipment.

That enclosure takes care of everything, except storage. For storage I would love to use remote network boot (e.g. have a server in the garage), but alas, Windows XP Media Center (yeah yeah, go ahead, flame me) can't do it except with some mighty expensive software (BXP). So I'm using CompactFlash. I actually booted WinXP MC 2005 from a 2GB CF card last night for the first time. It's a little slow while booting/loading apps, but other than that, seems to work fine.

I don't think there's a way to do completely solid-state on the cheap. There's just a lot of heat to dissapate and that requires custom parts. If you look at the heatsink-panels on the TNN enclosure, you get an idea. You can maybe get a heatpipe system and transfer the heat from the CPU to your own giant heatsink, and then get a fanless PSU. But it'd still be expensive.

While I'm impressed that they actually bothered to measure the sound coming from their case, their final measurement of 31.7db hardly counts as silent. In fact I personally regard that as fairly noisy, though I'm perhaps pickier than most. Realistically how much noise one can tolerate is a personal thing. If it bothers you it's too loud no matter what the acoustic measurements might tell you. And what bothers me might not bother you. I have just listened carefully to my machine and whichever component made the most noise got replaced.

The only way to have a truly silent case is to have no fans and an idle hard drive. If that isn't possible fans like Pabst 8412 NGL are the next best thing. They don't move much air but they're very quiet. And a better solution IMO than the hard drive enclosures which drive up heat and reduce reliability is vibration isolators combined with a naturally quiet drive like Seagates. There are some fanless and semi-fanless (doesn't run unless it gets hot) power supplies out there like the SilentMaxx Semifanless. And replace those stupd 60mm fans that they insist on using for CPUs and GPUs with big headsinks and/or heatpipes. Also install neoprene or other washers and use rubber to deaden case vibrations. Home Depot is a great source for a lot of this stuff.

• A Zalman Silent 400W Power Supply helped a lot and only emits about 20db of noise. Still not silent enough for me so I'm going to get something like a SilentMaxx Semi-Fanless 450W soon.
  
• I replaced my case fans with Papst 8412 NGL fans which only emit 12db; basically silent. I tried one of the PC Power and Cooling Silencer units and it's a fine power supply but still pretty noisy.
  
• I put some new rubber feet I picked up from Home Dept (about $3 each) which are normally used for door stops to help dampen case vibrations.
  
• I switched over the 7200 RPM Seagate hard drives from the 10000RPM Maxtor/IBMs I was using. The old drives were fine but rather noisy.
  
• I replaced my graphics card fan with a Zalman Heat Pipe system which emits no noise at all.
  
• I picked up these hard drive coolers with rubber shock absorbers from CompUSA which further helps dampen case vibration, and helps keepd the drive quieter. My case uses drive rails and I had to drill an extra hole in the drive rails to make them compatible.
  
• I also installed this Anti Noise Kit from CompUSA. One caution is keep at least one screw from the case touching both the power supply and the case with no padding. Helps keep a ground between the power supply and the case.
  
• I also bought some rounded cables (yes I'm aware of the crosstalk issues but they haven't been a problem) which helps cooling. I got some cable wraps and zip ties to keep the cables bundled and out of the air flow as much as possible.
  
• Installed a HUGE Thermalright SLK800 heat sink with a Pabst fan (above) to keep the processor cool and silent. This actually dropped by processor temp by several degrees in addition to being quiter.
  
• I installed Melamine foam from Home Depot throughout the case to dampen noise.
  

This has to be the quietest case ever... But try to justify the $1300 (US) for it!! Eep!

The only problem is the heatsink and fan weighs about 5x as much as the calculator itself, and it is too loud to use in class.

You need a Zalman CNPS-7700

Might still be heavy, but at least you'll be able to hear your instructor.

Dual G5 Macs aren't quiet. This is a point of much consternation in Mac forums--with Macs seeming to be ideal for audio work, many are puzzled that Apple doesn't build a truly quiet machine for that niche.

For somethine really quiet, it looks like your best bet now is to build something yourself. Start with cases and power supplies and cooling from Zalman. Their external water cooling system looks particularly nice, and easy to install.

magical headphone driver review

Unrelated product: Zalmans 5.1 headphones

Look up some "real" HSF (heatsink + fan) reviews. The stock stuff from AMD/Intel usually works but isn't that great.

Take a look for example at Zalman's Cu radial cooler, this thing cools high performance AMD or Intel CPUs while still running nearly silent at 1350 RPM.

I have been interested in a silent system for awhile, although I don't really have the money. Zalman made the TNN 500A which is the same concept as this case, giant heat sinks with heat pipes. However the Zalman has plenty of room, supports ATX P4 3GHz or more, top ATI/Nvidia graphics chips, Tomshardware has a review. Other than weight I see no advantage with the Hush system. Price? Hush $3,069.45 USD Zalman $1199.99 USD. My no money is with Zalman.

Tom's Hardware Review

Yeah, I was in the same boat as you. I updated every driver and swapped out more or less every component in an attempt to solve the constant blue screens. Eventually what solved it was putting in a bunch of extra fans on a bracket above the card area, blowing directly on the AIW (and other places, just for good measure). I think the thing (the AIW) was just overheating -- the chips were too hot to touch.

http://www.zalmanusa.com/ (Go to Zalman TNN500A, couldn't get a direct link due to flash menu system)

This thing is a triumph of brute force engineering, but also extreme elegance in design. Basically THE ENTIRE case is made from Aluminium between 5mm and 7mm which is connected using heatpipes to the graphics card and CPU and simply dissipates the heat output passively into the surroundings. You can use the latest parts, the dissipation is rated up to 150W CPU heat output and 50W GPU output. The PSU uses VERY high quality components and is totally fanless. You can get a UPS system built into the bottom as an option as well. I think Athlon64 and Pentium4 CPUs are currently supported.

This idea of using sound to create sound is a no goer in a recording studio where the control room needs to be completely silent and presumably countless scientific and engineering applications. You could have the PC in another room, but this would definetly be prefferable for the majority of users.

Yep, its seriously expensive (not sure, maybe up to GBP1000), but it works flawlessly, looks great, and is ideal for conditions where complete silence is a must, not just noise reduction. Compared to other bits of kit that probably will be sitting in the same area (5000 Vintage Mics or a soundproof room) its a small price to pay really.

Sorry, just being a smart-ass. Computers are migrating into newer places, like the living room. Try watching a movie with your girlfriend without her commenting on how much louder your computer is (with the Athlon, 5 fans and the 2 120 gig drives) then the old fashioned stand alone dvd player. Vibration is annoying. Thank god for Zalman and their ilk, because once you go PVR you'll never want to go back.. ;-)

If you can't be bothered to google it, try zalman - They are meant to be the best for quiet PC business. The next PC I get will definitly be a silent one (which they purportedly do), my current one sounds a bit like a hurricane! :)

http://www.zalmanusa.com

I have a CNPS6000-Cu, it's very quiet, and cools great. I highly reccomend it.