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How to Build a Fast Air-Cooled Quiet PC
msolnik writes "Tweak3D.net has posted an article over how to build yourself a fast box that doesn't sound like an airplane hanger. Its nice to find something like this - most articles are just about speed this article combines performance and usability. If your interested in building a fast pc that you don't have to put in " See my thoughts on this as well.
What a terrible article. With the exception of the power supply, there is absolutely nothing new! There are three really good articles on this in /. already. And he doesn't even mention the 5-1/4" sleeves for HDDs! Why is this article even posted?!
/.:
Other articles on
Shhh! Constructing A Truly Quiet Gaming PC by Hemos with 397 comments on Wednesday October 31, @08:30AM
Building the Quiet PC by CmdrTaco with 171 comments on Sunday July 01, @02:08PM
Building Quieter Computers by Hemos with 398 comments on Monday June 04, @06:51AM
https://www.accountkiller.com/removal-requested
A few weeks ago, I finished putting together a shiny new Athlon XP 1900+ for my son, and was very disappointed to see that heatsink grease is indeed necessary on the newer processors. The CPU and power supply fan worked just fine, the heatsink was in very close contact with the CPU, but there was no grease. What happened when I turned it on nearly made me cry: the CPU overheated within minutes of seeing the KDE desktop on this new system, and I was out $200 for a new CPU.
I learned my lesson the hard way: don't try to skimp on thermal grease, especially on the new Athlons. They run hotter than ever now and you're risking your system's life if you don't take the proper precautions.
-Isaac
This thing is awefully loud my friend.
I've bought one, and sold it just after a couple of weeks for 2 reasons:
- video card sucks big time (not enough memory for 1280x1024 res.)
- Noise is barely standable.
I suppose you could fit it in a drawer, but cables and vent would be a problem. So, I say:
Bummer!
-- I feel better now. Thanks for asking.
Has this system even been built? All I see are pictures found on the products web pages. Where is completed project? Where is test of the decibals of it?
Read the last sentence of the article. It's very clear that they didn't build it - rather, they just culled through product listings of items that had decibel quotes. When a "review" tells me that the finished product "should" produce less than 30 decibels, they've completely wasted my time. This was nothing more than the journalistic equivalent of a high school book report.
What's your damage, Heather?
I am going to replace an aged Pentium 200 MMX Linux box with a much faster Linux box in the next few months. Via's C3, running at 933 MHz, doesn't even require a fan; heatsink alone is sufficient.
w ww.via.com.tw/jsp/en/products/C3/c3reviews.jsp+c3+ reviews+and+awards&hl=en).
I have a silent drive sleeve for my 20 GB 5400 RPM drive, and with a fanless power supply (see the links from http://home.swipnet.se/tr/silence.html), this thing will only have moving parts in the drive and should register less noise than my breathing.
Surprisingly, it will also perform fairly well--those C3 processors are not dogs, as you can see from the reviews linked to on Via's page (cached at http://www.google.com/search?q=cache:PMSJrxoMUV4:
For Quake 3, Wolfenstein, and others, I have a GeForce3 card and an Athlon 1600+ (which also runs fairly quietly, with a Silencer fan replacing the original noisy one on my Volcano cooler), but for thoughtful tasks you can't get better than blissful silence.
Yes, and it's dirt cheap and easy.
1 - build a wooden case that allows you to slide the computer into it with about 2 inches of space all around. insulate the box with sonex. or hospital bed padding (same stuff, and loads cheaper.) make the door out of plexiglass, 2 layers spaced about 1/4 inch apart and not parallel to each other (I.E. a slant on the inside pane.
on the back you add 2 ducts, one high, and one low. duct these with dryer vent outside the room and place a blower on the out vent, a small filter on the in vent ( the in must be in the building, the out can be vented outside.)
Voila, 100% silent PC god enought for a recording both (well that's what we use in our sound booth. the equipment registers no sound change at the microphones with the computers in the box on or off. or with the blower on or off. and a human cant tell either.)
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
Adding stiffening material of one kind or another
to the case components which can act as acoustic
membranes (i.e. loudspeakers) can reduce or kill
a good portion of high-frequency vibration noise.
That's the most irritating noise for most folks.
I have more rotating disk spindles than box fans
or cpu coolers. The disks contribute hugely
to the background buzz. Mounting the disks
on rubber grommets and vibration-damping the
supporting structure does help. Now that we're
slowly converting to disk trays (each with a fan),
it seems easier to apply damping to the disks
as part of the tray assembly via foam/rubber
standoffs.
A technically better cooling solution that's less of a
challenge than water cooling involves pumping
cold air through the box. The cool air source and air pump are in a noisy equipment
room or outside the building. The pressurized
air is pushed into the computer box and pulled
out. Using cold air means less air total flow is
needed.
I saw this technique implemented years ago
- it was astonishingly effective: you couldn't
tell the equipment was powered up.
In this application it serves no purpose unless the case is situated at a height where microphones might be. If it were a studio window, the angle would break up sound reflections and minimize standing waves in the room. In "proper" studio design, parallel surfaces
are a no no.