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Building a Dead Silent PC

Posted by michael on from the i-still-have-the-scar dept.

Jouster writes "The folks over at HardCoreWare.net have finally lost it. They built a PC that's well over twenty times quieter than their comparison PC (40 dB versus 65). And it's no sluggard, either: P4 2.80 GHz, 7200 RPM hard drive and--get this!--an overclocked to the max GeForce4 Ti 4200! The only fan in the entire system is in the PSU."

11 of 430 comments (clear)

  1. I have to wonder...... by idiotnot · · Score: 5, Interesting

    exactly what this will do to component life. As you can see from the graphs they posted, the CPU and graphics card do run noticably hotter than with the stock cooling.

    To me, the small amount of noise created by a the stock CPU fan and graphics card cooler are worth the bit of extra noise.

    A very quiet case fan might be a good addition to this to help draw heat out of the case. That big plastic window doesn't help add anything to radiational cooling from the case, either.

    And my athlon isn't *that* noisy, especially when it's tucked away underneat the desk.

  2. Longevity? Hardware Burnout? by beowulf_26 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I think it's great that these guys did this, and I'm quite impressed at the hardware statistics and performance for such a quiet system. Although, there is a conspicuous lack of one element from the whole article...

    Longevity.

    While I've been desperately wanting a completely quiet computer that runs decently for some time now, I don't have the money to invest in a solution that is going to last only for a year or so. I guess I wish these guys had done more extended testing of their system.

    Has any other /.er made a comparable system? How has it lasted?

    Maybe I'm just a skeptic, but an overclocked GeForce 4 Ti with no active cooling makes me anxious, and somewhat hesitant.

    --

    --I hate big sigs.
    1. Re:Longevity? Hardware Burnout? by LordSah · · Score: 5, Interesting

      My solution to making my PC quite was very simple: I built a big-ass sound-insulating box for it. The box itself is made of particle board, lined with acoustic ceiling tile and carpet. I cut fan holes in the side of my original case, and mounted three fans to blow directly onto the CPU, memory and graphic board.

      The fans on the side of my case pull in air from a 20" long carpet-lined duct--it acts a lot like a car muffler. The air moves through, but the carpet absorbs nearly all the sound (the sound needs to make two 90 degree turns to escape the air channel). There is a similar duct in the back of the case for outgoing air.

      My 'new' case has more airflow than the computer originally had, so my internal temps are only a little higher than they used to be. I built the box with a weekend and ~$25. Now I can leave my computer on all the time without making my ears ring. If you've got access to a wood shop, it's a very effective way to make a quiet PC.

  3. Most Apple products have been silent. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Most Apple products have been silent.

    Its one of the main reasons people like to buy them.

    Even some of the G4s (cube) keep the fan off unless critical.

    powerbooks are similarlysilent unless emergency fans kick in.

    The balance of other modesl, such as imac are designed with columnar "chimney effect" air flow out the tops.

    And many famous apples have no fan at all whatsoever, not even on powersupply : Apple II, IIe, IIc, IIgs

    Many musicians like the newer macs with sampler gear because they don't have to worry about systyem sound so much.

    External D/A in usb allows noise free amplification far from motherboard on most all mac models in last 3.5 years.

    Mac lovers hate noise it sems.

    I wish dual cpu AMDs could be made much quieter.

  4. I can think of one idea to get even cooler by Navaash+Fenwylde · · Score: 5, Interesting
    Those are some gigantic heatsinks. The processor heatsink alone is frigheting enough. But there does seem to be one solution that can be even quieter and can cool both Pentiums AND Athlons...

    Water cooling!

    It's certainly different, using water to carry off and circulate the heat. Obviously, it requires a large degree of trust, as one leak can short out your entire system in a heartbeat. I've been around these beasts, and they certainly seem quiet enough.

    I imagine they would be great for overclockers :D

  5. Old news by Maniakes · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The PowerMac G4 cube (bottom of page 4, "Noise characteristics") was only 31 dB. That's 2,512 times quiter than this "silent" PC.

    --
    A legparnasom tele van angolnaval.
  6. Noise Cancelling Case by peel · · Score: 4, Interesting
    It seems to me that someone would have come up with a noise cancelling method by now. You know, something similar to the technology utilized by some headphones such as these by Aiwa. Basically you could sample the sound inside the case then invert the wave, and then play it back through a case speaker. Viola! Instant nose reduction. This would also dynamically address other noisy things such as cd-rom drives. Just an idea to make millions. -peel

    p.s.- If you don't understand how this works you can also try it out with your home stereo and a song with a lot of base. Take your speakers and aim them at each other then take one of the sets of wires and switch the positive and the negative. You will notice the sound of the bass reduces dramatically due to an effect called phasing.

  7. Totally silent PC by shepd · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Even more quiet than some Macs.

    Buy a mobo with a VIA CPU on it. Take off 486 CPU Fan/HS combo. Replace with a large heatsink. Build/buy P/S with no fan (VIA CPUs take very little power, so building one is not hard for someone with some electronics knowledge). Load up O/S through the network, put in a lot of RAM, no hard drive.

    There. Totally silent PC. And it probably only cost you $200 CDN. Wow. Hard to believe, huh?

    Even VIA themselves know their CPU rules for this. Stop using Intel/AMD if you want quiet and lower power, with enough horses to power most modern OSes.

    --
    If you could be told what you can see or read, then it follows that you could be told what to say or think - BoC
  8. Sympathetic to their Cause by tchueh · · Score: 4, Interesting

    After sitting next to my computer for the past couple years, I almost believe that the noise coming from it has seriously hindered my hearing. It's hard for me to hear people whispering to me, and sometimes I can't even hear my profs in lectures.

    This is one of the main reasons that I'll look toward a "silent" pc with decent performance, rather than a "Tweaked out" pc that'll make me deaf before I'm 30.

    I gotta hand it to the guys at Hardcoreware.net. They went all the way with this, which is something i'd like to do...

    Well, either that or just buy a Mac.

  9. Cruesoe doesn't need a fan by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

    As far as I know, the Transmeta Cruesoe CPU doesn't need a CPU fan, so it would be a good candidate for a silent PC.

  10. Who tests these claims? by krazyninja · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Is there any standard way/method of testing these claims that every vendor/organisation makes? For instance, I can think of a number of ways in which this claim can be twisted: Ambient sound, position/location of the computers, position of measurement, calibration of the dB meter, temperature of the air measured at various instants of time, material on which the computers stand, consistency of readings, etc etc...Who validates all these claims? How can we truly believe these "cheapass" claims (in the same words of the author) ??

    --
    "Do something man. Right now."