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Build a Quiet Gaming System
ThinSkin writes "Armed with a newly discovered soundproofing foam, Loyd Case from ExtremeTech set out to build a quiet gaming rig that hits the sweet spot in both performance and silence. After choosing the right components and insulating the PC case, Loyd's silent PC weighed in at a shade under $2500, scored 5206 3DMarks, and is hardly audible from more than a meter away."
I dunno about you, but I really like to be within reach of my computer when I am playing...
Why not grab the cheaper components and shove the machine in a cupboard?
Theres nothing holding you back and you gain space and reduction in noise without paying.
If you live in a colder climate, you could also try rigging up something outside your (upstairs) window.
Incidentally, the 3dmark result is with 3d Mark 2006.
liqbase
I can do the same thing to any PC in just a few seconds with a can of "GREAT STUFF" foam.
MadOgre.com
Putting a gaming machine in a closed cupboard might not be such a good idea. It could eventually end up overheating.
One must not forget that all that foam will increase temperatures in the case as well as make it a pain to get back in the machine to replace\troubleshoot hardware issues. He should have gone with http://www.dynamat.com/ . Its much much thinner and won't retain the heat.
Click Click Bloody Click PANCAKES!
Now I can hear the explosions, gunshots and various other sound effects in peace!
"...insulating the PC case..."
Right... so why don't you just pick normal components, and insulate the case?
Just get a long monitor cable, and a wireless keyboard and mouse. Then you can put your noisy little hot-air maker anywhere you want, as long as the monitor cable can reach.
...you could just use one huge heatsink: http://www.zalman.co.kr/eng/product/view.asp?idx=6 4&code=020
Unless you're working on a laptop, how many people work such that their EAR is within 1M of their PC?
...until they take off!
wrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!
I have built a fairly silent PC that, during normal operation, is barely audible. During gaming, it is not noticable with even moderate sound from the speakers at a medium volume, scores 7800 in 3DMark05, and cost $1800 (7 months ago). Today you could build it even cheaper:
Antec P180 Case (a sound-dampening, full size steel case built for heat management and airflow, using multiple tri-speed 120mm fans)
Antec TruPower 2 550 W power supply (in the P180 case, it goes down below, in a separate air flow chamber, so it stays pretty cool)
Athlon64 3700+. Best gaming price/performance at the time I built the system.
Stock heatsink/fan. This is where my noise comes from, and I was satisified; 32C/3000rpm idle, 44C/5500rpm at max load after 12 hours in an unvented, uncomfortably warm room.
Audigy 2 ZS. Cuz I like EAX, k?
eVGA GeForce 7800 GTX (nowadays, the 7900 GT is same performance but for $200 less than what I paid, and lower power/heat, and the 7900 GTX is more power for about $100 less and same power/heat)
2 matched Corsair TWINX 1-gig sticks
160 gig SATA-II Western Digital HD
Sony DVD-ROM (they make fairly quiet drives)
ASUS A8N-SLI Premium motherboard. Uses a heatpipe to move the chipset heat into the airflow coming off the CPU. Works fine. No noisy motherboard chipset fans.
It isn't silent, but its quiet enough. If it's not running a game, I can only tell it's on if I concentrate and listen for it. If the window is open (I'm not on a busy street), the ambient outside noise drowns it out entirely.
Hunt your preferred prey at Aliens vs Predator MUD. Join the war at avpmud.com port 4000
A fishtank filled with silicone oil works better. Complete silence.
That sounds pretty far away. What about if you're closer, like say within 3 feet or so? ;-)
If brevity is the soul of wit, then how does one explain Twitter?
You can create a realtivly silent gaming PC for under a grand. I built an amd 3400+, 1gig ram, ATI 9800 pro video, and a silent case for not that much money over a year ago (def under a grand), and using MS' game machine analyzer it rates in the top 3% of gaming PCs.
Why do all these "game machine" and "media center" how-to guides build such expensive computers? The day where the average gamer or home computer user spends $2000-2500 on a computer is a decade ago.
How many 3D Marks Intel iMac gets (or will get when someone hacks drivers)? It's super silent and cheaper than that...
Just to turn his speakers off?
EpiAdv - if you like Pokey the Penguin, try this comic!
Seriously...BFD! :-P
and is hardly audible from more than a meter away...
Well, unless you have some sweet wireless KB and mouse thing going on, or some really loooong cables, you kinda have to sit within a metre of your rig. So I guess "barely audible" from long range still means "bloody noisy" at regular range
And as this is for a gaming rig...whats the big deal? Spend $50 and get your self a nice set of headphones!
No ambient noise issues there! Some future hearing issues maybe...but what cost is immersion worth anyway
I can understand the need for a quiet media centre setup, but when Im going to be bombarded by gunfire, sexy alien chit chat or pyro-spell-casting type noises...I just cant see the point.
...is quiet enough to do music recording in the same room as it. It's fast enough to play most current games at reasonable framerates. It's a four year old Dell with a newer pro-spec soundcard and cheap nvidia fanless graphics card, and is whisper quiet now. When I first got it, it was totally silent except for the DVD drive sometimes whirring a bit. I literally couldn't tell it was turned on. I think the big slow fan is getting old, so it does make some noise now.
Where is everyone else getting their hideously noisy jet-engine PCs from? Or am I just lucky?
Game dev and music blog
It's not that expensive for a kit anymore, cuts noise out of the picture completely, and is much more effecient to boot. http://compreviews.about.com/od/cpus/a/LiquidCooli ng.htm I don't know why more people don't use it.
Someone save me from this sanity.
YOu don't need FX-57 or 7900GTX to play the latest games; if he choices mid-range products they will produce less heat, and can be cooled easily without extra noise. CPU cooler choice is outdated model, CNPS7700 is old, CNPS9500/9700 is better choice, and there are tons of alternatives which offer even better performance/noise ratios like Scythe Ninja to name one. The choice of case is "okay", Antec's own P150 would be much more suited though. at $2000 this silent system is hardly budget friendly; too many expensive parts. My route to silence was posted on /. last year: http://www.madshrimps.be/gotoartik.php?articID=286
If you don't have your speakers loud enough to drown out everything else (fans, hard drive spinning, mouse movement, internet chatter, tv, radio, wife/girlfriend/so, mom calling you from upstairs, party next door, fire engines, police sirens on street, helicopter circling above your house, swat loudspeaker outside...) then clearly you need a better sound system and/or need to turn up the volume.
If you have a fantastic speaker system on your gaming computer and have the volume way up then you don't need to worry about any fan noise...you won't hear anything else.
Quality Hosting e3 Servers
You can easilly build a liquid cooled machine that is for all intents and purposes 'silent'. Sure it will weight a little more than your standard system, but I have a liquid cooled machine that I lug around to LAN's and it is not that big of a deal. Not only that it can keep the machine cooler than even the most exhaustive air cooled system and therefore give you better performance.
Whats really the difference if the fan makes a little noise. Turn the speakers up some and you wont hear anything
Quiet box?!?!! I just want a gaming box that doesn't overheat!
When I first saw this article the first thing that popped into my head was DYNAMAT. Though the Antec solution w/ foam is pretty cool. But what about the dust that would collect in the foam? EWW.
A couple drawbacks with Dynamat - it ain't cheap, so it would cost more than the foam kit, but you could build a quiet box much cheaper than $2500 anyway, so that probably isn't a huge consideration.
I've used Dynamat in my car, and it is also kinda tough to work with. For best results you have to warm it for fitting, and that means you're working with a sheet of sticky play-doh. And you would think cutting it with an xacto knife or razor would be cake, but again, it's tricky.
Unfortunately, Dynamat probably would likely retain some ambient heat in the case just like the foam. To what degree though? *shrug*
One last thought - Dynamat is typically used in much louder, more dynamic volume environments - your car with a thumpin system on a street with potholes. Seems like Dynamat is more for serious vibration dampening vs. ambient dampening. Then again, I haven't coated my car's interior walls or hood w/ Dynamat, so what do I know?
People, a meter is only 3 feet. Correct me if I'm long, but standard cables start around 1.5-2m in length. No special setup necessary, certainly no need to hide the machine, and any suggestion that a meter would somehow be inconvenient is ludicrous unless you like to wear your computer as a HAT while you use it.
Umm... as far as i know, the AcoustiPack foam has been around since at least 2004 if not longer.
So much for "newly discovered".
I'm not a gamer and I haven't done much with Windows lately so I'm somewhat curious.
In my own case, I put a decent desktop in the basement and my ancient Thinkpad by my chair in the livingroom. I just ssh and everything's cool. The laptop is unobtrusive and quiet and the basement machine has enough horsepower for almost any task I want to do.
For Windows is there a decent equivalent to ssh, or does ssh exist for Windows. Is it a feasible solution for gaming? Or would you just run extra long monitor, keyboard and mouse cables?
Spend 40 bucks at radio shack and get a Sound Pressure Level meter and give me the DB readings
DB Reading with no equiptment on, normal to the plane of your ear, at ear height. You get the picture
I always thought of Creationism as the Raving Right's version of the Loony Left's Anthropogenic Global Warming-brightmal
Why not just pick up an Antec Sonata case. It's only about a $100 and it sounds like it's alot quieter than this half assed setup.
Just get one of these babies and some not so loud gpu and you're all set :) ..unless you love that DIY stuff to the max of course.
1. 35 and overs lose 3db hearing with each passing decade.
2. Farsightedness makes them sit back 1" further each year.
3. They have more money to spend than younger people do.
I'm building a new silent gaming PC for sub $1200.
Type Name Item Number Price
CPU AMD Athlon x2 3800+ ADA3800BVBOX $295.99
~Heat Sink Scythe SCNJ-1000 SCNJ-1000 $44.98
~Fan Nexus 120mm D12SL-12 $15.99
Video Card eVGA 7900GT 256-P2-N563-AX $303.69
~Heat Sink Arctic Cooling NV Silencer Rev.3 AVC-NV5R3 $26.99
Mother Board
Memory GeIL Value 1GB GE1GB3200BDC $77.25
Optical Drive NEC Silver DVD Burner ND-3550A SV OEM $40.88
Harddrive
Case Antec Performance One P150 P150 $132.97
~Fan Nexus 92mm (two) DF1209SL-3 $25.98
Newegg is having free shipping with a code starting next week for a month.Those prices are with shipping costs so it will be lower. Fans i'm getting from "heatsinkfactory" everything else is newegg.I still need a mobo, harddrive, and artic cooling needs to release a rev. 4 of their videocard cooler but it should come in at under 1200 and be super quite with those good fans.
Code:PCG10406
True Price:$925.36
Go here if you want reviews about real cooling. http://www.silentpcreview.com/
Yea, you could use that but good luck picking it up with all the thermal grease on it. LOL Pretty neat idea though.
"brix_zx2, What is your sole purpose in this forum!?!?!"
"To do whatever you tell me MODERATOR!!!!"
For anyone here looking for PC silencing information, head to http://www.silentpcreview.com/, it's a great resource. I silenced my AMD64 system last year using their product reviews and help from the enthusiasts on the forums.
Did you know subscribers can see articles in the future? Holy shit!
Every single workstation in the comp sci lab at the University has the monitor on top of the actual computer case. A 1m radius sphere around it would intersect with anyone's head.
When I sit at a desktop at home, my head is between 70 and 90cm from 2 computer towers, both of which are on my desk next to my monitor.
Do you know that a metre is 100cm, or 3 and 1/3rd feet?
I don't know of any people who have their PC cases far away from their monitors, and I don't know of any people who sit more than 1 metre from their monitor (it makes it hard to read the contents!).
--
Internet Explorer (n): Another bug -- that is, a feature that can't be turned off -- in Windows.
Here's how my adventures with cooling went with my Athlon64 3200+
... goddammit (and many expletives more colorful than that). So I took off the side panel, and replaced all those fans (except of course the CPU cooler) with:
Zalman CPU cooler: $40
Side intake fan: came with the case.
Extra intake fan: $8
Double-wide slot fan: $20
Front intake fan assembly: $20
After all that, it was still overheating
6" clip-on fan: $15
Clipped it to the top of the case and pointed it inward. Works perfectly. Quieter too. Not winning any beauty contests, but at least it stops locking up. Also, assuming you haven't done what I did, it's a very good idea to blow the dust off your CPU heatsink or get a filter so you don't get dust
Done with slashdot, done with nerds, getting a life.
I don't know about anyone else, but I can barely hear my computer and I'm about 2 feet away from it. (It sits on my desk, not 2 feet away in a cupboard or something). It just uses quiet fans. This is also a stock mid-level machine, I haven't done any upgrades to it, cooling systems or otherwise.
-1 disagree is not a modifier for a reason. -1 troll, flaimbait, redundant, overrated are NOT acceptable substitutes.
It's quiet, but not the heat measurements are deceiving.
I also have a Sonata II case, with a very quiet Vantec PSU, a relatively quiet Radeon 9600XT, and the same heatsink. Difference: Athlon XP 2800+ cpu, Maxtor SATA drives, no sound-absorbing foam etc. When I turn all my fans on minimum, I quite literally can't hear my computer, and this is without the sound-absorbing foam.
Yes, my computer also idles somewhere around ~50C.
But on high load? The temperature can go as high as +70C when watching a movie, and even up to 80C when compiling (yes, I run Gentoo) under "aggressive" bios settings.
This is not very satisfactory. I'm convinced that the foam would only make matters worse (since sound isn't a problem as it is). Normally, I run it on medium fan settings -- you can hear it humm quietly, but it's not distracting.
I highly recommend the Sonata II case and Vantec power supplies, but don't expect low temperatures with low sound.
- shazow
Note that foam generally does a pretty good job of absorbing sound reflection, but what many folks don't understand is that it's fairly poor at dealing with sound transmission. It helps a lot that computer noise tends to be relatively high frequency, which foam is better at absorbing. As an example, an attempt to dampen out upstairs neighbors' footsteps using acoustic foam is an expensive way to do nothing. Especially as all acoustic foam is less effective the lower the frequency of the sound.
In TFA, the foam primarily seems to be used to dampen internal reflections, making the case's sound reduction more effective. E.g. foaming the inside of the venting duct helps to reduce high frequency noise escaping from the duct. Clever.
A great solution that I've used over the years is to just shove the computer into a closet, or even into the basement if the space affords it. When scouting out new living spaces, the ability to keep computers out of earshot has often been a key decision maker for me. I even got my last landlord to let me put a 4" circular port for cable passage into a closet off of a finished basement for just such purposes. Air space in the port was filled with foam discs cut to size -- open air passage between the computers and your space is to be avoided. Worked great; computers in the closet were completely inaudible more than a foot from the cable port.
I spent the money and got good headphones, I can't hear my PC fans at all.
The days of the digital watch are numbered.
Help me take back Slashdot. When did 'News for Nerds' become 'FUD and Conspiracy Theories for Extremist Nutjobs'?
When the Illuminati took over, you naieve fool. Microsoft funded the whole thing to try and silence the Linux community because it was getting too powerful.
Put it in the next room and run extension cables. And save yourself $2000.
I suggest the Lasko Model 2004C fan for about $15USD. Remove the left side panal of your case and attach it to the lower lip of the bottom panal. There might be some undesirable magnetic interference so you may be better off attaching it to the desk and aiming into the case from about 6-8 inches away. If you can find this specific model fan, I'd suggest any Dollar Tree, Target, or Wal-Mart, they have similar models for about the same price.
Last year I bought my 15-year-old daughter a cheapo Dell for $450 that is virtually silent. There is plastic ducting inside the case that seems to achieve better cooling with lower airflow. It's the quietest desktop I've ever not heard. Though not a performance monster, it isn't a bad machine to begin with, and I imagine somebody who knew their hardware could beef up the specs for a lot less than $2500, and no foam.
Just saying.
Buy a gaming console. I can't hear my Xbox360 at 2 feet unless the dvdrom spins up.
I never mess with any of this silent PC stuff. I've got a Geforce 7800GTX paired with a Athlon X2 Oc'd to 260 FSB. For 80mm cooling I've got five Vantec Tornado Ex Fans all stuck on double 12v lines, each pushes about 100 CFM. As a sidemount I decided to put a Delta "The Extreme" 120mm Ulra-high CFM fan, this bad-boy is rated at 260 CFM and 62 dBA when on full speed.
:)
The smaller fans are each 56dBA - and an old sleeve bearing fan is apparently making a really loud screaching noise. My cat and dog don't like to sit in the same room but it's better that way, no dog hairs get sucked in.
The four way Raptor WD360GD 10,000 RPM RAID-5 setup isn't exactly quiet either.
Netbooks, they come with Linux or a $3 copy of Windows. Either way, Microsoft loses.
Its nice to see people doing interesting things but was this really necessary.
I usually wear a headset so doesnt matter to me too much.
Ear plugs and head phones can be uncomfortable too.
I've seen several computers where they are literally the loudest device in a house short of a sound system, and it doesn't need to be that way. It doesn't even cost much to improve sound if you are conscious of the audible impact of component choices. A little bit of foam, a few adjustments here and there, sometimes costing a little bit more money, all without resorting to anything as drastic as drowning out the entire outside world.
While nowhere close to silent, it still is very quite. The Kingwin Aquastar AS-3000(http://www.kingwin.com/pdut_detail.asp?Lin eID=&CateID=53&ID=249) is installed in my PC. P4 Northwood 3ghz, 2GB DDR400, and Nvidia 6600GT. The AS-3000 comes with water block for both CPU and GPU.. ANY cpu and gpu. DB sensor, and LCD on the front. Took my idle temp from 105f to 90f. and under load from 130f to 105f. Not a performance Water cooler, but for $100 us, a great addition in my opinion. External, or mounts internal in 2 - 5 1/4 bays. This unit has 2 fans inside moving air across radiator. not fanless, but quite.
The above comments are not guaranteed to make sense to anyone other than the author...
Mac mini
Given the decent shape, material, and quantity of this foam that HDs are shipped in, I wonder if some strategical placing of this foam inside the box could produce a noticable effect on noise without any added cost?
Any fool can criticise, condemn, and complain, and most fools do. - Benjamin Franklin
Similar noisy system wouldn't be more than 200$ cheaper. And thats under 10% off overall cost there.
If you don't need more than 500W power supply, quiet system costs about 100$ more than noisy system.
I picked Nexus breeze as my case, and nexus CPU cooler, over stock fan and thats all I needed to get quiet system.
The breeze comes with preinstalled foam, and it has only slowly running 120mm fans, and quiet powersupply to begin with.
Only thing missing here is how much more costs a quiet GFX card, since I don't do anything that needs fast gfx card so I'm still el cheapo gfx which don't need active cooling due low power consumption.
Emacs is good operating system, but it has one flaw: Its text editor could be better.
The system I have right now is pretty quiet and zippy for both programming and gaming. 1GB RAM, Athlon 64 3000+, 6150 motherboard, low profile Geforce 6600 really good stuff for the 1024x768 monitor of mine. I can play the latest stuff at the native resolution of the screen with reasonable quality, or some slightly older games with 4xAA/16x AF. And there is a zalman on both the CPU and GPU.
It's whisper-quiet, extremely tiny and wicked fast.
Best advice? Get a case that is well-ventilated (a la antec minuet ii) and base the system on the athlon 64, not the pentium 4 / D. Avoid graphics cards with whiny fans. And stick to quiet 7200RPM drives like the seagates or the latest offerings from western digital and maxtor. Get SATA drives to minimize airflow interference, and route all cables cleverly out of airflow areas. This way, the fans can work at the lowest speed possible and still adequately cool the components, even in the highest load situations.
Speedfan is good software for software-controlling fans hooked into the mobo. Alternatively, you could attach a resistor or zalman fan mate to slow the fan down the "old fashioned" way.
Do not downmod posts "overrated" simply because you disagree with them.
Before I started spending my spare cash on building computers, I used to compete in the automotive stereo scene. But now that I am into building computers AND I am into making music on those computers, I am very surprised at how many people don't look to the car stereo scene for advice. I'm guessing that the average geek doesn't think outside fo the PC-mod world. But just because something isn't marketed for computers, that doesn't mean it isn't usable. Dynamat and Killer Blue. Dynamat is thin, very dense, and it does wonders for sound dampening. Killer Blue is a spray-foam that works for areas where a sheet of rubbery stuff won't work. While dynamat does make a "PC" kit, the regular automotive stuff is cheaper and better. Dynamat also comes in several grades and thicknesses. You'll want a couple different types for different applications. Don't forget to put some between your fans and the case and between your power supply and the case. As for the Killer Blue, you won't need much of it. Some cases, you won't even need any. In my case, there's a plastic front and there's a lot of space between it and the case. I sprayed some of it in there - careful not to block any airflow around the fans. There are also some crevices at the corners where the Killer Blue was more appropriate as well. But the important thing about sound-proofing any case (especially aluminum cases) is the fact that you will increase heat in the case itself. Make sure you ventilate it properly. Use larger fans when possible. For that matter...start with a good case.
There is absolutely no reason why you should put foam IN the ducts. Especially open-cell foam like that stuff. It will decrease airflow. And the last thing you want to do is decrease the cooling efficiency in the case.
My system is similar to yours. We may have read similar reviews.
My stuff:
01) I use a similar case: I chose the Antec P150 instead of the P180, because I use a more traditional airflow system, and never could get into the P180 design
02) same motherboard: ASUS A8N-SLI Premium Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 SLI ATX AMD
03) probably the same memory: CORSAIR XMS 2GB (2 x 1GB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) Unbuffered Dual Channel
04) I use two Nexus 120 mm case fans, spun down using zalman fanmate 2 variable resistors to 35% normal speed (about 415 rpm)
05) I use an IDE ATA-6 laptop hard drive (with an adaptor for the Mobo); 5400 rpm 80 gig. It's small but it's all I need.
06) I use the stock Antec 440 watt PSU (despite the bad reviews on it, I've never had issues with it: b/c the fan speed is based on temp and power consumption, and my system is so low temp and power consuming, I can never hear the PSU fan, unless I put my ear up to it)
07) fanless GPU: the GIGABYTE GV-NX66T128VP Geforce 6600GT
08) I use a dual core AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ CPU
09) Scythe SCNJ-1000 CPU Cooling Heatsink (this is where the 1st spun down 120mm fan is, the 2nd is at the back vent of the case, replacing the what-I-found-to-be fairly noisy tri-speed fan, even if it was 120mm)
10) I use a simple Soundblaster Live! card (the card is three years old now) with the SPDIF/digital out for sound.
11) LG 16X DVD±R DVD Burner 5X DVD-RAM drive: it supports dual layer and DVD-RAM (my favorite).
12) A Hauppauge 980 ( WinTV-PVR-250 ) to watch and record TV
I can *never* hear this system, since it's about 23 decibels, unless the room is completely quiet with no speakers on; then I can hear a "whoosh" of airflow. It doesnt have massive GPU power, but if I wanted that I would have sprung the $500.00 for a XFX PV-T71F-YDL9 GeForce 7900 GTX (650MHz) 512MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 card, with it's excellent heatsink and fan system. Since I'm not FPS gamer (never did like those kinds of games much), I passed on that expense.
I didn't put any foam in (thought about it for while, though), since the sound deadening properties of the P150 were good enough, and the system is virtually silent anyway.
I already had a DELL UltraSharp 2405FPW 24-inch Wide Aspect Flat Panel LCD Monitor, so that expense was out of the way. I read reviews at silentpcreview.com first, shopped in local retail stores, and then bought most components from Newegg.com (except the fans and fanmates from endpcnoise.com). The whole system cost me about $1,200.00, ($2,000 if you include the monitor) which I found reasonable, especially for an almost completely quiet system.
Hope this helps anyone looking for a system out there,
uR iGn0ranc3, Their Power
http://www.eqluclin.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=9977
Decent $900 model assembled from Newegg without needing the foam. Even using the same caliber of components that they use in the linked article it would cost less than $2k and be far easier to assemble.
Hell is being intelligent in a world full of idiots.
Integrated video is only in latest Mac Mini. iMac and MacBook have radeon X1600-something. It's possible to run Windows XP on Intel Macs, so most likely DirectX as well.
They're only any good for absorbing high frequency sounds, and your PC case will reflect most of those inside anyway.
If you can find one use a concrete or stone flag/slab, lay your pc on it's side and put the slab on top, just make sure the slab is large enough to cover the entire side (or "top" now, seeing that it's in a desktop layout) and cover about 2 or 3 inches over the back side of the PC so to baffle and block the rear fan and the PSU fan. Add some foam to the overhanging slab and to the wall the rear fans are blowing out at to absorb more noise.
I'm using an old Dell Optiplex instead of a stone slab, it's not as efficient but I use it to hold a harddisk and DVD drive. It's not perfect but it has decreased sound output dramatically. You can even layers of bubble wrap, that will muffle a lot of the higher frequency sound too,
If you are going to buy foam padding then you should never buy it from a PC website or store - find a shop that sells industrial parts and tools as it's far cheaper.
Just a few weeks ago I had to replace my computer, and I did it using the same case as the article, but I stuck to stock coolers and the like. It seemed awefully quiet right off the bat, but it really drove home just how nice it was to have a quiet computer when I was out of bed in the middle of the night getting baby formula, and I walked by my computer and wondered who bothered to turn it off. Funny thing was that when I looked under the desk, the soft blue case lights were bathing the floor with their glow. The house was quiet, there was no traffic, the furnace fan was not running, and the baby wasn't actually making any noise yet, and I actually could not here the computer over the sound of my own footsteps. I ended up moving it on top of my desk instead of hidden, so I could see the lights easily (and to get the cables off the ground -- baby is crawling these days).
More Caffeine. NOW
Lately i have become quite interested in quiet computers. One thing i don't have is a device to measure sound levels. Any idea where to get such a thing? I probably wouldn't use it terribly often, so a simple and cheap decibel meter would probably be better than a lab quality one.
----- "I'm still sane on three planets and two moons."
Everybody knows that Macs are for dilletants, homosexuals, and the French. No real computer user would be caught dead with one.
Umm... pardon me for being scientific but foam as a whole is an insulator. PC's main combatant is heat.... I understand the need for noise reduction but why would you put an insulator in an item that has severe issues with heat? I'm sure the 20-50dB difference is nice but why risk a system failure or system burn out on a bit of noise? If any of the major fans in the system fail you could be buying another CPU/HDD memory or video card in short time. If you want quiet. Aluminum case double walled with plastic line and yes Insulated panels. true it is insulated but the aluminum is a natural heat sink since it is double layered the aluminum will help to transfer some of he excess heat. Water cooler. they are cheap enough now and the pump noise is next to NIL. you can even go as far as replacing the video heatsink/fan with water block cooling. now ports on the system face all ports out the bottom and intake from the front. sounds weird but think about it. Heat rises anyway so the down force if you have a carpeted or padded room will help with the noise. Powersupply go with the ANTEC fanless model and that should remedy all the issues you have. I'm guessing at this point short of some 10k WD raptor or scsi drives over 10k the system will be nearly silent regardless. Some still fear a liquid running around an electronic device and I sympathize with you. its all a matter of what degree of noise you will tolerate. Mine sounds like a freight train derailing in a firework factory during a new years day parade.... so as you can guess noise isn't an issue. (OC CPU requires some compromises).
I own four pcs atm - weird thing is the most noisy one is my laptop. It was really, really cheap, and the via nehemiah cpuis supposed not to overheat but there are two fans on this thing and the cheap hard drive just ROARS and i'm not talking about the dvd whet it gets spinning...
The least noisy pc i ever owned is this 486 by zenith, still works btw. The thing has no fan on the cpu and the power supplu one is completely inaudible - the sony cdrom i stuffed on it is noiseless too, even when spinning at a whopping (sic) 4x
There are two ways to see things imho: either be reminiscent of "good old times when hardware quality was better and people used 14 screws for a mobo and 6 for a floppy drive", or realise that kinetic energy usually is accompanied by heat and/or noise and that "quicker stuff" will most probably mean "hotter and noisier stuff"
(Imho again) as long as HDDs have moving parts and are portable storage medium is a spinning disc (be it cd or dvd) noise and heat will have to be tolerated. Why can't we make 40gig hdds from the same stuff usb pendrives are made of again?