Slashdot Mirror
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...
I can do the same thing to any PC in just a few seconds with a can of "GREAT STUFF" foam.
MadOgre.com
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!
Put it in a fridge.
Or you can surf your porn and hear anyone coming near your office.
MadOgre.com
...you could just use one huge heatsink: http://www.zalman.co.kr/eng/product/view.asp?idx=6 4&code=020
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
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.
Just to turn his speakers off?
EpiAdv - if you like Pokey the Penguin, try this comic!
...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
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
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?
Yeah, but now they can all hear you coming from their office.
I know how to do 3rd grade math. In the 4th grade I learned the concept of rounding.
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 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.