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."

Comments

what??

[rovingeyes]

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...

Eh...

[GmAz]

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.

Re:Great!

[Mad Ogre]

Or you can surf your porn and hear anyone coming near your office.

Or....

[Anonymous Coward]

...you could just use one huge heatsink: http://www.zalman.co.kr/eng/product/view.asp?idx=6 4&code=020

Quiet or silent?

[MaineCoon]

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.

Re:Quiet or silent?

[Jeffrey Baker]

The article doesn't seem to mention some other important ways to make your PC sound quieter. One is to simply move it away from the wall. Most PCs have a rear-blowing fan that fires right into a wall, and the sound reflection is quite strong. Moving the PC away from the wall reduces the power of the reflected sound. You can also mount foam on any hard surface behind or beneath the PC if moving it is impractical.

Changing the way your PC is mounted to the floor can also make a big difference. All computer fans vibrate to some degree, and the feet on the PC case transfer this vibration to the floor or cabinet with a sometimes surprising transfer function. Getting softer or harder feet, or even bolting it down to a large heavy object, can quiet this down.

Finally hard disks can be mounted on soft rubber grommets which makes a huge difference in how much sound is transferred from the drive to the case. This can eliminate the subtle but annoying noise generated by disk eccentricity and muffle the sound of the voice coil actuator.

Re:Quiet or silent?

[Bios_Hakr]

You'll pay a premium for "rubber grommets for component mounting". Instead, grab a bicycle intertube from WalMart for a few bucks. Use 9-11 certified utility knife to cit it into strips. Put a strip between the drives and the mounting bracket.

Sometimes, the brackets are kinda tight. You can get over that by prying it open a bit. It'll come back together when you screw it down.

Use all the screws you can. I see people just using one or two per side. Most CD-ROMs can take 4 screws per side; use all of them!

Don't screw it down too tight. I've never seen a spec for how tight to torque a hard drive screw. Too tight and your dampener will be for naught. If you are concerned about the drive coming loose, grab some LokTite. If you are clever, a drop of rubber cement will server the same purpose as LokTite and costs a lot less.

Get big fans and run them at lower RPMs. I know a lot of people are concerned over heat. Truth is, computers can run really fucking hot with no problems. 50c is a good number to be happy with. Even 60c isn't a big problem. Just make sure the hard drives are getting cool, fresh air.

Make sure to select a good power supply with a 120mm fan. There is little you can do to quite a bad power supply.

As for the other fans, get some baffles or thin foam. On the back of the PC, tape in some ducting to allow the fan to breathe without having a direct shot to the open air. A fan in the middle of a tube will be quieter than a fan at either end of the tube. Between the fan and the exit, stuff in some crumpled dryer sheets. These allow air flow but really deaden the noise. You can also use several stacked dryer sheets over the intake fans as well.

Finally, take the fucking thing off the desk. There is no reason to have the PC on your desk. Put it under the desk or behind it. You know that box that the thing came in, use that to make a "computer cozy". Cut a few holes for air and cover them with dryer sheets. Cut another hole for the CD-ROM and cover that with a dryer sheet hinge. There will usually be a 1~2" gap between the box and the case. No dust or dirt will get in. It'll be dead quiet from inches away.

Expensive

[Nightspirit]

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.

Yeah, Dynamat

[ignatz72]

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?

Re:Great!

[PaganRitual]

Yeah, but now they can all hear you coming from their office.

Re:Did all of you flunk 3rd grade math?

[damsa]

I know how to do 3rd grade math. In the 4th grade I learned the concept of rounding.