|
Hey guys!
I've created my first blog to ask the unbelievably knowledgeable TL user base for some advice.
I'm planning on buying a new PC in the near future. My current computer is very very loud, and I'd like the next one to be a lot more quiet. In case it makes any difference for cooling considerations, I have an Intel Core2 Duo E8400 and a Radeon HD 4850 in mind.
I figured out the following options for a silent PC:
1) Use water cooling
This is probably the most professional solution, but too complicated and expensive for me. Furthermore, I shy a bit at the tinkering since I'm not too much of a handyman.
Not really an option for me.
2) Use components with passive cooling
Now it's getting more interesting. There are passively cooled power supply units (expensive), graphics cards and even passive CPU coolers. I like the idea of having no moving parts at all (beside the hard disks, but they shouldn't be too noisy anyway).
I have reservations whether having no active fan at all might lead to an overheating system. Does anyone have experience with passively cooled systems? How hot does everything get? Would it help to just leave the case open? Or would I need active fans for air ventilation in the case anyway, thus defeating the purpose of it all?
3) Use a noise-reduced case
I currently favor this method: a noise-reduced Silentmaxx ST11 case with normal (but still quite silent) components inside: a good PSU (Silentmaxx? beQuiet? Enermax?) and maybe a Scythe CPU cooler.
Does one of you own such a case? How much noise does it block? Does the temperature increase a lot? Do I need an extra fan in the case, and where do I mount it?
Any advice or tips are welcome!
 
|
Passive cooling almost never works. There's a massive difference between having just the slightest air movement and none at all. Just get quiet and/or undervolted fans. Most 12v fans are near-silent at 5v.
Your best resource for this stuff is http://www.silentpcreview.com/
|
you can use sound dampening foam, but be aware it does raise case temperatures. clean the case and try to make it as uncluttered as possible allowing better airflow (and thus allowing you to use less/weaker fans)
use bigger fans at lower rpms then smaller fans at higher rpm (120 mm fans work best for this)
always make sure you have fans blowing air in through the front and a fan in the back drawing air out of the case (1 120 mm for the front and 1 for the back works great for this)
|
Scythe USA fans are good low rpm fans with decent air flow very slient imo.
Also 4000's series with passive cooling impossible those run in the high 80's C with a fan (Horribly loud and annoying fan jack asses at ATI made it a single slot card making the fan do more work, so i wouldn't get a passive card for that series you just asking for it to burn)
Get sound dampeners and line them in your case causes a bit more heat but as long as the air flow is good doesn't matter.
I only have 1 passive cooled system at my place. And that is my media pc which is hooked up to the TV and plays blue rays, dvd etc giving my surround sound etc. And it's all passive but i just allow that because the gpu and cpu don't work hard for very long as long as a movie. Else it's just doing sound calcs and heat doesn't build up. I guess that it is also like 7 feet away from me and by a speaker makes it not noticeable what sound it does make.
If sound is too much of a problem put the computer in a cabinet and have the air vent in the back my comp is a air sucking bastard loud as fuck but it's a lot quieter scene i shoved it inside of my desk cabinet. Gets a bit hot thou if i leave it on for more then a day.
Also water cooling isn't professional. I always found water cooling funny because people go water omfg you gonna fry you comp. First off never use tap water lol if you where to use water has to be 100% pure no current to short out peaces else you just buy non conductive fluids. And let the board dry out for a week or two if you fucked up the hoses.
|
rocketship
United States32 Posts
You might also want to get an aftermarket cooler for the 4850. The stock fan could get loud when you increase it's RPM.
|
United States17042 Posts
With those components getting it quiet by not using too much power is going to be a tough problem. Air cooling is still used everywhere because it is fairly cheap, and it's easy to add more fans for more cooling.
Those three solutions are really it though- It looks like you've done your homework. I would say that if you want to keep the performance that your current machine has, you need to go with water cooling. It's the highest performance, but it's a pain to keep set up and working (if you screw it up, things go boom).
Passive cooling is obviously the quietest, but it's really really tough to get full power components that can be run passively with no fans. Normal processors output way too much heat to run with just passive cooling.
As noted above, the easiest, probably most cost effective solution is the case. However, it does raise case temps (I believe also noted above).
Personally, if you have the money and the time to mess around with it, water cooling is probably the best solution. Once you get it set up and working, the case/components will be almost silent, and you will be able to run top of the line components if you so desire. However, getting it set up and working will be tiring, and expensive.
Second best is probably the quiet case. It's probably got the best price/performance ratio.
|
Slow fans are probably the best solution. I bought a zalman gpu cooler for my GPU. I plugged my cpu fan power connector into a chassis fan power connector. Then in the BIOS, I was able to set all my fans to 1300 rpm. It's quite quiet. Btw, I use a Antec case.
|
Passive cooling is bad, never tried noise reduced cases, but I can tell you water cooling is the shit and is way easier to do than everyone makes it out to be.
I understand if you don't want to venture into that kind of complicated stuff tho.
|
Isnt there a program that knows your fans and temperatures and what not
Can you control your fans and stuff with that?
|
currently i'm using an antec p180 case with a seasonic s12 energy+ psu. i'm running a q6600 cooled by a tuniq tower 120 and its stock fan as well as a geforce 8800 gts 640mb.
the system is unbelievably quiet, i have my cpu overclocked to 3.0ghz with the cpu fan on medium setting, and unless it is ABSOLUTELY silent around me, i can't even tell that it's on.
i think this is in large part due to the case (the p1xx series has consistently been reviewed as one of the best cases when it comes to noise and cooling), but it's fairly heavy/large and on the more expensive side.
water cooling i think is far too big of a hassle if all you want it noise reduction. water cooling is typically used to get a few extra ghz out of your cpu overclock, and if you're not going to be overclocking then you can go with a much cheaper (and safer) heatsink-fan cooler.
passive cooling in generally is not very reliable, for reasons already mentioned. the most important things to keeping your system cool is having a case that is built well and has sufficient airflow in and out, in addition to having quality individual coolers for your cpu/gpu etc etc (i find that usually the coolers that come with your gpu are fine, as long as your case has good airflow).
also, the website that sonuvbob posted is incredibly useful for finding quality parts that are quiet 
|
On October 09 2008 07:40 Folca wrote:
Isnt there a program that knows your fans and temperatures and what not
there are many, google has all
cpu-z is one that i use
On October 09 2008 07:40 Folca wrote:
Can you control your fans and stuff with that?
depends, there are programs out there but depending on your system/board it may have compatibility issues
or you could just go into your BIOS and manually do it, that's what i do
|
Thanks for your input guys, the decision is made. I'll take the damped case and put a silent 120mm fan on the bottom for some additional air flow. That should be a good compromise between temperature, noise and money. I'll try and see if I can tune down the fan speeds too. I'm definitely not going to overclock, so I have no fear of toasting my stuff.
Now could someone recommend me a Radeon 4850 with a relatively low-noise cooler on it? I will not exchange the graphics card cooler for a separate one, I want a Radeon with a good cooler already mounted. I figure the differences in performance aren't too large between 4850s of different vendors.
|
I bought a Dell. It saves time. It may not be the best system, but it's not the worse.
|
|
|
|
|
|
EPT
