My Silent PCs : )

ProcalX · March 22, 2005, 1:07pm

Despite my Zalman Silent VGA Cooler not working: my systems are literally ALL silent now

Here you the specs:

My brothers PC i built him:
AMD Duron 1.8GHz @ 2.0GHz
Abit A7N8E Mobo
1 x 512MB Kingston CAS 2.5-4-4-8
Seagate 60GB IDE ATA133
16X DVDROM
32X CDRW

Cooling:
Artic Cooler Socket A (Silent @ 20DBa max)
Akasa Acoustic Matting (deadens vibration)
4 x Artic Cooling 80mm 20DBa case fans
Silent Artic Cooling 350W PSU
Grates cut out
Akasa Rounded Floppy Cable
Akasa Rounded IDE Cable

Total acumative noise (MAX): 23DBa

My AMD64 Rig:
Cooler Master Centurion 2 Case\With Grates Cut out = no turbulence
AMD64 3200+ Winchester 90nm
Abit AV8\AV8 3RD EYE (939)
2x512MB Crucial Ballistix PC4000 @ 2-2-2-5
Nvidia GeForce 6600GT 128MB

Cooling:
Artic Cooler Freezer 64
ThermalTake Silent 480W PSU
2 x SilenX 80MM @ 14.5DBa (total) @ 11DB each
Akasa ACoustic Matting (deadens Vibration)
Akasa Rounded Floppy Cable
Akasa Rounded IDE Cable
Grates cut out

Total noise: 18DBa (not including 6600GT) Included: 28DB or something.

Now my only challenge is to silence my dad’s new Biostar Ideq 210M which is incredibly incredibly noisy (about 48DB) due to the 2 fans in it.

Fred · March 22, 2005, 2:00pm

Hahah :chk: good for you, procal. And good job on what im sure has been a bit of work!

ProcalX · March 22, 2005, 2:04pm

Yeh it has been alot of work, but its been worth it.

I need to silence my Dad’s Ideq 210M Small Form Factor PC, and also i need to silence my 6600GT. then it will be complete.

Fred · March 22, 2005, 6:46pm

That’s great! When you get all of them finished, you should post a few pictures to let us see your masterpieces

Sniper · March 22, 2005, 7:23pm

sounds good! are the silentx fans any good, I heard there didn’t move much air?

ProcalX · March 22, 2005, 8:23pm

actually they are quite good, i’ve got 2 , 1 intake and 1 exhaust, 2x80mm and they are pushing 20CFM or so @ 12V, 7V/8V = 11-14DBa.

Personally i’m going to ditch them though into my dads Ideq SFF system and get my self some panaflo fans @ 80mm as they move more air.

Exfoliate · March 23, 2005, 1:48am

Too bad mine’s disappointingly noisey, I thought it would really quiet with a “silent” CPU cooler, 2 120mm fans and a supposedly quiet optical drive. I’ll blame it on the acrilic window…

ProcalX · March 23, 2005, 8:51am

Get some Acoustic Matting, its thick sound proof matting with a sticky side (Very sticky), and you cut it to fit the bottom of your case (covering all your wires) also use it to cover the connection between your case fans and the case itself, this eliminates vibration from that.

Silent hard drive cooler (i’m using an OcUK SilentX Hard Drive cooler), it basically doesn’t cool that amazingly (keeps it slightly cooler - not much), but it eliminates the noise from it.

As for your graphics card you should try and get an Artic Cooler Silent VGA Cooler - they are literally silent - however they are crap at cooling - so don’t expect to overclock any more than your current stock HSF on that card.

As for fans, it depends how many your case can hold, if you can fit 2 at the back and 2 at the front, get 4 Panaflo fans and install them as such:

2 at the front case intaking air (drawing air in), 2 at the back blowing (exhausting) air out.

For IDE hard drives and IDE Devices such as CDROM/DVDROMs get some Akasa Rounded cables - they are alot neater and they allow for better air flow.

If you have any grates of metal infront or behind any case fans, remove them! these cause turbulence : example: if you have a room fan - to cool you at your desk or in your room whilst its hot, they have huge grates over them, if you stick a piece of paper in front of it - it makes a hell of alot more noise.

Exfoliate · March 23, 2005, 8:53pm

Great advice ProcalX! Thanks dude. Once I get more money I’ll definitely look into that.

matttibb · March 23, 2005, 10:17pm

I don’t really mind a bit of noise, as long as it isn’t too excessive it’s fine for me. I just really couldn’t be bothered to spend so much on making them quiet when I could just spend it on improving performance…that’s if I ever had any money to spend… dam pubs

ninja_fetus · March 24, 2005, 9:35am

sounds like you had problems with arctic cooling’s vga coolers. Mine’s incredible, 550/720 and is cooler, or about the same temp as my CPU (42-44C under full load)

ProcalX · March 24, 2005, 9:43am

[QUOTE=matttibb]
I don’t really mind a bit of noise, as long as it isn’t too excessive it’s fine for me. I just really couldn’t be bothered to spend so much on making them quiet when I could just spend it on improving performance…that’s if I ever had any money to spend… dam pubs
[/QUOTE]

Luckily due to the fact that i work FullTime i can easily afford to have the best of both worlds :good: Silence & Performance

To put it in perspective, over the last 6 months i’ve:

Built my AMD64 Rig with: 19" VideoSeven LCD, MS Explorer 4.0 Intelli, Logitech Black Internet Keyboard, HP V40 All-In-One Colour Laser Jet Printer/Scanner/Faxer/Copier

Built my Dad his OWN NEW computer: a Small Form Factor (shuttle) based system, P4 3.0GHz 2x256MB PC4400 Geil Ultra, 80GB WD 7200RPM SATA, Radeon 9700PRO, Aopen 16X DVD-RW Dual Layer, 17" IIyama Flat Screen / MS Internet Keyboard / MS Intelli Optical Mouse

Built: AMD Duron 1.8GHz, PCCHIPS M848ALU, 512MB Kingston DDR, Radeon 9000 64MB, 60GB 7200RPM IDE, DVD-ROM Sony 8x, 350W Seasonic PSU. 15" CRT.