Help a damsel in distress! - Silent, Quiet PC

[tiggerai]

Hey Guys, Hope you can help!

My Boyfriend is having problems finding a nice quiet case setup for his system (P4 3.something, raid 9800 gfx etc etc) so needs to be good, but quiet as the noise is driving him round the bend.

What I need is suggestions for either a whole kit, or PSU, fans etc
Just wanna know what you guys use?

Thanks...

[megah0]

Take a look at www.blacknoise.de the site is still mostly in german but they do some silencing kits which are not too badly priced

[Stoo]

bigger fans, less rpm = less noise..

less heat = slower fans = less noise

water cooling = less heat = less fans = less noise

[tiggerai]

^ no sh*t sherlock!

Doesn't want water as it's too much of a faff for uni.

[Stoo]

http://www.quietpc.com/uk/ might come in handy

[tiggerai]

He's been reading everything for 3 days, which is what is annoying him

I've had a look around for some stuff, so hopefully that will help

If anyone can reccomend any manufacturers, that would be great.

[mike_w]

For heatsinks, I find Zalmans to be quite quiet, although that's with AMD. Hexus gave a P4 cooler the thumbs up though: http://www.hexus.net/content/reviews...lld19JRD01NDc=

Mike

[SilentDeath]

Zalman heatsinks are low performance turd. Get a decent thermalright for cpu and a silent fan and it will perform a lot better, and the little amount of niose it does acctually make you wont be able to notice anyway.
for graphics use an artic cooling silencer which are the best gfx coolers atm, are apparently silent, and very cheap too.

For case I recommend lianli ones becuase they are high quality and fit together very well without parts rattling around.

Also either kustompcs.co.uk or over-clock.co.uk (i forgot) sell screws for mounting hdd's in cd rom bays. One side has a screw that goes into the hdd then on the other side a nut connected by rubber so it stops viabrations.

Use fans with ball bearings as there quieter but dont spend stupid amounts on a fan (some people will pay £15 for a crappy fan!).

Use a fan controler if its too niosy. Aviod PWM based ones as they can make the fan niosyer, look for the linear type (regulator chip, resistors or diodes).

For psu a meridian branded one from scan is good (also known as CWT, and use same design as antec). They are cheap, very quiet and also are acctually good (the 550w one anyway).

[Shogun]

Aluminium cases are normally louder than their steel counterparts This can be remedied with sound proofing foam which is avaliable at quietpc.

[BUFF]

http://www.kustompcs.co.uk/acatalog/..._Cases_44.html

[malfunction]

Zalman heatsinks are low performance turd.

I'd agree that Zalman heatsinks before the 7000 series don't perform anywhere near as well as the top coolers of the day but the 7000s are bloody good - even without taking into account the low noise level.

[SilentDeath]

Some of there heatsinks might be good, they certinally look different... however I think the best thermalright will still beat the best zalman in a test using a silent fan.

[da_ging]

step 1 get a case with 120mm fan mounts ie antec sonata or p160 or super lanboy or thermaltake tsunami etc etc

step 2 get a quiet cpu cooler the thermaltake silent tower pipe thing @ £20 is a good performer and well silent as the name suggests

step 3 populate the case with some quiet 120mm fans if it doesnt already come with some (a fan controller is probably a good idea aswell )

step 4 marvel at how quiet pc is

total cost for above could be under a £100

[myth]

http://www.thermaltake.com/xaserCase...sunamimenu.htm

Here you go! Great cooling! add some paxmate and your good to go! I was useing the cooler master wavemaster... but it had poor air flow and got realy hot! has 2 120s and a 90!

[Byatt]

I'd agree that Zalman heatsinks before the 7000 series don't perform anywhere near as well as the top coolers of the day but the 7000s are bloody good - even without taking into account the low noise level.

quoted for (subjective) truth

also: look into the sonata/slk3700bqe cases from antec...chuck away the 120mm fan they give you though.

[Zak33]

Yo Tigg......what noises are doing him in most?

This is gonna sound daft, butt he Power Supply Unit on my Chieftec case was the loudest thing and I didnt even KNOW until I got an Antec Trupower 430W and suddenly I realised what was noisy all along!

Then I got a cheapo bargain heatsink (Thermal Right) that was none the less BIGGER than my old all copper cooler and it had a bigger slower fan.

Then I took one case fan OUT at a time, and held a sheet of tissue paper over the all the vents in the case to find which set up created the best through flow. I had too many fans in before and it was causing turbulence.....in fact, the Truepower PSU is now drawing a lot more air through than the old PSU, so it was a double whammy.

Although its not super silent, my case is now pretty damn quiet and it has the following in it.

XP2500 @2800
RAd9800 Pro
SCSI controller running.....1 x10,000 rpm SCSI HDD, 2x 7,200 rpm SCSI HDD, 1 SCSI burner,
1 EIDE DVD drive.....so its got lots of heat build up potential..and yet my Chieftec Dragon case is doing ok

So...PSU, Biiger heatsink, bigger fan, and take fans out one at a time and try the airflow with a sheet of bog roll....