Silence is bliss...

[TrentConstantin]

Hello All,

Just wondering if you could recomend some silent (well quiet) PSUs (Slim/mATX) and HDs (just for windows & software, so small in size).


Thanks.

[sammorris]

It certainly is. I'm building a new system in the next few weeks with the main objective to be a 24/7 silent PC for work and casual stuff, to negate so much need to use my power-hungry and noisy (though I've tried very hard with it) gaming PC.

Best quiet PSUs:
Nexus Value 430W (This is the one I've bought, not tested it yet, but according to SilentPCReview it is basically the quietest fanned PSU ever made. It is also the smallest standard ATX unit you can buy, at only 125mm in length.
Corsair HX/VX series (Not as quiet)
Enermax Modu82 series (possible reliability issues with smaller units)
Antec Earthwatts 80mm series e.g. 380W (only quiet under very low load)
If you need something smaller than the MicroATX form factor I'm not sure where to start, there's plenty of choice, but how many are quiet I've got no idea. You might want to consider using something like a fanless mCubed External Power brick or PicoPSU.

[TrentConstantin]

It certainly is. I'm building a new system in the next few weeks with the main objective to be a 24/7 silent PC for work and casual stuff, to negate so much need to use my power-hungry and noisy (though I've tried very hard with it) gaming PC.

Best quiet PSUs:
Nexus Value 430W (This is the one I've bought, not tested it yet, but according to SilentPCReview it is basically the quietest fanned PSU ever made. It is also the smallest standard ATX unit you can buy, at only 125mm in length.
Corsair HX/VX series (Not as quiet)
Enermax Modu82 series (possible reliability issues with smaller units)
Antec Earthwatts 80mm series e.g. 380W (only quiet under very low load)
If you need something smaller than the MicroATX form factor I'm not sure where to start, there's plenty of choice, but how many are quiet I've got no idea. You might want to consider using something like a fanless mCubed External Power brick or PicoPSU.

Thanks for the advice man, now I need to find a quiet HD .

[sammorris]

WD GreenPower. Nothing else. Dead silent, reliable, dirt cheap (£72.90 for 1TB at Scan), reasonable performers (80MB/s in HDTach), good warranty. I have 2 in my file server and will shortly be buying 3 more. The current model is the 3-platter EADS which is faster than the original generation CS/VS I have and am still more than happy with.

[arthurleung]

WD GreenPower. Nothing else. Dead silent, reliable, dirt cheap (£72.90 for 1TB at Scan), reasonable performers (80MB/s in HDTach), good warranty. I have 2 in my file server and will shortly be buying 3 more. The current model is the 3-platter EADS which is faster than the original generation CS/VS I have and am still more than happy with.

Pay a few more quids for a 1TB Samsung Ecogreen F2, hits 105MB/s. Two platters.
If you want absolute silence, get a SSD. Doesn't even need to be fast.

A 500GB 2.5" 5400RPM drive will be a very good choice as well.

Depends on what kind of processing power you're talking about (CPU and GPU), you could probably use a Laptop power supply (~95W) with a pico-PSU.

[sammorris]

The EcoGreens are alright, but I was never happy with the noise levels of Samsung drives, primarily due to vibration. HDTach does seem a little subjective, as I'm seeing even the WD5000AAKS and WD1001FALS pull only 90MB/s, and those are fast drives.

[nightkhaos]

Whenever you go for silence their is always going to be a trade off with performance. I usually go for the best of both worlds, hence I will use Noctua fans, large heat sinks (TRUE Black), WD Caviar drives (for the performance, linear write speeds of 95MB/s, they are very quiet).

These days I find noise with systems isn't that much of a problem.

[sammorris]

Heh, no tradeoff with performance for the TRUE black, they can cool anything with a silent fan. I tend to find Caviar Blue and Black drives a bit noisy for my liking in a silent system, the Greens are much better.

[nightkhaos]

Yes, the TRUE is a truely epic cooling system. I recommend it to everyone, I am a fan.

Main reason is I saw my friend get his 2.0GHz C2D up to 3.6GHz on a TRUE Black.

[sammorris]

I only use the TRUA, because it's £10 less and performs very similarly. It too is an amazing performer, cooling overclocked Quad cores no trouble with only a 700rpm 120mm fan.
I've got my 2.8Ghz Q9550 at 3.9 on it no issue, and it ran my 1.8 E4300 to 3.2 with ease as well.

[arthurleung]

The EcoGreens are alright, but I was never happy with the noise levels of Samsung drives, primarily due to vibration. HDTach does seem a little subjective, as I'm seeing even the WD5000AAKS and WD1001FALS pull only 90MB/s, and those are fast drives.

HDTach is not subjective.

WD5000AAKS use 250GB platters, WD Green use 333GB / 375GB / 500GB (1T / 1.5T / 2T) platters. Ecogreen F2 use 500GB platters.

Take the WD5500AAKS / 7200RPM * 5400RPM * 500GB / 250GB you get 118.8MB/sec (From your 90MB/s value which is more or less matching the speed of the new Ecogreen F2.

You're right, linear speed does not mean good performance. The access time matters a LOT. Depends on how you use your drive. If its a data drive, there is no need for the access time.

I use a two-tier storage subsystem with two fast 7200rpm drives (will be 15000rpm drives when I get a PERC 6/i for myself) and a handful of 5400rpm drives for data ONLY.

In reality, you CAN'T get rid of all the noises.

I have a Dell Mini9. There is moving parts in there. Its silent in a sense of no wind noise / spindle noise. But I get to hear the electronic noise from the motherboard. It is noticeable on a system with a high power cpu when you take the fan noise level to the minimum. Though one way of solving that problem is to make yourself half-deaf such that you can't hear the high frequency noise And depends on where you live, you'll get a lot of environmental noise anyway. (I live under Heathrow flight path AND near to underground/overground station)

[sammorris]

Alright, subjective is the wrong word, but A Caviar Blue/Black is faster than HDTach makes out, even with access time and data rates being different. The overall noise level of the WDs seems unrivalled at 13dB, and I live in a quiet residential area of York, the only noise we hear is the noise we make. I'm familiar with the electrical noise, but got rid of most of it by taking a dodgy motherboard back.

[nightkhaos]

Another avid fan of the Caviar drives! I am glad to see I am not alone. I sometimes even use them for bulk storage even through they tend to be a little bit powerful for that usage.

[cmndr_andi]

I got 2 caviar blue 640GBs and 2 caviar black 1tb - the only reason I know they are there is the massive ammount of rapid storage I have immediate access to. Seriously, they are really quiet.

[cmndr_andi]

In terms of PSUs the PC Power & Cooling Silencer series is brilliant. I have the 750W model in my pc and it is extremely quiet. As well as being basically inaudible, the rail is rock solid and has a very high efficiency.

For your build, one of the lower wattage ones may fit the bill.

[CX23882-19]

I currently have the WD6400AAKS in my HTPC and if it's hard-mounted into the case there is too much vibration. I found that the vibration was also excessive when installed into a Scythe QuietDrive box (when that was hard-mounted), but this was also true of all 7200RPM drives I've used. I currently have the WD6400AAKS in the SQD, which is in turn sat on foam and that does eliminate all of the droning vibration sounds and the seek noises.

I also have a WD10EACS, which is the original 1TB GreenPower model, and that I find to have a more acceptable level of vibration. It's not too bad hard-mounted into the case, but in the SQD there is zero vibration. It's not noticeably slower than the WD6400AAKS in everyday use, and the current GP models have higher density platters and more cache so perform even better.

If you're going for ultimate quietness, you can't beat either SSD or 4200RPM laptop drives. SSD is still too expensive for me. I've previously used 4200RPM drives in my HTPC and they gave acceptable performance in Windows XP but very slow in Windows Vista.

For the power supply, I use the Antec Neo HE 430, which is an 80mm-fanned unit. As long as the system is kept cool, this is quiet. I use a Scythe Kama Bay to feed fresh air to the PSU from the front of the case. I find that this arrangement is quieter than when I used a Corsair HX620, because the Corsair with its 120mm fan sucked up more hot air from the CPU and was also in competition with the rear exhaust fan. 80mm units maintain the front-to-back airflow better. That's not the say that the Corsair is a bad unit.

Be warned - once you get started making your computer quieter, it will never be quiet enough.