I want a quiet PC

[furiousfoggy]

I have decided that it is time I made my PC quite, but I'm not sure exactly how to go about it.

I'm pretty sure my PSU fan is doggy (makes a horrible noise), so I guess the whole unit is the 1st thing to replace. I've seen people recommeding some on here(ie. Thermaltake 480W etc) but they are a little over my budget, I was thinking £50 max. What is the advantage of such high wattage? How will it make the computer run better, won't it still work with less power?

Second I guess the processor fan could be upgraded, mine isn't anything special, but not too noisy. What should I look for in a fan?

Anything else I should do, please help me out. Thanks

Gigabyte KT400, AMD Athlon XP2000+, 256MB ram...

[DR]

There is only one real solution

http://www.quietpc.com/uk/tnn500af.php

[coco]

http://www.silentpcreview.com/ is a good site to try for making your pc more silent,
as for replacing your psu a good make like fortron http://www.komplett.co.uk/k/kl.asp?bn=10159 even the fortron 350w £17 is well made and reliable

[Flibb]

Zalman make some nice quiet cpu fans, try
http://www.zalman.co.kr/eng/product/...41&code=005009

You can change the fan in your power supply, but you do run the risk of killing yourself in the process, so read some guides before even thinking about it.

Swap any case fans for quiet ones, papst, panaflo, NMB all make nice ones so a search on the forums

Graphics cards cooling can be problem, lots of people use arctic cooling vga silencers, ebuyer sell them, just make sure you get the version that matches your card.
Drives can also make a racket, so you could consider speed limiting optical ones

[LayZeh]

Why replace your PSU? Just replace the fan with a quieter solution first identifying what CFM the PSU's original fan pushed to avoid overheating of the PSU unit.

Get a nice SLK series heatsink for your CPU, preferably one that fits a 92mm fan. When looking at noise output of fans you want to stay below 30dba anything above that becomes annoying in my opinion.

[DR]

It may well be your GFX or Northbridge fan - they are the loudest!

[Flibb]

I forgot all about Northbridge, some you can convert to passive if you have adequate case ventilation.

[Timmy!!!]

If you want extremely quiet fans check out www.dorothybradbury.co.uk. I have bought a couple of panaflos from the site, they came the next day and are sooooo quiet!

I have a shuttle SB61G2 with my 3Ghz P4 processor at 26 idle with a 17cfm (14dba) panaflo fan set to "quiet" in the bios!

[Alan]

First, identify the worst noise sources and cure them one by one. Switch off any case fans you have and see if they make much difference. If any of the case fans are noisy, consider the range of Silenx fans and Accousti fans at Kustom PCs . Any fan that offers 21dbA or less will no longer be a source of bother for you. 30dbA is a bit loud to qualify as quiet. Bear in mind that if you go for an 11 or 14 dbA fan you will probably pay for it by much reduced airflow. Accousti fans are louder than SilenX but since they run at lower speeds when temps. are low, you won't hear them.

Next typical source of noise is the graphics card fan. If you have a high performance card and you have the space in your case, get an Arctic VGA Silencer if one is made that fits your card. It is intrinsically better at cooling your card than a standard setup, has two speeds, the low speed gives the same result as stock fans and is silent, the high speed is about as loud as a good stock fan but cools the card very much better.

If you have a noisy northbridge fan either replace it with a passive Zalman heatsink or get a Zalman fan mate and cut its rpm down (my Abit IC7-G has a fan mate which cuts the rpm from 6,500 to 2,900rpm - temps are fine, no noise.

For the CPU, a Zalman 7000 in copper or aluminium/copper will work with mild overclocking and is very quiet; or, get a Thermalright heatsink and fit a quiet fan with the appropriate cfm (The 11dbA SilenX would not be appropriate here)

For the PSU, there are several quiet PSUs about for around your budget. Unless you have a huge system, a genuine 300 to 400w PSU will be sufficient.

I have a mildly overclocked 3GHz P4 on an Abit IC7-G, 9600XT with Thermalright SP94 (The Zalman woudln't fit) on the CPU in a Silverstone LC-04 case - which is pretty small, and it is very quiet.

[furiousfoggy]

There is only one real solution

http://www.quietpc.com/uk/tnn500af.php

Hmmmm, maybe I'll wait till my next pay cheque for this one!

As for the graphics card noice, mine doesn't have a fan because its rubbish and doesn't heat up (becuase it doesn't do much). I will be looking to buy one in the near future though, right after I get the noise down.

I think I'll buy a mid range psu and get a good cooling thingy for the processor. Thanks for your help

[furiousfoggy]

What is the advantage of getting a higher wattage psu? My current one is 300W and everything works fine, but if I get a new graphics card like 9800pro, should I get a better power supply? I'm a bit confused as to how a higher wattage helps?

[Timmy!!!]

If you want a quiet psu check this out: http://www.quietpc.com/uk/psu.php

[BenW]

The 9800Pro whould be fine on a 300W depending on your other specs. I have a 9800Pro on a 300W + 2.26Ghz P4 + 1 Hard Drive + 1 optical Drive and its all fine.

I would take a look at the Tagen 380W or if thats too expencive, the 330W

[Marcos]

If you want extremely quiet fans check out www.dorothybradbury.co.uk. I have bought a couple of panaflos from the site, they came the next day and are sooooo quiet!

I have a shuttle SB61G2 with my 3Ghz P4 processor at 26 idle with a 17cfm (14dba) panaflo fan set to "quiet" in the bios!

Those dont seem that impressive at all :



Compared to these slim depth fans:

http://www.evercool.com.tw/products/fan_8015.htm

These slim ones seem to have crazy performance, 46.8CFM @ 29dba

[Zathras]

and they're much louder, 29dba cf 14, that's not really comparable.

[Timmy!!!]

Those dont seem that impressive at all :



Compared to these slim depth fans:

http://www.evercool.com.tw/products/fan_8015.htm

These slim ones seem to have crazy performance, 46.8CFM @ 29dba

It is important to compare noise with air flow. In this case the panaflo pushes more air at 21dba. The ones on your other link push 23.58, so the panaflos push slightly more air. The other difference is that the panaflo is fluid bearing, which means that over time noise does not increase, and the noise produced is not as whiney. Think about ball bearing hard disks, they were incredibly whiney before fluid bearings took over.

The fan on the other link does look very good, but I personally would go for the panaflo. I would also make the fan quieter than 21dba by using a fan-mate/resistor on it.