Silent PC buy or build?

[Larry K]

i'm about to replace my computer... and I"M TIRED OF THE NOISE !!!!

will spend extra to keep from hearing the noise... will accept only little noise --- doesn't need to be "silent" -- BUT I don't want to hear unless my face is infront of the box.



so...
is there a reliable place that sells quiet PCs or do I need to build my own to make sure its good?

maybe spend about 1000????? should be enought, right?

its not for gaming, but I want it performing well -- can handle data processing, etc. *its my work computer*

I'm not up-to-date on the where the price breaks are for the various components

I shouldn't have to go with water cooled to get a quiet PC, right?

can't the case, fans and material keep it quiet enough??

thanks

 

[ilovesocks]

Yes, $1000 should be fine, and you don't need water to be quiet, especially if you're not gaming. Since it's a work computer, you don't have to spend money on a graphics card. All you have to do to make a PC silent is get a quiet power supply, a quiet CPU cooler, a quiet hard drive, suspend the hard drive, and get a passively-cooled graphics card--which, in your case since you're not gaming, is quite feasible. An excellent site for quiet computer components is silentpcreview.com.

I'll give you specific hardware suggestions as soon as Newegg starts working ..

 

[ilovesocks]

okay, here we go .. the trick to making a quiet PC is having good natural airflow so that you don't need a bunch of fans blowing it around. What few fans you do have must be quiet. Also, a passively cooled graphics card is important, since graphics card fans tend to be small and therefore loud.

case: Antec P180
Here's an extensive article on the P180 at SPCR. They love it.
$115

PSU: Seasonic S12-380 (380W)
SPCR loves this PSU also. It's supposed to be very quiet, especially at low power-draw, which your computer will be, without a high-powered graphics card. 380 watts should be enough, since you're not gaming. If not, there are 430 or even 500W versions also.
$75

motherboard: MSI K8N Neo4-F
$80

CPU: AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+
$322

RAM: Corsair ValueSelect 1GB
$75

Graphics card: Asus GeForce 6200TC
This thing should be great for your purpose. It has a low profile (better for airflow) and uses the comparatively-priced Radeon X300 to wipe its bottom. Here is a review of the one by XFX, and the Asus can only be better! Better yet, it's passively cooled.
$50

CPU hs/fan: Thermalright XP-90
This is a very efficient heatsink.
$50

air duct: Aspire air ducts
Attach one end of these to an 80mm case fan and the other end to the XP-90. This will bring cool air from outside the case right onto your CPU.
$5

HDD: Seagate 7200.7 200GB
I'm guessing you'll need plenty of storage space, so there you go. The best way to defeat hard drive noise is to suspend the hard drive with bungee-like cables. There are several articles on passive hard drive silencing/cooling here.
$100

Add those up and it's a bit under $900, which leaves room for tax and shipping. Hope that helps!

 

[Larry K]

WOW....

thanks socks

question: is the MSI K8N Neo4-F reliable, good for performance?

not that I know... but isn't MSI like a second tier mother board?


does anyone agree or disagree with the components?

AGAIN... thanks socks.... I went to fry's today... the sales guy was clueless and the options were endless.

looks like I might be going with your recommendations???

THANKS!!!!

 

[ilovesocks]

Hey no problem Larry .. gotta help the people that want quiet computers too!

MSI is second-tier in terms of overclocking - DFI is the best in that regard, since it has so many options that you can tweak, etc. But MSI is just as good in terms of stability and performance - at least for that board in particular. I assumed you wouldn't be overclocking your work computer. If you want to, I guess your budget would allow for an upgrade to this, but seeing as you won't be gaming I don't think it's necessary. Again, DFI is superior only in overclocking.

 

[sickness]

I just bought a Thermaltake CL-P0114 heatsink/fan and it's very quiet. It's pretty large tho, about the size of my hand. I didn't realize how big 120 mm fans were, lol.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835106061

$46.99...but well worth it.