Super Quiet System

[Pintokt]

I'm trying to build a super quiet system (first time trying) and I wanted some advice on cases and power supply. I'm thinking of a cooler master aluminum case with an enermax super quiet power supply. i forget the exact product numbers. does anyone know anything about how good these are or have other suggestions? i don't need amazing cooling since i don't push my system too hard, quiet is more important.

 

[lordbob99]

i'm currently using the 330 watt enermax whisper power supply, and i gotta say that it really is very quiet. i dont' think u can go wrong using one of the whispers.

if u need any other advice for building a quiet system, feel free to post, one of us here'll answer u.

lordbob99

 

[Akira13]

Agreed, Enermax does make a very quiet PS. I have the 365P-VE(FC) whisper, and it is great. Also, my CPU HSF is a Volcano 7+, and the adjustable fan is really quiet, and the HS is very efficient.

 

[Kaervak]

I've got a 350 watt Enermax whispersys in my system. True to isn't name, It's barely a whisper. Highly recommended. Also, for case fans, I'd recommend the Enermax thermally controlled fans. I've got one in my system and it does it's job. Very quiet, and moves a good amount of air.

 

[MoFunk]

I would take the case fans a step further and say to add the enermax adjustable kind. I have a thermal one and I could hear it speed up every once in a while and got to be rather annoying.

 

[Pintokt]

I actually have Panaflo's for my case fan, and I'm pretty happy with them.

 

[HaVoC]

I'm thinking an aluminum case will not be as quiet as you want since metal cases tend to transmit mid to high-frequency noise well. Rather I'd suggest a plastic-clad case like a Palo Alto. I have an old Micron PA case and it hides noise much better than my Antec SX-830B case. You will lose cooling ability, space and drive bays, but you said you wanted a super quiet system.

Get a Palo Alto case ($69 plus shipping) at Directron.com with an upgraded Enermax powersupply. Or you can find a cheaper Enermax PS online and by the case without power supply for $10 less.

The Palo Alto with a 92mm Panaflo in the back, quiet HS/F and a quiet PS should be very easy on your ears. Don't forget a quiet harddrive like the Seagate Barracuda. Your goal is to minimize all possible noise sources without giving up too much performance.

 

[jsproul]

Aluminum cases are not inherently quieter than plastic-clad. In fact, Havoc's probably right that they're sometimes louder. But the nice thing about aluminum is that they're inherently cooler, which means you can use fans with lower RPM/CFM and therefore reduce noise that way.

I do find that aluminum conducts high-RPM fan noise more than steel, so I'm trying to figure out if I can use the Thermalright AX-7 with 80mm fan instead of my current Thermaltake 6Cu 60mm fan, and reduce the RPMs and noise considerably. However, Thermalright refuses to answer my emails about whether the ASUS A7V266-E is supported. :frown:

 

[SnowPunk98]

I like my sever to be quiet since it runs 24/7 right next to my bed. I have a Panaflo L1A in an Antec PSU and a L1A on a SVC Glacial Cooler 68

 

[MrThompson]

If you want a seriously quiet case, check out the Swiftech Quiet Power. I have my Xeon dually in one. It's barely audible. My wife loves it.

 

[Becks2k]

Heres my advise...

First of all I have the same goal really, a quiet computer. Right now my computer is:
Antec case
1 Panaflo la1 in (7volts)
2 Panaflo la1s out (7volts)
1 Panaflo la1 (12volt) in the powersupply (= Antec PP412X)
1 Panaflo la1 (12v) on the heatsink (= Alpha pal8045)

mobo= no fan
videocard = no fan

harddrive = 80gig seagate cudaIV (24dba) in a home made thign to quiet it which works kinda well

So total it is bout 17+17+17+17+21+21+~21= 27.6dba

I'd say the loudest thing right now is the powersupply... after that its jsut the case fans moving air..

If i was gonna improve upon this, I'd replace the powersupply fan and the 8045 fan wiht 15dba Papst fans.
I'd leave teh side of my case off and just have 1 fan 7v fan blowing out behind the cpu
I'd maybe replace the powersupply with a pcpower&cooling (better quialty = better at taking high temps)



Few things
Don't buy a "quiet" powersupply, buy a really high quality one... and replace the fan with a quiet one. Enermax = not really high quialty I'd say pcpower/cooling or antecpp412x (havn't seen any othe rantec pwoersupplys)
www.2cooltek.com has a heatsink to replace a mobo's hs/fan setup.. it's made by zalman and its just a really tall heatsink - well worth it. mobofans = stuidly loud
if you don't have a harddrive get a cudaIV... nothing comes close to their sound 40gigs=20dba 80gigs=24dba
pal8045
try to get a videocard you can put a big passive heatsink on.. who cares if it blocks the next pci slot

 

[Squisher]

Some really good suggestions so far. Remember going to larger fans at lower rpms will lower the dba's. Having no direct line of sight between you and any fan is good. Putting a baffle between you and the fan will lower noise. Insulating is a two edged sword, it will increase heat inside the case, which might then necessitate more cfm.

 

[hmsrolst]

For case fans I am currently using 80mm PCPowerandCooling Silencers with a PCMods Baybus at the slowest setting in an Antec SX600. I also am using an Enermax 365VE(FC) and it's the noisiest part of the system.

 

[Jhhnn]

You weren't specific about the proposed system at all, which makes it tough. In general-

Look for a case with easy airflow, this allows quiet fans to move enough air to keep things cool. The Antec sx-series are excellent in this respect with wide open grilles and fan mounts. Study them a little before you buy anything. Sound deadening material like dynamat doesn't kill noise at all, just keeps the components from using the case as a sounding board.

Quiet Panaflo L1a fans are widely used, as are pcp&c silencers and papst fans if you can find or afford them. Using one or two of them mounted in the rear to exhaust seems to work best, and moves the noise source further away from your ears.

Both Antec and Enermax psu's are relatively quiet with thermal controlled fans. Don't expect any miracles, a 350w unit has to dissipate almost twice as much heat as a 200w model, so it's noisier, but the thermal fans help.

Avoid vidcards with fans and motherboards with chipset fans- noisy lil' bahstids.

The HSF on the processor is usually the loudest fan in modern systems- Using an alpha 8045 w/ quiet panaflo or papst fan is an excellent if pricey way to go for AMD systems, if one will fit your board. They also have a similar model for P4 systems. The GC68 is likely the quietest of all the low priced coolers for AMD's- a bargain.

I've seen heavy rubber band type gizmos for mounting HDD's in 5-1/4" bays, they look like a good idea to me. The newer Seagate drives are supposedly very quiet, but it's not like the WD's I've become accustomed to are very loud, either.

I had a pleasant surprise with CDROM's just recently. My son's 48x mitsumi died, it was always noisy like my 52x Creative. If you think that's annoying you should hear the whining from a 5-year old who can't play his games.... Anyway, I went to CompUSA and grabbed a $30-on sale "EPO 52x CDROM" and it's really quiet, I'm amazed. How fast it really is and how long it will last I can't say, but I'm dumping this noisy thing I've been using for another EPO.

 

[Ginta]

I second the motion for a palo alto case. My friend got one from directron that worked so well he bought a 2nd one when he built his next system. It's about as quiet as a metal case with some of foam lining. It's also the smallest ATX case for it's bay specs, so it's just about right for hauling to LAN events.

Disadvantages, are lame power supply ( Directron now offers upgrades though) only (2) 5-1/4 bays, only a 80m front fan mount and it only comes in beige. Dell's been using nearly the same design on their systems at least the P166 era.

If you pick the right fans and wire them to 7volts and possibly under clock alittle you could get by running a AthlonXP on only 2 quiet fans.

 

[thesilentpc]

I like the Coolermaster cases that don't have fan vents in the front like the ATC-101 or the ATC-210. Front vents expose you more directly to the noise from inside, plus a front mounted fan will be closer to your ears. When you are building a quiet system you don't want more then 2 fans(including PSU) anyway. Enermax does not make a "super quiet power supply" so stay away from them unless you are planning on making some modifications.

Check out Silicon Acoustics for silent pc stuff.

 

[dorkface]

The Palo Alto cases are great, but also quit small inside. I dropped about 8 degrees C or so in CPU and case temp by moving from a Palo Alto PA-600 to an Antec SX-800 (the latter is HUGE compared to the PA

 

[striker21]

I wonder how those Enermax EG-365VE (FC)s compare to the Antec PP352X. Both have dual fans, but the Enermax seems to be able to go completely to sleep.

 

[jiffylube1024]

I have that same Enermax and it's noiseless (The 365P-VE). I cannot hear it when it is the only fan on in my whole computer. I tried it on an older machine with zero fans, and I couldn't hear it at all (actually it freaked me out at first because the machine was on but I couldn't hear it turn on!).

 

[hmsrolst]

I have two of the Enermax 365 series, one FC and one not, and neither are as quiet as described above. I think that the range of experience that others on the forum describe suggests that there is a lot of variation in how noisy they are. I've run mine with no other fans also, and the sound is very noticable.

 

[dnoyeb]

Buy some sound insulation from radio shack or somewhere. If you are able without making the place ugly, place the insulation in the environment around the computer.

For instance, a small patch on the wall behind your computer will silence a lot of the sound bouncing off the wall which is eminating from the rear of your computer. Like the PSU fan. Plus the PSU is the primary opening in the back of your computer for all sounds to escape.

also since mine is under a desk, if I insulate the side walls of the dest and the top of the desk, that will reduce sound even more. This is all without insulating the case itself since that would also insulate the heat within it.

So the primary suggestion from everyone else here is to buy a set of quiet fans and put in in my PSU, and get quiet case fans? I have a heatsink, should I get one of those radial fans? or should I get a new heatsink too?

I remember some compaqs at work that had HUGE(5"x5"x.5") heatsinks and no fans back in the Pentium II days...

 

[NicColt]

one thing that people often forget is vibration noise, here's a pic of what I did ravines.tripod.com/system (cut and paste since tripod doesn't like to direct link)

I found that if you put foam on the side and bottom it seriously cuts down on the vibration noise.

 

[davidos]

Is 24dba loud? Can I hear these fans? What do I want to stay under for a quiet PC?

 

[jiffylube1024]

24db is quite quiet, however remember that the more fans you put in, the louder it will get (the sound adds up).

 

[wizz0bang]

I have had the same dilemma with noise. I too am in the quest for a quiet solution.... the only soultion I see is a Macintosh PowerCube G4... but other than that....

My Duron system is REALLY loud. Taisol 733k HS/Fan, two aux Sunon (cause their relatively quiet) 80mm fans, an Enermax PS (quiet). The MB has a fan (ABIT Kt7) as does the video card (Geforce3 TI200). The HD is very quiet (Maxtor Diamondmax 7200rpm). I've tried three cases and found the Elan Vital T10 tower to be the quietest (out of Antec, Fong Kai and Elan Vital). But it wasn't good enough... so I built a cabinet out of 3/4" doug fir, I left the back open for air circulation and padded the inside with sound insulation material (used for music studio rooms and the inside of cars). It cut the noise in half... unfortunately this summer when my house gets to 85 degrees, my CPU will likely fry... hehe... the sound insulation and cabinet cut down on the air flow. It's a catch 22.

My next system will be an Intel PIV. I plan to do what Gateway did with the PII, use an 80mm ducted fan right over the heatsink and remove the high RPM cpu-Fan. Gateway also used plastic cases that drastically cut down the noise to a whisper. I bought the Fong Kai due to it's plastic construction, but it was no where as good as the Gateway case my friend had. The FK's problem was the thin sheet metal on the inside panels which acted like a sounding board.

There has to be a way to make a quiet PC... hearing that wine for hours on end hurts your ears. I would pay $200 for a good solution... so you think companies would cater to it!

Brad