Hi,
Building quiet PCs is a subject close to my heart. My first PC was a Pentium III 500-based beastie, which was a hairdryer in an ATX case. My next machine (Pentium III 800) wasn't much better, but things got better when I moved from my fourth (Pentium III 1GHz) to a Pentium 4 2.4GHz (533MHz bus, all those years before HyperThreading made an appearance). All these machines (except for the first) were in the same case - but I was dissatisfied, as it only allowed 80mm fans - I wanted 120mm at the very least. The biggest factor back then was the CPU cooler - some of the earlier coolers were really noisy (the most extreme example I ever faced was the stock Intel P233MMX cooler - the thing had a tiny fan that went at about 6000rpm!)
When I went on to building my current machine, I decided to do my homework and work from scratch - even replacing the case. Out went the old steel Compucase, which was very conventional in design - and in came the Antec P160. I have, in fact, been so satisfied with the P160 that I have built three systems for myself based around this case. Antec actually applied quite a bit of thought, and for me these points were winners:
a) It takes 120mm fans, but also mounts them with vibration-free rubber mounts (not screws!) - so you can run your fans without worry that the vibration will carry through the case.
b) It takes FOUR hard discs - and also mounts these on removable trays, each of which also has rubber mounts (to minimise vibration, yet again).
c) The case was very well put together, and included things I never even knew I wanted. For example, the motherboard tray. I'd never had one before, and it made the whole installation process a lot easier.
Although Antec has stopped marketing the P160 without the window (I prefer the non-windowed version because it is less prone to RF interference - and it also hides the mess of cables I have inside), you can still buy P160 spares from Antec's web site (although they only ship to the US and Canada; apparently the rest of the world doesn't exist). Being in Germany, I just get them shipped to an American friend I trust, and then get him to ship it on to me. More than one way to skin a cat...
Antec also do good (and quiet) power supplies, although they sadly discontinued the excellent stealth 350W one (fanless!) I use one of those to power my 2.4GHz P4 media PC. It doesn't have a fancy graphics card (just a fanless GeForce 6200) - so no great power requirement, there.
Another good point is the hard disc(s) you will use. I have previously been a big fan of Seagate (and technically I think their drives are still good) - but Seagate has fallen quite far behind in terms of acoustic technology. Currently, I would recommend the 500GB Western Digital SE16 drives - with the acoustic settings switched on, these are very quiet. I installed one in my SkyHD set-top box, and it is much quieter than the (slower) 5400rpm Maxtor that it came with. Seeks are barely audible, even in a very quiet room - and the SkyHD box doesn't have the rubber HDD mounts that the Antec P160 has - just a plastic caddy.
CPU cooling has come a long way, and I've tended to stick to Zalman's Super Flower coolers, with great success. Of the two PCs I have at my flat, both of them have the 120mm version (full copper) - even though it is way over-spec for the CPUs cooled (1 2.4GHz P4 Northwood, and 1 3.2GHz P4 Northwood). With motherboard-controlled cooling, that just means the fan is on less of the time - and with a Fanmate, you can slow the fan down to the minimum RPM necessary. Of course, the Northwoods were hot as hell (though not as bad as the Prescotts) - but cooling the modern Core 2 processors should be a snap.
Graphics cards are the biggest challenge. Seemingly few manufacturers actually "get" the idea of a mid-range graphics card that doesn't suck, but also doesn't come with a fan. Gigabyte have come up with some decent cards, but all the manufacturers tend to leave at least one significant thing out of their cards that makes them unsuitable for media PCs (my reason for wanting a silent PC - I don't want fans drowning out quiet dialogue in movies I'm watching). Finding an HDMI-equipped graphics card is even harder, especially if you want AGP. AGP, you say? Yes - currently, modern PCI-E systems are a pretty poor choice for media - given that most DVB-S and DVB-T cards (and even those SoundBlaster cards) are still PCI-only. I haven't seen many modern motherboards with more than 2 PCI slots, and I tend to want at least three - so that makes AGP motherboards my only option at present.
I swear, the moment someone comes up with an HDMI-certified 7600 GT-based card without a fan - on AGP *and* PCI-E, they will make lots of money. Media PC buyers like me will pay over the odds for a quiet design, even if the RAM is only 1/2 or 2/3 the speed of a "gamer grade" card.
I'm guessing you want a Core 2-based system, and to be honest I can't blame you. If I were out there with the intention of buying a new system, that's also what I'd be buying. I'm going to stick with my Northwood machines until the next Intel chipset comes out, though - and until Core 2 makes it to 3.2GHz on a 1066MHz bus (or 3.33GHz on a 1333MHz bus). Anything less significant is not worth the upgrade - for me, at least.
As has been previously said, Silent PC Review is an excellent site - and well worth reading. Good luck with your quiet PC - you'll find it is quite a challenge, but ultimately a lot more satisfying than just building a "ninja box".
Building quiet PCs is a subject close to my heart. My first PC was a Pentium III 500-based beastie, which was a hairdryer in an ATX case. My next machine (Pentium III 800) wasn't much better, but things got better when I moved from my fourth (Pentium III 1GHz) to a Pentium 4 2.4GHz (533MHz bus, all those years before HyperThreading made an appearance). All these machines (except for the first) were in the same case - but I was dissatisfied, as it only allowed 80mm fans - I wanted 120mm at the very least. The biggest factor back then was the CPU cooler - some of the earlier coolers were really noisy (the most extreme example I ever faced was the stock Intel P233MMX cooler - the thing had a tiny fan that went at about 6000rpm!)
When I went on to building my current machine, I decided to do my homework and work from scratch - even replacing the case. Out went the old steel Compucase, which was very conventional in design - and in came the Antec P160. I have, in fact, been so satisfied with the P160 that I have built three systems for myself based around this case. Antec actually applied quite a bit of thought, and for me these points were winners:
a) It takes 120mm fans, but also mounts them with vibration-free rubber mounts (not screws!) - so you can run your fans without worry that the vibration will carry through the case.
b) It takes FOUR hard discs - and also mounts these on removable trays, each of which also has rubber mounts (to minimise vibration, yet again).
c) The case was very well put together, and included things I never even knew I wanted. For example, the motherboard tray. I'd never had one before, and it made the whole installation process a lot easier.
Although Antec has stopped marketing the P160 without the window (I prefer the non-windowed version because it is less prone to RF interference - and it also hides the mess of cables I have inside), you can still buy P160 spares from Antec's web site (although they only ship to the US and Canada; apparently the rest of the world doesn't exist). Being in Germany, I just get them shipped to an American friend I trust, and then get him to ship it on to me. More than one way to skin a cat...
Antec also do good (and quiet) power supplies, although they sadly discontinued the excellent stealth 350W one (fanless!) I use one of those to power my 2.4GHz P4 media PC. It doesn't have a fancy graphics card (just a fanless GeForce 6200) - so no great power requirement, there.
Another good point is the hard disc(s) you will use. I have previously been a big fan of Seagate (and technically I think their drives are still good) - but Seagate has fallen quite far behind in terms of acoustic technology. Currently, I would recommend the 500GB Western Digital SE16 drives - with the acoustic settings switched on, these are very quiet. I installed one in my SkyHD set-top box, and it is much quieter than the (slower) 5400rpm Maxtor that it came with. Seeks are barely audible, even in a very quiet room - and the SkyHD box doesn't have the rubber HDD mounts that the Antec P160 has - just a plastic caddy.
CPU cooling has come a long way, and I've tended to stick to Zalman's Super Flower coolers, with great success. Of the two PCs I have at my flat, both of them have the 120mm version (full copper) - even though it is way over-spec for the CPUs cooled (1 2.4GHz P4 Northwood, and 1 3.2GHz P4 Northwood). With motherboard-controlled cooling, that just means the fan is on less of the time - and with a Fanmate, you can slow the fan down to the minimum RPM necessary. Of course, the Northwoods were hot as hell (though not as bad as the Prescotts) - but cooling the modern Core 2 processors should be a snap.
Graphics cards are the biggest challenge. Seemingly few manufacturers actually "get" the idea of a mid-range graphics card that doesn't suck, but also doesn't come with a fan. Gigabyte have come up with some decent cards, but all the manufacturers tend to leave at least one significant thing out of their cards that makes them unsuitable for media PCs (my reason for wanting a silent PC - I don't want fans drowning out quiet dialogue in movies I'm watching). Finding an HDMI-equipped graphics card is even harder, especially if you want AGP. AGP, you say? Yes - currently, modern PCI-E systems are a pretty poor choice for media - given that most DVB-S and DVB-T cards (and even those SoundBlaster cards) are still PCI-only. I haven't seen many modern motherboards with more than 2 PCI slots, and I tend to want at least three - so that makes AGP motherboards my only option at present.
I swear, the moment someone comes up with an HDMI-certified 7600 GT-based card without a fan - on AGP *and* PCI-E, they will make lots of money. Media PC buyers like me will pay over the odds for a quiet design, even if the RAM is only 1/2 or 2/3 the speed of a "gamer grade" card.
I'm guessing you want a Core 2-based system, and to be honest I can't blame you. If I were out there with the intention of buying a new system, that's also what I'd be buying. I'm going to stick with my Northwood machines until the next Intel chipset comes out, though - and until Core 2 makes it to 3.2GHz on a 1066MHz bus (or 3.33GHz on a 1333MHz bus). Anything less significant is not worth the upgrade - for me, at least.
As has been previously said, Silent PC Review is an excellent site - and well worth reading. Good luck with your quiet PC - you'll find it is quite a challenge, but ultimately a lot more satisfying than just building a "ninja box".
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