Pete Shields

Well-known member
Sep 23, 2008
132
0
18,590
Visit site
Just had the CPU fan die on my home built intel Q9300 quad core PC. I sometimes use for gaming, but mainly as a media hub

Replaced with a brand new Asaka Freedom Tower cpu fan and resitted the lot in a 2 year old case I've had lying around the house for that time

It now sound like a washing machine......

Although the fan and motherboard both support PWM, I can't get it to work......

Have any readers done homebuilds, and would they recommend a CPU fan, case, Graphics card fan that will give me a silent PC
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
The best way is to use low powered components, but seeing as you want this for gaming too, that is out of the question. Other things you can do are:

- use the biggest case possible, with a good airflow plan that complements your cpu fan orientation

- read reviews on what components are quietest (case, gpu, cpu fan, power, fans)

- use the biggest fans you can at low settings

- SSDs

I wanted to build a very quiet pc. My friends advised me to go liquid cooled (which is almost silent). However, I went for the Silverstone Fortress FT02B using their big new APS fans and it is sooo quiet. I also spent a bit more on the gpus, getting the 570TIs instead of the normal ones because they are quieter. Other components I chose were Enermax Revolution 85+, Crucial SSDs & the Dark Rock Pro Advanced. I can play Crysis 2 at extreme settings and low fan settings and it is very quiet!
 

Pete Shields

Well-known member
Sep 23, 2008
132
0
18,590
Visit site
Think I'll have to take another look at the CPU fan when I get home from work. Hopefully, it's just not clippped onto the heatsink properly as the reviews say it's quite quiet and this is a noisy beast even on low Revs with the machine at idle

My bios said it was running at 720 RPM which is slow enough for not too much noise. Still think it might be something also relating to the PWM support but not sure.

I stll fancy a new case as well though!
 

Pete Shields

Well-known member
Sep 23, 2008
132
0
18,590
Visit site
So I opened the case, put a pencil in each of the fans and the noise one was the stock fan for my aged ATI 4870 graphics card.

I'd cleaned it with air spray but now need to look at a replacement cooler. Any suggestions?
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
Consider a new case. I've got a Coolermaster and it is amazingly quiet. When I first switched the PC on I thought it hadn't booted! Only slight noise with my graphics card working hard (GTX 560 Ti), for example on Crysis 2.
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
Consider a new case definitely. I've got a Coolermaster and it is amazingly quiet. When I first switched the PC on I thought it hadn't booted! Only slight noise with my graphics card working hard (GTX 560 Ti), for example on Crysis 2.
 

Pete Shields

Well-known member
Sep 23, 2008
132
0
18,590
Visit site
I swapped the Graphics card for a 6 year old Nvidia card which had a Zalman silentfan built in (taken from my old PC gathering dust in the loft). Ultra quiet and no different on day to day use.

I will buy a silent fan for my ATI 4870 card swap back when I get a chance.

I'll leave the case for now, but may consider a SSD to speed things up and go ultra quiet.....
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
Two SSDs with RAID 0 = super fast startup and applications. You barely need to worry about ram with such a setup. I ran a test and got over 600Mb/s read speeds 8)
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
Havent SSD's been on the news recentely saying they are going to be much cheaper????

CNET or summat??
 

AEJim

Well-known member
Nov 17, 2008
82
22
18,545
Visit site
Take a look at the Chillblast Fusion Whisper PC's, I use one to design speakers on and it's all but silent - extremely powerful too. When you look at their site you can see all the components they've chosen on the model to keep it quiet...
 

Cpt.Issues

New member
Oct 17, 2010
22
0
0
Visit site
I just found this thread as I'm looking for exactly the same solution. A gaming PC that can also run virtually silent when listening to music. My entire music collection is via Spotify or FLAC files ripped from CDs, spent the money for a CD player on a DAC instead.

At one point I remember seeing a system by Zalman which was supposedly silent, it featured a large fanless free standing external radiator. Is there anything similar out at the moment or a more updated version?

If not I guess the solution is to run a large case that can use big quiet 200mm fans then put decent heatsinks on everything, find a quiet PSU and perhaps watercool the cpu and gpu?
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
Zalman do some fine fans etc. Any local pc shop will knock you one up much cheaper with a good silent case. A decent case can be had for £30 upwards. My stock fan is extremely quiet.
 

Cpt.Issues

New member
Oct 17, 2010
22
0
0
Visit site
Usually £80+ for a decent midi case, one of those hidden costs I usually neglect to factor in when building computers, ah well :/

Ah here it is, fanless system that is big enough to use convection thus doesn't require a pump: http://www.quietpc.com/gb-en-gbp/products/watercooling/reserator1-v2

Just need to swap everything onto an SSD drive then find a very quiet psu. Some midi cases allow for large 200mm fans which are virtually silent, probably a good idea to keep some sort of airflow..
 

Cpt.Issues

New member
Oct 17, 2010
22
0
0
Visit site
Graham_Thomas said:
OP did you ever buy parts/system/case? :)

I've only ever built my own systems. Having said that I don't spend nearly as long now researching components etc. I tend to just buy an off the shelf pre-clocked bundle to suit budget, find whatever GPU and HDD/SDD are the flavour of the month at the time and whack it all in a case.

Anyone who has built a lego can pretty much assemble a computer its just component matching that can be tricky sometimes IMO.

Next build is going to be as silent as possible, maybe not with the full blown passive water cooling but as quiet as possible.
 

indyjase

New member
Oct 6, 2009
10
0
0
Visit site
:dance: I've been having similar issues as I use my PC as a media and gaming hub, so getting the right balance of cooling and noise is always hard. My temps where a little high on the processor and in the case so I tried a few different things as I am new(ish) to building PC's. First change was to replace the stock cooler. This both cut temps by 10C and fan noise down to a whisper. I didn't go mad just a coolermaster TX-3. Next up was to tackle the case/motherboard temps and lower fan noise. I put in 2 antec tricool 120mm 3 speed case fans in a push pull config. Put both fans on 2 med speed (1400 RPM) and that was quiet and all temps below 30C. But me being me and like to tinker decided thatI could improve and put a coolermaster excaliber in the front of the case and moved one of the tricools to the side panel blowing in. The excaliber shifted more cold air but temps almost no change and it sounded like a 747 taking off so I went back to just the two tricools. I might now cut a hole (done properly might I add!) in the side of the case and put a 200mm fan in (700RPM) so I can run the tricools at the lowest speed thus even quieter PC. Even at medium (1400RPM) it's quiet as its behind a closed door unit and although the back is open and there is plenty of airflow I can just about live with the noise , but it would be nice if I could get it as close to silent as possible.
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
indyjase said:
:dance: I've been having similar issues as I use my PC as a media and gaming hub, so getting the right balance of cooling and noise is always hard. My temps where a little high on the processor and in the case so I tried a few different things as I am new(ish) to building PC's. First change was to replace the stock cooler. This both cut temps by 10C and fan noise down to a whisper. I didn't go mad just a coolermaster TX-3. Next up was to tackle the case/motherboard temps and lower fan noise. I put in 2 antec tricool 120mm 3 speed case fans in a push pull config. Put both fans on 2 med speed (1400 RPM) and that was quiet and all temps below 30C. But me being me and like to tinker decided thatI could improve and put a coolermaster excaliber in the front of the case and moved one of the tricools to the side panel blowing in. The excaliber shifted more cold air but temps almost no change and it sounded like a 747 taking off so I went back to just the two tricools. I might now cut a hole (done properly might I add!) in the side of the case and put a 200mm fan in (700RPM) so I can run the tricools at the lowest speed thus even quieter PC. Even at medium (1400RPM) it's quiet as its behind a closed door unit and although the back is open and there is plenty of airflow I can just about live with the noise , but it would be nice if I could get it as close to silent as possible.
Shhhhhh........ :)
 

Cpt.Issues

New member
Oct 17, 2010
22
0
0
Visit site
Think I might have found the answer, doubt I'll find one for gaming etc though..

http://www.quietpc.com/gb-en-gbp/products/systems/sys-a40-z68

sys-a40-z68-sideopen-large.jpg
 

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts