Looking fo a silent PC


VirtuaLeech

Active Member
Joined
Apr 16, 2003
Messages
571
I am looking for a new PC (my 450Mhz is breaking down). With this new PC I plan to get a nice TFT screen and wireless keyboard & mouse so everything can be put up in the living room without disturbing the wife to much. My only problem is that most PC's make a lot of noise. For my PC to be in the living room I want it to be as quite as possible (when it's on ;) ).

Anu suggestions/tips/web sites?
 
A laptop is quite silent, and can easily fit in your lap. I suggest the Dell 600m, as the Pentium-M runs cool and silent.

But if that's not up your alley, then a Celeron also runs cool.
 
Thanks, but I don't think a laptop is a good idea since my four-year-old is also using the computer :eek:
 
PC's can be silent but the more powerfull they become the harder it is to shut them up. I use a VIA Epia ( 17x17cm motherboard with a VIA CPU ) but that doesn't make a very fast computer. Good thing: even my wife's laptop computer is noisier - it's near silent.

This site has tons of information. Silent custom made PC's can be bought but they cost a fortune.
 
Great site, thanks!

Maybe a simpler solution would be to put the PC itself in another room. Because I want to use wireless keyboard and mouse this would mean I would only need extention cords for the TFT monitor and USB.

Anybody know how long TFT monitor extention cords and USB extention cords can be? Or if there are wireless USB hubs? I have seen a wireless monitor (from Phillips) but it is a little to expensive.

A lot of questions, I know, but I hope someone can help me. Of course suggestions about silent PC's are still welcome.
 
My P4M is most definitely not silent...if you load something with a lot of juice, like MAME...oh man...fan kicks in....louder than the desktop. Not to mention it goes into crotch scorching mode.

The extension cord on a TFT monitor would be the same as on a CRT monitor. The signal won't get weaker as such I don't think.

Dunno about wireless USB hubs, but it's technologically possible. Maybe slow, but possible. Extensions I assume are possible.

Also I don't think TFT is any quieter than normal monitors, unless you have like some kind of super noise making screen, in which case yes. :p But of course, they're very good. People say they suck for games because they blur, but honestly...the old ones did, laptop screens still do sometimes, but this new LCD monitor/tv combo I got the other day? It's next to my laptop, and you can see the quality is so much better. And that laptop was damn expensive, not that old, and the screen is damn good for a laptop screen. Either technology improved that fast, or the laptop saves power by being crappier. (you can only really notice it on clashing colors...I use the default marquee screensaver...blue background with pink text saying "Your text goes here.", blurs a lot on laptop, completely legible on LCD)

What's the difference between this, which claims it is LCD, and a monitor which is TFT, anyway? I thought all LCD screens were TFT now anyway...
 
Slim chance you live in the US, But newegg.com is an absoloutely fan-friggin'-tastic place to order barebones systems and PC parts to assemble yer own (Upgraded my P3 600 MHZ with 256 of SDram (had a geforce 4 4200 ti 128MB, bro got it for me for some odd reason when I had THAT PC, and am still using it, great card) And upgraded it to a fast AMD 2500+ Barton, 512MB of DDR ram, Asus A7N8X mobo, Annddd a brand new cheiftec case with a case window and 400 watt power supply.(kept the other guts of my other PC since they were perfectly fine)

for a small fee of 350+ dollars american (And got next day shipping too)
 
If you want a pc that it close to silent you are best off making a custom pc and use akasa 100mm fans and make sure the cpu has a decent heatsink with a quiet fan, it is possible to use a 100% Cu heatsink but its very big but it is silent!
 
The more you spend the silenter it will be... Like I would recommend going Water Cooled if you want Silence and great overclocking abilities...
 
Basically you're going to either need to...

a ) Buy a computer with a processor that runs cool (like a Celeron).

or

b ) Buy a very expensive silent cooling system.

If you don't have enough cash to blow I suggest just buying a processor that runs cool, that way you can buy a cheap silent cooling system.
 
Or, if you don't need the horsepower, settle for a less powerfull computer.
No fans = no noise :)

But I can only recommend this if you are not into 3D gaming so the real question is: what would you want to do with your pc?
 
WHy have a intel?Theyre expensive and low efficency. i prefer the AMD Family preferably the barton core they are cheap but need to be kept kool id use a quiet akasa fan,its upto you really but for the efficenvy i would go for the amd, Amd can also be overclocked unlike the Intel (overclockin ist as easy as it is on the gp32 itsa alot more dangerous)But really sound isnt all that bad from any pc really unless you buy cheap fans.Its easy to keep it quiet but itll cost t9o keep it quiet.

Say if you want a silent pc youll lose those precious specs and instead of say adding an extra 512mb 3200 ddr ram module with hyperthreading youll have to buy some expensive fan.!A cheap way to sto the fands from makin such noise is to open up the pc case and locate the fans, Take it out and replace it but with the new one get a variable speed switch,if this doesnt appeal and your on a low budget get hold of the old fan and take it out, look at the wires with the 3 pins on it and then look on the fan for the other two wires which are held toget5her by an inductor.Cut thois off and go to your local electrician shop and asok for an analogue module (similair to the knob for volume and pitch on a guitar) then connect this and create your owmn pci fan controller!
 
VIA C3 processors can nrun fine with a passive (no fan) heatsink, so can cirix processors. The Zalman flower heatsink can cool all but the fastest P4s and XPs without a fan. There are silent PSUs, and if you want/need a case fan, the 120mm ones are the least noisy. 7200rpm HDDs are quieter than 5600rpms, and most CD and DVD drives are almost perfectly silent.
 
5600 hdd re quiter!They havwe less revolutions and the spinning and the air that is expelled is actually making the noise, i do agree the flowers are efficent.
 
raven posted on Dec 11 2003 at 06:22 PM said:
Or, if you don't need the horsepower, settle for a less powerfull computer.
No fans = no noise :)

But I can only recommend this if you are not into 3D gaming so the real question is: what would you want to do with your pc?
Good suggestion.

I use the PC mainly for Internet, Burning and software development. No gaming, graphics or other 3d applications. I just want something that is a little faster then my current 450mhz.

Any suggestions about which processors with decent speed can run uncooled?
 
Last edited by a moderator:
As someone else suggested a VIA C3 CPU can be run without a fan, but it is not fast compared to today's processors. But since you do no gaming or 3D graphics on your PC, it should do just fine.

Also, you could try a really fast Celeron processor with a Zalman Heat Sink. Actually you could use pretty much any processor with a Zalman Heat Sink + a slow fan (LESS RPMs = LESS Sound).

Finding a big heatsink to quiet down your system is not hard at all, but everyone here has neglected to give you advice on POWER SUPPLIES or Hard Drives. When I installed a Zalman Heat Sink Flower on my Athlon XP 2000+, my hard drive and power supply became the nosiest components in my PC. I then bought a Seasonic Power Supply which was pretty quiet, and then my Hard Drive was the loudest component in my PC. I then bought a Seagate Barracudo IV hard drive which is SILENT. I was pretty happy with my PC but it was still NOT silent. it was QUIET but NOT Silent.

The thing about building quiet PCs is... the closest you get to silence the easier it is to hear those other components and the louder they appear to be. LOL

As someone else recommended, you should check out http://www.silentpcreview.com/
 
Yet again, thanks.

Especially naming a few component by name really helps.

The level of "silentness" I hope to achieve is the same as the new ""limited edition" silver PS2. Before that I had a normal older black one. But this silver one is so quite. The most noise is made when playing cd games and the drive has to spin up to speed.
 
Back
Top