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Loading ...My Quest for a SILENT Folding Rig (Part 1)
fergus4
I have chosen to share this blog with you in the hope that it will be of some use to those who want to build a silent computer. Please post all questions/suggestions in the comments below. Now, onto the blog…
After building PC’s for a couple of years, I have of course got plenty of spares, so I decided to to something productive with them, but what?
After sorting all of my spares out, most of them were listed on eBay to give me a bit of extra cash, but I was left with a few main components;
- Abit F-190HD Motherboard
- Scythe Ninja CPU Cooler
- Intel Core 2 Duo e4300 Processor
- Crucial Ballistix Ram
- DVD Drive
- Zalman HDD Cooler
- Various Case Fans
- Various HDDs
As you can see this is almost a complete computer! After much deliberation I decided that I create a folding rig, which I could also use for browsing the web, watching TV and general PC type stuff. As this PC was going to be on for most of the time and the fact that it was kept in my bedroom, would mean that it would have to be very quiet, almost inaudible. I haven’t finished the build at the time of writing but my goal was to make it silent!! Power efficiency was also a major factor for this build as I’m very concious about the state of the environment.
See the next blog step for the selection of the case.
SPCR is an excellent source for anything silent-PC-related. all the pc’s i build is required to be relatively quiet as i like em to be next to my monitor, play music, and only 1m to my ears — sff, punchy, yet relatively quiet.
now, to my specs:
thermaltake lanbox — sff, and steel construct — proving to be very devoid of vibrations
i e6550 — 65W TDP, decent for the biggest side-airflow-HS to fit inside — thermalright xp-90C
Antec NEO HE 430W for the front-to-back cooling system and fairly quiet
—^ all those create a sort of a chamber for a front air intake system (side air openings are blocked off by perspex) — hooded by solid pespex with the rear out-takes slanted on a 45deg angle to focus on the HS. the hood is connected to a quiet 80mm fan for intake — also cools northbridge and mobo bits.
CPU never goes over 50C
the 2nd chamber is with the pci-e. radeon x1950pro with an accelero s1 to keep it quiet. that said, its quite nice — my monitor is a 19″ so doesnt have to work so hard never goes over 70C.
though, its my HDD that needs a bit of a rethink though as it goes over 55C sometimes when worked — im thinking changing the external 5″1/4 blanking to mesh and putting the HDD there to have the PSU’s airflow to cool the HDD down maybe even a zalman passive hdd cooler— the optical can go into the slot under the top.
that said, there are 3 vacant slots for more HDDs too.
——-
im thinking of having another — but quieter using a 45W TDP amd CPU(cooled by a big scythe HS), bigger case (centurion 5 — steel and big and vertical — PSUd by a Seasonic S12 maybe for the intel ATX spec design) to house more HDDs as it will fuction as my main linux PC/proxy server/mediabox whereas above system is my windows gaming rig.
i think my upcoming 2nd comp would be of a very similar design to yours. use STEEL cases for less vibe… aluminum conducts heat better for better thermals on workers (fans only work on medium speed not high - but medium is still noisy for quiet system definition)— but if the PC is low powered and is already quiet as a mouse, the steel will compliment it. and dont forget, volt-modding fans, padding, and ducting.