Hello,
which power supply, fan and cpu-cooler do you use for which cpu to make your system silent? And how confident are you?
I plan to buy a P4 3.0 (Northwood) and thinking of LC-Power Super Silent 420 and Arctic Cooling Super Silent 4 Ultra TC. Does anyone has experience with these components or can recommend something else?
i’m using this for my radeon 9700pro:
http://www.arctic-cooling.com/vga2.php?idx=41
in my secondary PC (almost noiseless), there is a TI-4200 equipped with a Zalman ZM80C-Heatpipe - entirely passive and therefore inaudible.
http://www.zalmanusa.com/upload/product/zm…m80c_hp_c_p.jpg
this heatsink for my P4 2.8C@3.5:
http://www.dvhardware.net/review64_cm_hyper6.html
(the heatsink itself is the most efficient the market has to offer when it comes to aircooling. the bundled fan however is rather low-quality and has to be exchanged by another one if you want it to be silent.
i’d recommend a low-RPM (around 2000rpm) 80mm papst fan with sintec bearing. if you don’t plan to overclock, it’ll be more than sufficient and almost inaudible)
storage-wise you should get a harddrive which is already silent by itself.
currently, the Samsung Spinpoint P80 series is the most silent 7200RPM ATA drive.
they’re available in 60, 80, 120 and 160GB capacities.
each either with 2MB or 8MB cache.
i’d recommend getting the SP1614N (160GB, 8MB, PATA133)
there also is a SATA counterpart, if you plan to use that interface.
both my PCs are equipped with some meanwhile rather old Enermax 350W PSUs. i’ve exchanged their fans with papst ones which are attached to a fanbus allowing me to adjust the voltage from 0V/6V-12V.
but there meanwhile are other solutions which are silent out-of-the-box.
(zalman passively cooled PSUs, etc…)
and last but not least, don’t save money when buying the case.
cheap cases usually tend to turn vibrations from HDs or alike into unpleasant noise. get something stiff and sturdy like the popular Chieftech CS-601.
and if you plan to get case cooling in terms of 80mm FANs, do yourself the favour and install one of these 5,25" fanbusses in order to adjust the FAN’s speed/voltage.
Egg cartons on the walls is what my friend’s used to use when playing loud hardcore in the basement. You could encapsulate your PC in egg cartons, it should reduce the noise. And look very stylish.
I’m using a fan for 20 PLN (about 4 EUR) and a harddrive that generates a C3 tone using my computer’s case. 
In other words - my computer is not quiet. 
Yeah this question of silencing is really important…
Heap of coolers in my case sounds like big air conditioner. Or like refrigerator 
It’s badly choking and jammin’ all soundscape when mixin’ 4 example…
And last time i seriously thinkin’ to purchase some kind of water-cooling system. It must helps
I’m planning to build a wooden case for my computer.
The idea is to take off the metal from standard case and use the skeleton to build wooden one around it. I would add some sound-resistant stuff to it, so it’s even quieter.
Air cooling is enough to make silent PC. Just get a video card with passive cooling, it helps a ton. And a cooler that cools your CPU with some 1600rpm fan. But I think it’s impossible with new Intels, because you could heat up a sauna with them.
Then a case that produces little to none resonances and where you can fit quiet 12cm fan(s) into so that air circumlation is good enough to remove the hot air. The air should travel from low end front to top back. Nexus freeze has a air intake in the bottom of the case, and it even looks cool.
Hard drives produce often big noise too, but I think there is already some noise killer kits for HD’s that are installen on 5.25" slots in the case. Not sure about it, but at least Zamlan has a hd cooling system that reduces the vibrations from HD’s thus silencing them at least a litlle.
You know, Dells are very silent too. I can sleep next to it, my kitchen fan makes more noise. A good choice for the lazy people (that’s me) that don’t have time or don’t like to fiddle inside the computer any more.
My expert friend in this area bought big Papst fans and hooked them in to 5V instead of the 12V they normally run on. This way they are as good as noiseless, plus it eliminates the need of a voltage controller.
Are you sure about this because everyone I know says Seagate makes the most quiet HDs… 
Anyway, this is always a great place to start: Silent PC Review
Unfortunately there’s alot of old and outdated articles here but there are some new ones aswell. Atleast you should be able to get some tips and some inspiration.
okay, honestly - you got me.
i should’ve said, that the Samsung P80 is one of the quietest drives around and not the quietest.
the Seagate Barracuda ATA V is actually 1,6 db/A quieter than the Samsung P80 (37,8 vs 39,4db/A @18mm, source: www.storagereview.com).
however, the samsung unit is the (way) faster and cooler (temperature-wise) one.
as i also got the P80 (160GB/8MB cache) in use for my (silent) secondary rig and find it to be subjectively “inaudible” at a distance of aprx. 0,5m, i’d recommend it for everybody not willing to sacrifice comparably high speed for noise.
Thanks for the info. I have had my eyes on a Seagate for some time but if the Samsung is cooler at the cost of being 1,6 dB/A louder then I will definately get one of these. Heat is currently my main problem and heat removal my main noise source…
Here’s another hot tip: If you want a quiet HD stay clear of Western Digital Caviar! 
Thank you very much for the useful hints and tips! 
Concerning the HD, I decided - as recommended - to get the Samsung Spinpoint P80 160GB, 8 MB.
The heatsink will be the Arctic Super Silent Ultra TC (though there may be better solutions, but I do not want to spend EUR 50 for it (yet). Reading tests it should be silent even for Pentium4 3.0Ghz. -> http://www.silentpcreview.com/article211-page3.html)) Let’s see if they are right.
As PSU I have a “Super Silent” or “Fortron” in mind, both with 120mm fan.
About the Samsung’s, somewhere along the line, they changed the motor manufacturer for these disks if I remember correctly, and one is quieter than the other. You can find out more browsing the forums on SPCR.
And look at that P180 Antec case. WHOAW!
Thanks for the hint. There are two different motors, by Nidec and JVC. The Nidecs are more silent.
