Quiet PC - Regular system or "Shuttle" style?

[Phrederik]

Hi!

Trying to decide what to use while building the wifes new PC. A big
requirement for her is LOW noise. I'm wondering if the Shuttle type mini
systems run quieter than a standard ATX tower case.

Basics for her PC will be:
- DVDRW will be external in a USB2/firewire enclosure. (MAY have an internal
CD drive - depends on bootablity of USB2 or Firewire drive)
- Video will be a Matrox G550 connected to two monitors.
- She will be using her Microsoft DSS80 USB speakers for audio
- At least 512meg of DDR memory (probably PC4000 from OCZ)
- Gigabit LAN for networking
- Looking at a 160Gig Maxtor HDD on a SATA interface (3 year warranty)
- Uses a Hauppauge USB TV tuner... May replace with a PCI card.
- Used mostly for programming. Games that she may play are stuff on POGO or
Age of Empire type games. Occasional Quake3 head to head against me.

....having said all that, what should I be looking for to keep the PC
quiet???

 

[John]

Hi!

Trying to decide what to use while building the wifes new PC. A big
requirement for her is LOW noise. I'm wondering if the Shuttle type mini
systems run quieter than a standard ATX tower case.

Basics for her PC will be:
- DVDRW will be external in a USB2/firewire enclosure. (MAY have an internal
CD drive - depends on bootablity of USB2 or Firewire drive)
- Video will be a Matrox G550 connected to two monitors.
- She will be using her Microsoft DSS80 USB speakers for audio
- At least 512meg of DDR memory (probably PC4000 from OCZ)
- Gigabit LAN for networking
- Looking at a 160Gig Maxtor HDD on a SATA interface (3 year warranty)
- Uses a Hauppauge USB TV tuner... May replace with a PCI card.
- Used mostly for programming. Games that she may play are stuff on POGO or
Age of Empire type games. Occasional Quake3 head to head against me.

...having said all that, what should I be looking for to keep the PC
quiet???

I think a small mini case like that would be louder. The only
advantage is , that its so small you would less stuff in it like fans
and other mechanical things. Plus it would probably sit on your desk
closer to ear level.

A heavy case with the minimum amount of fans as possible. Use larger ,
low rpm fans whenever possible controlled by temp and replace any fans
with passive heatsinks whereever possible like on video and
motherboards. People keep pointing to the Zalman fan/heatsink as quiet
for the CPU.

The other things is - some people claim so and so drive is quieter. I
hear conflicting things about various drives so its hard to say but if
its true Id get the quieter ones obviously.

You could look into the quiet PC sites and look into various HD
enclosures and others things if the temps dont suffer because of it.
You could put some damping material on the enclosure walls.

Like this

http://www.quietpcusa.com/acb/showd...-79928322&st3=-73343559&Product_ID=80&CATID=9

They also have Zalman silent PSUs - at a laughable $100 price.

 

[Frank]

Take a look at Antec's Sonata case. VERY QUIET, although it's a ATX tower
case

I have the Asus P4P800 Deluxe MB with a 2.4C intel processor and 512MB dual
channel OCZ PC3200 memory. I also have the Western Digital 36GB S-ATA hard
disk, also very quiet and FAST.

*************************************

 

[Phrederick]

Take a look at Antec's Sonata case. VERY QUIET, although it's a ATX tower
case

I have the Asus P4P800 Deluxe MB with a 2.4C intel processor and 512MB dual
channel OCZ PC3200 memory. I also have the Western Digital 36GB S-ATA hard
disk, also very quiet and FAST.

I'll take a look...

Size isn't a major concern... The small boxes do look pretty cool.

Something I haven't seen (at least where I normally buy) are large size SATA
drives. NCIX has a Maxtor 160gig SATA with 3year warranty, but I've never
known Maxtor to make a quiet drive. The other brands there just don't get
very big and have SATA interfaces.

 

[DaveW]

All the goodies you're planning on installing won't fit in the Shuttle.
Plus cooling would be an issue even if they did.

 

[Phrederick]

A video card, 512meg of DDR memory and a HDD won't fit inside a Shuttle???

 

[Chris N Deuchar]

Hi!

Trying to decide what to use while building the wifes new PC. A big
requirement for her is LOW noise. I'm wondering if the Shuttle type mini
systems run quieter than a standard ATX tower case.

Yes lots quiter.
My son has just bought one of these and put an AMD 2400 processor
in it. Unfortunately this tends to overheat after a time if the
room temp is above 17 C!

Any ideas what may be causing this?

The attraction for him was the portability. He has a carrying case
with which he carts it round to friends for gaming sessions.

Chris D

 

[kony]

Yes lots quiter.
My son has just bought one of these and put an AMD 2400 processor
in it. Unfortunately this tends to overheat after a time if the
room temp is above 17 C!

Any ideas what may be causing this?

Well, a lot of it is probably due to it being "lots quieter".

You might check the heatsink, that it's well-seated on the CPU and
perhaps even remove it and apply a fresh, thin coat of thermal
compound, and check the fans, but, the quietness of the system is
relating to it's low airflow, so it retains more heat. Try running it
with the cover off to see if stability improves.


Dave

 

[Todd H.]

Yes lots quiter.
My son has just bought one of these and put an AMD 2400 processor
in it. Unfortunately this tends to overheat after a time if the
room temp is above 17 C!

Any ideas what may be causing this?

I'm afraid it's AMD's tendencies to run VERY hot, and the case not
having adequate airflow.

Warning: enough overheating and he will irretrivably damage the
processor.

Best Regards,