Build a Quiet Gaming System 204
ThinSkin writes "Armed with a newly discovered soundproofing foam, Loyd Case from ExtremeTech set out to build a quiet gaming rig that hits the sweet spot in both performance and silence. After choosing the right components and insulating the PC case, Loyd's silent PC weighed in at a shade under $2500, scored 5206 3DMarks, and is hardly audible from more than a meter away."
what?? (Score:5, Funny)
I dunno about you, but I really like to be within reach of my computer when I am playing...
Re:what?? (Score:3, Funny)
It allows your input and output devices to be situated away from the noisey box..
Re:what?? (Score:3, Interesting)
That being said, the 'insulating foam' seems like it has less to do with the silence than with the ultra silent, ultra efficient heatsink like the zalman one they used [newegg.com] (they also mave an aftermarket VGA cooler model, that's just as silent)
yeah the CPU and VGA cooler each putting out around 20 dbs of noise
Re:what?? (Score:2)
yeah the CPU and VGA cooler each putting out around 20 dbs of noise ;) and then claiming it's some 'special foam' that's making it virtually silent? 20 Dbs isn't that silent either, i usually run my TV set at 20 DBs.
20 + 20 = 22 or so. The special foam absorbs some of this noise, which reduces the noise, possibly to 12db.
hrm. ~20 dbs or 2 dbs not to mention that one can build a full mineral oil bath rig that uses the same zalman cooler sans fan, for a 0 dbs 'full immersion liquid cooled' rig.
How many
Re:what?? (Score:2)
*= in the sense that between the projector and the 'screen' there are no wires.
Why? (Score:2)
Did all of you flunk 3rd grade math? (Score:2)
Re:Did all of you flunk 3rd grade math? (Score:2)
Re:Did all of you flunk 3rd grade math? (Score:2)
I didn't know the Pythagorean theorem could find out the chance of something happening! Cool!
Re:Did all of you flunk 3rd grade math? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Did all of you flunk 3rd grade math? (Score:2)
you're kidding, right? (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:you're kidding, right? (Score:3, Informative)
Re:you're kidding, right? (Score:3, Informative)
( i know they exsist but how many people purchase extenders? )
grandparent is exactly what I thought. except for the fringe people that hide the PC in a closet 3 rooms over from where they actually are working, most computers are either on or under a desk. definately alot less than a metre away.
Re:you're kidding, right? (Score:2)
I'm using a Bluetooth mouse and keyboard right now, which both have stated ranges of 10M. My old wired keyboard's cord is at least 6 ft (~2m), and my mouse's cord wasx longer. With USB, I could easily use a hub.
Re:you're kidding, right? (Score:3, Insightful)
Everyone. (Score:3, Insightful)
When I sit at a desktop at home, my head is between 70 and 90cm from 2 computer towers, both of which are on my desk next to my monitor.
Do you know that a metre is 100cm, or 3 and 1/3rd feet?
I don't know of any people who have their PC cases far away from their monitors, and I don't know of any people who sit more than 1 metre fro
DUH? (Score:2)
I've seen several computers where they are literally the loudest device in a house short of a sound system, and it doesn't need to be that way. It doesn't even cost much to improve sound if you are conscious of the audible impact of component choices. A little bit of foam, a few adjustments here and there, sometimes costing a little bit more money, all without resorting to anything as drastic as drowning out the entire outside world.
Feh (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Feh (Score:2)
What's that smell?
Eh... (Score:5, Informative)
Yeah, Dynamat (Score:5, Informative)
A couple drawbacks with Dynamat - it ain't cheap, so it would cost more than the foam kit, but you could build a quiet box much cheaper than $2500 anyway, so that probably isn't a huge consideration.
I've used Dynamat in my car, and it is also kinda tough to work with. For best results you have to warm it for fitting, and that means you're working with a sheet of sticky play-doh. And you would think cutting it with an xacto knife or razor would be cake, but again, it's tricky.
Unfortunately, Dynamat probably would likely retain some ambient heat in the case just like the foam. To what degree though? *shrug*
One last thought - Dynamat is typically used in much louder, more dynamic volume environments - your car with a thumpin system on a street with potholes. Seems like Dynamat is more for serious vibration dampening vs. ambient dampening. Then again, I haven't coated my car's interior walls or hood w/ Dynamat, so what do I know?
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Yeah, Dynamat (Score:2, Informative)
Recording studio foam... (Score:2)
Given the decent shape, material, and quantity of this foam that HDs are shipped in, I wonder if some strategical placing of this foam inside the box could produce a noticable effect on noise without any added cost?
Great! (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Great! (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Great! (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Great! (Score:2)
Bwahahahaha.
Re:Why bother? (Score:2)
Unless the noises you want to hear are from the same range of freq. as the music, the system should not interfere with them. If it does it should not be labled high quality.
OTOH, we live in an age where 'gold' connectors, db rating, and speaker distortion seem to be the hall mark of quality sound systmes.
Re:Why bother? (Score:2)
John Cage refrence on
I doubt any recorded music is the same as your voice.
There will be some overlap, and clear system you will still be able to talk at a normal level and hear.
Of course it requires a very good equalizer and someone who understands them, someone unlike you.
Now I didn't even go into the Fletcher-Munson Curve and Perceived Loudness, clipping drop-out, or pink noise range.
Ever go
Or.... (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Or.... (Score:2)
Re:Or.... (Score:2)
http://www.bestbyteinc.com/CAS-ZAL-T5AI.html [bestbyteinc.com]
It's still crazy money for a case, but it's down a lot from the $1500 it used to sit at.
Quiet or silent? (Score:5, Informative)
Antec P180 Case (a sound-dampening, full size steel case built for heat management and airflow, using multiple tri-speed 120mm fans)
Antec TruPower 2 550 W power supply (in the P180 case, it goes down below, in a separate air flow chamber, so it stays pretty cool)
Athlon64 3700+. Best gaming price/performance at the time I built the system.
Stock heatsink/fan. This is where my noise comes from, and I was satisified; 32C/3000rpm idle, 44C/5500rpm at max load after 12 hours in an unvented, uncomfortably warm room.
Audigy 2 ZS. Cuz I like EAX, k?
eVGA GeForce 7800 GTX (nowadays, the 7900 GT is same performance but for $200 less than what I paid, and lower power/heat, and the 7900 GTX is more power for about $100 less and same power/heat)
2 matched Corsair TWINX 1-gig sticks
160 gig SATA-II Western Digital HD
Sony DVD-ROM (they make fairly quiet drives)
ASUS A8N-SLI Premium motherboard. Uses a heatpipe to move the chipset heat into the airflow coming off the CPU. Works fine. No noisy motherboard chipset fans.
It isn't silent, but its quiet enough. If it's not running a game, I can only tell it's on if I concentrate and listen for it. If the window is open (I'm not on a busy street), the ambient outside noise drowns it out entirely.
Re:Quiet or silent? (Score:5, Informative)
Changing the way your PC is mounted to the floor can also make a big difference. All computer fans vibrate to some degree, and the feet on the PC case transfer this vibration to the floor or cabinet with a sometimes surprising transfer function. Getting softer or harder feet, or even bolting it down to a large heavy object, can quiet this down.
Finally hard disks can be mounted on soft rubber grommets which makes a huge difference in how much sound is transferred from the drive to the case. This can eliminate the subtle but annoying noise generated by disk eccentricity and muffle the sound of the voice coil actuator.
Re:Quiet or silent? (Score:2)
Re:Quiet or silent? (Score:5, Informative)
Sometimes, the brackets are kinda tight. You can get over that by prying it open a bit. It'll come back together when you screw it down.
Use all the screws you can. I see people just using one or two per side. Most CD-ROMs can take 4 screws per side; use all of them!
Don't screw it down too tight. I've never seen a spec for how tight to torque a hard drive screw. Too tight and your dampener will be for naught. If you are concerned about the drive coming loose, grab some LokTite. If you are clever, a drop of rubber cement will server the same purpose as LokTite and costs a lot less.
Get big fans and run them at lower RPMs. I know a lot of people are concerned over heat. Truth is, computers can run really fucking hot with no problems. 50c is a good number to be happy with. Even 60c isn't a big problem. Just make sure the hard drives are getting cool, fresh air.
Make sure to select a good power supply with a 120mm fan. There is little you can do to quite a bad power supply.
As for the other fans, get some baffles or thin foam. On the back of the PC, tape in some ducting to allow the fan to breathe without having a direct shot to the open air. A fan in the middle of a tube will be quieter than a fan at either end of the tube. Between the fan and the exit, stuff in some crumpled dryer sheets. These allow air flow but really deaden the noise. You can also use several stacked dryer sheets over the intake fans as well.
Finally, take the fucking thing off the desk. There is no reason to have the PC on your desk. Put it under the desk or behind it. You know that box that the thing came in, use that to make a "computer cozy". Cut a few holes for air and cover them with dryer sheets. Cut another hole for the CD-ROM and cover that with a dryer sheet hinge. There will usually be a 1~2" gap between the box and the case. No dust or dirt will get in. It'll be dead quiet from inches away.
Re:Quiet or silent? (Score:3, Interesting)
Nail polish is better. Easier to break, and not gummy.
The reason CD-Roms come with 4 per side is to support different brackets and/or different screw sizes.
Over tirgtening the scews can cause th cd rom drive frame to warp.
Same thuing with hard drives.
In both cases the spinning of the platters apply torque to the device.
Re:Quiet or silent? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Quiet or silent? (Score:2)
Re:Quiet or silent? (Score:2)
That aside, they could easily get onto the top of a box, they can jump a couple of feet no problem. I also doubt poison-soaked cardboard would actually stop them. Rats aren't always that easy to poison, and they don't generally eat cardboard, they just shred it.
Plus, I imagine similar issues would arise with puppies, ferrets, rabbits, etc. too. That, and not everyone wants a cardboard box as part of their decor.
And all that aside, there ar
Re:Quiet or silent? (Score:2)
A friend of mine did one better. He had a bedroom closet on the other side of the wall from his office. He cut a small hole in the wall and ran a single USB cable and a monitor cable through. He installed a USB hub and plugged his KB and mouse into that. He also plugged a USB CD-ROM into the hub. Then he stuffed the hole with paper and put his desk right in front of it.
His office is *dead quiet*. When he
Re:Quiet or silent? (Score:2)
I have not seen, nor can I find a "9-11 certified" utility knife, must be some new nonsense marketing buzzword. I think that a pair of circle punch cutters (to cut inner and outer diameter) from a decent leather store should do a better job.
I am curious about the "crumpled dryer sheets" into exit tubes, it would seem that they would block air flow more than sound. There are better
Re:Quiet or silent? (Score:2)
I think you missed the point of the knife. You aren't cutting grommets out of the intertube, you are cutting strips the size of the drive. There should be *no* contact between the drive and the case.
"9-11 certified" is my offices' nickname for a box cutter. We get pretty raw on weekends and nights. Coming up with new shit to piss people off is one g
Re:Quiet or silent? (Score:2)
Why? I have a HUGE desk. It's about 8 feet long, and has a longer "L" corner. I have two flatscreens and a laptop on an iCurve. The PC is a shuttle. That thing is obnoxious sitting on the floor, and very nice sitting on the desk. Lots of people have PCs that are just a bit bigger than that. We don't all have mini towers you know.
Re:Quiet or silent? (Score:3, Informative)
"A premium" being $0.25 each?
60c isn't a problem FOR THE CPU, but it is for everything else in the system. I doubt you'll get through POST with a 60C northbridge (Thank God AMD rid us of dammed hot and un
Re:Quiet or silent? (Score:2)
Re:Quiet or silent? (Score:2)
Re:Quiet or silent? (Score:2)
Re:Quiet or silent? (Score:2)
In contrast, my 7800GTX idles at 56C, which is much healthier...
Re:Quiet or silent? (Score:2)
Re:Quiet or silent? (Score:2)
Re:Quiet or silent? (Score:2)
Antex P180 Case
Enermax NoiseTaker PSU
Athlon64 3700+
Stock heatsink - ditton on the source of noise
BFG 7800 GTX OC
Matched 1GB Patriot RAM sticks
200GB Seagate SATA
SATA DVD+-R (can't remember vendor)
Epox mobo
As the parent said, it isn't silent, but I have to look at it to tell if it's on if a game is playing.
I see a lot of similarities here (Score:2, Informative)
My stuff:
01) I use a similar case: I chose the Antec P150 instead of the P180, because I use a more traditional airflow system, and never could get into the P180 design
02) same motherboard: ASUS A8N-SLI Premium Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 SLI ATX AMD
03) probably the same memory: CORSAIR XMS 2GB (2 x 1GB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) Unbuffered Dual Channel
04) I use two Nexus 120 mm case fans, spun down using zalman fanmate 2 variable resi
I dunno... (Score:3, Funny)
That sounds pretty far away. What about if you're closer, like say within 3 feet or so? ;-)
Re:I dunno... (Score:2)
Re:I dunno... (Score:2)
So how many Volkswagons away can I be from my compy?
Expensive (Score:5, Insightful)
Why do all these "game machine" and "media center" how-to guides build such expensive computers? The day where the average gamer or home computer user spends $2000-2500 on a computer is a decade ago.
Re:Expensive (Score:2)
Agreed. I built an all out gaming machine a few months ago where money was not a big concern and I only spent about $1500. If money were an issue, I could have brought it closer to $1000.
Re:Expensive (Score:2)
wow, where did you ge quite RAM?
Seriously though, I would rather wear ear protection then put AMD and ATI in my box.
Re:Expensive (Score:2)
Because then companies send them expensive toys to write up.
Noone has any excuse to spend more then a Mac Mini on a home PC, and it's almost silent. It's not a game PC of course, but when you crank up a game PC, it's gonna be loud no matter what, that's alot of wattage to disipate.
Re:Expensive (Score:2)
You mean the Windows Game Advisor [microsoft.com], right? Warning - IE required.
I scored in the top 1%. Pbbbbbbtttt.
AMD X2 3800+, 2GB OCZ PC3200 RAM, Seagate 7200.9 (SATA2) 120GB, Abit Fatal1ty AN8 SLI, GeForce 7800GT
Re:Expensive (Score:2)
3d iMarks (Score:2, Interesting)
How many 3D Marks Intel iMac gets (or will get when someone hacks drivers)? It's super silent and cheaper than that...
Re:3d iMarks (Score:2)
Doesn't it come with Intel integrated video (the GMA950 or something like that)?
If so, I'd estimate it would get around 12 3D Marks. If someone hacks the drivers and overclocks the living fuck out of it, you may even get 14.
Of course 3D Mark is a DirectX benchmark and the Mac uses OpenGL. So you would have to wait until a version of VMWare came out for the Intel Mac and then use its experimental Direct3D to OpenGL translation layer.
Wouldn't it have been a better idea... (Score:3, Funny)
My PC... (Score:4, Interesting)
Where is everyone else getting their hideously noisy jet-engine PCs from? Or am I just lucky?
Re:My PC... (Score:2)
Re:My PC... (Score:3, Informative)
You said it yourself that your video card was cheap and fanless. Most expensive video cards have fans, so that's one source. CPU fan is another, but those are mostly quiet. But I think it's really this - most gamers that build their own systems (you bought yours from Dell) will spend all their money on the motherboard, CPU, card, etc. but then go and get the cheapest case and PSU they can find. I should know, tha
Re:My PC... (Score:2)
Don't confuse hardcore gamers with people who overspend on hardware.
There are many 12 year gamers old using their dad's old computer who can spank the single 30 year olds who have nothing better to do with their money than to spend an extra few thousand dollars to gain a few percent increase in performance
Re:My PC... (Score:3, Interesting)
I can't stand Dell, but I give them credit for this. They seem to put attention into making their PCs quiet, though some of this might also be part of a drive to reduce costs.
My Dell Optiplex sitting next to me is fairly quiet. There are only two fans in the thing. The Pentium 4 sits under neath a heat sink, and a plastic shroud covers that and directs airflow to the 92 mm case fan. The case fan has a thermostat in it to vary the speed. The only other fan in the
What about Liquid Cooling? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:What about Liquid Cooling? (Score:3, Insightful)
Because many less-than-advanced PC builders are still skittish about introducing liquid fluid of the wet persuasion into their PC case.
Re:What about Liquid Cooling? (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:What about Liquid Cooling? (Score:2)
Right. It's not ludicrously expensive anymore... Now it's only ridiculously expensive. What an improvement!
Meanwhile, for ~$30 in fans and a good heatsink, you can make any system practically-silent, without major work or modifications. I would know, my 100watt DVR is barely above the noise floor.
Umm, no, absolutely not. You've got to have a pump to circulate the fluid and a fan over the radiator to disperse all that hea
Re:What about Liquid Cooling? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:What about Liquid Cooling? (Score:2)
Some wrong choices made for a silent gaming rig (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Some wrong choices made for a silent gaming rig (Score:2)
I happen to have the same setup and... (Score:2)
I also have a Sonata II case, with a very quiet Vantec PSU, a relatively quiet Radeon 9600XT, and the same heatsink. Difference: Athlon XP 2800+ cpu, Maxtor SATA drives, no sound-absorbing foam etc. When I turn all my fans on minimum, I quite literally can't hear my computer, and this is without the sound-absorbing foam.
Yes, my computer also idles somewhere around ~50C.
But on high load? The temperature can go as high as +70C when watching a movie, and
Interesting use of foam... (Score:4, Informative)
In TFA, the foam primarily seems to be used to dampen internal reflections, making the case's sound reduction more effective. E.g. foaming the inside of the venting duct helps to reduce high frequency noise escaping from the duct. Clever.
A great solution that I've used over the years is to just shove the computer into a closet, or even into the basement if the space affords it. When scouting out new living spaces, the ability to keep computers out of earshot has often been a key decision maker for me. I even got my last landlord to let me put a 4" circular port for cable passage into a closet off of a finished basement for just such purposes. Air space in the port was filled with foam discs cut to size -- open air passage between the computers and your space is to be avoided. Worked great; computers in the closet were completely inaudible more than a foot from the cable port.
Don't shoot me for mentioning Dell but... (Score:2)
Just saying.
Ah, The Beauty of being Deaf... (Score:3, Funny)
The smaller fans are each 56dBA - and an old sleeve bearing fan is apparently making a really loud screaching noise. My cat and dog don't like to sit in the same room but it's better that way, no dog hairs get sucked in.
The four way Raptor WD360GD 10,000 RPM RAID-5 setup isn't exactly quiet either.
Missleading price. (Score:2)
If you don't need more than 500W power supply, quiet system costs about 100$ more than noisy system.
I picked Nexus breeze as my case, and nexus CPU cooler, over stock fan and thats all I needed to get quiet system.
The breeze comes with preinstalled foam, and it has only slowly running 120mm fans, and quiet powersupply to begin with.
Only thing missing here is how much more costs a quiet GFX card, since I don't
Lets learn from the car stereo scene... (Score:3, Interesting)
Foaming the DUCT WORK???? (Score:2)
Maybe - maybe not... (Score:2)
Re:Maybe - maybe not... (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Maybe - maybe not... (Score:2)
Re:Maybe - maybe not... (Score:2)
If you can't drink your beer warm, you shouldn't be drinking it in the first place.
Re:Maybe - maybe not... (Score:2)
Re:Maybe - maybe not... (Score:2)
Re:Did this years ago, but better (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Did this years ago, but better (Score:2)
~S
Re:ANTEC Sonata Case (Score:2)
uh, they used a Sonata II case (which is better than the Sonata, P180's better though) and a Seasonic PSU (which is better than any PSU Antec offers as far as noise goes, Phantom 300 excluded, and even then...).
Doesn't make the system any less half assed though, the rad sucks (come on, Zalman 7700 Al/Cu? there is like an thousand better rads, ditto for using the stock Zalman fan), the FX-57 is stupid, the WD drives are far from silent, ...
Good pick on the OTES motherboard and the 7900 cooling system is no
Re:ANTEC Sonata Case (Score:2)
Fanned, Zalman's 9500, Thermalright's XP-120, XP-90 and XP-90c are much better (especially if you put Nexus fans on the XPs, good performances for very low noise), but the best cooling/noise ratio is obtained with Tower "Fanless" rads: Scythe's Ninja or Thermalright's HR-01, with a Nexus 120mm at 7-9V (virtually silent).
For the drives, if raw drives performances ain't an issue go with notebook (2.5") drives, for 3.5" go check SilentPCReview's drives guides.
Graphic card, if you only use 2D then it's a perf
Re:ANTEC Sonata Case (Score:2)
Maybe you can use an mac mini? Not that I am a Mac head, only that they are supposed to be silent.
Re:I can't hear mine either (Score:2)
Re:Quantatative Analysis? (Score:2)
"Spend 40 bucks at radio shack and get a Sound Pressure Level meter and give me the DB readings
DB Reading with no equiptment on, normal to the plane of your ear, at ear height. You get the picture"
From TFA: "...The sound pressure level measurements were taken with a CEL-254 SPL meter, using fast mode and A-weighting...".
T&K.