Widescreen Gaming Forum

Thinking about new hardware to add to my system. In 2007 I was thinking to get water cooling, now thinking also the same. But... There are more things. I was also thinking about getting silent fans, to make my computer case silent. About my budget, first was the idea 100 euro, but it could be changed.

Already have a antec 900 case.


Okay now I need to know, what do I have to choose.
Thing to know are, I need to travel with my case to LAN-partys. Also it's also need to be silent, to get a volume level that is lower than now. And yea I know that my case isn't build to be silent, but to get rid of it is also...

Have a stock cooler on my e8400 and also stock cooler on my 8800 GTS (the 640 mb version).

So now how to make it silent.

The most affordable way to start on that venture is a CPU cooler like the Xigmatek HDT-S1283. You have to realize first that is a gaming case and has lots of mesh. Antec equips that case with their TriCool adjustable fans that can go from low speed and quiet to high speed and loud. Usually Med is the best setting. Even at low speeds though the ample mesh and space the case has is going to offer good ventilation, at the trade off of interior noise coming through, primarily from the stock CPU and GPU fans. You can get the HDT-S1283 CPU cooler for $35 or even less.

Silencing GPUs gets a bit trickier, there are fewer choices that fit a given GPU and they typically are hard to get affordably. The Thermalright HR-03 is one of the better ones for that GPU and can be usued with or without fan, but is not usually seen lower than $55.

So, between the two of those that's $90, most of your budget, but far more effective toward achieving the end goal than swapping case fans.

http://www.frostytech.com/articleview.cfm?articleid=2233&page=5

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/thermalrights-hr-03-a-vga-cooler-gorilla,1360.html

Low speed fans, good airflow, soft case feet, sound dampening materials on case sides, rubber mounts for hard drives...

The loudest thing in my case is my PSU fan.. which I'll likely be replacing before long.

ATM I have 4 Noctua fans in my case. Those things make no noise, I can actually hear my hard-drives now. Although they are not cheap; newegg.com has them but they can be found cheaper elsewhere.

_________________
EVGA GeForce GTX 970 SC ACX 2.0 3.5GB | 3 X LG Flatron 24EA53VQ in Nvidia Surround | Optoma HD20

If you a serious about silencing, here is your best bet:

http://www.silentpcreview.com

There is no such thing as a silent PC either, there are merely degress of "less noise"

My suggestion is, don't over due or get too hung up on the whole silent thing, other wise it is a very deep money pit. The more you spend, the less degrees of "less noise" you will achieve.

A insulated case, quite fans & heat sink, quite PSU and a quite HDD will drop your decibels nicely.

Other than that:

http://www.silentpcreview.com

**Oh, and another thing I forgot to mention, for gaming rigs, stay away from ATI if your going for less noise.

_________________
moboP8P67-M-PRO-V3 cpuI5-2500K-3.3GHZ ramOCZ8GB gpu260GTX hddOCZ-VERTEX II-SSD psuNEOHE550W hudBENQ20"

Agreed with Johnny

Best Fans ever...trust me on this..
YATE Loons

Get a fan controller, zalman heatsink and whatever you do silence that graphic card...those things are whiny!

zalman heatsink

Absolutely would disagree with this now. All the recent Zalman heatsinks I've had the "pleasure" of trying don't hold a candle to the Thermalright Ultra Extreme 120 with a Noctua or Scythe S-Flex fan attached. Don't cool as well, aren't as quiet. Some of the recent Zalman sinks are rather on the noisy side. :(

But having a read of SPCR gets a thirding from me. :)

you could always keep your case far away and use extension cables and external ROMs :)

[quote]zalman heatsink

Absolutely would disagree with this now. All the recent Zalman heatsinks I've had the "pleasure" of trying don't hold a candle to the Thermalright Ultra Extreme 120 with a Noctua or Scythe S-Flex fan attached. Don't cool as well, aren't as quiet. Some of the recent Zalman sinks are rather on the noisy side. :(

But having a read of SPCR gets a thirding from me. :)

hmm, well, I'm more out of it than I used to be, the 7700cu was amazing, the 9x00 series not sure, or either the newer ones...just get something that has a fan control so its not screaming unless it absolutely needs to be.

silent computers are great...I love mine I consider it silent. BUT it was pricy to get there. New fans VGA/CPU coolers, easily $100 without going top of the line.

Yeah, without a doubt the 7700Cu was an awesome heatsink. It cooled the PWMs and mobo nicely too. Zalman's recent stuff hasn't been as good, and the 7700 can't cope with the heat generated by the newer quads. :(