no-noise PC advice

[Bani]

Hi all,
I'm looking to build the following:

A PC
- with a dualcore CPU in the 2.0 - 2.5 GHz range and 2 GB RAM.
- a quiet 7200 RPM HDD or at least 64gb SSD
- Pretty much noiseless (fanless if possible, though 1 12cm low-RPM fan won't matter much I suppose).
- with digital SP/DIF or Optical out
- as cheap as humanly possible (like, 300€ max w/o peripherals, less being better; yeah I know the SSD isn't realistic)
- don't care about looks/size
- working standby mode similar to laptop (little to no power draw)

optional bonus points (i.e., not interested if it raises the price by more than 20€ )
- HDMI out
- 8-channel LPCM over HDMI (if you don't know what that is, ignore it )

Can anyone recommend some components or a complete configuration for this? I'm knowledgeable about PCs in general but really don't know much about low-power and quiet computing.

Thanks!

 

[Khalo]

Well if you want fanless my first thought would be water cooling but that in itself (if you're building this from scratch) costs at bare minimum £100 bare minimum to get the equipment, install maintain.

If you're going for quiet, i can only suggest getting a good program to monitor and change the fan speeds of your computer but that would all be done by software and not via anything i'm aware you can do within the hardware of the PC.

Computer components are pretty cheap these days but what you're looking to do maybe a little wishful, however i havn't looked at hardware prices in a good 6 months.

Good luck though ;p

 

[Braque]

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/str .... ,1203.html

 

[Joy]

I've got quite some experience with water cooling, my conclusion: don't do it.

The so-called silence that water cooling should provide is nonsense. Any pump has the same wear as fans, perhaps a bit slower, and often surrounded by water, but trust me, it will start making noise. Unless ofcourse you're willing to spend a LOT of cash on a very high quality pump (think 50-100 euros).

Even then, the maintenance, risk of leaks, and the sheer impossibility of upgrades has turned me into an air-cooling-adept.

Was really fun to build a custom water cooled system out of custom parts though, and the first few months you're like ZOMG SILENCE

 

[Bani]

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/strip-fans,1203.html

I am just dumb enough to try this, someone suggest something more feasible quick plx =(

 

[Joy]

I don't get the problem really, as I recall you already got a case recently? Which means one problem out of the way. For the rest just use one of the, I presume many, custom-PC-build companies with a good site where you can select components from a list. Then pick all the minimums first, see how much space there's left in your budget.

 

[Ursanis]

You could buy a fanless psu, fanless cpu-cooler and a fanless 8800gt. But then again all of those require a good airflow in the case so you'd be forced to have a good fan or 2 there ;P

imo the winning solution for a noiseless pc is to buy some longass cable extensions and keep it in a different room ;P

 

[Joy]

Noiseless PSU is definitely possible, but expensive. I wouldn't risk it with a CPU unless I'd have very good case airflow, which kinda defeats the purpose.

Otherwise, buying high quality fans and an isolated case helps alot, remember, the bigger the fan, the lower the speed @ equal airflow, the quieter.

 

[Ayu]

Noiseless PSU is definitely possible, but expensive. I wouldn't risk it with a CPU unless I'd have very good case airflow, which kinda defeats the purpose.

Otherwise, buying high quality fans and an isolated case helps alot, remember, the bigger the fan, the lower the speed @ equal airflow, the quieter.

Just buy a fan that regulates it's fan speed according to temperature. That should solve the problem during low-activity times and such.

 

[Bani]

ok let me be more specific

I want to build a PC that can run a sophisticated piano engine adequately. Since it'll be very close to my digital piano and speakers, I don't want it to make a sound. It just has to run that program adequately. There are a few packages out, but their sys req's are all similar to this:

2.8 Ghz CPU Pentium 4 or better for PC, 2.0 Ghz Core 2 Duo MacIntel or better for Mac.
2 GB RAM Recommended
45GB of free hard drive space—Professional Edition 16 bit; 67GB Professional Edition 24 bit; or 16 GB of free hard drive space—Standard Edition. 1.5GB Basic version.
Hard drive speed of at least 7200 RPM
DVD ROM drive required for installation
Monitor with 1,024x768 resolution or better
A sound card compatible with ASIO
MIDI: A MIDI interface may be required if you are using a MIDI keyboard (88-key full-sized MIDI keyboard recommended). Some keyboards use USB.
High quality speakers and amplifier, or high quality headphones

it will need to be quiet under load, though it won't be at 100% constantly. What I am looking for is (I guess):
- an inexpensive, 45nm, 2ghz+ (or overclockable there) Intel CPU with as low a TDP as possible
- a motherboard with onboard sound and graphics, digital out, but no fan, and cheap.
^^^ an AMD alternative to that, if AMD has a better product in that niche. I have no idea?
- fan control over motherboard is a given. Problem is, I have 45nm dualcore in my main PC. It's whisper quiet when watching movies, but the fan spins up audibly under heavy CPU load. That's at 3.6 GHz though and more voltage though, I only need 2.0 GHz or so.
- an inexpensive PSU that's efficient at very low draw, and has either no fan or an extremely quiet one. Seasonic S12II 330W maybe? Is there better stuff?

OR
something like the Asus EEE that fits these specs?

OR
used laptop with external firewire (need a fast HDD for that piano sim)?

OR
PROFIT???

 

[Joy]

You could go with a dual-core that's rated higher and downclock it to the minimum you need, then you should be able to run it fanless. Make sure you get a mainboard that doesn't have a chipset cooler (just watch the pictures or so, or specs), and a fanless PSU. Then you should be able to do with just 2x12mm case fans in a good case, they are whisper silent when you buy good quality, and easy to replace after half a year when you might start hearing them.