cheapest DEAD silent intel HS, no OCing

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kaluminati

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Building a PC for pops, and most likely I'll be getting him a quad core. He wants it to be all silent, and there will be no overclocking so I don't need anything fancy, just something that's up to stock capability or more but is also dead silent... Anyone got any suggestions? Need a cheapie.
 
Cheapie?
The stock heatsink can be reasonably quiet if you force it's fan to stay slow, but given quadcore that might be a bit difficult.

The scythe ninja is getting older now, but it's still one of the best heatsinks for silent operation, and it doesn't cost a fortune. It's fins are spaced widely enough that you can get by without having a fan at all as long as your case airflow is decent. I imagine it would be great in a P180. Keep the Tricools on low or replace them with Yate Loons.
 
Great info thanks!

Any recommendations for a uber silent PSU? And are there particular HDs that are more silent than others (grinding isn't so loud etc)? Not gonna put any raptors in there :p

As far as a case.. I'm wanting to put it in a p180. Professional looking and a silence inducing case, but it might be too big for my pops, he may not like it that tall. In that case I was looking at the sonata, but hopefully I can convince him to go with a bigger case this time around.
 
kaluminati said:
Great info thanks!

Any recommendations for a uber silent PSU? And are there particular HDs that are more silent than others (grinding isn't so loud etc)? Not gonna put any raptors in there :p

As far as a case.. I'm wanting to put it in a p180. Professional looking and a silence inducing case, but it might be too big for my pops, he may not like it that tall. In that case I was looking at the sonata, but hopefully I can convince him to go with a bigger case this time around.
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Corsair PSUs are very quiet. 5400 RPM 2.5" laptop drives are what many people use for silent PCs. You should check out http://www.silentpcreview.com/.
 
The samsung Spinpoint P... Or is it the "T" variant... I'm not sure. Either way, one of them (P or T) is really quite silent. You should check it out.

As for a heatsink, the Tuniq Tower, the Scythe Ninja or the Thermalright Ultra-120 will all be very silent with a single yate-loon fan at 7v... I bet you 100$ you can't hear it from more than 12" away ;)
 
Arcygenical said:
The samsung Spinpoint P... Or is it the "T" variant... I'm not sure. Either way, one of them (P or T) is really quite silent. You should check it out.

As for a heatsink, the Tuniq Tower, the Scythe Ninja or the Thermalright Ultra-120 will all be very silent with a single yate-loon fan at 7v... I bet you 100$ you can't hear it from more than 12" away ;)
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I've got plenty of yate loons, as well as quite a few nexus 120mms. Question tho... is that "undervolting" you are referring to? What exactly does it accomplish... I mean doesn't it lower the speed and CFM, if it lowers sound? Or I'm I missing something.

I guess I could make use of search :p
 
a thermalright ultra 120 and a yate running on 5V. That thing will produce 10dB tops (16X quieter than a 22Db unit, such as the stock cooler :cool:)

but dats like... $80 on cpu cooling alone... :cool:

and seasonic remains the king of silent. Vote for S12 450W.
 
kaluminati said:
I've got plenty of yate loons, as well as quite a few nexus 120mms. Question tho... is that "undervolting" you are referring to? What exactly does it accomplish... I mean doesn't it lower the speed and CFM, if it lowers sound? Or I'm I missing something.

I guess I could make use of search :p
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Undervolting reduces voltage to the fans. Therefore, it reduces RPMs. This reduces both speed and airflow.
 
PSU: Corsair VX series is nice for quiet performance.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139003
Though really, most power supplies under 600 watts are generally quite regardless.
Just stay away from 80mm fans. Not sure how powerful pop's computer needs to be, but you can get a 450 or 550 in the VX. (these are good ones too, the 450 has 33a on the 12v)

CPU cooler: I don't really have a whole lot of experience in the "Dead silent" realm, but I can try a few suggestions;
Though I can say his parents probably aren't going to need a Thermalright u120 fellas. :rolleyes:

-Arctic cooling Freezer series
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835186134
Its cheap and quiet, really surprised no one mentioned it yet.
Its not the quietest you can get, but it is super cheap for its performance level @ ~$25.

-Zerotherm BTF90:
Newegg has a good deal on these right now, and they work nicely.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835887002

-You could also give a passive cooler a try such as the Zerotherm BTF95
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835887001

-Or since you mentioned you have a few nexus 120's, which are really quite if I remember right you can get a cheaper tower cooler like the ninja and throw one of those on it.

Its also likely that whatever your father is doing on the pc wont push the CPU to 100%, so if you throw a freezer 7 on there the motherboards fan regulation should keep it silent.
 
Antec P150 or Antec Solo. The P150 is white compared to the Solo's black and it comes with an excellent modular power supply that is very quiet as well. These cases feature hard drive suspension using elastic bands, very good airflow, and it has sound dampening material on its panels. Can't beat this one for what you need. Use this case with a Scythe Ninja without a fan or with the included fan running at reduced voltage and you're golden. This heatsink is one of the best for running with low noise/rpm fans because its fins are widely spaced apart. As for the hard drive, Seagate is badass.
 
Scythe Ninja has been proven to be an excellent silent/fanless performer. Pair it with a Scythe S-Flex or Noctua 120mm and you're good to go.
 
From what I've read on SPCR Forums and reviews, you'd want to look into:

Scythe Ninja Heatsink (Mounting is a pain with LGA775, but it works well fanless)
Corsair VX, Seasonic 80+ series, Antec Phantom 500 P/S
Antec NSK24xx, NSK34XX, P182, Designer 500 Case
Yate Loon/Nexus/Noctua/Sycthe 120mm Fan(s)
Samsung Spinpoint 3.5" Drives or Laptop 2.5" Drives

I personally differ with some of those, but the silence trumps all other priorities discussed there, including price, durability, and manufacturer support. SPCR motherboard discussions tend to revolve around Mini-ITX and HTPC applications, and aren't quite as helpful. That said, finding a motherboard with a decent onboard video is easier with AMD, but the Intel GMA X3100 isn't that awful for everyday use.

Dead silent and cheap can conflict with each other, but if you prioritize the sources of noise and work backards, you can probably come up with a decent system for ~$800, even if you inexplicably go with a $270 quad core processor.
 
skadebo said:
Antec P150 or Antec Solo. The P150 is white compared to the Solo's black and it comes with an excellent modular power supply that is very quiet as well. These cases feature hard drive suspension using elastic bands, very good airflow, and it has sound dampening material on its panels. Can't beat this one for what you need. Use this case with a Scythe Ninja without a fan or with the included fan running at reduced voltage and you're golden. This heatsink is one of the best for running with low noise/rpm fans because its fins are widely spaced apart. As for the hard drive, Seagate is badass.
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Ah nice call. I forgot about those 2 cases. Looks like I'm gonna choose between those 2. Thanks

And thanks everyone for the suggestions. I'll probably go with the artic cooler or the ninja paired with a nexus.

Now my problem seems to be video cards. He wants capability for quad screens, and while the new vid cards are pretty damn silent, that's too much power for his needs. No gaming, but photo editing etc.

I looked at the matrox quad, but it's pretty damn expensive, and I can easily find some low level nvidia cards with dual dvi for much less, but As I remember cards such as geforce 4 based, typically were pretty loud. Anyone with a low level system with a similar card have any comments on how quiet they are?
 
Just get aftermarket cooling for the video cards, or get a fanless one. There are plenty of fanless cards around with dual DVI, check Newegg or whatever e-tailer you like.
 
If you're looking at Antec's NSK series remember that:
NSK2480 is a flat, mATX HTPC style case.
NSK 3480 is a mATX mini-tower.
NSK 4480 is a mid tower ATX case.
 
Four screens, eh? Don't know much about that, maybe two cheap video card can do 4 displays? I really don't know.
 
skadebo said:
Antec P150 or Antec Solo. The P150 is white compared to the Solo's black and it comes with an excellent modular power supply that is very quiet as well. These cases feature hard drive suspension using elastic bands, very good airflow, and it has sound dampening material on its panels. Can't beat this one for what you need. Use this case with a Scythe Ninja without a fan or with the included fan running at reduced voltage and you're golden. This heatsink is one of the best for running with low noise/rpm fans because its fins are widely spaced apart. As for the hard drive, Seagate is badass.
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You think a 500w PSU will be enough? I'm lookin at a quad core, 4 mid-low end dual dvi video cards, 750GB HD etc. I should be good right?
 
Yes, two cheaper vid cards can do 4 screens. I most recently set up such a system for work - 7300LE and quadro NVS285 (the quadro is PCI-based).

Samsung T series 500gb (the H501LJ or whatever it's called) is dead silent - I have one in my system now. I highly recommend the P150 (which also comes with a PSU almost as quiet as the Corsair, by the way - the NeoHE also has good marks at SilentPCReview) or Antec Solo - suspending the drives makes for inaudible.

As far as video cards go... I would recommend getting two fanless, lower-end cards if he is just doing 2D work or does not need some major horsepower.

For CPU cooler - Ninja seems to be the king of the hill still for lower-fan RPM heatsinks due to its widely spaced fins.

And yes, 500W should be plenty. Even the 430w NeoHE should be fine for a system like that.
 
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