Quiet forum, Silent Forum....

[Mellowyellow]

Just was thinking it would be nice to be able to have an area just for people looking to build "silent PC's", I have been searching for posts on Silent fans and I get results all across the board and hardly ever find what I need.
I know there are a lot of products out there claiming to be "quiet" but apparently "quiet" is a relative term. So having a "goto" place would be sweet.

thanks

[SamHughe]

Good idea

[Mellowyellow]

Just curious what the likely hood of this happening is????
Thanks
Anyone know of any forums for this kind of stuff?

[Ozzfest05]

http://www.silentpcreview.com/

[Reefa_Madness]

http://www.silentpcreview.com/

What he said. Lots of reviews of fans, heatsinks and mods for keeping the rig's noise down...for those that like that kind of thing.

[Serra]

Yate loons and water cooling, that's all you need to know

Seriously though, depending on the kind of cooling or case you're looking for you can always start a thread on it in the respective section and I'm sure there will be people who can help.

A truly silent PC is just run passively with SSD's, and past saying that I don't know what the use would be of a forum to rehash that repeatedly; anything else instantly creates some kind of noise, after which it becomes personal preference and devolves into what we have now.

[Mellowyellow]

Yate loons and water cooling, that's all you need to know

Seriously though, depending on the kind of cooling or case you're looking for you can always start a thread on it in the respective section and I'm sure there will be people who can help.

A truly silent PC is just run passively with SSD's, and past saying that I don't know what the use would be of a forum to rehash that repeatedly; anything else instantly creates some kind of noise, after which it becomes personal preference and devolves into what we have now.

There is a lot more to making a quieter PC then having watercooling and SSD's. I have watercooling but my fans are louder then I want because I trusted the manufacturer, not someone who had experience.
Starting a post asking a question that has been asked 1000 times is rehashing more than a dedicated forum would, but trying to find that post is hard because they use specific products in the titles when I am searching for "Quiet fans".
I would just like a place to see users, not manufactures give their opinion on what products they have used...Ie: quiet fans, quiet pumps, quiet psu's, quiet dvd drives, sound deadening material, mounting options, fan controllers and even more products i know nothing about but I would like too before I purchase.
I think it would nearly be perceived as spamming if I made a post on every item I would like to get peoples opinions on. Xtremesystems is THE goto site I use for my computing questions, I only want to make it easier for people to find the knowledge that is already here.
Aiming for a quiet pc has been around for awhile now, and a lot of people here on XS know of great products for that goal, but there are tons of us that are clueless on which products to buy to achieve this goal. All we need to do to help them find these products/reviews (and not to mention cut down on unnecessary posts) is to have a dedicated subforum.
Name it whatever you want, Xtreme Shhhh, Xtreme Slient Pc Hardware, Xtremely quiet forum.
I just notice a NEED that is lacking on this site, and I wanted to put in my 2 cents.

[SoulsCollective]

+1 on this idea, would be great.

[defect9]

+1 even though I go to SPCR already. SPCR has not been a wealth of information when it starts to get into watercooling or visual modding in conjunction with quiet running

[Serra]

There is a lot more to making a quieter PC then having watercooling and SSD's.

Yes, like I said, you could always run passive w/ SSD's for dead silence. Past that, we get into active cooling which will by definition make noise. This leads to...

I have watercooling but my fans are louder then I want because I trusted the manufacturer, not someone who had experience.

Which is why we look at fan roundups. You're a newer poster so you probably weren't aware of how popular it was to look at fans about two years ago... it's kind of gone out of fashion because it was done so exhaustively that there was, at the end of the day, literally nothing left to say on the topic. Although I was able to contribute with the help of Kestrel who was kind enough to send me a quality device capable of measuring CFM, peeps like Vapor really went balls-out with it.

Vapor's original roundup

Roundup part 2

I just notice a NEED that is lacking on this site, and I wanted to put in my 2 cents.

It's not lacking, you just have to know where to look (something I don't blame you for at all, you're a newer member and couldn't be expected to know what went on the forum years ago) [keep in mind, fans don't change much... they're not like CPU's in that regard]. Admittedly that is a bit of a defect tho, so perhaps we should see what we can do to get some more roundups going. My point is that you don't need a whole section devoted to what is, basically, just an RPM->dB + pitch notes chart for fans and pumps... we could accomplish that with a dedicated reviewer and a single post, which is actually far superior because then you can standardize the testing apparatus.

[saint-francis]

Get a SSD. Drill holes in your wall or floor and put the pump and rad in a different room. The only sound you will hear then is the water moving through the blocks. It's louder than you might think but not as loud as a whisper and certainly makes less noise than any fan.

I forgot. Most people keep their computers in a case. If you do so it will probably be completely silent.

[Mellowyellow]

Yes, like I said, you could always run passive w/ SSD's for dead silence. Past that, we get into active cooling which will by definition make noise. This leads to..
Which is why we look at fan roundups. You're a newer poster so you probably weren't aware of how popular it was to look at fans about two years ago... it's kind of gone out of fashion because it was done so exhaustively that there was, at the end of the day, literally nothing left to say on the topic.

Ok I am not understanding.... because there are posts from 2 years ago on fans you are against having an area on XS that contains all things that can help make your PC quieter? I am not talking about having an area just about fans, there are tons of things people do to help in this area, and that list will continue to get larger, and I thought it would be helpful to others to have all these things in a one stop shop. All there is to say about making a quieter pc hasn't been said yet, innovation happens.

It's not lacking, you just have to know where to look (something I don't blame you for at all, you're a newer member and couldn't be expected to know what went on the forum years ago) [keep in mind, fans don't change much... they're not like CPU's in that regard]. Admittedly that is a bit of a defect tho, so perhaps we should see what we can do to get some more roundups going.

I totally dig those roundups and they did a smash up job on it, but why not have that somewhere that it can be found and related to keeping a pc quieter.

My point is that you don't need a whole section devoted to what is, basically, just an RPM->dB + pitch notes chart for fans and pumps... we could accomplish that with a dedicated reviewer and a single post, which is actually far superior because then you can standardize the testing apparatus.

This area of PC modding has not seen all the innovations that can be done, probably never will just like all the other areas of Pc mods. The only reason I have asked for a dedicated area for this subject is because it can not be covered by one person making one post, this is a multi-fractured topic cut into a wide variety of methods and just like like most things it can have many different opinions.

[Serra]

I'll try one last time before I give it up.

There is not a Unified Theory of Silence to merit a dedicated subforum - silence is trivially broken down into discrete areas, areas we already have subforums for. These are all the areas that create noise (at least, in the majority of PCs):
- Fans
- Hard drives
- (Pumps/compressors in some Xtreme situations)

Case 1: Fans
There are two options with any project - find something that works or make something that does. Given the gross range of fans that exist and the difficulties associated with building a silent one of your own, I think we can agree this means you need to purchase one. That brings us right back to charts, and there is nothing else to say about it. Optionally there is also vibration dampening and case modification, but we'll shelve that under the heading of "case modification" and return to it later.

Case 2: Hard Drives
Two options - buy an SSD or do a case mod (vibration dampening or sound dampening foam). The first is a no-brainer, and the second is also shelved under "case modification".

Case 3: Pump/Compressor modification
Okay, this is one area where some work could still be done. But, honestly, some pretty darn silent pumps and pump mods do already exist, and again comprehensive charts exist in plenty. To really get into modifying these... let's be honest, it's going to take more specialized knowledge than about 10 people on the forums have (and those guys do occasionally get together in their respective forums and chat).


So at the end of the day what are your options? Look at fan charts. Buy an SSD. Look at pump charts. Or mod your case. The only one of those you can really need personal touch for is case modification (typically via vibration dampening or foam insulation); both of which are solidly covered under the case modding section.

[shazza]

There is an updated fan review from April by Martin here, specifically looking at noise as well as performance.

The current fan of choice seems to be the Scythe Gentle Typhoons (using the 1450 RPM version myself, and very impressed). I agree there is more to "silence" than just water cooling or fans. For example, the PSU fan is one of the loudest components in my current build. I'm sure if you post threads in both the air cooling and liquid cooling section, you can generate some more discussion.

I know this doesn't answer your request, but not sure there is enough new info to be generated here, compared to existing sites covering Silent PCs.

[Serra]

I agree there is more to "silence" than just water cooling or fans. For example, the PSU fan...

... Are you sure there's more? That sounds like a fan issue to me, and in most PSU's one you can mod out pretty simply. One could argue it has to do with the heat output of the PSU, but that's like arguing your CPU heatsink fan is a function of your CPU... you choose the CPU based on performance requirements, then cool it - not the other way around.

[Mellowyellow]

Ok, well then how about having the most prudent post being Stickied so us newbs do not have to troll through years of posts or generate more posts on a dead subject, or I guess the easier way would be just to find another site for enthusiasts of getting a pc quieter.

[Serra]

Ok, well then how about having the most prudent post being Stickied so us newbs do not have to troll through years of posts or generate more posts on a dead subject, or I guess the easier way would be just to find another site for enthusiasts of getting a pc quieter.

Agreed!

When I was searching for those mod threads of Vapors I realized very quickly how unlikely it was that anyone who didn't already know about them would ever find them (and I didn't even find martin's). Since I'm not a mod in any relevant forums I can't make it happen, but maybe someone who is will... I'll bug someone and see.

[Mellowyellow]

Thanks, and I truly enjoyed our chat. I learned a lot.