[rc]

On the verge of buying/building a new home PC to replace current small form factor (iDeq) as the noise is doing my head in.
The smallFF fan constantly is on full knacker - after a day working at home it sends me a bit mental. I tried smart fan software and monitored cpu temps but the small size seems to mean less airflow and heat dissipation, so the fan needs to be on. This is the main instigation for upgrade - I want something quiet that stays quiet when on for 12 hrs straight. Utter silence costs a lot I bet, but pretty goddamn quiet?
The size/shape of the thing is an issue: standard vertical tower would be a PITA due to microscopic desk-space at home. Small FF is perfect as it goes on bookshelf above desk. Standard tower laid on its side could work (hifi separates size) - is that an option?
Other than that I'm thinking of a pretty standard set up. To get a decent spec I was going to build it myself  - even guys like http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/  only seem to offer standard tower PC cases, and presumably all sales people will simply say "oh yes, you wont hear a thing"...
  Any suggestions?

rc

[slackline]

If space is an issue then perhaps some sort of media-center style casing might be appropriate.  The catch is that most of these seem to come with their own PSU built in, how quiet these are I can't comment as I've not used any, but there are user reviews (for example this one says it has plenty of spaces for mounting fans (a good thing, providing you can find quiet fans).  Another issue might be the number of power connections provided, which will affect how many HD's/external drives you can have.

I'm a bit lazy and don't shop around much for components, so would again recommend looking at the various fans at ebuyer.  I recently replaced my CPU fan with one of these and am very impressed with how quiet it is, again the reviews are fairly useful in seeking out what your after.

I guess if you want a really quiet system then you could go opt for water cooling, but it does add a fair bit to the cost, and I've no idea how well it would fit into a small system.

Not much in the way of specific advice/experience I'm afraid, but hope its of some use.

slack

[Bubba]

Apparantly you can under-clock a PC to make it quieter, but the obviously it will run more slowly. I don't know much about this, just read that it was done.

[Jim]

The reason for the noise is that you have shit fans.
Buy some good quiet fans and your system will be a lot quieter.
a lot cheaper than a full upgrade.
you could also get water cooled for your cpu but you will still need a case fan to cool the hard drive and motherboard.
I recon you can make it a lot quiter for not very much

[rc]

Jim: you're undoubtedly correct.
Is the CPU heatsink-fan combo (that came with the CPU) usually upgradeable or are you stuck with the set up you bought?
So there'll just be the case fan? Or is there typically a PSU fan too? I cant remember what I saw when I plugged it all together...
With it being a smallFF I guess the PSU/case fans may be odd specs. Will check them out and see what's available on ebuyer etc.

Thanks guys. Like the possible cheapo upgrade!

[rc]

slack--line: Ah ha...nice cases! That does seem to offer a few possibilities and being media-centre spec they seem to be bigging-up their quiet credentials.
So if I go (at some point!) down this road for a new machine, does it make a fat lot of difference whether I go "full ATX" or "micro ATX" on the motherboard? I'm not after a hard-core gaming machine...so do I care?

[slackline]

Is the CPU heatsink-fan combo (that came with the CPU) usually upgradeable or are you stuck with the set up you bought?

Yep, you can usually (always?) take it off and replace it, thats what I did with the fan I linked too below as I was fed up with my computer humming.  You use a special thermal compound to stick the heatsink onto the CPU, and it can be a little fiddly, but its not too bad.

So there'll just be the case fan? Or is there typically a PSU fan too? I cant remember what I saw when I plugged it all together...
With it being a smallFF I guess the PSU/case fans may be odd specs. Will check them out and see what's available on ebuyer etc.

I'd imagine the PSU has its own fan, whether there are any additional fans in the case (to aid airflow through) you'd have to open the box and look around to find out.

You could try leaving the fan out of one component, but I'd suggest its a very bad idea as your system would overheat pretty easily and you then run the risk of more costly damage.

With regards to the motherboard I think it would depend on how many PCI cards/peripherals your going to want to connect, as the micro will have less conenctions.  Must systems would have at least a separate graphics card (even if your not doing hard-core gaming), and if you want half-decent sound you'd want a separate sound card too.  The full ATX/micro ATX is basically just size, and therefore components that you can fit on.

[unclesomebody]

You want silence? You got it. Firstly, buy a decent case. Something like a lian li which are supposed to be very good at damping noise. Secondly, you can run fanless, but you need excellent heatsinks. You can run your CPU without a fan, but you will need a cooler like the tuniq tower or a thermalright 120 extreme. You can run your graphics card without a fan, with something like the thermalright HR-03. If your PC is running stock spec (ie. not overclocked) then you can use these just fine with no fan. You can also undervolt your processor to help it run cooler. Many people are running stock speed but under volted which reduces the need for cooling. Thirdly, replace any fans you have with something like the Scythe Ninja. These are probably the best fans around and are virtually silent. PSU do have their own fans which are not normally replaceable. Just find out the db rating before purchasing one in order to minimise sound.

After all that, you will have a silent PC.

[Obi-Wan is lost...]

You want silence? You got it. Firstly, buy a decent case. Something like a lian li which are supposed to be very good at damping noise. Secondly, you can run fanless, but you need excellent heatsinks. You can run your CPU without a fan, but you will need a cooler like the tuniq tower or a thermalright 120 extreme. You can run your graphics card without a fan, with something like the thermalright HR-03. If your PC is running stock spec (ie. not overclocked) then you can use these just fine with no fan. You can also undervolt your processor to help it run cooler. Many people are running stock speed but under volted which reduces the need for cooling. Thirdly, replace any fans you have with something like the Scythe Ninja. These are probably the best fans around and are virtually silent. PSU do have their own fans which are not normally replaceable. Just find out the db rating before purchasing one in order to minimise sound.

After all that, you will have a silent PC.

...or buy an iMac. 

[rc]

On the off chance anyone is interested (+ cutting a long story short) I've ended up buying a new pc. Antec NSK2400 desktop case with components based on what these guys built here and reviewed in some depth here.
Turns out AMD processors suck a lot more power (89W vs 65W) than intel core2duo of same performance hence intel seem to be easier to cool - thus I've gone down that road, without getting into laptop parts etc.
I've now totally over-geeked myself on this, and still have to build the thing when all the bits arrive in a couple of days...
Thanks again for the pointers. Looking forward to surfing in silence!

[Jim]

what cpu did you go for?
E6850 I hope

[rc]

Not quite: saved £60 and went for the E6550 -  1333FSB 4MB Cache but a mere 2.33GHz rather than the big 3...

[Jim]

should have spend an extra tenner and got E6750 at 2.66