[Reactor]

What would you use? After the last wintel system crash it looks like my mother board is toasted, it used rambus memory so there isn't much of a chance of reusing it. The case and power supply are huge (AND NOISY) so I'd like to heave them.

I'm thinking of rebuilding using some sort of core2duo system, and I'd like to make it quite and fairly small. Any suggestions?

 

[dropkick]

SilentPCReview has some good info.

I replaced my old, cheap PS with a Seasonic s12 a few weeks ago. Seems really solid so far and pretty much dead silent.

 

[binary visions]

Look at Silent PC Review as was suggested, they have everything.

Personally, I'd look at the Antec P150 case, a tower heatsink like the Scythe Ninja, or the new model Scythe, or the Thermaltake equivalent, and some Arctic Silver 5. You may be able to run that on just the exhaust fan from the case set on medium or even low.

How small is "small" though? Are you looking to build something super compact, or is the P150 mid tower small enough?

 

[Reactor]

Right now I'm open to anything smaller than a server sized tower, which is what I had. My ideal would be the size of a audio component or around xbox size.

I like this quote from SPCR

Quiet Systems?

The situation is quite different with complete systems, however. Now, as in 2002, there are few companies that offer quiet or silent systems. Among mainstream brands, we can only identify Apple (with their new Intel Core Duo based iMacs) as offering quiet systems. No other big brand system provider even gives the idea of computer acoustics more than a passing comment. Lip service. Now, as back then, the torch is carried by a very small number of system integrators who have dedicated time, attention and care to the challenge of making and selling quiet systems. The situation is actually worse now, in some ways, because so many smaller system integrators have fallen under the wheels of the industry's expansionist juggernauts — Dell, HP, etc — and the price competition which seems to drive the consumer market. Still, this kind of pruning ensures that those who survive are fitter.

 

[binary visions]

If you want it the size of an audio component, check out the Antec NSK2400 - it's specifically designed as a home theater PC box (to look good in among A/V components), and also to promote good thermal characteristics.

 

[Pau11y]

What kind of coin are you thinking about dropping?

 

[johnbryanpeters]

The Dell Optiplex line is pretty damn quiet in either form factor.

 

[ALEXIS_DH]

http://www.tomshardware.com/2006/01/09/strip_out_the_fans/

passive oil cooling. not practical at all, but cool experiment nonetheless.

 

[Reactor]

If you want it the size of an audio component, check out the Antec NSK2400 - it's specifically designed as a home theater PC box (to look good in among A/V components), and also to promote good thermal characteristics.

Thanks. I'm liking the model one on spcr also. The antec solo/150 case is nice looking, and available locally at fry's electronics.

 

[syadasti]

The Dell Optiplex line is pretty damn quiet in either form factor.

I'll second that, SPCR must have only looked at the consumer/Inspiron line. Optiplex operates at similar noise level to the iMacs I've setup before.

The only time the Optiplex are noisy is when using the optical drive and you can get a firmware fix for that or swap the drive - its only $40 or so for a different model. You can also do a fan swap if its too noisy, but gx620s are quietest Dells made (haven't setup or asked about the new gx745).

GX620
Declared Noise Emissions in accordance with ISO 9296

Sound Pressure Operator Position
(LpAm, decibels) (re 2x10-5 Pa)
Floppy Drive Accessing: 33.4
Hard Drive Accessing: 33.5
CD Drive Accessing: 33.5
Idle: 32.4

Reference dBs:
60 Office or restaurant inside
50 Quiet restaurant inside
40 Residential area at night
30 Theatre, no talking
20 Whispering
10 Human breathing at 3 m (10 ft)

Keep in mind some of the forum claims on SPCR are like pinkbike measurements - above are REAL measurements from a lab. Also a lot of the brands make claims on the box for their stuff at newegg which don't work out in the real world.

Here are the specs for the model that was $500 around the end of October:

gx620 certified refurbish SFF - dual core D820 2.8 GHz w/1GB ram, 80GB 7200RPM, DVDRW, ATI X600 PCIe 128MB video card, 3 year on site warranty, XP Pro, free shipping

 

[Reactor]

I'll second that, SPCR must have only looked at the consumer/Inspiron line. Optiplex operates at similar noise level to the iMacs I've setup before.

The only time the Optiplex are noisy is when using the optical drive and you can get a firmware fix for that or swap the drive - its only $40 or so for a different model. You can also do a fan swap if its too noisy, but gx620s are quietest Dells made (haven't setup or asked about the new gx745).



Reference dBs:
60 Office or restaurant inside
50 Quiet restaurant inside
40 Residential area at night
30 Theatre, no talking
20 Whispering
10 Human breathing at 3 m (10 ft)

Keep in mind some of the forum claims on SPCR are like pinkbike measurements - above are REAL measurements from a lab. Also a lot of the brands make claims on the box for their stuff at newegg which don't work out in the real world.

Here are the specs for the model that was $500 around the end of October:

I really disagree.

I have a gx 620 at work and it's way, way, noiser than my 20" I mac. Most (99%)of the time the I-mac makes zero detectable noise, and ocassionally, under heavy load a fan will come on for 10 seconds or so.

The 620 isn't too bad with the fan in low but in higher fan speeds it's pretty loud(70+db) and fairly high pitched, IMHO. Loud enough that my office mate who sits about 12 feet away, looks up and says "damn is that your computer?!?". Unfortunately with the work I do it's in high speed most of the time. It's as loud or louder than my dimension 8400 at home.

 

[syadasti]

That may very well be the case since it comes in 4 different form factors which have varying sizes and specs of fans (even between builds of the same model due to supplier changes) which can make a huge difference. I forget which form factor, but its supposed to be the most quiet model that Dell sells (probably the mini-tower since large lower RPM fans are used).

Also the only Intel iMac I setup was a 20" this summer in an apartment without air conditioning for a client, so the fan was always on and it was hot enough that I too was sweating just sitting around.

I have a p180 which is one of SPCR top rated case but its pretty damn big. I have it setup so it never changes speed due to the great cooling, even under load. More silent than either the iMac or GX620 and its overclocked 30% too (not too special though since its a Core 2 Duo and thats easy).

In the future I'm just going to go with prebuilt, its not worth the hassle (though I've probably said that to myself few times already )

I still think if its your second computer it might just make more sense to buy a refurbished pre-built for cheap and mod it with better fans and in-line voltage controllers.

Call your Dell rep from work and ask him to find out which is the quietest model they sell and then check Delloutlet for refurbs if you want to do it cheap.

 

[Reactor]

That may very well be the case since it comes in 4 different form factors which have varying sizes and specs of fans (even between builds of the same model due to supplier changes) which can make a huge difference. I forget which form factor, but its supposed to be the most quiet model that Dell sells (probably the mini-tower since large lower RPM fans are used).

I have the mini tower gx620. It's loud, louder than the slimline gx280 I had before, by a considerable margin. I use it for visual studio.net, e-mail, rdp, and terminal emulation (YUK).

Also the only Intel iMac I setup was a 20" this summer in an apartment without air conditioning for a client, so the fan was always on and it was hot enough that I too was sweating just sitting around.

Well that explains part of it. I'm in arizona, you either have your heater on or your air conditioner. My IMac has had fans on for 30 seconds in the last two months.

I have a p180 which is one of SPCR top rated case but its pretty damn big. I have it setup so it never changes speed due to the great cooling, even under load. More silent than either the iMac or GX620 and its overclocked 30% too (not too special though since its a Core 2 Duo and thats easy).

In the future I'm just going to go with prebuilt, its not worth the hassle (though I've probably said that to myself few times already )

I say that every time I build a computer from scratch. And eventually I end up building one again. I'm looking at a couple of cases possibly a P-150.

I still think if its your second computer it might just make more sense to buy a refurbished pre-built for cheap and mod it with better fans and in-line voltage controllers.

Call your Dell rep from work and ask him to find out which is the quietest model they sell and then check Delloutlet for refurbs if you want to do it cheap.

That's possible. Maybe I ca change out the fans in my dimension 8400, that could make a huge difference. I've got 2 gig in my Imac I was also thinking about buying parallels, and a copy of vista or xp pro. Getting a gx 620 in a slimline case might not be a bad idea. My work has also sort of offered an older conputer with VPN software to work from home. I'd like to tweak a core 2 duo...:biggrin:


Thanks to everyone for your input.

 

[Reactor]

gx620 certified refurbish SFF - dual core D820 2.8 GHz w/1GB ram, 80GB 7200RPM, DVDRW, ATI X600 PCIe 128MB video card, 3 year on site warranty, XP Pro, free shipping

That's pretty much what I was looking for.

Edit: Just looked at the outlet Total of 7 optiplex systems, one duo core and it was $939. I've never seen so few systems in the outlet. There were only four dimension desktops. That's wierd, normally there are thousands.

 

[syadasti]

Yeah I don't know whats up (well maybe its due to the holiday). My company was looking to buy some last week and the selection sucked :mumble:

I think you might try just doing the fan swaps first unless your dimension is getting pretty old. I've never checked but also maybe you can change the temperature thresholds for the fan speed levels (not sure if the Dell BIOS has that or not).

Thats how the iMac runs so silent - Apple tends to let their machines run quieter at the cost of hotter running components (works out for them, people have to buy new computers more often and are conditioned to get Applecare). They also are lately notorious for not applying heatsink compound correctly and forgetting to remove plastic covering on some of their products.