Re: Advice on building a silent PC needed.

["Andy Laurence" <andy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

From: "darren_karp2001" <darren@xxxxxxx>
> Can anyone advise on the best method of building a silent (or at
> least very quiet PC). I was looking at using an ITX motherboard,
> etc. but by the time I've finished buying all the bits it works out
> at quite an expense. I have a number of old PC's lying around which
> I could rape some of the bits I would need but I'm sure someone out
> there has built something.

First things first, decide what you want the machine to do.  Once that's
done, work out the minimum specs required to achieve that.  Pick a machine
that *just* meets the minimum specs.  You can lower minimum specs by
turning
off unrequired software services, and features.  Deal with the PSU by
running the fan at a lower voltage and without finger guards (that is, if
you need a fan).  It's worth noting that if you're a heavy smoker, you
could
have issues with igniting hardware (as the boards running hot ignite the
dust that settles).  Next, sort out the CPU (and graphics if it's something
reasonably new) by installing a large heatsink.

The cunning part is using ducting to channel the air from the bottom of the
case, over the heatsink and out the top.  Convection keeps air moving
through the ducting, and hopefully keeps the heatsinks cool.  Cool air
should be brought in at the bottom to replace the hot air leaving at the
top.  Should it be needed, you can add a fan (without finger guard) to the
duct, which should be near silent.

Onto peripherals.  Remove any that are not required.  They will only block
airflow, and require more heat is dissipated (both from the PSU and the
peripheral).  The hard disk should be a silent one, but I've no idea what
is
silent these days (too long away from the silence scene).  If you possibly
can, run the machine from a Compact Flash card plugged into an IDE channel.
You can run Windows or Linux from CF with a bit of fiddling.

Cheers,
Andy
--
http://www.andylaurence.co.uk
- updated today