Building a Dead Silent PC

Jouster writes "The folks over at HardCoreWare.net have finally lost it. They built a PC that's well over twenty times quieter than their comparison PC (40 dB versus 65). And it's no sluggard, either: P4 2.80 GHz, 7200 RPM hard drive and--get this!--an overclocked to the max GeForce4 Ti 4200! The only fan in the entire system is in the PSU."

Re:FP?

[Anonymous Coward]

If you made a first post from this PC, would anyone hear it?

Sound from the computer

[Anonymous Coward]

If you can hear the sound from your computer its a sign that your music is way to low

Re:A great accomplishment

[pompomtom]

"Always too loud"????

My atari 1040ST is silent.

Quiet PC?

[The Original Yama]

Yeah, it's called putting a PC in another room and accessing it via vnc/ssh. You won't hear a thing.

Re:Quiet PC?

[slantyyz]

Which brings up the age old question:

If a PC screams in a room and nobody hears it, does it still make a noise?

Great news for Beowulf clustering

[Anonymous Coward]

According to my calculations, you can now cluster 100,000,000 PCs before their combined noise level reaches the threshold of pain!

Confusing headline...

[Angron]

My first thought was "Isn't a dead computer already silent?"

-A

Already been done

[cscx]

See here -- it's GOT to be silent. [cynikal.net]

Also, ever hear of that new lampy thing called an 'iMac'?? Yeah, they're silent.

They'd better start building more overclocked ones

[Anonymous Coward]

... for their webserver. It's being slashdotted into oblivion as I write this...

I can't do that

[iamdrscience]

I sacrificed the possibility of a quiet computer when I chose an AMD 1500+ for the CPU in my computer, so now I've gone to the other extreme and been proud of just how loud my PC runs. What I really want is a diesel generator that I can use as a long term UPS because then when I want to show it in top form I can just pull the pullcord and it will be the loudest computer for miles around. Also, I will put a fart can on its exhaust system, I hope the cops don't catch up with me for my modified exhaust.

Re:A great accomplishment

[strictnein]

my commodore 64 is so silent is actually creates a quiet hole

this is similar to a black hole, except for that it absorbs all sound, instead of light, and no sound can escape from it. It's very scary really and it's truly something that must be heard to be seen... or something... uhmm... yes

"I've still got the scar"

[Drunken Buddhist]

Zalman CNPS6500A-Cu: $50
Zalman ZM17CU: $18
Thermaltake 420AD: $60
Seagate Barracuda: $80
Thermaltake Xaser II: $100-180
Being able to ditch the hotplate, and just warm food on your casetop: Priceless.

Standard Issue

[BoBaBrain]

My PC has a button on the front that eliminates noise completely. It eliminates those annoying lights on the case too...

obligatory post

[valmont]

imagine a paradoxally silently humming, mysteriously stealth, decibel absorbing, reality distorting beowulf cluster of those.

Quiet?

[e8johan]

I used to work for having a silent computer but now I've put away the computer in a closet, done some cabeling and I don't have to worry. (The closet is quite big, and chilly since it is on an outside wall that is badly insulated). Actually, clothes also dampen sound really well...

Cool...

[Alien Being]

This one goes to -11.

I wonder.....

[tanveer1979]

Why do they need to go to such extremes, my PC can go down to 0dB.. all I have to do is push the power button ;-)

Re:Confusing headline...

[valmont]

[haleyjoel]

*clinching blanket and pulling it towards face*
"I can hear dead boxen".

[/haleyjoel]

Silent PC?

[cosyne]

So it can't scream in pain when it gets /.ed?

Misguiding headline

[JohnnyBigodes]

After reading the headline, I thought "cool, another one of those 'some guy blasted a PC into oblivion' page with pictures of bullets puncturing the case". Well, served as an incenting to read up the article...

Re:I can't do that

[buswolley]

Yeah, You know when your computer kicks ass, when you have duel exaust ports, flames out of the tail pipe, and a low rumble in parallel with some high powered whine,screaming from under the cover, and built-into-the-case straps to hold her steady!

Whoa boy!

Never Intefere

[buswolley]

The whir of my computer never inteferes with my very important work at Slashdot.

What do I do? I am the Mayor, of Course.

Re:Sympathetic to their Cause

[tanveer1979]

After sitting next to my computer for the past couple years, I almost believe that the noise coming from it has seriously hindered my hearing. It's hard for me to hear people whispering to me, and sometimes I can't even hear my profs in lectures.

Thats all huh, I had the cops coming coz neighbors though i was digging up for oil everytime I put in the CD

Re:Quiet PC?

[buswolley]

Bad Idea.

We know, we all depend on the vast amounts of computer noise to cover our exclamations when we find some really good pr0n.

Re:Language

[j_w_d]

Apparently I can't spell "illiterate" either.

I've built a dead silent PC.

[N Monkey]

It's not difficult to achieve.

Due to a hard disk error, my home PC is both dead and silent.

A few nights ago I awoke in my sleep

[Kasmiur]

As soon as I woke I knew something was wrong. And looked around my room. Noticed it was darker than usual. After turning on the bedroom light I looked and saw my pc was off. Then I found out the power went out in the middle of the night. If it wernt for my pc and my wakeing up I could have been late for work.

I actually find the gentle hum and whirl of my pc comforting. along with the blinking yellow light and the faint green glow it gives my room.

Annoyed by the computer fans? Here's the solution.

[Cheese Cracker]

Buy a ticket to a heavy metal concert. Make sure to mention that you must get a place near one of the
speaker batteries. After the concert you go home to your dear computer and do some programming...
You won't hear much of your computer fan for the coming 24 hours.

Re:Quiet PC?

[sirius_bbr]

Yeah, it's called putting a PC in another room and accessing it via vnc/ssh. You won't hear a thing.

And what were you planning to use to access that pc in the other room?...

oh wait, of course, that silent pc they're talking about :)

Re:Noise Cancelling Case

[alistair]

"you can also try it out with your home stereo and a song with a lot of base. Take your speakers and aim them at each other then take one of the sets of wires and switch the positive and the negative. You will notice the sound of the bass reduces dramatically due to an effect called phasing"

Actually many years ago I did try reversing speaker wires at a party and did notice a reduction of around 50% in the base due to an effect called "blowing up your speaker".

I can't say for certain this was simply due to reversing the speaker leads, I was using far more powerful amps than the speakers were rated for but this is one experiment I won't be rushing to try at home.

ESR meter

[extra88]

Almost impossible to detect without special equipment, i.e. an ESR meter.

If you do decide to get one, just remember not to put it next to your RMS meter. they'll both get totally out of whack.

I was able to make a quiter PC....

[WeeLad]

just by allowing Windows to Search for the best driver for my soundcard.