How to Build a Silent PC
With the advent of bigger and noisier active cooling solutions and the rise in popularity of home theater PCs, the custom-built silent PC is growing in popularity. Silent PCs use a combination of sound dampening cases, strong passive cooling and proper airflow to cool components that would otherwise need loud, bulky fans to cool them. Heat buildup is the primary concern when building a silent PC, and oftentimes the trickiest part is balancing noise output with heat output.
Other People Are Reading
Things You'll Need
- Sound-dampening PC case
- Motherboard
- Power supply
- RAM
- CPU
- Passive CPU Heatsink/Fan (HSF)
- Silent or near-silent case fans
- Passively cooled graphics card
- Solid State Disk (SSD) or Hard Disk Drive (HDD)
- Water Blocks (if water cooling)
- Reservoir (if water cooling)
- Plastic tubing (if water cooling)
- Pump (if water cooling)
Instructions
-
Collecting the components
-
1
Silent or near-silent versions of PC components are not as common as their louder counterparts and carry a price premium. Keeping components that are normally very hot cooled without the use of a fan requires a very specialized set of components. Doing research on enthusiast websites like SilentPCreview.com will help you judge the latest trends and most effective silent components.
-
2
Determine whether or not you're going to use a water cooling setup. Water cooling offers significantly better cooling over basic air cooling but at a higher cost and greater risk to your system. Should something go wrong with a water cooling solution, the odds are very good that your PC will be permanently damaged. Should you decide to use a water cooling solution, purchasing a case that has pre-drilled holes for the attachment of a radiator and hoses will save you the hassle of drilling and tapping the holes yourself.
-
-
3
When selecting your components keep in mind that the fewer fans a PC has, the closer to silent it will be. If you cannot put together an entirely fan-less system, having fewer fans that are bigger is much closer to silence than having more, smaller fans. Larger fans push just as much or more air than smaller fans while operating at fewer RPMs, keeping them much quieter.
-
4
Although released in 2006, Antec's p180 and p180 Mini are two of the best sound dampening cases ever produced. They utilize specialized rubber grommets to secure surfaces that would normally rattle or shake inside an enclosure. The p180 also has specialized "dual-paned" aluminum siding to significantly dampen noise.
-
5
When selecting a CPU HSF, keep in mind that bigger is almost always better, especially if you will be using an HSF that has no fan. The more surface area that the CPU has to distribute its heat over, the more efficiently it will be cooled. Scythe, OCZ and Xigamtek all manufacture large, high quality HSFs that can be used with or without a fan.
-
6
Selecting a fanless power supply (PSU) can be a difficult task. If the PC is going to be used in an environment that is consistently above 80 degrees, a PSU with an active cooling solution should be chosen. Although not completely silent, a PSU with a 120mm fan for cooling is very quiet and will keep your power supply significantly cooler during extended sessions.
-
7
Selecting a passively cooled graphics card is extremely important, as a graphics card has the ability to radiate a lot of heat into your computer's case. Generally, choosing the graphics card with the best cooling solution that fits into your budgetary constraints is the best bet. Passively cooled graphics cards tend to lag behind their actively cooled brethren, as passive cooling technology is not as effective as active cooling. In 2009, a passively cooled NVidia 9800GT or ATI HD 4850 are both excellent choices.
-
8
Ideally your silent PC will contain at least one sold state drive (SSD). An SSD is essentially a large piece of flash memory with no moving parts, making it completely silent. In 2009, however, they are priced at almost $5/gigabyte! Compared to traditional HDDs which are priced at less than $1/gigabyte, choosing between price and complete silence can hinge on your budget.
Building Your Silent PC
-
9
After removing the side of the case, line up the holes in the motherboard with the brass standoffs inside of the case. If there are no standoffs in the case already, you will have to install them yourself. Standoffs are included with motherboard mounting hardware and with PC cases. Do not over-tighten the screws when bolting down your motherboard, as you risk cracking the printed circuit board (PCB).
-
10
When installing your heatsink/fan (HSF) be sure that there is some air flowing over the heatsink itself; whether it be from a fan mounted on the HSF or from a case fan moving air over the heat fins. Be sure to follow the instructions included with the HSF very closely, as larger HSFs can put physical stress on and even crack your motherboard if installed improperly.
-
11
Install the PSU, being careful to run the wires around the outer parts of the case. PSU wires and obstruct airflow and hinder proper cooling. When there is very little airflow to go around to begin with, this is of the utmost importance. Keep your wiring clean.
-
12
Install the RAM into the appropriately colored and matching DIMM slots and make sure RAM chips are in the path of at least one of your case fans.
-
13
Install your graphics card, making sure that it too is having air moved over its passive cooling solution.
-
14
Install your operating system and carefully monitor your internal temperatures with a program like Lavalys' Everest. If your PC is too loud for your taste, adjust the speed of your fans in the system BIOS or with a physical switch on the fan.
Water Cooling
-
15
Assemble your entire water cooling setup in a closed loop and run it for at least four hours to check for leaks.
-
16
If you've decided to water-cool your system, you will forgo installing the HSF and instead will have to add water blocks to the CPU and the graphics card. Instructions included with these components will instruct you in their individual installations.
-
17
Install the radiator in the appropriate place. This will depend on whether your case is specifically designed to accommodate water cooling solutions. Run the tubing from the radiator, through the pump and to the appropriate water blocks. Consult your owner's manual for individual instruction.
-
1
Tips & Warnings
Be sure to test your water cooling solution for leaks and kinks for at least four hours before installing it in your system! Be sure to use distilled water in your water cooling solution, as it has less of a chance of shorting out your components should there be a leak.
