SPCR

HEY, MY FIRST POST! Oh, yah quiet, shhh, heh, sorry.
Great site and forum and I always recommend it to anyone trying to make a PC quieter.
I am another long time SPCR forum lurker but never posted until now. I put together a few quiet PC's a few years ago from reading the recommendations and some of the posts. This is the only site I know of that when a PC part is claimed to be quiet; it really is what I also consider to be quiet.
Well, now I am ready to put another PC together and I have a good idea of what parts I want to use by reading the SPCR recommends and browsing some posts, but it always seems that after I buy the parts that there is a better (quieter maybe) part that was too new to be on the SPCR recommended list and I did not know about so I did not know to search for it in the forum.

So is there a way to find out about the most current user recommended parts other than just browsing the forums?

Is there a list posted, or does anybody keep a list of user recommended parts?

If not then is it ok to got to each forum section and ask what is the current best parts recommended by SPCR users? I would think that this would be the most asked question and you would rather not have users keep asking it.

Thanks,
Lou

I think you'll be able to find what's "hot" just by browsing the forums. After a couple of days you'll have your answers.

If not, you can't go wrong with what's on the SPCR recommended list.

OK, thanks.
I was just hoping there was a quicker way than browsing for a couple of days. Actually I think I have been browsing for parts for a couple of weeks because I keep getting new ideas and changing my mind.

I know the SPCR recommended list is all good parts, but new parts come out so fast so it seems that it does not always have what is hot.

What if at the end of every month a "What is new and recommended this month" topic was posted to each forum Silent Component section?
Then if a user tried a new part that they would recommend they could post to that topic with the part model number, brief description and maybe a simple rating. Then "sticky" it so it would be like a list of the all the months parts in one topic, easy to find and browse through.

Well for now, back to browsing.

Thanks,
Lou

Different parts are best in different applications. What are you building? HTPC, gaming-box, workstation, surf-box?

You could check the most recent builds in the Gallery. You might see some people using some newer gear.

And there's of course the forum search, to directly find topics about, or containing your new stuff.

Welcome to SPCR!

[Edit: There are recommended sections for all major components:

Cases: Basics & Recommendations

Recommended Power Supplies

Recommended Fans

Recommended Heatsinks

Recommended Hard Drives

Introduction to Recommended Silent / Quiet Components

What is a "Silent" Computer?

That should get you started! ]

Well, now I am ready to put another PC together and I have a good idea of what parts I want to use by reading the SPCR recommends and browsing some posts, but it always seems that after I buy the parts that there is a better (quieter maybe) part that was too new to be on the SPCR recommended list and I did not know about so I did not know to search for it in the forum.

Yea, I agree. This is "stupid".
The best thing to do seems to be to post your future system components and ask for some advice here.

So is there a way to find out about the most current user recommended parts other than just browsing the forums?

No, unfortunately not.

Is there a list posted, or does anybody keep a list of user recommended parts?

No.

If not then is it ok to got to each forum section and ask what is the current best parts recommended by SPCR users? I would think that this would be the most asked question and you would rather not have users keep asking it.

This is a common problem. All this repeating is not efficient but must be OK as long as there is no other option.

I remember this kind of thing happened a lot more (endless repeating of the same "newbie" questions, on the Hydrogenaudio forums (about lossless and lossy audio compression). Now I checked back again after a lot of years. They had like 1 or 2 sticked post in each forum and in these post there are links to a wiki page about the subject with the latest recommendations.

They let people (forum users) that wanted to edit the wiki page acquire a password for editing from forum administrators. This could be done in a separate thread that has a link from the stickied thread with the wiki page link.
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Some silent storage hardware you should not miss
I have fixed so the relevant post to read is displayed first. If you want to read the whole thread remove the "&start=" part of the URL link.
The quietest 3.5" INTERNAL drives (1TB)
Now I think the best and quietest 3.5" hard drive is WD 1TB (5200 rpm) and Samsung 1TB (7200 rpm). The Samsung is technically more impressive from a silent perspective since it is harder to silence a 7200 rpm (faster) drive than a 5200 rpm drive (= 2.5" hard drive speed).

New longer guarantee RAID versions of these might come soon too but they are usually louder or on par from a silence perspective. Also they are more expensive of course.

I guess the new Pioneer and ASUS DVD is a good bet for the least noisy "new fast" DVD drive at the moment. Help me with some good and silent DVD+-RW.
recommend sata dvd burner?, A comparison table of drive noise
New ASUS DVD's
HD-DVD (Reader only I think)
http://www.engadgethd.com/2007/10/31/as ... dvd-drive/
DVD-RW (Standard All have ASUS QuieTrack)
http://www.asus.com/products.aspx?l1=6&l2=35

Thanks to all for the helpful replies.
I have been reading SPCR for about four years so, although I have not posted until now, I feel like I am not completely new to SPCR and have an idea of how to find my way around the site, but just to be sure, I thought I would ask if there was another way of finding the latest parts other than just browsing.
I like the list of links Neil posted here better than the way they are setup on the home page. I get confused of how to get to those pages from the links on the home page sometimes.

I actually have already gotten some of the parts for my next quiet PC (P182 case, sound absorbing material and a Corsair PSU) and have a good idea of the rest of the parts I want to get, but just in case there was something I might have overlooked or missed I planed to ask at that particular components forum.

Thanks for drive info Alex. I plan to do a little bit of video editing, but I dot think I need that much storage size, yet.

Thanks again,
Lou

Neil, that is a nice list. centralized and easily accessible info if always good .

what do you think, would it be a good idea to make a sticky just like that in this section? could help some noobs to get started and would be an easy reference for the rest.

just a thought...

ummm... at the risk of sounding like a grouchy old curmudgeon, are you saying you can't see the Reference / Recommended link in the left menu on the main site? Once you're in that section, the recom. list articles are plainly visible, I think all on the first page...

He's not so much asking for articles, but more on forum user experiences with the newer stuff. At least that's how i understood it.

seraphyn wrote:He's not so much asking for articles, but more on forum user experiences with the newer stuff. At least that's how i understood it.

Lou_H wrote:I like the list of links Neil posted here better than the way they are setup on the home page. I get confused of how to get to those pages from the links on the home page sometimes.

It takes 2 mouse clicks and maybe a tiny bit of up/down scrolling to get to any recommended page from any page on the main site -- one on the left menu link, one on the article link. I don't think I can make it any shorter.

just an idea, really...

i was thinking mostly of noobs who googled something spcr related and stumbled onto these here forums. they don't know what this site is all about as yet; the chances are they'll check newcomers section of the forums way before they discover the front page of the main site. this way it will guide them to the articles and reviews they need to begin exploring the subject while gradually familiarizing them with the site.

not saying it's the greatest idea but those articles of yours are well written and a very good source of information. a sticky in the forums will only mean some possible additional exposure for them.

mcoleg --

OK, but consider that every FAQ in every forum links the Recommended section at the very start. And there are several stickies & announcements in the Newbies forum with links to that section. And the central blue background header on the main site has it too --



Yes, the SPCR forum culture is pretty generous & gentle to folks, but do we need to help them chew & swallow, too?

probably not; there are plenty of those who might need chew, swallow and a burping but i suppose if it works as is, no need to fix it.

Hello Mike,
Love the site.

I have the links figured out now, but when I first came to the site I was a bit confused on how to get to the “Recommendedâ€

This is what I would like to read when I have to choose a PSU.
viewtopic.php?t=44991&start=11

Easy and relatively short. =Newbie friendly.
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Interesting fans (especially Scythe Slipstream seem to be popular by forum users).
http://www.scythe-usa.com/product/acc/0 ... etail.html

If you compare with Scythe S-Flex (popular "older" fan)
http://www.scythe-usa.com/product/acc/0 ... etail.html
remember to compare noise at the same airflow and not at same rpm.

Noctua fans for higher pressure
http://www.noctua.at/main.php?show=nf_s ... son&lng=en
might also be interesting.

None of these new fans have been tested by SPCR yet so we have no reliable source for airflow or CPU cooling temperature versus noise data.
Never believe what any manufacturer says about noise.