Hi All,

I'm looking to make my current pc silent - or as close to silent as possible.

Current Configuration as follows:
Case - Antec 660
CPU - Intel P4 2.53
CPU Cooler - Stock Intel Cooler
PSU - Antec 350W Psu
GPU - Radeon 9700 Pro
GPU Cooler - Artic Cooling VGA Silencer
GPU No. 2 - Radeon 9200 (Fanless)
NB Cooler - Zalman
HD - 2 x Seagate 80GB Sata
DVD Drive - LiteOn - 16x DVD Rom
CD Drive - LiteOn - 52x CD/RW
Sound Card - Audigy 2
Fan Controller - Zalman 6ch
Case Fans - 2 Front 80mm - Panaflo
Case Fans - 1 Rear 80mm Panaflo

Proposed Air Cooled System:
Case - Antec Sonata
Case Matting - Acoutimat Sonata
PSU - Antec Phantom Fanless
CPU Cooler - XP120 with 120mm Nexus
Case Fan - Front and Rear - 120mm Nexus
Fan Controller - Zalman 6ch - Fans at 5V

Concerns
- HD Drive noise - would like to rip out the drive cage and custom make some HD suspension

Proposed Water Cooled System:
Case - Antec Sonata
Case Matting - Acoutimat Sonata
PSU - Antec Phantom Fanless
Case Fan - Front and Rear - 120mm Nexus - For those hot days
Fan Controller - Zalman 6ch

Radiator - X-ice External Cool or Zalman Resorator
Pump - Eheim 1046
Swiftech - CPU, VGA and MB Blocks
Asustek - HD Drive Cooling - Look to custom make a box to silence them and run the cabling and tubing through the case.
A flow meter and Temp gauge somewhere
Whatever fittings I need to make it all fit together (I'm not an expert on this water cooling!

Concerns
- I'm a beginner with watercooling - so got no idea really but keen to learn.
- Watercooling seems quite expensive - not sure if it is worth the additional money.
- Seems like it is going to take up more room.
- Would probably prefer to start with a new system build for this.

Could you provide any advice or thoughts?
If you think a different component is better, please let me know. I want to make this as quiet as possible.
I like to keep costs down, so if you have an idea to save money too, please share!
Also, for those of you who use watercooling - how noisy are these water pumps and can you silence them at all?

Thanks to all, I hope to provide some pics when I have finished building.

Welcome to SPCR!

Most of your choices are fine.

Certainly, you don't need WC to get your machine really quiet. I currently have an AMD A64-3200+ with an ATI 9800 Pro, 2 HDDs & a gig of RAM that's well under 25 dBA/1m. It has a fan in the PSU (sometimes not; used to test fanless PSUs for long periods), a 120mm exhaust fan on the back, a Zalman 7000alcu HSF (92mm) on the CPU and an 80mm Panaflo 80L on the front for intake. CPU temp stays below 60C even at max load with a real app.

A fanless PSU with the Sonata will probably overheat. Its intake vent/bezel is seriously compromised and need work. If you want an Antec case, go with the 3700AMD. I think it's still the best they offer, esp now that the grills are like the Sonata's. It has much better airflow than the Sonata. Like the Sonata, its PSU is not that quiet under load, however. I've also had v. good results with Chenbro Xpider, which comes w/o PSU, as well as the Yeong Yang Mars case.

The air intake at the front bottom of the case is indeed bad. Therefore a lot of the air will probably be pulled into the case through the Antec logos along the fanless PSU to the rear exhaust. So I don't think the PSU will overheat. The rest of the case will get too hot though

When I first got my P4 3.0E and the Sonata case, I didn't have time to mod it immediately. So I ran it for three weeks with the PSU lying on top of the case and some cardboard blocking the PSU opening. The rear Antec fan was running on a fan only connector. After three weeks there was a fair amount of dust stuck to the metal around the Antec logos.

This has become a too long rant. I agree with Mike their are better cases than the Sonata, but for a different reason.

Thanks for the responses.

I have done some research on the 3700BQE - I like the look of it - Black is much better than the colour of the 3700AMB. I also like the Acousti Pack Matting pack for the case, looks to have more coverage than the Sonata pack does. The HD Cage is of a little concern though.

I actually have a Sonata case for another PC, so I will have a look to see if I can remove the HD Cage at all, or if it would even be possible to get it out with force, so I can put a custom one in.

I'll keep you posted on the results.

Thanks again,

Michael

I just bought a BQE with the AcoustiPack for BQE because of the foam dampener for the front door, which should greatly reduce noise from the optical drive. The drive cage doesn't unscrew, but you can drill out a few rivets if you really want rid of it.

I was tempted by watercooling, but in the end I went with aircooling. I figured I'd still need some case ventilation and radiator fans, unless I spent a fortune on watercooling everything from the PSU to the hard drives and a big passive radiator. So if I've already got PSU and case fans, a good HSF and VGA silencer probably aren't any noisier than a dual fan radiator.

Sounds like the 3700BQE is the case for me.

Proposed system is follows:
Case - 3700 BQE
PSU - Antec Phantom
CPU Cooler - Thermalright XP120
Fans - 120 mm x 3 - Panaflo or Nexus
HD - Zalmann ZMCH2 - Look to rip out the current drive cage and make a custom cage. Probably also replace the current Seagate with Samsung drives.

Acoustipack Damping - I will see how all these parts go first, and if I want it quieter then I will get it.

Note: For those of you in Australia (like myself) www.scorptec.com.au
has the 3700BQE available with NO PSU. They also stock the Antec Phantom if you are after that combination.