What name brand computer to buy?
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What name brand computer to buy?
I am in the market for a new computer which I want to be fairly quiet and I do not want to build a computer. I am not fanatical about the quiet - the computer doesn't have to be unhearable but I would just a like fairly quiet system. I do not need a gamer video card but otherwise want to buy a high end fast system with a dual core processor, raid0 hard drives, lots of memory etc. I have usually owned Dell computers and have mostly found them to be reasonably quiet in the past (especially if I put in a fanless video card) but I recently bought an xps 410 and had to return it because I thought it was just too noisy in comparison to the old Dell I have now. Does anyone have an opinion on a name brand computer that is reasonably powerful but not terribly noisy like HP, Gateway, Sony, Lenovo, Cyberpower etc????? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
From the looks there is a good chance you can get a fairly quite computer if you make the right picks from the Quiet Desktop PCs section from Puget Custom Computers.
http://www.pugetsystems.com/
http://www.pugetsystems.com/
I can vouch for the Dell in this article:
http://www.silentpcreview.com/article21-page1.html
I just worked on one for a family member, and I was struck by how incredibly quiet it was. The only real noise came from a crappy hard drive. If you can find one of these, or a current model Optiplex that uses the same case, you'll probably be happy.
http://www.silentpcreview.com/article21-page1.html
I just worked on one for a family member, and I was struck by how incredibly quiet it was. The only real noise came from a crappy hard drive. If you can find one of these, or a current model Optiplex that uses the same case, you'll probably be happy.
SPCR designed systems built by endpcnoise.com
http://www.silentpcreview.com/article698-page5.html
Andy
http://www.silentpcreview.com/article698-page5.html
Andy
Re: What name brand computer to buy?
I'm rather surprised at that - a relative of mine recently bought a Dimension E521 (AMD X2 4200+), and it's very quiet indeed. Maybe not SPCR-fanatic quiet, but certainly very acceptable for an off-the-shelf system.richk2 wrote:I have usually owned Dell computers and have mostly found them to be reasonably quiet in the past (especially if I put in a fanless video card) but I recently bought an xps 410 and had to return it because I thought it was just too noisy in comparison to the old Dell I have now.
I've no experience with the XPS range, but you can spec the Dimension E520/521 up to an E6600 or X2 5000+ which should be enough for most people's needs. I'm not personally a great fan of Dells, but if they've served you well in the past you could probably do a lot worse.
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Here's my two cents:
About Dell (and, presumable HP and similar companies):
My sister bought a Dell Optiplex in August, and it is reasonably quiet. Dell now sells AMD CPUs which have been a good choice for a quite PC for awhile now. Also, the new Intel Core Duo CPUs run much cooler than the older (P4) chips, and thus, fans (generally speaking) won't need to run as often or as rapidly as they did in older (notoriously loud) Dells. (My parents have one of these, and in the summer it sounds like a Jet engine.)
HOWEVER, since you don't know exactly what is going into your computer, you may end up with a motherboard or a video card with one of those tiny high speeds fans that make lots of noise. Any number of other parts (the CPU fan, the case fan, the hard drives) might be fine quality wise but poor in terms of noise production. If you really want a quiet computer you'll have to be able to choose quiet parts.
About Puget Custom Computers:
That's why I'd recommend (as someone else did above) going with a reputable custom PC maker like Puget. That way you can know exactly what is going into your computer. From what I hear, Puget is very good at working with customers. You can either contact them and tell them what you want, and they'll design a system for you. Or, you could look around this site for info on what sorts of parts are good for silence, and put a system together yourself using their configurator. Had I not built my last PC, I probably would have bought one from them. You will, however, have to pay more for the custom system. (This, ultimately, is why I built my computer.)
About Dell (and, presumable HP and similar companies):
My sister bought a Dell Optiplex in August, and it is reasonably quiet. Dell now sells AMD CPUs which have been a good choice for a quite PC for awhile now. Also, the new Intel Core Duo CPUs run much cooler than the older (P4) chips, and thus, fans (generally speaking) won't need to run as often or as rapidly as they did in older (notoriously loud) Dells. (My parents have one of these, and in the summer it sounds like a Jet engine.)
HOWEVER, since you don't know exactly what is going into your computer, you may end up with a motherboard or a video card with one of those tiny high speeds fans that make lots of noise. Any number of other parts (the CPU fan, the case fan, the hard drives) might be fine quality wise but poor in terms of noise production. If you really want a quiet computer you'll have to be able to choose quiet parts.
About Puget Custom Computers:
That's why I'd recommend (as someone else did above) going with a reputable custom PC maker like Puget. That way you can know exactly what is going into your computer. From what I hear, Puget is very good at working with customers. You can either contact them and tell them what you want, and they'll design a system for you. Or, you could look around this site for info on what sorts of parts are good for silence, and put a system together yourself using their configurator. Had I not built my last PC, I probably would have bought one from them. You will, however, have to pay more for the custom system. (This, ultimately, is why I built my computer.)
As a word of warning, I had just until recently a Dell Optiplex as my workstation at work; it was wonderfully quiet on basic tasks, but if you would happen to do anything that requires computing power over a longer period of time (say for 15 minutes), it started to sound like a jet engine with bad bearings. I dont know what's the case with the most recent revisions, or maybe if you swap the fans to something more quiet, but the stock config sounded insufferable at worst.
I just worked on one for a family member, and I was struck by how incredibly quiet it was. The only real noise came from a crappy hard drive. If you can find one of these, or a current model Optiplex that uses the same case, you'll probably be happy.
I have a lot of Dell Optiplexes at work. The recent ones (GX620) are very quiet, but some earlier ones were not so quiet. Optiplexes are mainly aimed at business users, so the Dimensions are what most people buy, and I have no experience of those.
I think it would be a mistake to say that Dell are quiet in general - they have some quiet models and some loud models. You would need to ask advice about a specific model (and specific options like graphics cards) to be sure.
I think it would be a mistake to say that Dell are quiet in general - they have some quiet models and some loud models. You would need to ask advice about a specific model (and specific options like graphics cards) to be sure.