Martin over at XS did some testing on the optimal shroud size... and you don't want more than about 30mm or it actually reduces the effectiveness of the fan. So if you build a rad box, make sure you are careful about the distance from fan -> rad. Optimal shroud depth is not a fixed number. It may d...

No, I would agree that you don't have any glaring issues, your temps are very good. The only thing I would check is the HDD temp. It doesn't feel anyhow warm to touch. No wonder, as it is hung sideways behind the front intake fan (by elastic cords), with lots of space for air to flow everywhere aro...

I would have stuck with air-cooling, personally. Just like all my friends who have lately built similar rigs. I guess I have a somewhat lower noise level target. My house is in extremely quiet area, with cars passing by only rarely and even then driving slowly. Most girls visiting me for the first ...

Cable management is functional..it reduces turbulance in airflow and makes the fans have to do less work to move air in and out of your case. I totally agree on that, but it isn't that significant when the air pressure is very low. My fans spin between 300 and 700 RPM and the turbulence is therefor...

RoGuE wrote:you're into cable management huh?

No, I'm not into cable management, extra LEDs, colored pipes, case windows etc. things.

I highly respect people who make their PC projects visually appealing, but all I'm offering to see is this simple set of silencing solutions and a reference for budget set-up.

I wanted to build a budget gaming PC, balancing with price, performance and noise. The price went beyond 1000 euros and the performance is just about acceptable. Noise level is well within my tolerance but not anyhow comparable to my totally silent HTPC build. http://www.tuomoaro.fi/A300/1%20Outside...

Definately a cool build! No need to worry about noise level, when you don't have any. :wink: With similar approach it would be possible to build also a silent (hmm...if you don't count the optical drive) front-end HTPC. It would need a back-end computer providing disk service over network. Better ke...

Corsair HX Series 520W Modular PSU - ATX12V v2.2 APFC £63 Western Digital WD5000AAKS 500GB SATA II 7200RPM 16MB Cache - OEM £70 If you minimize the fans and omit the front filters, the noisiest components are the PSU and the HDD. That system should run just fine with 300W PSU. If you really wish ...

But, today I read about liquid cooling. Is that overkill? Water cooling suits better to gaming and other CPU/GPU active use than to HTPC/surfing use. If you select cool running components, you should be able to implement air cooling with one or two slow running fans. Water cooling is more silent on...

I doubt if you can get any benefit by removing the grill, but here's what I would do. The grille causes noise in two different ways: - Directly: Swooshing sound when there's notable air flow through it - Indirectly: Slows the airflow, thus requiring marginally greater fan speed, which then increases...

Just because fanned boxes make me smile, here is mine : It is quite interesting how it can run so hot without problems (so far?). If you would also do something about the HDD noise, it would propably be truly silent? A 0 fan design is definately intriguing but I'm not that daring about the chip tem...

Another vote for Antec Solo! It is specifically designed for quiet computing. If not sufficient as is, you can enhance the air flow by detaching the filters. Also the filter holding part is separate and can be omitted for improving the air flow even more. Personally I went even further than that, bu...

Turned out it was the small fan in my DVD recorder, on the far side of the room. It is a bit annoying that audio/video devices are internally more and more like a computers and the cooling is resolved using small fans. Those are found even in many receivers. When byuing A/V devices, I first check t...

Are there any guys having some computer always on and trying to make it practically silent? As the tolerance for noise and ambient noise varies a lot, is there a better way to measure the noise levels but using own ears? When trying to listen to differences in noise levels, I found it quite challeng...

He cut out two fan grills... Only the rear grill is cut off. The front grills are in a separate part and the front filters are also detachable. You can take out (or put back) the filters separately or the front grills completely without tools. In the front, there is still the outer grill (in the si...

It honestly seems like a waste of a great case. I'm not at all surprised of this kind of opinions and I really don't mind at all (all critic deserved). It is indeed good that you have the guts to say it out loud. I bet many other viewers of this entry feel the same and would like to use even more e...

The Solo is intended for cool/quiet operation without any modding and definitely aims to be a good looking case. Yours doesn't look good at all and required extensive modding. Oh, don't worry. I don't plan to put this rig in the middle of the room to reveal the modifications. You cannot see any of ...

Thank you for the feedback. You're very kind. I wouldn't mind getting some hard critic as well. the grill in the rear, well, it wasn't obstructive at all, so i don't see why it was cut off...add some sharp edges? all depends on what you're into... My intention was to remove everything from slowing d...

This is the first computer I have ever built. Warning: the beauty of the craftmanship was not my objective at any point. If you are sensitive to shocking images of mistreated case, do not look any further (you may avoid some nightmares). Objective: - HTPC and web surfing use - mid-price - runs 64-bi...

I'm ashamed of my solution after looking through all those beautiful custom mountings. I simply bought standard hardware and got a 3.5 inch HDD quite quiet. The seeking is still audible when listening very close but that doesn't bother me. Of course I started with a relatively quiet drive: Samsung 3...