normal noisy PC, but inside a soundproof cabinet?

migraneboy · Post by **migraneboy** » Sat May 24, 2008 7:11 am

I have been looking for an easy way to soundproof a PC, but it seems that you must spend lots of $$ on silent components and also go to great lengths to stuff the case with soundabsorbers etc...

I was thinking.. why not leave my noisy PC as it is, take off its covers and just stick it inside a soundproofed cabinet?

Im guessing all I would need is to make ventilation ducts and run extension cables from the connectors (usb, dvi, etc.) out of the cabinet. For the DVD just use an external usb one and run the computers on/off and reset switches to the outside of the cabinet.

Just make the cabinet big enough so you can place the intake/outtake fans away from the walls ( using air ducts ) and make it heavy and damped.

Has anyone tried something like this? I guess any existing wooden cabinet might do..

LongJan · Post by **LongJan** » Sat May 24, 2008 10:52 am

Yes, that has been tried, a lot.
In early days, we had IBM PC:s, that sounded like cheap vacuum cleaners, at my work.
Putting them in cooled, soundproofed cabinets was standard procedure.

migraneboy · Post by **migraneboy** » Sat May 24, 2008 11:34 am

I bet there are heaps of those old cool pc cabinets in the scrapyards..

I googled some people who have done this type of diy-cabinet thing, but it seems they sort of "winged it" and the results are a bit shady..

I guess IÂ´ll just go for it... its going to be just a few bucks anyway, if it doesnt work.

I have studied audio engineering so I know how to soundproof, and once built a stealth growing cabinet for my weed (lots of heat and ventilation in a confined space) so Im quite sure I can pull this off..

Great site btw.. I love all those "ghetto" tips and tricks here, like cardboard air ducts and blu tac seals. Im very much into diy on the cheap.

If my build is a success IÂ´ll be posting the results!

jaganath · Post by **jaganath** » Sat May 24, 2008 12:20 pm

I have been looking for an easy way to soundproof a PC, but it seems that you must spend lots of $$ on silent components and also go to great lengths to stuff the case with soundabsorbers etc...

best of luck with your soundproofed cabinet project, but I should just point out silencing doesn't have to cost $$$$, nor do you have to use sound-dampening material; I don't use any at all, and my build is so quiet the only way you can tell it is on is by looking at the LEDs on the front of the case.

migraneboy · Post by **migraneboy** » Sat May 24, 2008 2:21 pm

jaganath wrote:
I have been looking for an easy way to soundproof a PC, but it seems that you must spend lots of $$ on silent components and also go to great lengths to stuff the case with soundabsorbers etc...
best of luck with your soundproofed cabinet project, but I should just point out silencing doesn't have to cost $$$$, nor do you have to use sound-dampening material; I don't use any at all, and my build is so quiet the only way you can tell it is on is by looking at the LEDs on the front of the case.

Thats impressive, watercooling? You have pics/specs here? Im finding it hard to believe that I could make my current PC TRULY silent without dampening the case, buying new silent fans, getting a watercooler, new PSU.. that stuff gets expensive!

Sticking the damn thing in a cabinet just seems so simple/foolproof

Post by **MikeC** » Sat May 24, 2008 3:26 pm

migraneboy wrote:Thats impressive, watercooling? You have pics/specs here? Im finding it hard to believe that I could make my current PC TRULY silent without dampening the case, buying new silent fans, getting a watercooler, new PSU.. that stuff gets expensive!

Sticking the damn thing in a cabinet just seems so simple/foolproof

That's not simple or foolproof. You forget the effect of cavity resonance -- very significant in such boxes, even with large amounts of acoustic damping foam. I speak from experience, tho perhaps my target was more extreme than yours (complete silence).

Doing better engineering within the PC, with cooling components, with airflow management... much more effective and not at all expensive if that's your goal. It comes down to better quality fans running slower, better heatsinks, minimization of vibration transfer into the case, intelligent positioning of the PC, and finally, good power management w/in the OS.

Post by **NeilBlanchard** » Sat May 24, 2008 3:49 pm

Hello,

I gotta' think that eliminating the noise at the source (i.e. not producing as much noise) is the better/easier/cheaper way to go! It certainly won't take up as much room, and it probably would be (a lot) cooler running, too...

What's the loudest thing in the system?

viewtopic.php?t=4094

migraneboy · Post by **migraneboy** » Sun May 25, 2008 12:00 am

Loudest part might be the stock-CPU cooler. Im going for RAID-0 so
there will be added HDD noise. The mobo has integrated graphics with no
fan, so no noise from a graphics card luckily!

You guys seem serious enough about "in case" work..

Just to desperately hang on to my idea, heres a few arguments

1. Why should a PC cabinet have higher temps than a ordinary case?
(it is after all just the same, only a little bigger)

-There is more room for airflow
-It can be made more sealed/soundproof so fans can run faster
-There is more space to make dedicated airducts for different parts
-The positioning of intake/outtake holes, fans and ducts can be
designed and placed optimally to the hardware

2. How can making a cabinet out of free recycled materials (exept maybe for the bitumcarpeting) be more expensive than buying new silent parts
(+ the bitumcarpeting)?

3. How can it be harder/more difficult to make a cabinet work, when you
have more space to work with, can position parts freely, make compartments etc. and not be confined in the limitations of a comp.case?

Also for me, weight, size or looks are no issue, and OS power management is in the works.

Someone had the impression that I wasnÂ´t going for total silence, yes I am actually, as close to it as possible.. I will be recording acoustic instruments in the same room so this is quite critical to me.

I do realize that the site is geared towards the tech-tweaking side of computer silencing, and the Newbie FAQs have already tripled my knowledge on the subject, but all I am looking for right now is a good
design for a soundproof PC cabinet. HavenÂ´t found one yet, so it looks like IÂ´ll have to make one myself

Anyways, thanks for the replies, you have earned the " I TOLD YOU SO " -rights if my cabinet project goes to bust.

IÂ´ll be starting the build in a week or so, and I will be documenting it with pictures.

What do ya think, might this forum be the place to post pics and questions
as I progress with the cabinet?

migraneboy · Post by **migraneboy** » Sun May 25, 2008 12:08 am

MikeC wrote:
migraneboy wrote:Thats impressive, watercooling? You have pics/specs here? Im finding it hard to believe that I could make my current PC TRULY silent without dampening the case, buying new silent fans, getting a watercooler, new PSU.. that stuff gets expensive!

Sticking the damn thing in a cabinet just seems so simple/foolproof
That's not simple or foolproof. You forget the effect of cavity resonance -- very significant in such boxes, even with large amounts of acoustic damping foam. I speak from experience, tho perhaps my target was more extreme than yours (complete silence).

Doing better engineering within the PC, with cooling components, with airflow management... much more effective and not at all expensive if that's your goal. It comes down to better quality fans running slower, better heatsinks, minimization of vibration transfer into the case, intelligent positioning of the PC, and finally, good power management w/in the OS.

Cavity resonance.. hadnÂ´t really thought of that! Thanks for pointing it out! There must be some ways around it tough, IÂ´ll have to look into that.

jaganath · Post by **jaganath** » Sun May 25, 2008 2:30 am

1. Why should a PC cabinet have higher temps than a ordinary case?
(it is after all just the same, only a little bigger)

-There is more room for airflow
-It can be made more sealed/soundproof so fans can run faster

it can't be sealed, otherwise the air cannot get out. of course you can put baffles on the intake and exhaust, but that adds restriction so you have to run the fans faster. TANSTAAFL!

Im going for RAID-0 so there will be added HDD noise.

apparently this not a good idea:
viewtopic.php?p=414358&highlight=raid0#414358

in my build I have a fanless PSU, which helps a lot. the only noise is basically the HDD noise. but i believe you can get very similar results with a normal PSU that has been fanswapped.

migraneboy · Post by **migraneboy** » Sun May 25, 2008 2:52 am

Oh, please.... (':roll:') I am not going to seal the whole cabin! What I meant was that a simple cabin can be made more
soundproof (airtight) than a PC-case with all sorts of crevices and seams and different parts.

I found some good advice on making soundproof airducts. Its actually not
a big deal to get rid of the cavity resonance, and as the fan will be buried
deep in the middle of the cabin it should be possible to run it way faster than in a regular PC-case setup where the fan is basically in your face.

I need RAID-0 for my HD video editing work. I have read all the warnings about RAID and IÂ´ll take my risks (and backup often)(':)')

Fanless PSU you say? That sounds interesting.. I would be able to place the PSU in a separate compartment from the rest of the computer, would a passive (just a few airholes) be enough to keep the PSU cool?

Bluefront · Post by **Bluefront** » Sun May 25, 2008 3:35 am

IMHO..... I've probably made more custom setups than most people on SPCR, and many out of wood. If the cabinet is large enough, with enough internal dampening, it certainly will quiet down whatever is inside the thing. But it probably still won't be quiet enough for you, if the internal computer is relatively noisy.

The intakes and exhausts on the cabinet will still be audible. For a really quiet setup, you will still have to mod the computer itself to make the whole setup silent. So then you will have two projects....the new cabinet itself, and the necessary mods to the computer.

There are a few ways to approach this.....I'd start with a fan-less PICO PSU, which are available up to 200W. They add little/no internal heat to your setup.

Then I'd install a quiet laptop HD or two, suspended, replacing the 3.5" drive.

Then I'd install the largest heatsink that would fit.....hopefully a Ninja.

After that you could concentrate on the cabinet duct work, which could enable the Ninja to run fan-less. It'd a doable project, but without the computer mods, you won't be satisfied. IMHO.

migraneboy · Post by **migraneboy** » Sun May 25, 2008 4:09 am

Bluefront wrote:IMHO..... I've probably made more custom setups than most people on SPCR, and many out of wood. If the cabinet is large enough, with enough internal dampening, it certainly will quiet down whatever is inside the thing. But it probably still won't be quiet enough for you, if the internal computer is relatively noisy.

The intakes and exhausts on the cabinet will still be audible. For a really quiet setup, you will still have to mod the computer itself to make the whole setup silent. So then you will have two projects....the new cabinet itself, and the necessary mods to the computer.

There are a few ways to approach this.....I'd start with a fan-less PICO PSU, which are available up to 200W. They add little/no internal heat to your setup.

Then I'd install a quiet laptop HD or two, suspended, replacing the 3.5" drive.

Then I'd install the largest heatsink that would fit.....hopefully a Ninja.

After that you could concentrate on the cabinet duct work, which could enable the Ninja to run fan-less. It'd a doable project, but without the computer mods, you won't be satisfied. IMHO.

This is all well and good exept..

A. I need at least a 400W PSU
B. I wont spend extra money for HDÂ´s or heatsinks or nothing

But, I will try my best to make silent mods on the different parts (HD suspesion etc.) and Im actually thinking about suspending the whole
computer frame inside the cabinet.

Im quite positive that I can tackle the intake/exhaust noise problem by:

1. Using a "labyrinth" design for the airducts
2. Concave input/output holes
3. dampening the insides of the airducts
4. the usual fan mods (suspension, rpm control..)

There are lots of resources for making silent airducts on the different pro-ventilation sites on the net.

I believe that the cabinet itself can easily be made almost 100% soundproof with the right dampening materials. The airducts are the only problem here.

One disadvantage with the usual silent case mod is the backpanel connectors that have to be left open and free from soundproofing. In the case of this external cabinet that problem is solved by using extension cords for the differen inputs and run them out of the cabin
from a single, airtight hole.

So the only source, or route, of noise will be the intake / exhaust holes.
Thats where IÂ´ll have to do most of the research.. so if anyone knows good sites on the subject, please share!

And Bluefront: Do you have any pics of your wooden custom setups? IÂ´d love to see what youÂ´ve done!

There is actually lots of open patent pdfÂ´s around about this airduct soundproofing stuff.. really interesting ideas there, but goes over ones head pretty quickly.. My favourite is the very sci-fi method of using mics and speakers to produce noise cancelling. (':shock:')

Bluefront · Post by **Bluefront** » Sun May 25, 2008 7:38 am

Current project....a monster with two PCs inside.

Last summer's project.

A SFF currently in use.

Unless you have a big stock of wood and misc connection pieces, a good-looking cabinet might cost almost as much as a computer upgrade to quiet pieces. Believe me....

migraneboy · Post by **migraneboy** » Sun May 25, 2008 8:27 am

Those look awesome! They have such personality compared to the lame industrial-techno look of most "designer" stock cases..

The hinges on the second one are just what I have had in mind for the cover.. altough I am dreaming of a black cube with no visible seams, the 2001 space odyssey "obelisk"-look

As much as I love a nice wooden finish, Im propably going to paint over it, so I donÂ´t have to use expensive wood. My dad has a stockpile of leftover wood from different furniture projects, and all the tools + sealants, glues etc., so Im good to go on the wood stuff.

Tomorrow Im off to the hardwarestore to get the dampening materials. Hopefully I can starth building next week.

thejamppa · Post by **thejamppa** » Sun May 25, 2008 9:28 am

After some dampening material, you could cut our your fan grill's. It makes great difference in air flow and turbulence noise.

BTW, before applying your dampening material, do see if you can cut grills out before that. I hope your case uses 120mm fans... At least one in exhaust.

What case are you using BTW?

migraneboy · Post by **migraneboy** » Sun May 25, 2008 10:03 am

thejamppa wrote:After some dampening material, you could cut our your fan grill's. It makes great difference in air flow and turbulence noise.

BTW, before applying your dampening material, do see if you can cut grills out before that. I hope your case uses 120mm fans... At least one in exhaust.

What case are you using BTW?

Thanks for the tip, but Im taking a little different approach here.. the case is of no importance in this design. The motherboard, PSU and harddrives are fitted into a custom
(hopefully) soundproof cabinet with (hopefully) soundproof ventilation.

I will be using just the basic inside frame of the case (donÂ´t know the model.. just old) and cut most of it off. Just leave enough of the frame to hold the motherboard in place.

Yes, IÂ´ll be using 120mm Papst 4412 F/2GL fans (no grills, fingerguards or filters) for the intake and exhaust of the cabinet.

The harddrives and the PSU will have their own compartment, isolated from the motherboard. The CPU and PSU fans exhausts will be channeled thru separate soundproofed airducts and out from the top of the cabinet.

I hope I manage to draw the design in a way that others can understand..(':oops:') I suck at drawing. IÂ´ll post it up when I make one.

migraneboy · Post by **migraneboy** » Sun May 25, 2008 11:09 am

OK, heres a link to a rough sketch of the cabinet. DonÂ´t mind the proportions or anything, this is just the basic idea..

The basic structure is made of heavy duty plywood.

The insides of the airducts will be coated with soft cloth (not sure what type would be best), and the outsides coated with sound insulation mat.

The insides of the two compartments will be dampened, the hard drives and PSU suspended with cords.

All the fans (exept CPU and PSU) are 120mm and also suspended with cords

Every hole and crevice will be filled with sound insulation mass, all seams filled with silicone.

The inside walls will be coated with bitummat followed by wood on the outside.

It will be a big, heavy monster

http://img227.imageshack.us/my.php?image=pccabinch1.jpg

Post by **MikeC** » Sun May 25, 2008 3:03 pm

OK, what you are building is not a sound box for a PC, you are building a custom PC case -- from wood -- to replace the normal PC case. This is a very different proposition from what you started with in this thread. This has been done by many folks. There are a few examples in the forums and a couple in the DIY section of the main site:

Bill's Recycled, Fanless, Silent Woodbox Computer
Doug's Quiet Wood Case PC

Finally, and oldie but goodie:
Rusty's Quiet In-Desk PC

There are other examples of custom silent PC case builds in the DIY section -- not necessarily using wood, like Fanless Heatpipe CPU Cooling System by FMAH -- one of the most inventive.

re -- your case plans: I would not do those 180 degree turn tunnels. I tried them too. When you turn the fans down to a slow enough to speed to make them silent, they won't generate enough pressure to make it past the turns with any velocity. The acoustic damping material actually acts to cause friction or impedance to airflow as well. Turn up the fans a little more for airflow, and the long tube's complex cavity air resonance kicks in -- very tricky to solve.

Also, think again about putting all the vents on one end -- so that they can all be as far away from you as possible when the PC is being used.

migraneboy · Post by **migraneboy** » Mon May 26, 2008 3:49 am

MikeC wrote:OK, what you are building is not a sound box for a PC, you are building a custom PC case -- from wood -- to replace the normal PC case. This is a very different proposition from what you started with in this thread. This has been done by many folks. There are a few examples in the forums and a couple in the DIY section of the main site:

Bill's Recycled, Fanless, Silent Woodbox Computer
Doug's Quiet Wood Case PC

Finally, and oldie but goodie:
Rusty's Quiet In-Desk PC

There are other examples of custom silent PC case builds in the DIY section -- not necessarily using wood, like Fanless Heatpipe CPU Cooling System by FMAH -- one of the most inventive.

re -- your case plans: I would not do those 180 degree turn tunnels. I tried them too. When you turn the fans down to a slow enough to speed to make them silent, they won't generate enough pressure to make it past the turns with any velocity. The acoustic damping material actually acts to cause friction or impedance to airflow as well. Turn up the fans a little more for airflow, and the long tube's complex cavity air resonance kicks in -- very tricky to solve.

Also, think again about putting all the vents on one end -- so that they can all be as far away from you as possible when the PC is being used.

Yeah, I have ditched the idea of using the original PC case as it is, but the idea of having a box-inside-a-box remains, and I think differs greatly from the designs you posted... LetÂ´s call this one the Custom-Wooden-PC case- Inside-A-Custom-Wooden-Soundbox!

or the CWPCICWS if you will

The major difference , I think, is that there will be no direct access to the PC, no DVD trays or backpanel connections on the outside. The only thing visible will be the red and green harddrive activity leds. I will use a breakout cable for all the connections that runs thru an airtight space and comes out from the back. The connection for a external USB DVDdrive follows along. ( I donÂ´t mind the noise of the DVDdrive as I wonÂ´t be using it during recording.)

About the airducts...
The picture is a little misleading as the airducts will not be 120mm tubes but rectangular "corridors" where the width of the duct is almost the width of the box ( 60cm?) on the outside and gradually narrows towards the fan. So there should be enough space for airflow regardless of the 180 turns. (altough I might ease on that a little) I am hoping the width and irregular shape would help minimize cavity resonance also.

The friction caused by the dampening material is an issue Im still working on.. what material gives the best sound absorbtion without causing too much friction?

One thing I have on my side is that there are no restrictions for size - it can freely take the space under my table - so this gives me the opportunity to place the components more freely and use wider, longer airducts to help lose the noise.

Wider airducts = less friction right?

The placemet of the vents in one end would be ideal, but I think the intake vents are propably least noisy when towards the floor. The floor carpeting
under the cabinet would further block reflecting sound. The top exhaust will propably be paced in the top of the backside, altough this contradicts the idea of following the rising warm air.

BTW, which one gives a better airflow/noise ratio:

A. one fast fan or B. two slower fans

I saw some tests here that seemed to suggest that two slow fans would
be better...

Bluefront · Post by **Bluefront** » Mon May 26, 2008 4:17 am

As you said..... for a given amount of airflow, usually two fans are quieter than one. And bigger fans are quieter than smaller fans at the same cfm. (usually)

In the old days.....expensive model cars used air ducts for their heating/cooling systems that were lined with a Paxmate-type foam. It's about 4mm thick, open cell. Some of these setups were really quiet. I think it depends on the diameter of the duct....bigger is better/quieter. Don't see that sort of ducting any longer (probably cost too much).

In home heating/cooling, you can buy air ducting in large rolls that that is acoustically dampened. The diameter of these ducts is probably too big for any computer project however.

Post by **MikeC** » Mon May 26, 2008 8:41 am

Regardless of how it's done, I doubt that the 180 degree turns can actually give you any better noise reduction over a tunnel half the length w/o a 180 degree turn because the increased opportunity for sound absorption in the tunnel will be counteracted by the need to increase fan speed to compensate for friction losses, and the increased complexity of cavity resonances.

Simple, practical issues such as placement of vents away from the user are far more important.

You should also consider the concept of streamlining the tunnel, especially near the fan... maybe you have as I see the added curves in the corners. Your design puts a 90 degree turn at the in or out of every fan -- not at all ideal for optimizing (read: maximizing) airflow)

Plekto · Post by **Plekto** » Tue May 27, 2008 11:56 am

My entire "MOD" to my existing 50-60db system cost me roughly $200. It's now closer to 30db and makes a hum that's right at the ambient noise.

$50 for the CPU cooler.
$30 for the GPU cooler.
$60 in fans
$60 for a quiet PS.
Plus tax of course.

I could stick this inside a normal cabinet and it would be not there quiet.

Rather than messing with a cabinet, I suggest just swapping the fans and heat sinks instead.

P.S.
Sources of noise:
#1 CPU. Stock coolers are like vacuum cleaners.
#2 GPU. Stock video card coolers are hellishly loud when gaming.
#3 Northbridge fan. That high pitched fan noise/hum usually is this.
#4 Exhaust fan. Mostly because it's impossible to really quiet as it's projecting sound directly out of the case.(side fans also have this problem)

Erssa · Post by **Erssa** » Wed May 28, 2008 8:44 am

I have to agree with majority here. Easiest way to approach this is by first selecting quiet components. But I guess sometimes it's best to learn through mistakes. I was quite surprised to see so many multi-thousand posters contributing here in this thread. Some of SPCRs most experienced silencers have attempted to "shoot down" Migraneboy's idea, but he still plans on doing things the hard way, which is perfectly fine. It doesn't really matter whether his project succeeds or fails. If the results are documented here it will serve as lesson for other people.

migraneboy wrote:A. I need at least a 400W PSU

I doubt it. Most people overestimate their needs. SPCR has an article on real system power requirements. What kind of hardware do you plan to use?

migraneboy · Post by **migraneboy** » Thu May 29, 2008 2:13 am

Erssa wrote:I have to agree with majority here. Easiest way to approach this is by first selecting quiet components. But I guess sometimes it's best to learn through mistakes. I was quite surprised to see so many multi-thousand posters contributing here in this thread. Some of SPCRs most experienced silencers have attempted to "shoot down" Migraneboy's idea, but he still plans on doing things the hard way, which is perfectly fine. It doesn't really matter whether his project succeeds or fails. If the results are documented here it will serve as lesson for other people.

migraneboy wrote:A. I need at least a 400W PSU
I doubt it. Most people overestimate their needs. SPCR has an article on real system power requirements. What kind of hardware do you plan to use?

Looks like it, yeah! Im a stubborn guy.. I promise to post the results
honestly, no matter what comes of it. I have the equipment for making a rudimentary before/after soundlevel test.

I just have to try this out.. I have not yet seen proof that this design would not work better/as good as and be cheaper than replacing hardware.

The only possible new quiet component would be a new fan for my Athlon64 X2 6000+. Any experiences with replacing a stock CPU fan? (but keep the grill) I just donÂ´t have the money to start replacing HDs. I have an integrated fanlesss graphics card. There is no fan on the northbridge either.

Heres the setup:

MB Gigabyte GA-MA78GM-S2H AM2+ RS780 PCIe mATX
CPU AMD Athlon64 X2 6000+ 2x3000MHz 2x1024kB AM2 Box
2 x HDSA 500GB Seagate ST3500320NS 7200rpm SATA 32MB
1 x 120GB old Seagate
1 x 40 GB old Seagate
4 x DDR2 2048MB G.Skill DDR2 800MHz CL5 retail
RME 96/8 soundcard
PSU Seasonic S12-430W
external DVDdrive
22" Samsung

Everything exept the 2 old seagate drives, the DVD and the soundcard are
new buys and not yet tested in any way. My old PC case is missing its panels (it used to reside in a closet ) and is a flimsy cheap old mess altogether, so a new case DIY or new would be necessary.

the two 500GB drives will run in RAID 0, for video editing work, the 40GB is for XP32bit and the 120GB will be for Vista + soundfiles.

I just went for the Gigabytes recommendation for a 400+ PSU.. I afterall have 4 drives, 8GB RAM and I will propably ugrade with a graphicscard in the future.

Ok, IÂ´ll go read that PSU article now and see how overkill I went on the PSU. I payed 40Euro for the used Seasonic PSU.

Im happy to have gotten so much feedback (altough mostly a little discouraging..

) and feel I have enough info to go on with the project.

And like Erssa pointed out, hopefully the results will be of use to someone.

eit412 · Post by **eit412** » Thu May 29, 2008 5:53 am

migraneboy wrote:Someone had the impression that I wasnÂ´t going for total silence, yes I am actually, as close to it as possible.. I will be recording acoustic instruments in the same room so this is quite critical to me.

Would it be possible to have the computer in an adjacent room, where the noise of the computer may be less critical, and have the input and output cables run through the wall? It might be a lots less trouble.

Erssa · Post by **Erssa** » Thu May 29, 2008 6:28 am

migraneboy wrote:I just went for the Gigabytes recommendation for a 400+ PSU.. I afterall have 4 drives, 8GB RAM and I will propably ugrade with a graphicscard in the future.

Ok, IÂ´ll go read that PSU article now and see how overkill I went on the PSU. I payed 40Euro for the used Seasonic PSU.

I don't think you're going to hit even 200W without a discrete graphics card. But I'll leave estimates to someone else. That seasonic deal was still ok, but not a good deal imo, when you can get quieter, brand spanking new Enermax Pro82+ 385W for 62â‚¬.

eit412 wrote:Would it be possible to have the computer in an adjacent room, where the noise of the computer may be less critical, and have the input and output cables run through the wall? It might be a lots less trouble.

And lots less fun...

maalitehdas · Post by **maalitehdas** » Thu May 29, 2008 6:49 am

I builded a no cost totally silent system this way:

I moved the noisy computer to another room, drilled holes to the wall for screen, keyboard, mouse, speakers and DVD and stuffed the holes with some foam. If you have some empty room / closet next to your desk, that's the cheapest way.

Only problem i had was that the room i putted the computer in was a big closet for clothes, and despite the filters my computer got a lot of dust in few weeks. I ended up moving the fans in the computer only to the intakes to make it a positive pressured case with filters in both intakes and exhaust holes. That helped a lot. System was there for 4 years, and walking into another room to put the power on was compared to a watching TV without a remote control. (I could have used some other wakeup option too)

Cistron · Post by **Cistron** » Thu May 29, 2008 9:35 am

maalitehdas wrote:I moved the noisy computer to another room, drilled holes to the wall for screen, keyboard, mouse, speakers and DVD and stuffed the holes with some foam.

You have a DVD slot in your wall?

maalitehdas · Post by **maalitehdas** » Thu May 29, 2008 1:20 pm

Cistron wrote:
maalitehdas wrote:I moved the noisy computer to another room, drilled holes to the wall for screen, keyboard, mouse, speakers and DVD and stuffed the holes with some foam.
You have a DVD slot in your wall?

Only long cables

I could have set up a slot there, now that you say it, it would have been nicer.