BluePlum

oooo be my boy frind i want a computer! ( i meant that as a joke and in a complelty non gay way, Not that theres anything wrong with that. )

TheBOSS

Nice job, how quiet is the PC? can you even hear it's on?

fortyways

TL;DR the computer is inaudible in normal ambient conditions.


It's in the central room of a one-bedroom apartment, so it's hard to get no ambient noise.

The Zalman at 600 RPM and the exhaust fan are inaudible at all times from 6 inches away or more, as is the 5400 RPM Western Digital drive.

The PSU fan tends to ramp up during use. If there's nothing else going on in the apartment - the other computer is off, the fridge is off, no music or audio playing, the air conditioner/heater is off, it can be heard up to 5 feet away or so.

I'm toying with the idea of replacing it with an 80mm Noctua fan but probably won't do it. The above situation is very rare, I'm always playing music, fridge is always on, air conditioner is always on.

Moreover, it'd void the warranty and increase the total price of the PSU by over 50%. I also enjoy the idea of the entire build costing under 300 dollars.

Archangel

the only thing I really dont like about that pc is the load of Zalman stickers on the front, I mean, why?

just ut of curiosity, what temp is the hdd running at?

__________________
Newton is dead, Einstein is dead, I don't feel very well either

Xfire - Mirrari
Intel Q6600 ( @3.6GHz)
Asus Triton 79 Amazing 549/3200
4x 1Gb Corsair XMS2 DDR800
Asus Maximus Formula
Asus & Sapphire HD3870 512Mb ( 850/1180 )
Corsair HX620W PSU

fortyways

She likes the Zalman. She wants a row of 6 running down each side (those are the only spots on the case smooth enough for stickers, the rest is bumpy) but I only had 5.

Laptop drives need no cooling and are intended to actually be enclosed and receive almost no airflow. It never gets above room temperature, 22C last time I checked.

Kornowski

Looks great!

The best way of getting silent lighting, get some cathodes!

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imsati

Mmm...I love the Elite series. Yes, cathodes add a nice touch - much more 'even' distribution than fan LEDs. Next order I do, I'm going to add a set of blue ones to tuck inside my front panel sh they glow through the mesh.

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--Jay
Gigabyte EP31-DS3L | E4500 | Masscool HSF paired with AS-5
Dual 81920 MB SATA | e-GeForce 7100 GS | CM Elite 330 (gorgeous!)
Triple Boot: Ubuntu 7.10/XP Home/Kubuntu 7.10

Uninstalling USB drivers will TRASH your Windows Install :)
http://www.computerforum.com/114761-...tml#post922619

Drugs don't make us stupid; PC_eye makes us stupid
http://www.computerforum.com/136083-boot-loader.html

dougland

is the laptop HDD more quiet than a normal desktop HDD is that why you used it?

diduknowthat

It's quieter because it runs at 5400rpm instead of 7200 or 10k rpm. However it is also a bit slower.

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Silent Mini-Rig
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600
4GB G.Skill DDR2 800 Memory | 400GB WD SATA HD
eVGA 8800GT 512mb Graphics Card
X-Fi Xtrememusic Sound Card
Asus Combo ATSC TV Tuner
Scythe Ninja | AC Accelero S1 Passive heatsink
Cooler Master Elite 340 mATX Case

fortyways

I heard something about cathodes using a lot of energy. The PSU in there is 380W, do you think that might be a problem?

It's definitely more quiet, but 7200 RPM drives don't make a lot of noise anyway. The noise comes from the vibrations reverberating in the case which is cured by suspending the drive.

I got it because it was $50, though. Normally laptop drives are $1/gb and desktops $1/5gb. There are no ~100gb desktop drives available anymore so this was simply the cheapest I could find.