subject: What is a Silent PC? - You should need to know [print this page] What is a Silent PC? - You should need to know
We have recent seen an enormous increase of interest in noiseless computers, and other kind of low-noise information technology equipments. Noiseless information technology has recent years also become business.
As lot of PC's make a significant amount of noise when they are turned on. The hard disk makes the case shudder, the processor and power fan constantly emit a fuzzy roaring. Many users are annoyed by their noisy machines, and seek solutions for to make them comfort. So for customer's comfort not only many new system units, dataprojectors and printers are built and marketed as quiet, but a new market for silent and quiet computer parts has evolved.
With the rise in popularity of home theater PCs and, the custom-built Silent PC is growing in popularity. Silent PCs use a combination of sound dampening cases, strong passive cooling and proper airflow to cool components that would otherwise need loud, bulky fans to cool them. Heat buildup is the primary concern when building a Silent PC, and oftentimes the trickiest part is balancing noise output with heat outputs
Making a computer silent however, will mean you need a fanless power supply, and low power CPU and no hard drive. Yes that's right, no hard drive. A silent power supply, means either buying a PSU without a fan. No fan means that no air is being drawn through the case, cooling the inside of the computer and no air is cooling the power supply itself. A low power CPU that can be passively cooled with a heatsink, or via heat pipes that transfer the heat to the computer case. Buy a PC processor (CPU) that generates as little heat as possible. Then you might be able to cool the chip only by using a heat sink, instead of both a heat sink and a fan. You will at least be able to cool the processor with a slower running and quieter fan if it generates less heat.
Choose a 3D graphics card that doesn't need its own fan to keep cool, unless you aren't an extreme game player and need the fastest of the fastest cards: Then your only silent option is water cooling. A virtual disk of ram memory can make it possible to avoid a local hard disk, or shut down a noisy hard disk; at least for some time.
Some motherboards (main boards) these days have built in support for temperature measuring and fan shutting off when not needed. Some of them even have built in fan speed regulating according to need, and these are the ones to look for when choosing a motherboard for a Silent PC. Folded fin heat sinks are commonly regarded having better cooling properties than the cheaper and today most often used heat sinks, the extruded ones.
