I took another approach to making my HTPC quiet, I put the pc on a shelf in the garage, and ran 5m of cables through the roof/wall into the lounge 
What about the actual PC case itself?
Iâve been looking at PC cases, I wanted something strong and well built (what if I want to lug it around to LANs, it will need to be resilientâŚ), and the case I decided on was Cooler Masters Ammo 533, mostly as it was the only case I could find that fitted that description.
The problem I see is, well, heres a picture: http://www.trustedreviews.com/images/article/inline/2435-1274.jpg
Wonât those huge open vents just let all the sound out?
Th case design doesnât really work for me aesthetically so Iâll probably be modifying it anyway⌠But just replacing it with something solid, well I donât want to create a poor ventilation problem. (Also what should it be filled with to reduce transmission noise?)
And also speaking of increases of heat, I was wondering wouldnât foam increase heat since it 1) stops heat being transmitted out of the case (by heating the outside of the case, and then the outside of the case getting rid of this heat because the outside of the case is cooler), and 2) I thought sound was stopped by changing the energy of the soundwaves into heat?
Should additional spaces for heat to escape be made?
And also speaking of increases of heat, I was wondering wouldnât foam increase heat since it 1) stops heat being transmitted out of the case (by heating the outside of the case, and then the outside of the case getting rid of this heat because the outside of the case is cooler),
Most heat is removed by convection (air movement), not conduction or radiation in cases, so âinsulatingâ the case doesnât matter. You could make the case out of plastic rather than metal and get about the same amount of heat removal.
and 2) I thought sound was stopped by changing the energy of the soundwaves into heat?
Should additional spaces for heat to escape be made?
Your ears are very efficient at detecting sound energy. The amount of heat generated from sound is minimal.
stops heat being transmitted out of the case
Yes, it does. But conduction through the case accounts for much less than 1% of the heat dissipation in the average PC, so itâs insignificant.
changing the energy of the soundwaves into heat
Yes. But the average PC might have about 60dB worth of sound power - this equates to a massive 0.000001 watts of heat, compared to, say 60 watts from your CPU. As Fred noted, your ears are very sensitive to sound energy. 
foam is not really designed to stop the transmission of sound
True, but in a case with huge openings to allow for ventilation, control of reverberant noise is a significant factor, especially when youâve used low-noise components. Mass-loading the case panels helps if youâve got noisy components and thin case walls, but in that case mass-loading plus absorption is a better option, but still not as good as replacing with quieter components.
I understand that there are two types of sound-blocking materials:
-
dense stuff to block sound transmission
-
âeggcrate foamâ to block sound reflections
The ideal sound blocking material would have both components.
However, Iâm not a fan of mass-loading. I think itâs quite difficult to install compared to slapping some inexpensive eggcrate foam panels in with foam tape. Plus, I donât want my computer to weigh 50 pounds. I also think Bern has a good point about this being the very last line of defense-- the best solution is to reduce the source of the noise, because hiding noise is always more difficult and less effective.
Been through this journey(spent so much money on
silent pc parts) then to find at my parents home a pentium 2 compaq pc running absolute silentâŚhow did this happen? The intel
pentium cpu has heat sink rather than a fan
and the power supply has a very small wattage fan.
The only thing that makes sound was the case vibrating but putting the pc on a thick carpet totally reduced the noise. If this pc was placed inside a silent case or if the power supply was changed to quiet one you wouldnt feel anything.
My silent pc with all the silent pc parts still makes more noise than the compaq. If you get more power you get more noise. Thinking of making a thick case to cover the noise somehowâŚ
and somehow get the hot air outâŚhelp-_-
I donât think the egg crate foam is a good idea as noise reduction in itself, but what it can do is minimalize the low level vibration in the case which of course will peg back extra noise.
We have found that concentrating on a quiet PSU and fan has the results required as these cannot be muffled.
âAs such, the first order of business here is to dampen the drives --âŚWhatever you do, always avoid metal-to-metal contact between a hard drive and the case.â
Here at http://www.zedcomputers.co.uk one of our first reasons on our list for going into business was inspecting a purchased machine to find not only metal to metal but screws missing from the back panel side!! Can you believe it?? lol
Iâd love to know who makes good drive dampening kits, Iâd rather just buy something than trying to think about it, but I do have a lot of hard drives I care about!
Uhmm also Iâm curious about external systems to house HDâs, instead of a single case setup? To me a fabricated HD machine with proper airflow and designed specifically for a bunch of HDâs would be more effective for silent PCâs, reduce heat, vibrations and noise? Also your HD box could be placed further away from your PC⌠I seem limited to how far away I can put my PC from my because of A cd access and b cable length.
Hey man⌠I was wondering if you could give me advice on what I would do with a CPU that runs hot (Intel Xeons, two of them) and what sort of cases would support a server socket motherboard.
Please email me at fvercuielATgmailDOTcom
Passive cooling is the way of the future.
All those zalman and thermaltake fans and whatnot are useless compared to passsive cooling. u must get passive cooling to experience full silence. Anything less is simply intolerable.
I also have worked towards making my computer as quiet as possible and I use the Zalman Reserator as well. I used the included CPU block, and bought their VGA blocks as well. The older one came with two blocks of different sizes, so I used one on the northbridge. I bought a Seasonic S12, which was a highly recommended psu on silentpcreview. I was considering getting a harddrive enclosure, as it is noticeably the loudest component in my system, but I didnât feel like spending more money at that point. I couldâve run the system on only the fan in the psu, but I decided to keep one 120mm case fan (w/ a resistor to drop the voltage) and together w/ the psu fan, itâs adequate to keep my HDs at 46C under load. Not too much money spent, and the system is almost silent! Oh, forgot to mention the CPU is a 2.8ghz OCed to 3.2ghz. Oh and use water wetter or something similar in your watercooling loops. It drops the temps about 2 degrees and also prevents the slime from taking over your tubes. Iâm in ur toobs, gunking up ur megahurtz.
It looks like there is a âRevision Bâ of the Ninja that now supports AM2!
Also, on Scytheâs website, there is a heatsink very much like the Ninja called the "âINFINITYâ, which is a bit more expensive ($58). I would assume that it is better because of the price difference, does anyone else know?
You can get a fan controller for 29$ at newegg, you can set it to go different speeds based on different the temperature in the case. I just ordered one last week and a few fans. Most of them htpc cases are pretty small. You can keep it quiet but you also cant let if fry.
I have built many silent PCâs myself. The heat is the problem. If you follow the advise in this article you may end up building a very quiet system that seems to work fine, but itâs life may be short. Make sure your case has good airflow. 120MM fans running slow are very quite and move a lot of air, you may have to modify the case to use them effectively. Also be careful about stuffing the case with too much foam or insulation. Air inside the case dissipates heat. The more air in the case, the better off you will be. One last thing, make sure your hard drives stay cool. Hot running hard drives will have a very short life and you could lose your data.
this is a true 0db computer. no moving parts at all and a innovative ionic fan system.
you forgot to mention that most pc cases are invariably flawed by design when it comes to cooling. in order to maximize cooling manufacturers are going to have to get away from the âbeige box towerâ design and come up with something better.
I happen to own two HP DV2000T laptops, identical except for the Nvidia Go 7200 in one and Intel GMA in the other. Even set for max energy savings the Nvidia is much louder due to additional heat from the video card.
The secret to my quiet PCs starts with the case. I went with the Antec P180B case. It is an amazing value. It puts the PSU in the bottom in a separate compartment from the MOBO. It also has space for 4 HDDs in the bottom compartment with a fan that pulls air over them before passing it to the PSU. All hard drive bays use rubber grommets to isolate the drive from the case. The case itself is a strange construction that isolates noise. I canât really describe it except to say that if you tap on one of the sides, it sounds like a dull thump instead of a metal box. Also, the case comes with fans pre-installed. Each fan is a 3-speed fan. I have all of mine on the lowest setting, which is virtually silent. No problem even playing games. BTW, my biggest rig is a Core 2 Quad with 4 GB RAM and 2 HDDs, and a XTX 8800GTX. CPU is overclocked to 3.2Ghz. No problems with cooling whatsoever. Overall, I liked the case so much, that I re-built all of my 6 tower PCs with them!
I also recommend the Scythe Ninja. It is HUGE and is a bit of a pain to install, but it works! Keeps my CPUs cooler at both idle and 100%. I do use the fan that comes with it, but it is also nearly silent.