Need to buy a very quiet PC

[RED II]

I need to get a new PC to replace my 7-year old PII 266MHz. The most important criteria I am looking for is quietness; I want it to be as quiet as possible. I plan to use my PC mainly for browsing and some digital photo and video editing, so speed is not that important. I was able to do photo editing with my old PC but not video editing. It’s getting louder and louder over the years, and I can’t stand it any longer. I am wearing earplugs as I am typing this. I need the new PC to meet the following criteria:

1. Very quiet.
2. Well under $1000, including a LCD (I can’t believe I paid almost $3000 for the old one in 97)
3. Mid tower, plenty expansion slots.
4. Has a DL DVD burner.
5. At least 512 MB Memory.

I am actually looking at this PC but not sure how quiet it is.
http://www.newegg.com/product/Product.asp?item=N82E16883102640

Thanks in advance!

[dfgasner]

if i was u i would go back to newegg and check out the user reviews down below the product.

One person said that it is pretty quite for a pc

but another said that u could build the exact box for less without the monitor but he said that the monitor really isn't that great anyway.

If i were u i'd go back and check out the reviews at the bottum of the page.

Davey

[hockey man]

First off, for your usage an intel based system would be more appropriate. For starters, this ACER (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16824009062) is $215. That is what I have and I am happy with it. Also, would you be willing to build your own? If you would that would give you more options.

[pangea33]

From what I have read, Antec is the funk when it comes to quiet cases. They're marketed as silent, but we know better than that. You'll pay more for the features like heavier panels, big fans with sealed bearings, rubber grommets to eliminate sympathetic resonance, etc. Fifty more dollars is trivial when you're spending more than a grand on a machine though. Especially if you're making a media center and are going to set it up in the home theater or listening room.

I wholeheartedly agree with the build-your-own philosophy. Its pretty simple, and fun, even for the rank amateur. If you're hunting for a super silent case from a retailer, you're looking at a specialty machine. They'll pick your nose on extra features you might not care about.

The Sonata model is the one I've specifically read a lot about. You're looking at about a hundred bucks and you can find them at NewEgg:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811129127
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811129155

The following are a couple excerpts from a review I found when googling around:

http://www.procooling.com/reviews/html/antec_sonata_case_review.php

**Antec, Inc (www.antec-inc.com) is to my knowledge the first company to release a PC enclosure that is designed and marketed to those seeking silence. Today, we will be taking a close look at that case, the Antec Sonata**

**In my opinion, the Sonata is a great case for HTPC, home or work office use, or as a fileserver out of the way. I am a little perturbed that it is so quiet though; I am having a hard time justifying watercooling now with the wife**

[RED II]

Thanks for the replies guys. Dfgasner, I did read the review, he said it’s remarkably quiet for a manufactured PC. But I don’t really know what that means. Hockey man why did you say intel based pc is more appropriate for my purpose, are they quiet than amd based pcs? Pangea, if build-it-yourself is what it takes to get a near silent PC then I’ll go for it, can you guys recommend some sites/articles showing how to build a silent PC step by step?

[poppy]

For silent pc articles and reviews, go here (http://www.silentpcreview.com/index.php).

[hockey man]

RED II, the reason Intels are more appropriate for non-gamers is a deep discussion. Saphalline is the hardware god here and as so has discussed this issue. It comes down to the architechture of the CPU. If you want to read his posts look here. (http://www.pcguide.com/vb/showthread.php?t=34050) About the building, others have posted links previously with basic videos on how to make your pc. You would have to look for them though since I don't remember were they are. It isn't as tough as you think. For starters look over this thread. (http://www.pcguide.com/vb/showthread.php?t=39018)

[saphalline]

Hockey man why did you say intel based pc is more appropriate for my purpose, are they quiet than amd based pcs?Intel has the lowest heat CPU's right now. The PentiumM reigns supreme, but that's a mobile CPU and very expensive. Otherwise there's the Celeron D, which is dirt cheap and very cool. AMD's Sempron is much more powerful than the Celeron D, but the Celeron D is cooler. If you move up the scale, you'll find at the high-end that AMD is cooler than Intel, but the temps are still higher than the value CPU's and with your low budget this point it moot.

I agree that a lower speed Celeron D system in the Antec Sonata case would be very quiet, and most importantly would fit within your budget. Based on this, keeping it quiet won't require any more work on your part if you build it yourself. If you want to add sound dampening foam and rubber washers, that's your call. But if your current PII system is really that loud, well... I'd say it's probably due to a dying PSU fan or other fan. Does the noisiness have a twinge of high-pitched torture?

[RED II]

Thank you all for you input. So looks like Celeron D is the way to go. Is it going to be adequate to do occasional video editing? How much will this system cost? If I decide to build it myself, then I want to build a stable (besides quiet) system. Is there a known formula that has been proven to be stable? As for my P II system, I have already took out the PSU fan and disconnect case fan over a year ago, I just pulled the plug on cpu fan two days ago which reduce the noise more than half. As of now it’s running with no fan at all with case wide open. I placed heat sinks on certain hot spots and sometimes use a floor fan to cool the whole thing. The remaining noise comes from boot hard drive

[NeWbiE :-)]

Dont know how late i am with this but saw it, and remembered someone mentioning something about needing a quiet PC-

Quiet PC (http://xoxide.com/quiet-pc.html)

[glyphic]

I was sort of in the same situation three months ago.

My notebook had died and I wanted to switch back to a desktop (I was done with school and didn't need the portability anymore).

My main criteria were noise and value. Here's what I ended up getting:

Case: Antec Sonata

Purchased: Fry's Electronics
Price (after tax, s/h, rebates): $79.06

Motherboard: MSI 865PE Neo3-F

Purchased: newegg.com
Price (after tax, s/h, rebates): $83.69

Processor: intel Celeron D 325J

Purchased: newegg.com
Price (after tax, s/h, rebates): $88.66

Memory: 1GB Corsair ValueSelect 184-Pin DDR SDRAM (PC 3200)

Purchased: newegg.com
Price (after tax, s/h, rebates): $90.42

Hard Drive: Seagate Barracuda 200GB (7200 RPM)

Purchased: Fry's Electronics
Price (after tax, s/h, rebates): $57.86

Graphics: ATI Radeon 7500

Purchased: 3B Tech.net
Price (after tax, s/h, rebates): $29.00

Optical Drive: NEC ND-3520A DVD-R

Purchased: newegg.com
Price (after tax, s/h, rebates): $47.29

Network Card: D-Link DWL-520

Purchased: CompUSA.com
Price (after tax, s/h, rebates): $8.65

Input Devices: Microsoft Wireless Optical Desktop Elite Keyboard w/Tilt Mouse Combo

Purchased: 3B Tech.net
Price (after tax, s/h, rebates): $53.00

Total Cost: $537.63


Do yourself a favor and buy yourself a quiet CPU fan up front. The stock fan sounds like a jet. I got the Zalman CNPS7000B-AlCu LED and the separate Socket 775 clip, which needs to be installed on the motherboard before you attach it to the case. This is about $40 extra.


So is the Sonata worth getting? Well... there are a few things that annoyed me about the case:

There are these ridges in the rear of the case where your cards go that make it difficult to actually slide the cards into place. I had to bend a few of them to get the video card in properly.

The power supply gets in the way if you want to get the 120mm Zalman 7700. By about half a centimeter. I considered bending the fins so I could use it anyway, but I wasn't sure if that was the best of ideas.

It took almost the full 12 weeks for Antec to mail my rebate check.

But the combination of the case and the Zalman CPU fan makes my new machine one of the quietest I've ever used, so I'm pretty happy about that.


As for the display, I picked up a Dell 20" LCD earlier this year for $560 when they were having one of those crazy sales through http://bensbargains.net.


So that basically pushes my total cost up to about $1100.

Good luck.

[classicsoftware]

The first thing you have to decide is if you want to build your own. If you do, it will be fun and you can save some dollars if your don't count your own time.

If you ar interested in quiet, find a dealer that sells Nexlink computers. I installed seven of them last month in a school computer lab. You cannot hear them running. You would have to contact Seneca Data and ask for a dealer in your area.

I have been selling these PC's for that last few years because they are high quailty, made in the USA. Solid metal cases decent power supplies. 300 watt when everyone else was 230-250 and now their up to 350 watt standard. They are fully customizable and the turn around is 48 hours from order to ship. A custom built pc in 48 hours. You should easily come in way under that budget for a Celeron system. They are extremely quiet......