Zap's Silent Computing Overview
I've been seeing more and more "how can I make my rig silent" threads, so I've been wanting to write something like this. A lot of people have misconceptions about this topic, thinking it as simple as just getting a fanless PSU and passive CPU cooler. It is both that easy, yet not that simple. Let me start by defining and clarifying a few things, and then give some generic advice.
silent = no noise
The only "silent" computer is one that is unplugged. Even if you unplug all the fans and use SSDs, some component in your PSU or motherboard will buzz just from electricity passing through it. Heck, sometimes even a computer which is powered down but still plugged in makes slight electrical buzzing noises.
quiet = not noisy
There is "silent" (lack of sound) and "quiet" (not noisy). Most of the time people just want a quieter rig when they ask "how can I make my rig silent?"
inaudible = cannot hear it
"If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?" Does it matter whether or not your computer makes noise, if you don't hear that noise? Is it the fact that you can hear your rig that bothers you, or the fact that you know your rig makes sound which bothers you? If it is the former, there is hope. If it is the latter, then you have OCD issues that are beyond the scope of this guide.
Not creating sound works better than trying to block or absorb sound.
You can't just take a super noisy rig, slap sound absorption/dampening panels all over it and expect it to be quiet. Well, you could but the results would never be that great. It would be like spending $20k on making your $20k Civic faster, versus just buying a $40 car to begin with. The best thing to do is to choose parts for your rig with "quiet" in mind. For starters, less heat produced = less cooling required = less noise made. This means keeping your goals in mind when making your purchasing decisions, instead of buying something and then trying to figure out how to make it more quiet.
Less heat produced = less cooling required = less noise produced
This goes hand in hand with choosing the proper parts for your rig. This means choosing the lower TDP processor, or going a step down in GPU. For instance using some current hardware as examples, a GeForce GTX 570 uses a lot more power and creates a lot more heat under load than a GeForce GTX 560 Ti. With CPUs, socket 1155 tend to use less power and create less heat overall for the amount of performance you get, versus socket 2011 and socket AM3. With overclocking for instance, even if your Core i5-2500K can hit a wonderful 4.7GHz with total stability, you may want to aim a few hundred MHz lower to try for the lowest voltage offset needed. Make that sacrifice. Your "reward" will be lower noise.
Stop obsessing about temperatures.
Modern CPUs will automatically throttle to protect themselves from overheating. Combine that with the fact that they are designed to operate properly even at really high temperatures. If you understand that the CPU can handle higher temperatures, you will find out that you can get by with less airflow, and thus less noise. Same thing with modern GPUs.
Stability/torture testing is not realistic
Of course you want your overclock (or stock speeds) to be stable, but unless you are running some kind of application that nails your CPU (or GPU) at 100% utilization for long periods of time, you do not need to make sure your CPU stays cool in those conditions. A CPU that can hit 85°C under torture testing may never get above 60°C in everyday use. What you want to do for lower noise is to allow the CPU to hit higher temperatures under normal use.
How to make your current rig more quiet
This might sound recursive (because it is) but making your existing rig quieter is a process that you have to repeat until the desired results are attained.
Step 1) Find out what is the noisiest part of your computer. This can be as simple as just listening to your computer while the side panel is off, or unplugging fans and HDDs (while in BIOS screen so Windows doesn't freak out) one at a time until you figure out which one is making all the racket. Alternately, use a stethescope to pinpoint the source of noise. It can be as simple as holding a straw to your ear, or buying a mechanic's stethescope for under $5 from Harbor Freight.
Step 2) Eliminate or reduce the noise of that noisiest part. If it is a hard drive, replace it with a newer and quieter drive or even an SSD. If a fan, undervolt it or replace it with a quieter model. If the case panels rattle, dampen them or decouple fans from the case using silicone rubber fan screws. If the CPU fan is running full speed all the time, make sure it is a PWM style fan and enable a fan profile in BIOS.
Step 3) Is your system quiet enough now? If so, you are done. If not, start back at step 1 again to find the next noisy part.
How to choose parts for a quiet rig
Here's the rocket science part. Pay attention! Note that the information on parts choice will change over time, as newer or better choices comes out and previous favorites become discontinued.
CPU - Hands down socket 1155 CPUs are the best choice. They probably have the highest performance per Watt of any current CPU. They are available from a lowly single core Celeron all the way to fast and overclockable Core i7 quads with Hyperthreading that is nearly as good as performance gets. The trick is to choose the best CPU for what you will be using the computer for. Let's be honest here. Everyone WANTS the fastest, but not everyone NEEDS the fastest. Sure, if budget allows you can get the fastest quad core CPU for that fiction called "futureproofing." However, if you don't actually need those extra cores for your tasks or your games, going with a dual core can cut heat output. Alternately, socket 2011 and socket FM1 chips can use reasonably low power, just not quite as good as socket 1155.
Overclocking CPU - While clock speeds can scale considerably, there comes a point where even though your overclock may be completely rock solid, the voltage required for that overclock starts to shoot up. If you can figure out where this point of increasing voltage lies, then just below that point is where you want to set your overclock. This may require extensive testing and playing around with negative voltage offsets, but the results will be less noise while overclocking.
CPU cooler - Strangely enough, the stock Intel coolers can be reasonably quiet. Not "inaudible quiet" but just merely pedestrian low noise. The trick is to mount the cooler properly and enabling a fan profile in BIOS. If that isn't quiet enough for you, then the next step is a physically larger aftermarket cooler which uses a copper base, at least three heatpipes and at least a 92mm fan. On the more extreme end, look for huge coolers with 4+ heatpipes and supporting 120mm or larger fans. That's the simple part. More complex is choosing a cooler that works well with low airflow, because of course low airflow = low noise. What you need to look for in a cooler are fins that are spaced farther apart than normal. Now, this might sound strange because of course wider spaced fins = fewer fins = less surface area = reduced cooling, right? Right! However, tightly spaced fins also means more effort required to squeeze air between those fins, which means higher RPM fans. This is one of those tradeoffs you have to make. Examples of heatsinks with wider spaced fins are the Thermaltake HR02 (and Macho version), Scythe Ninja (any of the series) and the Zalman CNPS10X Quiet (there are also the Flex and Extreme versions with medium and tighter fin spacings respectively). These aren't the only ones on the market with wider spaced fins, but just the ones that comes immediately to mind.
Water cooling - This is not the magic bullet for quiet. Sure, it can make a horrendously noisy and super duper overclocked rig sound reasonably quiet, but understand that the pump still makes noise and you still need fans on the radiator. Radiators also are usually tuned for performance and thus have closely spaced elements requiring more airflow. Additionally, your computer may still need some fans becase some parts still rely on airflow, such as your RAM, motherboard chipset or VRMs.
Graphics cards - Read reviews to find out cards which use less power. Since most cards these days will throttle down in idle conditions, look at load power draw. The lowest you can get away with for performance acceptable to you is where you should aim. Avoid running multiple cards! If you must have extra performance, get the faster single card instead of two slower cards.
Graphics card cooling - Most people stick with stock cooling, so this is what my commentary will cover. Look for cards that use axial fans. Axial fans are like your typical case fan. They are quieter than blowers, AKA "squirrel cage" fans. As with CPU fans, bigger diameter = quieter. Also, multiple fans on one card can sometimes be quieter overall versus one fan due to increased cooling requiring lower fan RPMs. Note that while many people favor coolers that exhaust out the rear of the case, those almost always use blower fans and are noisier and don't run as cool or quiet. The only thing that benefits from rear exhaust is your interior case temperature, but you sacrifice noise and GPU temperature.
Drives - Not much can be done about optical drives, but those aren't used very much these days. Of course SSDs are preferred over HDDs since they are usually inaudible (outside a few random complaints about electrical noise). Since HDDs are still in use due to giving more gigs per dollar, let's talk about this. It is pretty simple, actually. Older hard drives are noisier than newer ones, more hard drives are noisier than fewer in the same system, and faster hard drives are noisier than slower ones. The solution for older drives is to replace them with newer models. The solution for many drives is to replace them with fewer higher capacity drives (now at 4TB for a single 3.5" HDD). The solution for faster hard drives are SSDs. The point is to have as new, as few, as large and as slow a hard drive as you can get away with. For instance, ditch any Raptor drives, since the newer VelociRaptor are faster and put out a fraction of the noise. This happened from one product to the next, so was more obvious than normal 7200RPM drives which got quieter more gradually. For your system and application drive, get the largest SSD you can afford. This gives you better-than-HDD performance for essentially zero noise. Then, your data can go on large 5400RPM HDDs which are cheap, quiet and can stream HD video as well as anything else. Also, if you have multiple drives and they aren't that high in capacity, consider replacing them with fewer but higher capacity drives.
Power supply - If your case holds the PSU at the top, do not get a fanless unit. If your case holds the PSU at the bottom, then get fanless if your power usage is really low and you can afford the exhorbitant costs of a fanless PSU. Get the highest efficiency PSU you can easily afford. Always look for a PSU to have reasonable quality. The best way to do this is to read reviews which use load testers. That way you can make sure the PSU actually puts out what it claims on the label without going out of spec. Beyond that, most power supplies these days which are efficient and of reasonable quality are also reasonably quiet even with a fan. Besides, if your power supply is the noisiest part of your computer then you are making really good progress in making your rig quiet.
Case - You always want airflow, but for the sake of quiet you don't want too much airflow. Sounds confusing? Not really. It simply comes down to three things. First, more airflow = more noise, so you want just barely enough airflow to keep your components from cooking themselves, which can take higher temperatures than most people expect. Second, more fans = more noise. Third, nose becomes attenuated (less loud) if it is unable to travel in a straight line. This is why typical "gaming" cases are so terrible for a quiet system, because you have all those open fan grills with fans that you can see. This is also why "quiet" cases such as various Antec and Fractal Design offerings don't have open fan grills in front, but hides the fan and only allows airflow through vents along the edge of the front panel.
Additional notes
Distance and placement reduces noise. For instance if you are testing the computer on top of a table and it sounds noisy, it may be quieter once placed at your desk if you put it on the far side, or under the desk.
If you are the type that MUST have your computer running 24/7 and you find it too noisy when you are trying to sleep but fine otherwise, then consider placing the computer in another room. Alternately, see if it is quieter under your bed or inside a closet with extension cables to your desk.
Disclaimers
Feel free to disagree or make suggestions. My skin is thick enough, though some may call it subcutaneous fat. Understand that I'm not just pulling opinions from my nether regions, but have had extensive experience with "silencing" computers. Indeed I'm a recovering "silent freak." Reading every article at Silent PC Review and participating in forums over there? Check. Passive CPU & GPU cooling? Check. Fanless PSUs? Check. Suspending HDDs? Check. Tinnitus louder than computer? Check. Basically I'm not just some guy who discovered that a fan controller can make my wind tunnel computer suddenly "silent."
© 2012
I've been seeing more and more "how can I make my rig silent" threads, so I've been wanting to write something like this. A lot of people have misconceptions about this topic, thinking it as simple as just getting a fanless PSU and passive CPU cooler. It is both that easy, yet not that simple. Let me start by defining and clarifying a few things, and then give some generic advice.
silent = no noise
The only "silent" computer is one that is unplugged. Even if you unplug all the fans and use SSDs, some component in your PSU or motherboard will buzz just from electricity passing through it. Heck, sometimes even a computer which is powered down but still plugged in makes slight electrical buzzing noises.
quiet = not noisy
There is "silent" (lack of sound) and "quiet" (not noisy). Most of the time people just want a quieter rig when they ask "how can I make my rig silent?"
inaudible = cannot hear it
"If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?" Does it matter whether or not your computer makes noise, if you don't hear that noise? Is it the fact that you can hear your rig that bothers you, or the fact that you know your rig makes sound which bothers you? If it is the former, there is hope. If it is the latter, then you have OCD issues that are beyond the scope of this guide.
Not creating sound works better than trying to block or absorb sound.
You can't just take a super noisy rig, slap sound absorption/dampening panels all over it and expect it to be quiet. Well, you could but the results would never be that great. It would be like spending $20k on making your $20k Civic faster, versus just buying a $40 car to begin with. The best thing to do is to choose parts for your rig with "quiet" in mind. For starters, less heat produced = less cooling required = less noise made. This means keeping your goals in mind when making your purchasing decisions, instead of buying something and then trying to figure out how to make it more quiet.
Less heat produced = less cooling required = less noise produced
This goes hand in hand with choosing the proper parts for your rig. This means choosing the lower TDP processor, or going a step down in GPU. For instance using some current hardware as examples, a GeForce GTX 570 uses a lot more power and creates a lot more heat under load than a GeForce GTX 560 Ti. With CPUs, socket 1155 tend to use less power and create less heat overall for the amount of performance you get, versus socket 2011 and socket AM3. With overclocking for instance, even if your Core i5-2500K can hit a wonderful 4.7GHz with total stability, you may want to aim a few hundred MHz lower to try for the lowest voltage offset needed. Make that sacrifice. Your "reward" will be lower noise.
Stop obsessing about temperatures.
Modern CPUs will automatically throttle to protect themselves from overheating. Combine that with the fact that they are designed to operate properly even at really high temperatures. If you understand that the CPU can handle higher temperatures, you will find out that you can get by with less airflow, and thus less noise. Same thing with modern GPUs.
Stability/torture testing is not realistic
Of course you want your overclock (or stock speeds) to be stable, but unless you are running some kind of application that nails your CPU (or GPU) at 100% utilization for long periods of time, you do not need to make sure your CPU stays cool in those conditions. A CPU that can hit 85°C under torture testing may never get above 60°C in everyday use. What you want to do for lower noise is to allow the CPU to hit higher temperatures under normal use.
How to make your current rig more quiet
This might sound recursive (because it is) but making your existing rig quieter is a process that you have to repeat until the desired results are attained.
Step 1) Find out what is the noisiest part of your computer. This can be as simple as just listening to your computer while the side panel is off, or unplugging fans and HDDs (while in BIOS screen so Windows doesn't freak out) one at a time until you figure out which one is making all the racket. Alternately, use a stethescope to pinpoint the source of noise. It can be as simple as holding a straw to your ear, or buying a mechanic's stethescope for under $5 from Harbor Freight.
Step 2) Eliminate or reduce the noise of that noisiest part. If it is a hard drive, replace it with a newer and quieter drive or even an SSD. If a fan, undervolt it or replace it with a quieter model. If the case panels rattle, dampen them or decouple fans from the case using silicone rubber fan screws. If the CPU fan is running full speed all the time, make sure it is a PWM style fan and enable a fan profile in BIOS.
Step 3) Is your system quiet enough now? If so, you are done. If not, start back at step 1 again to find the next noisy part.
How to choose parts for a quiet rig
Here's the rocket science part. Pay attention! Note that the information on parts choice will change over time, as newer or better choices comes out and previous favorites become discontinued.
CPU - Hands down socket 1155 CPUs are the best choice. They probably have the highest performance per Watt of any current CPU. They are available from a lowly single core Celeron all the way to fast and overclockable Core i7 quads with Hyperthreading that is nearly as good as performance gets. The trick is to choose the best CPU for what you will be using the computer for. Let's be honest here. Everyone WANTS the fastest, but not everyone NEEDS the fastest. Sure, if budget allows you can get the fastest quad core CPU for that fiction called "futureproofing." However, if you don't actually need those extra cores for your tasks or your games, going with a dual core can cut heat output. Alternately, socket 2011 and socket FM1 chips can use reasonably low power, just not quite as good as socket 1155.
Overclocking CPU - While clock speeds can scale considerably, there comes a point where even though your overclock may be completely rock solid, the voltage required for that overclock starts to shoot up. If you can figure out where this point of increasing voltage lies, then just below that point is where you want to set your overclock. This may require extensive testing and playing around with negative voltage offsets, but the results will be less noise while overclocking.
CPU cooler - Strangely enough, the stock Intel coolers can be reasonably quiet. Not "inaudible quiet" but just merely pedestrian low noise. The trick is to mount the cooler properly and enabling a fan profile in BIOS. If that isn't quiet enough for you, then the next step is a physically larger aftermarket cooler which uses a copper base, at least three heatpipes and at least a 92mm fan. On the more extreme end, look for huge coolers with 4+ heatpipes and supporting 120mm or larger fans. That's the simple part. More complex is choosing a cooler that works well with low airflow, because of course low airflow = low noise. What you need to look for in a cooler are fins that are spaced farther apart than normal. Now, this might sound strange because of course wider spaced fins = fewer fins = less surface area = reduced cooling, right? Right! However, tightly spaced fins also means more effort required to squeeze air between those fins, which means higher RPM fans. This is one of those tradeoffs you have to make. Examples of heatsinks with wider spaced fins are the Thermaltake HR02 (and Macho version), Scythe Ninja (any of the series) and the Zalman CNPS10X Quiet (there are also the Flex and Extreme versions with medium and tighter fin spacings respectively). These aren't the only ones on the market with wider spaced fins, but just the ones that comes immediately to mind.
Water cooling - This is not the magic bullet for quiet. Sure, it can make a horrendously noisy and super duper overclocked rig sound reasonably quiet, but understand that the pump still makes noise and you still need fans on the radiator. Radiators also are usually tuned for performance and thus have closely spaced elements requiring more airflow. Additionally, your computer may still need some fans becase some parts still rely on airflow, such as your RAM, motherboard chipset or VRMs.
Graphics cards - Read reviews to find out cards which use less power. Since most cards these days will throttle down in idle conditions, look at load power draw. The lowest you can get away with for performance acceptable to you is where you should aim. Avoid running multiple cards! If you must have extra performance, get the faster single card instead of two slower cards.
Graphics card cooling - Most people stick with stock cooling, so this is what my commentary will cover. Look for cards that use axial fans. Axial fans are like your typical case fan. They are quieter than blowers, AKA "squirrel cage" fans. As with CPU fans, bigger diameter = quieter. Also, multiple fans on one card can sometimes be quieter overall versus one fan due to increased cooling requiring lower fan RPMs. Note that while many people favor coolers that exhaust out the rear of the case, those almost always use blower fans and are noisier and don't run as cool or quiet. The only thing that benefits from rear exhaust is your interior case temperature, but you sacrifice noise and GPU temperature.
Drives - Not much can be done about optical drives, but those aren't used very much these days. Of course SSDs are preferred over HDDs since they are usually inaudible (outside a few random complaints about electrical noise). Since HDDs are still in use due to giving more gigs per dollar, let's talk about this. It is pretty simple, actually. Older hard drives are noisier than newer ones, more hard drives are noisier than fewer in the same system, and faster hard drives are noisier than slower ones. The solution for older drives is to replace them with newer models. The solution for many drives is to replace them with fewer higher capacity drives (now at 4TB for a single 3.5" HDD). The solution for faster hard drives are SSDs. The point is to have as new, as few, as large and as slow a hard drive as you can get away with. For instance, ditch any Raptor drives, since the newer VelociRaptor are faster and put out a fraction of the noise. This happened from one product to the next, so was more obvious than normal 7200RPM drives which got quieter more gradually. For your system and application drive, get the largest SSD you can afford. This gives you better-than-HDD performance for essentially zero noise. Then, your data can go on large 5400RPM HDDs which are cheap, quiet and can stream HD video as well as anything else. Also, if you have multiple drives and they aren't that high in capacity, consider replacing them with fewer but higher capacity drives.
Power supply - If your case holds the PSU at the top, do not get a fanless unit. If your case holds the PSU at the bottom, then get fanless if your power usage is really low and you can afford the exhorbitant costs of a fanless PSU. Get the highest efficiency PSU you can easily afford. Always look for a PSU to have reasonable quality. The best way to do this is to read reviews which use load testers. That way you can make sure the PSU actually puts out what it claims on the label without going out of spec. Beyond that, most power supplies these days which are efficient and of reasonable quality are also reasonably quiet even with a fan. Besides, if your power supply is the noisiest part of your computer then you are making really good progress in making your rig quiet.
Case - You always want airflow, but for the sake of quiet you don't want too much airflow. Sounds confusing? Not really. It simply comes down to three things. First, more airflow = more noise, so you want just barely enough airflow to keep your components from cooking themselves, which can take higher temperatures than most people expect. Second, more fans = more noise. Third, nose becomes attenuated (less loud) if it is unable to travel in a straight line. This is why typical "gaming" cases are so terrible for a quiet system, because you have all those open fan grills with fans that you can see. This is also why "quiet" cases such as various Antec and Fractal Design offerings don't have open fan grills in front, but hides the fan and only allows airflow through vents along the edge of the front panel.
Additional notes
Distance and placement reduces noise. For instance if you are testing the computer on top of a table and it sounds noisy, it may be quieter once placed at your desk if you put it on the far side, or under the desk.
If you are the type that MUST have your computer running 24/7 and you find it too noisy when you are trying to sleep but fine otherwise, then consider placing the computer in another room. Alternately, see if it is quieter under your bed or inside a closet with extension cables to your desk.
Disclaimers
Feel free to disagree or make suggestions. My skin is thick enough, though some may call it subcutaneous fat. Understand that I'm not just pulling opinions from my nether regions, but have had extensive experience with "silencing" computers. Indeed I'm a recovering "silent freak." Reading every article at Silent PC Review and participating in forums over there? Check. Passive CPU & GPU cooling? Check. Fanless PSUs? Check. Suspending HDDs? Check. Tinnitus louder than computer? Check. Basically I'm not just some guy who discovered that a fan controller can make my wind tunnel computer suddenly "silent."
© 2012