Completely silent PC

Thanks Pate pro for the temps and SPL data. Unfortunately my SPL meter doesn’t go down low enough for me to measure the PC noise.

I’ve got an i7 3930k overclocked to 4.2 all cores, with a thermalright archon SB-E X2 cooler with two Ty141 fans. It’s housed in a define r2 xl with three stock case fans. At the moment the case fans are running with the fan switch at 7volts

With a cubase project running at 75% asio, I get average core temps of 55-60c and the room temperature is currently about 20-21c

It was built by Scan back in 2013 and has been pretty much rock solid… The back case fan is starting to have bearing noise but the front two are still quiet.

I am about to replace the last remaining spinning disk in there with an SSD.

All this being said, I had heard that even an 18 core mac pro runs without it’s fans going and thus completely quiet for a majority of it’s time (dunno about under load though) and was wondering how they achieved that. Vital few provided some clue above and also, Pete Kaine of scan provided some answers on another forum.

Thanks to all for answers. Very interesting reading!

My setup is very quiet, obviously not 100% silent but barely audible. I’ve set the Q fan control to ‘Silent’ in the BIOS.
See my specs below.

My computer is in a Fractal Define R6 case, M.2 drive as system, a big heat sink for CPU, two conventional HDDs in Silentmaxx HDD Silencer cases. The ladder don’t really fit into the case, build a DIY solution to iso-mount them. Super quiet system, barely audible. As my graphic needs are modest, I’ve chosen a passive graphics card but there are many fan-cooled ones out there that are very quiet with standard load. The already very quiet external HDD I’ve connected for backups is the loudest part of it :slight_smile:

i7-7820 x on an Asus Prime X299-A, running @ 4,5 GHz permanently.

Thanks. Can I ask how many monitors you can run with your card? I’ve been looking for a quiet / passive card that can run three monitors…

Sounds like a great system!

It is. Has no heat problems at all though I disconnected the rear fan of the case, that just came to my mind… it wasn’t loud but I did want it to be silent.

It has no heat (and therefore fan noise) problems probably because the CPU is idling on 30% when my ASIO load of a project is near red :laughing:
Don’t want the possible noise but I’d be happy if a future Cubase could somehow improve that ratio!

That annoying moment when you finish your silent new build and hear a hum… The joy when you realise it’s that quiet you’ve notice a hum from a synths PSU never noticed before. The “Wait, What! that’s not coming from the PC, where’s that coming from?” A quick swap of the brick and we’re all good. At first i thought it was the speaker monitors. It really is that quiet.

My new build has 4 fans in it. 1 in the BeQuiet PSU, 2 tower and 1 CPU… Noctua. I run dual monitors off the i7’s integrated graphics, no need for the extra card, we’re not gaming. It’s silent, I can’t hear them spin, you will at full load but I’m yet to have a project to get anywhere near that.

The 2 in the tower are tiny, purely because of the flat bed design, these draw heat away from the VRM sink, above the I/O panel, a very important twist in design, the flat bed has the I/O recessed and the fans sit perfectly to match the motherboards extra heat sink.

I run two Benq GL2450 monitors, 'haven’t tried running three.
Cheers.

Got a passive cooled 2GB ZOTAC GeForce GT 730 Passiv PCIe 2.0, that runs 3 monitors on 3 different outputs (HDMI, VGA, DVI). Two monitors are 28" standard Samsung, the third is another Samsung 28" 4k.

I’ve just noticed that you’ve got a Carillon Case. I’d forgotten all about them. I remember them when they were tied to Turnkey in London but once that went under I thought Carillon went with them. Nice to be reminded. A company for the list!

Thanks that looks like a good card. What sort of resolution are you running those monitors at?

Thanks :slight_smile:

Yes indeed!

2 x 1920 x 1080, 1 x 4k (for exact resolution I have to look when home, but it’s just the highest possible for the monitor, just standard 4K). Wondered if the card would do it but it was plug and play.

However, the thing I haven’t found a solution for yet is different mouse speed/feel on screens with different solutions. A minor issue in the way I use those 3 displays.

That’s interesting. I hadn’t thought about that. I’m planning on adding a third monitor which will be a different res to the other two. Something to watch out for. Thanks

In engineering terms:
a. The less work components have to do, the less heat they will use.
b. The less components move, the less noise they are likely to make, and the less wear on bearings.

With any semiconductor-based components, transitions of state use the most heat, because they are transitioning through their analog phase, so the higher the number of transitions per unit time, the more heat they produce, requiring more cooling.

So, to put it into practical terms:
a. Over-spec the system, rather than push it to its limits, as all components will be less stressed, with less transitions compared to their heat dissipation ability.
b. Use larger, slower rotating fans, as they will generally be quieter. Around 120-140mm, 400-500 rpm or less. They will also collect less dust per area on their blades, so will be carrying less weight, leading to less stress.

Unfortunately, higher audio processing capability is at the expense of noise.

The balance is always between:
a. Performance, including minimum noise.
b. Cost.
c. Wear.

There is a sweet point, but it will always have compromises. If audio recording amateurs were as fastidious about their machine’s performance as gamers are, and willing to pay up as much, a lot of equipment discussions here would be moot. Quiet, high-performance audio costs a lot of money compared to normal computing, so get with the program and cough up!

Maybe a bit OT, but do you have the possibility to put your computer in another room? I did it a few years ago and never ever would go back. You spend a few bucks on cables, but IMHO worth every penny!

And the PC needs no noise optimisation at all, so saving some costs.

Alternatively, if it must be in the same room, or cannot be in a totally separate room, making its own baffled acoustic shroud may be the go, rather like used to be used for printers. Have to ensure adequate airflow, hence the need for baffling.

Thanks. Unfortunately not at the moment but maybe in the future :slight_smile: