There is no such thing as silent PC

The forum for non-component-related silent pc discussions.

Moderators: NeilBlanchard, Ralf Hutter, sthayashi, Lawrence Lee

Tilltech
Posts: 86
Joined: Sat Dec 10, 2016 1:09 am

There is no such thing as silent PC

Post by Tilltech » Sun Dec 15, 2019 3:54 pm

I have come to the conclusion that this is impossible.

Case Define Mini C
MBO MSI Z370M gaming PRO AC mATX
RAM G.SKILL 16GB Trident Z DDR4 3200MHz CL16 kit.F4-3200C16D-16GTZB
CPU Intel i7 8700k
GPU ZOTAC GTX 1080 8GB GDDR5 ZT-P10800E-10S
PSU BE QUIET! Straight Power 10 600W CM
CPU cooler NOCTUA NH-D15S
SSD SAMSUNG 500GB 960 EVO M.2 PCIe 2280 MZ-V6E500BW
Case fans Silent Wing 3 PWM fans - 1 x 120mm, 2 x 140mm

This was a very expensive silent-oriented configuration, yet only when browsing and using office apps was the system actually silent.
Otherwise, the random CPU fan was loud, and any time any game is loaded, the GPU completely collapses the quiet front. All gaming was very loud.

Moving forward, the only thing I can think of is to place the PC in another room, but I'm not sure how that is possible if you want to be able to close the room doors? Also, there is the power cable, monitor cable, and peripherals cables.

Any cheap, practical ideas?

teodoro
Posts: 58
Joined: Wed Sep 19, 2018 3:40 pm

Re: There is no such thing as silent PC

Post by teodoro » Sun Dec 15, 2019 5:46 pm

You can get DisplayPort cables up to ~15 feet/4.5m pretty cheap, and you can get usb hub/extension cables at a similar length for peripherals. I wasn’t sure if audio cable extensions would work well for a head set, but speakers shouldn’t be too hard.

I wonder what tweaking you could do to your existing setup, though. My 8700k on a mugen 5 could stay below my noise floor without much trouble. Especially at stock frequency, an undervolt makes it a very manageable cpu. If you hear your cpu fan ramping up on short loads, a new fan curve can probably fix that. I don’t know what type of cooler your 1080 has, but undervolting can save a lot of power/heat and allow for quieter (but probably not silent) gpu fans.

Abula
Posts: 3662
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 12:22 pm
Location: Guatemala

Re: There is no such thing as silent PC

Post by Abula » Sun Dec 15, 2019 9:31 pm

Any chance you could share a screenshot of HWinfo or HWmonitor of you playing for a long session? im interested on seeing CPU temperature/load, GPU temperature/load, and their respective fans, as well as the Bequiet fans.

Btw i tried to find your GPU ZOTAC GTX 1080 8GB GDDR5 ZT-P10800E-10S, but i didn't find with pictures, is it blower style? maybe you could upload a pic?
place the PC in another room
Yea you can, but i personally dont have a room near that i can spare. Check Final Deployment of My New PC! - Personal Rig Update 2015 Part 5 (FINALE) and Cooling Challenges! - Personal Rig Update 2015 Part 6, he does it via Thunderbolt, but depending on your planning you might be able to do it fine with Displayport and some USB extensions.

Tilltech
Posts: 86
Joined: Sat Dec 10, 2016 1:09 am

Re: There is no such thing as silent PC

Post by Tilltech » Mon Dec 16, 2019 6:25 am

Abula wrote:Any chance you could share a screenshot of HWinfo or HWmonitor of you playing for a long session? im interested on seeing CPU temperature/load, GPU temperature/load, and their respective fans, as well as the Bequiet fans.
I often monitored the temps with that exact program. I set all the BeQuiet! fan profiles so that the CPU temp never went above 55C, and the GPU was usually around 70C.

GPU was the main noise culprit, and there was no remedy for it. All other components don't matter if the GPU isn't quiet. The case dampening doesn't matter, the fans...nothing except for GPU.

lodestar
Posts: 1683
Joined: Fri Aug 05, 2005 3:29 am
Location: UK

Re: There is no such thing as silent PC

Post by lodestar » Mon Dec 16, 2019 2:09 pm

I had a family member who went the 'PC in another room' route using long HDMI, network and USB cables through a hole in the wall to connect the PC to a large screen TV. The USB cable terminated in a USB hub positioned close to the TV set. The network cable plugged into a router that was a short distance from the TV set. It worked perfectly OK and showed that there could indeed be such as thing as a silent PC even under gaming conditions.

SometimesWarrior
Patron of SPCR
Posts: 700
Joined: Thu Mar 13, 2003 2:38 pm
Location: California, US
Contact:

Re: There is no such thing as silent PC

Post by SometimesWarrior » Mon Dec 16, 2019 3:09 pm

Tilltech wrote:I often monitored the temps with that exact program. I set all the BeQuiet! fan profiles so that the CPU temp never went above 55C, and the GPU was usually around 70C.

GPU was the main noise culprit, and there was no remedy for it. All other components don't matter if the GPU isn't quiet. The case dampening doesn't matter, the fans...nothing except for GPU.
In my experience, 55C for CPU and 70C for GPU are too low thresholds if you want a quiet air cooled PC. Any spike in CPU activity will bring the temperature above that, and no increase in fan speed can compensate: the heat simply can't conduct away from the CPU core fast enough. So it's not necessary for the fan to react to transient spikes in activity.

For example, if your CPU currently idles at 30C but jumps to 65C when you start an intensive workload (like restarting your browser :D ) then set the fan to be inaudible for temps below 70C, then quickly ramp up. It can still react to longer running loads that make the heatsink toasty.

70C for GPU is also very aggressive. If you see SPCR's build guide with a 980Ti, even the difference between a 80C limit and 85C limit is several decibels. Or if you look at TechPowerUp's reviews for cards with video cards that have "quiet mode" bios toggles, they also show you can really lower the noise by sacrificing 1-2% clock speed and 5C temperature. So I would suggest making a custom fan profile that lets the card get hotter before ramping up the fan.

Finally, your Zotac 1080 has a good heatsink, but not the best. Compare the noise and temps for other 1080 cards and you see that the best aftermarket cards can probably run several dB quieter for a given temperature. So either a card upgrade, or aftermarket GPU cooler, or some custom modifications (chop off the stock fans and use 120mm/140mm, if you're adventurous) can help.

Abula
Posts: 3662
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 12:22 pm
Location: Guatemala

Re: There is no such thing as silent PC

Post by Abula » Tue Dec 17, 2019 7:41 am

I set all the BeQuiet! fan profiles so that the CPU temp never went above 55C, and the GPU was usually around 70C.
This is your issue, as SometimesWarrior explained before, your thresholds are simply too low for a quiet pc setup, you either want a cool running pc or quiet running pc, you wont have both, at least in most of the time.

My idle threshold on my 8700k is 50C and on my 9900K 55C, this are on my setups, the with my coolers/fans/settings, where it cushions most of the spiking involved on browsing, media consumption, and light gaming, from there the fans start the curve until 100C as the maximum (never reached but its on the graph). Most of the time my fans are spinning 500-600rpms, and gaming they usually dont pass 800rpm.

In essence my starting point is your maximum point, so you are making your fans trigger 100% a lot of time, and due to how intel cpus spike with light load you are even probably creating a breathing effect that its way more noticeble than standard fan noise, let your cpu take the heat, start your fan curve at 50-55C (around 500rpms) and ramp it with the 3 other breakpoints slowly toward 100% (100C), game with it and see how it goes, remember most of us here accept running higher temps to end up with quieter pcs.

I would strongly recommend you sell your ZOTAC, get a ASUS RTX2070 Super STRIX or a PowerColor RX5700 XT Red Devil, it really helps a ton to chose a very quiet gpu, specially if you are going mid/high end.

If you are not comfortable with high temps on the cpu, consider deliding it, i have done it in 2 cpus now, 8086/8700k and i gained close to 13C drops on load, if you fear doing it yourself, there are people that do it like https://www.remiscs.com/ that will charge you a fee, but they do a lot of deliding, and he even does it livestreming so you can see the process on yours.
Last edited by Abula on Tue Dec 17, 2019 11:22 am, edited 3 times in total.

CA_Steve
Moderator
Posts: 7650
Joined: Thu Oct 06, 2005 4:36 am
Location: St. Louis, MO

Re: There is no such thing as silent PC

Post by CA_Steve » Tue Dec 17, 2019 7:44 am

Yep - this is a user induced problem :)

+1 for Someswarrior's suggestions.

nagi
Posts: 125
Joined: Tue Aug 31, 2010 6:48 pm
Location: Outside the box

Re: There is no such thing as silent PC

Post by nagi » Tue Dec 17, 2019 10:17 am

Yeah, unless you have a new 3xxxx series Ryzen 2, you can have the CPU up to 70-80 without any worry or performance loss. The Ryzen 2 is the first CPU architecture that throttles max turbo at ~75-80°C IIRC.

The 1080 has an anemic 2-fan cooler. You can try modding it with a more capable aftermarket aircooler, if one fits, or a custom watercooling loop with only the gpu in it. A single non-Ti 1080 should be low enough thermal load to have the pump and fans at quite low settings with sufficient radiator area. Of course, these are not for the faint of heart.

At the very least, set the max temp of the GPU to 80. Yeah, it won't turbo as high, but it also won't be that noisy. Remember: it's almost always tradeoff. Performance, temperature and silence: choose two.

Also, mini-ATX systems will be generally more noisy due to their size restraints. In this case, in a full-sized ATX case, you could have three intake fans and a 140mm exhaust at the back.

teodoro
Posts: 58
Joined: Wed Sep 19, 2018 3:40 pm

Re: There is no such thing as silent PC

Post by teodoro » Fri Dec 20, 2019 3:57 pm

nagi wrote:Also, mini-ATX systems will be generally more noisy due to their size restraints. In this case, in a full-sized ATX case, you could have three intake fans and a 140mm exhaust at the back.
a lot of micro atx cases, including the define c mini, are still rather large. that case in particular still allows for 3x120mm front intake (though only 120mm exhaust). I actually wonder if some of these “smaller” cases might be better since it’s a lesser volume of air within the chassis that needs to be filled/emptied

TigerUK
Posts: 30
Joined: Fri Jul 01, 2011 5:33 pm

Re: There is no such thing as silent PC

Post by TigerUK » Fri Feb 14, 2020 8:53 am

wooah, long time no post. I didn't even realise I had an account on this forum. I tried to register and it would block me saying I already have an account,

Anyways, back in the scene. Go off computr building, busy with work, business etc. Now I' want to get back into silent computing. I've moved out of the city and in the country now. It's pindrop silent out and the electric noises are audible.

I get the feeling a totally silent everyday desktop PC isn't practical, you'll need some airflow to cool components on the motherboard and the PSU will need active cooling. All the entirely passive systems I see have a external power brick and underpowered media streamking devices at best.

Abula
Posts: 3662
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 12:22 pm
Location: Guatemala

Re: There is no such thing as silent PC

Post by Abula » Fri Feb 14, 2020 9:07 am

I get the feeling a totally silent everyday desktop PC isn't practical, you'll need some airflow to cool components on the motherboard and the PSU will need active cooling. All the entirely passive systems I see have a external power brick and underpowered media streamking devices at best.
It depends on your needs, companies like HDPLEX and STREACOM offer very nice cases that will handle a low-mid end setup fine fully fanless, now if you want a 8-64 core.... then you probably need to accept some compromises, and expect a very quiet pc but probably not silent.

CA_Steve
Moderator
Posts: 7650
Joined: Thu Oct 06, 2005 4:36 am
Location: St. Louis, MO

Re: There is no such thing as silent PC

Post by CA_Steve » Fri Feb 14, 2020 3:29 pm

With semi-passive PSUs, mobos with fan stop modes, and gfx cards that only turn on fans with moderate to heavy 3D loads, even a regular case can make for a silent PC for light and 2D loads, and pretty quiet for everything else. If you need it silent for everything, then, yep, HDPlex etx are pretty awesome.

JVM
*Lifetime Patron*
Posts: 1564
Joined: Fri Nov 07, 2003 8:44 pm
Location: USA

Re: There is no such thing as silent PC

Post by JVM » Tue Jun 01, 2021 11:20 am


CA_Steve
Moderator
Posts: 7650
Joined: Thu Oct 06, 2005 4:36 am
Location: St. Louis, MO

Re: There is no such thing as silent PC

Post by CA_Steve » Wed Jun 02, 2021 7:58 am

<shrug>
I'm not in the No-fan camp. It's a limiting factor (size, heat dissipation). If you need the space of this case, it kinda means you are going to put other noisier components in it (gfx card, spinning drives). So, just go with a high mass cooler with a quiet fan that can either turn off at lower loads or run at inaudible rpm. If you don't need the space of this case, then go with HDplex or other similar heat pipe case solutions.

JVM
*Lifetime Patron*
Posts: 1564
Joined: Fri Nov 07, 2003 8:44 pm
Location: USA

Re: There is no such thing as silent PC

Post by JVM » Thu Jun 03, 2021 3:58 am

CA_Steve wrote:
Wed Jun 02, 2021 7:58 am
<shrug>
I'm not in the No-fan camp. It's a limiting factor (size, heat dissipation). If you need the space of this case, it kinda means you are going to put other noisier components in it (gfx card, spinning drives). So, just go with a high mass cooler with a quiet fan that can either turn off at lower loads or run at inaudible rpm. If you don't need the space of this case, then go with HDplex or other similar heat pipe case solutions.
I've had an old pre-built with parts bought by me and assembled by someone else. That system is over 10 years old: Intel E8400, Ninja, SSD hdd, one rear fan and in summer one 92mm front fan installed by me. Video cards ranged from early EVGA (model forgotten) to GT 1030 Passive and Soundblaster Z audio card. MB is a Gigabyte EX38. I have been having problems lately with video cards dying prematurely, so I called techs and only one would come to house. However, he would not come for my system because he said It was too old. He didn't want to be responsible for what he felt would be an eventual failure of something else because the computer was too old. Since I'm in the country where we have lots more animals than computer repairmen, and these animals would come to the house, but again, would not work on my old computer.

I don't do gaming except for playing chess on my computer Chessmaster Live. So mostly I do Internet browsing and other related work. Therefore, my present computer was serving my purpose. Now I could do what I did years ago and buy parts and give the whole thing to the animals around here, but believe me when I tell you there just isn't anyone around I trust or have confidence in to do the work.

Now that comes to why I checked in on that silent pc build linked to above. After calling and having my questions answered, and by the way, that fellow Abraham is very helpful and doesn't rush--seems very knowledgeable and courteous. The base system for i5 there in that Fanless setup should be fine for me. after all, the stock E8400 was doing fine for me. I could have upgraded to the i7 but no need that I can surmise. Anyway, I am going to use onboard audio and video, No fans, nothing in but 250GB SSD.

The case size is about same as what I have now with my Antec case. One other thing that seems worthwhile to mention is the price of that pre-built system, which to me seems quite reasonable. So, no fans to clean and that is something I really like. I look at those cases with 6-9 fans and wonder if people realize fans get dirty with dust/filth and it's a royal pain to clean.

One other thing worth mentioning, I am approaching the age of 79.

Japanese Capacitor
Posts: 360
Joined: Wed Oct 21, 2020 5:16 am
Location: Warszawa, Poland

Re: There is no such thing as silent PC

Post by Japanese Capacitor » Thu Jun 03, 2021 5:34 am

I've noticed tendency, that most of the people interested in builds like you linked above, are the ones, who recently decided to replace their 00's computers, are not well oriented in todays hardware market, so don't know, how it moved forward. They spent last ten+ years with definitely hearable or even noisy PSU, their CPU cooler with outdated fan has minimum, noticeable speed ~800 rpm, about their vintage case fans we can say something similar. And they want to go passive this time, but don't know, how things changed. Or they are people like you, who change their similarly old computer and want something like that once again.

Today you can build computer as silent as passive with all of the components and case fans always running. Nowadays case fans or these you see in components are that quiet and able to run that slow, that you won't be able to hear it having your head like 30 cm from computer. So it means, that it will be just as silent as passive build. What's more important, such silent-actively cooled build will be able to handle more heat, so faster components than passive one. You can also put this actively cooled build do closed-construction, sound-dampened case, which will move further the border of fans staying silent. Such cases are also great in terms of keeping your computer dust free due to mentioned construction and usually great dust filters. I don't know, how such would compare to open mesh case in type of Meshify without fans, but I wouldn't be surprised, if closed one did better. I have such closed case and solid top of it in two days collects more dust than interior of fully-actively cooled computer's case in one month. And I rather keep the room clean - wiping the dust from shelves once a week, hoovering and washing the floor two times.

CA_Steve
Moderator
Posts: 7650
Joined: Thu Oct 06, 2005 4:36 am
Location: St. Louis, MO

Re: There is no such thing as silent PC

Post by CA_Steve » Thu Jun 03, 2021 6:28 am

hmm. my reply didn't post.

Given your parameters, the posted PC is fine. If storage seems tight, spend another $30 and get the 500GB SSD.

Here's an alternative. If you are up to switching over to the Apple ecosystem, the new M1 based Mac Mini is pretty impressive. Fast, lower power, lower cost, tiny, very quiet. $700 with 256GB SSD. You can use your windows keyboard if it's USB and your mouse (same). Might need a video adapter cable if your monitor cable isn't HDMI. Add an $80 external Samsung T7 500GB SSD for backups and you are set (other than any special software needs). Since it's tiny, it'd be easy to take in for repair.

Here's what PC mag said about the noise levels:
In the course of testing, one big thing we noticed: Through all these benchmarks, pressing the CPU and GPU to their presumptive limits, the Mac mini was whisper quiet. Now mind you, the Mac mini (like the new M1-based MacBook Pro) does have an active cooling solution inside, unlike the fanless MacBook Air. But this writer had to stick his ear right up on the rear I/O to even get a hint of it. It didn’t rev up noticeably at even the peak of a Handbrake conversion grind, or after a series of six consecutive GPU game benchmarks. And the chassis stays remarkably cool throughout. There was no point in external thermal testing because the chassis was barely warm to the touch, anywhere on the surface, even at peak activity. That’s impressive. Not that the Mac mini is an ideal pick for a production computer gnashing away at hours-long renders, but the kind of light-use everyday work and play we simulated reveals one cool customer.

JVM
*Lifetime Patron*
Posts: 1564
Joined: Fri Nov 07, 2003 8:44 pm
Location: USA

Re: There is no such thing as silent PC

Post by JVM » Thu Jun 03, 2021 8:28 am

Japanese Capacitor wrote:
Thu Jun 03, 2021 5:34 am
I've noticed tendency, that most of the people interested in builds like you linked above, are the ones, who recently decided to replace their 00's computers, are not well oriented in todays hardware market, so don't know, how it moved forward. They spent last ten+ years with definitely hearable or even noisy PSU, their CPU cooler with outdated fan has minimum, noticeable speed ~800 rpm, about their vintage case fans we can say something similar. And they want to go passive this time, but don't know, how things changed. Or they are people like you, who change their similarly old computer and want something like that once again.

Today you can build computer as silent as passive with all of the components and case fans always running. Nowadays case fans or these you see in components are that quiet and able to run that slow, that you won't be able to hear it having your head like 30 cm from computer. So it means, that it will be just as silent as passive build. What's more important, such silent-actively cooled build will be able to handle more heat, so faster components than passive one. You can also put this actively cooled build do closed-construction, sound-dampened case, which will move further the border of fans staying silent. Such cases are also great in terms of keeping your computer dust free due to mentioned construction and usually great dust filters. I don't know, how such would compare to open mesh case in type of Meshify without fans, but I wouldn't be surprised, if closed one did better. I have such closed case and solid top of it in two days collects more dust than interior of fully-actively cooled computer's case in one month. And I rather keep the room clean - wiping the dust from shelves once a week, hoovering and washing the floor two times.
My Antec case has a dust filter in the front behind front panel. And? My fans get real dirty and hard to clean. No, I don't need fans. I'm too old to be spending time cleaning fans--got a bad back that makes it even more unpleasant. Yes, the Fractal Meshify top is, well, mesh and dust can get through--and no doubt it will get through. Whether by fans pulling in dirt/dust or by gravity, it will get in. I imagine a can of compressed air will work better in the no fan meshify case than trying to blow it off fans. I know about trying it on fans because I have tried that and the dust/dirt laughs at me.

The reason for mesh is so that hot air escapes. Now the case comes with an optional top cover that can be used instead of the mesh top. That cover is attached magnetically. One could use that cover to better protect against dust.

I don't need a high-powered computer for internet browsing, playing chess, and occasionally you-tube videos. I don't even watch 1080p on my computer monitor. I have a Sony 65 inch OLED TV that satisfies my need for 4K HDR and DolbyVision. I have an xbox x and PS5 for gaming--which I do playing baseball and football, and sometimes Tennis. My computer was fine with Intel E8400 chip and no doubt will be fine with Intel i5 chip. That's all I need.

JVM
*Lifetime Patron*
Posts: 1564
Joined: Fri Nov 07, 2003 8:44 pm
Location: USA

Re: There is no such thing as silent PC

Post by JVM » Thu Jun 03, 2021 8:31 am

Oh, and by the way, my old computer is virtually silent. I run one rear 120mm case fan at around 800 rpm and only use front 92mm fan in summer at around 720 rpm.

JVM
*Lifetime Patron*
Posts: 1564
Joined: Fri Nov 07, 2003 8:44 pm
Location: USA

Re: There is no such thing as silent PC

Post by JVM » Thu Jun 03, 2021 8:37 am

CA_Steve wrote:
Thu Jun 03, 2021 6:28 am
hmm. my reply didn't post.

Given your parameters, the posted PC is fine. If storage seems tight, spend another $30 and get the 500GB SSD.

Here's an alternative. If you are up to switching over to the Apple ecosystem, the new M1 based Mac Mini is pretty impressive. Fast, lower power, lower cost, tiny, very quiet. $700 with 256GB SSD. You can use your windows keyboard if it's USB and your mouse (same). Might need a video adapter cable if your monitor cable isn't HDMI. Add an $80 external Samsung T7 500GB SSD for backups and you are set (other than any special software needs). Since it's tiny, it'd be easy to take in for repair.

Here's what PC mag said about the noise levels:
In the course of testing, one big thing we noticed: Through all these benchmarks, pressing the CPU and GPU to their presumptive limits, the Mac mini was whisper quiet. Now mind you, the Mac mini (like the new M1-based MacBook Pro) does have an active cooling solution inside, unlike the fanless MacBook Air. But this writer had to stick his ear right up on the rear I/O to even get a hint of it. It didn’t rev up noticeably at even the peak of a Handbrake conversion grind, or after a series of six consecutive GPU game benchmarks. And the chassis stays remarkably cool throughout. There was no point in external thermal testing because the chassis was barely warm to the touch, anywhere on the surface, even at peak activity. That’s impressive. Not that the Mac mini is an ideal pick for a production computer gnashing away at hours-long renders, but the kind of light-use everyday work and play we simulated reveals one cool customer.
Believe me when I say 250GB SSD is enough. I now have 160GB SSD and it's 70% free. I am using Windows 10 Home 64 bit version.

I thought about a laptop but prefer desktop solution. I have my computer in a workstation desk with top portion for computer speakers.

CA_Steve
Moderator
Posts: 7650
Joined: Thu Oct 06, 2005 4:36 am
Location: St. Louis, MO

Re: There is no such thing as silent PC

Post by CA_Steve » Thu Jun 03, 2021 9:34 am

[quote=JVM post_id=612825 time=1622738259 user_id=2820
I thought about a laptop but prefer desktop solution. I have my computer in a workstation desk with top portion for computer speakers.
[/quote]

In case it wasn't clear, the Mac Mini is a small form factor desktop.

Japanese Capacitor
Posts: 360
Joined: Wed Oct 21, 2020 5:16 am
Location: Warszawa, Poland

Re: There is no such thing as silent PC

Post by Japanese Capacitor » Thu Jun 03, 2021 10:31 am

@JVM

As long as power of your pc fullu satisfy you, it's fine ;) My point was more to let you see, that today literally silent pc can be achieved this least obvious way and offer you way more power. I assumed, that you don't know, because of just fact, that you bought linked pc. Nowadays it's like you need potato to just browse internet, you buy yourself tiny, passive box, which probably doesn't need any maintenance at all. You need biggest power possible, but with keeping it silent, you go my way. There're also guys from Monsterlabo and similar, but it's a different and pricey story.

Looking at your age I fully understand your concerns about maintenance and it's to me obvious that your children or grandchildren should clean your computer :> You know, that feels to me the part of being lovely family member to older ones in 21th century way.

Your Antec case is quite old, so we can suspect, that dust filters also made some progress since 182's times. Some of nowadays cases, especially built up and silence-focused ones are damn well filtered, so see for yourself:
1x.jpg
2x.jpg
3x.jpg

One month without any cleaning of my computer. As a person, who got trained by budget mesh case and having now amazingly filtered one I still convert to cleaning my pc less often. In other thread Steve saying about that he does it ,,when fans start to work harder" somehow inspired me to give it a chance and from my curiosity I make a photos to compare, if every next month without cleaning will do noticeable difference. First photo I took on Monday when I was cleaning it after mentioned month, but especially for you I just photographed the fans ;) Next photo in two months :] About fans you complain the most, I have them a little longer than a year and I never really cleaned them - I just remove the dust which collects on the bottom of the frame and that's all - one move of hand.
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.

JVM
*Lifetime Patron*
Posts: 1564
Joined: Fri Nov 07, 2003 8:44 pm
Location: USA

Re: There is no such thing as silent PC

Post by JVM » Thu Jun 03, 2021 11:35 am

CA_Steve wrote:
Thu Jun 03, 2021 9:34 am
[quote=JVM post_id=612825 time=1622738259 user_id=2820
I thought about a laptop but prefer desktop solution. I have my computer in a workstation desk with top portion for computer speakers.
In case it wasn't clear, the Mac Mini is a small form factor desktop.
[/quote]

Yes, I read the article and realized that's what it was. I do prefer Intel and Firefox. I read a review on Amazon that stated an issue trying to use Firefox. I think there were some other issues. I value owner reviews more than PCmag.

JVM
*Lifetime Patron*
Posts: 1564
Joined: Fri Nov 07, 2003 8:44 pm
Location: USA

Re: There is no such thing as silent PC

Post by JVM » Thu Jun 03, 2021 11:55 am

Japanese Capacitor wrote:
Thu Jun 03, 2021 10:31 am
@JVM

As long as power of your pc fullu satisfy you, it's fine ;) My point was more to let you see, that today literally silent pc can be achieved this least obvious way and offer you way more power. I assumed, that you don't know, because of just fact, that you bought linked pc. Nowadays it's like you need potato to just browse internet, you buy yourself tiny, passive box, which probably doesn't need any maintenance at all. You need biggest power possible, but with keeping it silent, you go my way. There're also guys from Monsterlabo and similar, but it's a different and pricey story.

Looking at your age I fully understand your concerns about maintenance and it's to me obvious that your children or grandchildren should clean your computer :> You know, that feels to me the part of being lovely family member to older ones in 21th century way.

Your Antec case is quite old, so we can suspect, that dust filters also made some progress since 182's times. Some of nowadays cases, especially built up and silence-focused ones are damn well filtered, so see for yourself:

1x.jpg
2x.jpg
3x.jpg


One month without any cleaning of my computer. As a person, who got trained by budget mesh case and having now amazingly filtered one I still convert to cleaning my pc less often. In other thread Steve saying about that he does it ,,when fans start to work harder" somehow inspired me to give it a chance and from my curiosity I make a photos to compare, if every next month without cleaning will do noticeable difference. First photo I took on Monday when I was cleaning it after mentioned month, but especially for you I just photographed the fans ;) Next photo in two months :] About fans you complain the most, I have them a little longer than a year and I never really cleaned them - I just remove the dust which collects on the bottom of the frame and that's all - one move of hand.
Yes, my son should do the cleaning of computer and my daughter should clean the house and give my wife a rest. However, these nice children only do one thing, and that is ask daddy for money :wink:

I must admit to never cleaning fans every month, not even every two months, nor even every three months. I would say more like every six months!

I saw other alternatives with those much smaller mini computers but prefer a mid tower case. Why? Because I don't have to reach down too far. A monitor sits at eye level and that is where it will stay--no room for mini computer. The Antec is old, but the filter design isn't much different than today. A filter is a filter. You may be able to find a picture of that filter. I think the case is Antec Solo, Sonata or P150, probably the P150.

Anyway, the Fractal Meshify case comes with a main filter on the bottom that slides out. How about your PSU fan? Easy to clean that? The only way I could clean that fan on my Enermax would be to take the whole thing out!

CA_Steve
Moderator
Posts: 7650
Joined: Thu Oct 06, 2005 4:36 am
Location: St. Louis, MO

Re: There is no such thing as silent PC

Post by CA_Steve » Thu Jun 03, 2021 12:23 pm

JVM wrote:
Thu Jun 03, 2021 11:35 am
Yes, I read the article and realized that's what it was. I do prefer Intel and Firefox. I read a review on Amazon that stated an issue trying to use Firefox. I think there were some other issues. I value owner reviews more than PCmag.
Okydoke. I will point out some early adopter reviews on Amazon were prior to native app releases (eg: native Firefox release Dec 16, negative Amazon review on Dec 4) and the 4/5 star reviews add up to 93% with 1/2 stars only 4%.

Japanese Capacitor
Posts: 360
Joined: Wed Oct 21, 2020 5:16 am
Location: Warszawa, Poland

Re: There is no such thing as silent PC

Post by Japanese Capacitor » Thu Jun 03, 2021 2:14 pm

JVM wrote:
Thu Jun 03, 2021 11:55 am
Yes, my son should do the cleaning of computer and my daughter should clean the house and give my wife a rest. However, these nice children only do one thing, and that is ask daddy for money :wink:
It's even better. You know what to do, when they come back :]


JVM wrote:
Thu Jun 03, 2021 11:55 am
I saw other alternatives with those much smaller mini computers but prefer a mid tower case. Why? Because I don't have to reach down too far. A monitor sits at eye level and that is where it will stay--no room for mini computer. The Antec is old, but the filter design isn't much different than today. A filter is a filter. You may be able to find a picture of that filter. I think the case is Antec Solo, Sonata or P150, probably the P150.

Fine, computer needs to just do it's job and fully satisfy you. If it's like this, you got it ;)

I don't know, where from I took in my previous post P182, but Solo, Sonata and P150 are similar classics. But from my experience I can't agree that ,,filter is a filter". I've had all types of cases with rather all types of filters and know that even similarly looking ones can differ in efficiency. If you have original Meshify C case (not newest Mesify 2 Compact) as seen in the link you posted, you have all main types of filters. There's today rather niche foam-like filter on front: really efficient, the most restrictive to airflow and pain to clean - as long as you don't have fan here, you get only good things :D This case on the top has just metal mesh - it only looks like filter, but doesn't work and it's least restrictive and easy to clean with just a wipe. On the bottom you have just real filter. All I can say it's just easy to clean with hoover. These ones seems least to differ, but differ damn much. Before Define 7 I had my config and the same case fans in similarly constructed case: with closed front panel and mesh top I glued with acoustic foam, so made it solid, it had too front side intakes, but covered with the same as Fractal type of filter. On my photo you see smallest pieces of dust after not touching the case or filters for a month. Previous case had just layer of dust after two weeks and even with hoovering these filtered side intakes every week. I know it's surprising, but believe me - filters differ damn much ;)

And yes, these removable from the front bottom filters are the must :]
JVM wrote:
Thu Jun 03, 2021 11:55 am

I must admit to never cleaning fans every month, not even every two months, nor even every three months. I would say more like every six months!
Great that you started topic of these dusty fans, because now I look at my photos and see by mounts that my rear fan and one of the front ones changed place during changing the case. Thank you very much!

JVM
*Lifetime Patron*
Posts: 1564
Joined: Fri Nov 07, 2003 8:44 pm
Location: USA

Re: There is no such thing as silent PC

Post by JVM » Thu Jun 03, 2021 3:10 pm

Japanese Capacitor wrote:
Thu Jun 03, 2021 2:14 pm
JVM wrote:
Thu Jun 03, 2021 11:55 am
Yes, my son should do the cleaning of computer and my daughter should clean the house and give my wife a rest. However, these nice children only do one thing, and that is ask daddy for money :wink:
It's even better. You know what to do, when they come back :]


JVM wrote:
Thu Jun 03, 2021 11:55 am
I saw other alternatives with those much smaller mini computers but prefer a mid tower case. Why? Because I don't have to reach down too far. A monitor sits at eye level and that is where it will stay--no room for mini computer. The Antec is old, but the filter design isn't much different than today. A filter is a filter. You may be able to find a picture of that filter. I think the case is Antec Solo, Sonata or P150, probably the P150.

Fine, computer needs to just do it's job and fully satisfy you. If it's like this, you got it ;)

I don't know, where from I took in my previous post P182, but Solo, Sonata and P150 are similar classics. But from my experience I can't agree that ,,filter is a filter". I've had all types of cases with rather all types of filters and know that even similarly looking ones can differ in efficiency. If you have original Meshify C case (not newest Mesify 2 Compact) as seen in the link you posted, you have all main types of filters. There's today rather niche foam-like filter on front: really efficient, the most restrictive to airflow and pain to clean - as long as you don't have fan here, you get only good things :D This case on the top has just metal mesh - it only looks like filter, but doesn't work and it's least restrictive and easy to clean with just a wipe. On the bottom you have just real filter. All I can say it's just easy to clean with hoover. These ones seems least to differ, but differ damn much. Before Define 7 I had my config and the same case fans in similarly constructed case: with closed front panel and mesh top I glued with acoustic foam, so made it solid, it had too front side intakes, but covered with the same as Fractal type of filter. On my photo you see smallest pieces of dust after not touching the case or filters for a month. Previous case had just layer of dust after two weeks and even with hoovering these filtered side intakes every week. I know it's surprising, but believe me - filters differ damn much ;)

And yes, these removable from the front bottom filters are the must :]
JVM wrote:
Thu Jun 03, 2021 11:55 am

I must admit to never cleaning fans every month, not even every two months, nor even every three months. I would say more like every six months!
Great that you started topic of these dusty fans, because now I look at my photos and see by mounts that my rear fan and one of the front ones changed place during changing the case. Thank you very much!
Okay, so you are not fond of the Meshify C case filters. At least I won't have fans to clean! My son wants me to get an i7 11700 instead of i5 11400. He feels at my age it's better for him I get the i7. Such a nice boy. My feeling is the i7 11700 would create more heat, but how much more I don't know. I also don't know if it would make a big enough difference that the i5 would be better for this passive design. What do you think?

Japanese Capacitor
Posts: 360
Joined: Wed Oct 21, 2020 5:16 am
Location: Warszawa, Poland

Re: There is no such thing as silent PC

Post by Japanese Capacitor » Fri Jun 04, 2021 12:18 am

JVM wrote:
Thu Jun 03, 2021 3:10 pm
Okay, so you are not fond of the Meshify C case filters.
What does it mean ,,to be fond" :) ?

About 11400 vs 11700 temperatures with your cooler, I'm not sure, but I wouldn't expect noticeable difference. If I remember well i7 use to pull ~10W more during gaming, so according to what you said, most intensive scenario you would ever see. If your cooler handles nicely 11400, it should handle the same i7. There's also the thing of power limits B560 motherboards set by default and they differ much. If we talk about performance difference, we can say that these chips are just the same, but 11700 has better integrated graphics (the same one starts with 11500) and more cores and threads. So my recomendation is, if you feel the need to have stronger iGPU, i7 would give you <15% uplift or if any of your tasks benefits from higher core/thread count, i7 also make some sense, but I wouldn't care, if you don't make money with it and are happy with i5 performance. If you answered both ,,no", don't bother, because 11400 is already too much for webbrowsing computer ;)

JVM
*Lifetime Patron*
Posts: 1564
Joined: Fri Nov 07, 2003 8:44 pm
Location: USA

Re: There is no such thing as silent PC

Post by JVM » Fri Jun 04, 2021 2:36 am

Well, the MB will be Asus z590a if that has any bearing on whether or not it is i5 11400 or i7 11700. Does that have an effect on your recommendation?

Post Reply