Quiet Gaming PC - What's New ??

jg1234 · Post by **jg1234** » Wed May 18, 2005 11:15 am

Hi Folks,

I have tried over the last 2 - 3 years to purchase or modify a gaming PC that would also be quiet from a few feet away.

I have had limited success and truthfully don't want to mess around with all of the modifications anymore.

So - let me begin my new research here:

1. Are there any good quiet systems that I can buy prebuilt for a total cost excluding monitor of say 1200 - 1400 ??? if so - who makes them???

2. AMD or Intel processors - does it matter for heat/quiet ???

3. It seesm to me that I have spent too much time trying to reduce the noise instead of cooling the system. I was just cheking out Ailenware PC and they mentioned how there systems are well built to keep thigns cool and quiet - I seemed to notice extra fans - maybe that 's the way to go - any thoughts on Ailenware ???

I did check around on this site but it;s tough to find details about quiet and gaming since the two are often at odds with each other - if you folks know of any good sites let me know.

Thanks - jg1234

P.S. I was considering distancing my system but this may not be good if I decide to go with an LCD monitor since signal strength is very important.

frostedflakes · Post by **frostedflakes** » Wed May 18, 2005 12:14 pm

Many products are advertised as "cool" and "quiet," but that doesn't necessarily mean they are. I doubt Alienware's products live up to these claims, otherwise every SPCR member would probably be running one.

I'd assume you were trying to build a quiet gaming PC with P4 Prescott? No wonder you're so frustrated. Processor choice can make all the difference when building a quiet PC. According to all the info I've looked over, Athlon64 90nm consumes roughly 1/3 to 1/2 the power of P4 Prescott. This means that not only will your processor run cooler, but so will your power supply, facilitating an overall quieter system.

Athlon64 90nm + Seasonic S12 should be a killer combo. nForce4 or K8T890 motherboard (K8T890 would probably dissipate less heat). Video card of your choice. You could have an excellent gaming machine and still keep the noise level to a minimum.

jg1234 · Post by **jg1234** » Wed May 18, 2005 12:24 pm

frostedflakes ( cool name by the way ! )

My project:

Dell Dimesnion 4550 ( I thought the Willamette processor would be a cool runner )

1. Quiet HD enclosure
2. Artic Cooling Heatsink/Fan for my Nvidia GeForce FX 5700
3. Took out a few of the PCI slots on the back case and repalced them with metal grates that have holes for more airflow.
4. Distanced the machine 5 feet with some extension cables.

It worked okay but when playing games the system was loud. From what I can gather my PSU may have been stressed a bit with the 5700 vidoe card - it was a 250 PSU.

Anyway - I won't a faster CPU and Graphics card - also I will need a better PSU.

frostedflakes · Post by **frostedflakes** » Wed May 18, 2005 12:50 pm

Have you ever considered building a PC? With your $1200-1400 budget, you could build a very quiet desktop PC with probably 2x or 3x the gaming performance of that FX5700 P4 Dell.

Just a few suggestions. Hopefully other members will chime in with their $0.02, as I'm not sure if these are the best parts available. All prices are from NewEgg.com.

Antec SLK3000-B - $66
Seasonic S12-380 - $84
Athlon64 3700+ "San Diego" - $349
Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 - $43
Soltek SL-K890Pro-939 - $103
2x512mb GeIL PC3200 2-2-2-5 - $189

And now I'm all researched out, lol. But I think you get the idea. So far the total is $834, which leaves you $366 to $566 for a video card, video card cooling, hard drive, and optical drive. A mid-range card like the nVidia 6600GT or it's ATI equivalent should be doable. You could also go with a lower-end processor and use that cash for a higher-end video card, such as the 6800GT (or again, it's ATI equiv.).

jg1234 · Post by **jg1234** » Wed May 18, 2005 7:43 pm

frostedflakes,

Thanks - I may build my own. I may not do that until some time next month - but I wil take a look at some of these componets.

A few questions about these ones : and is there a specific site you use to buy them??

Antec SLK3000-B - $66 ( is this a PSU ? )
Seasonic S12-380 - $84 ( what componet is this ?? )
Soltek SL-K890Pro-939 - $103 ( is this the MOBO ?? )

frostedflakes · Post by **frostedflakes** » Wed May 18, 2005 8:15 pm

The first one is a case, the Seasonic is a PSU, and the last part is the motherboard.

All the prices I listed are from NewEgg. They are cheaper on some parts, but more expensive on others. You could save a little by shopping around, I know many people are willing to spend slightly more for the convience of being able to order all their parts at one place.

Good luck!

yeha · Post by **yeha** » Wed May 18, 2005 8:55 pm

yup - the s12 380w can be found almost $20 cheaper! newegg just doesn't give me that same good feeling that it once did - prices have steadily risen to middle-of-the-pack, and the last 2 times i've ordered from them the goods came in multiple shipments/days (different origins) anyway.

if i was making a quiet budget-conscious gaming build right now (while willing to overclock), it'd be:

- abit ax8 motherboard (though i'd much rather wait for an ati+uli motherboard)
- seasonic s12 380w psu
- amd 3000+ venice cpu (overclocked and undervolted)
- thermalright xp-120 heatsink
- inwin c720t case (gets you a nice backup fortron psu just-in-case)
- 6600gt or x800xl depending on budget constraints, either one made passive with an aerocool vm-101
- 3 cooler master 120mm fans (cpu, exhaust, and 3rd fan drawing air past hdd blowing towards chipset and vm-101)
- the cheapest reputable 2x512mb kit of cas 2 ram available (g.skill, geil, mushkin, ocz, whatever)
- maxtor dm10 200 gb suspended

it wouldn't be silent, but would be very close for an extremely powerful system. everything listed could be scrounged up for about $100+$65+$140+$40+$55+$15+$110+$110 = $635 without a video card or video card cooler, but that also doesn't count the value of your time that'll be spent building and tweaking the system

whatever components end up looking good to you, it's always a good idea to post them in the forums before purchasing for a last-minute "sanity check" - i remember a couple times when i should have.

jg1234 · Post by **jg1234** » Thu May 19, 2005 5:08 am

Folks,

I really apprecaite all the info. I would not have known about some of the components unless you folks told me.

I had another question. Video Cards and Power Consumption.

My Nvidia 5700 does not have a seperte power supply conector whereas some other video cards do. If a card does not have a psu connector is it not power hungry or does it mean the PSU reads requirements from the AGP slot on the MOBO and react accordingly - because maybe the stress on the PSU is worse if it had to go through the MOBO - don't know ????

In regards to building my PC - we just moved into a new house so I will be busy for a bit.

But I would like to continue my research so I hope you folks don't mind me hanging around for a while !!!!!

Straker · Post by **Straker** » Sun May 22, 2005 1:20 pm

AGP specifies something like 25-30W max from the motherboard, so any card that could come near that will have a separate power connector.

jg1234 · Post by **jg1234** » Mon May 23, 2005 5:21 am

Thanks !!!

jamesm · Post by **jamesm** » Mon Jun 13, 2005 8:35 pm

check out http://www.monarchcomputer.com - great prices, great support, great shipping, and great availablity. highly recommend,i purchased $900 of computer components that would costed nearly $1100 at another store.

Sanderman · Post by **Sanderman** » Tue Jun 28, 2005 10:59 am

If you want a DEAD quiet gaming PC (nevermind if you are 2 feet or 2 inches away) :

AMD Venice or San Diego core CPU (I use the 3700+)
Antec Phantom power supply
Zahlman Reserator cooling the CPU and the GPU on ATI X800Xt PE card
Passively cooled Northbridge motherboard (I use an Asus A8V Deluxe)
Replace the exhaust fan(s) in your computer with undervolted Nexus
Your biggest noise source will be your hard drive (I use a Samsung with the Nutec motor isolated with a Smart Drive wrapped in gel packs)

My loudest noise is the faint hiss from my speakers and the almost inaudible high pitched whine of my LCD monitor - and I only sit about 2 feet away from the PC itself. And you won't even have to undervolt the CPU or bother with Cool n Quiet (I dont do either in order to maintain gaming performance)

Joe