HP DC7100 - very quiet standard PC
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HP DC7100 - very quiet standard PC
Hi guys, just thought I'd share this with those of you who are looking to buy a new PC and want a very quiet one off the shelf. I bought a HP Compaq DC7100 from Ebay second hand for £140 a few months ago, and was amazed at how quiet it is. I currently have it on top of my desk as a second PC, but when I first got it I had it under the desk, and as long as there was no clear line of sight between it and my ears, it was completely inaudible.
Has anybody else had similar experiences with any stock PCs?
Has anybody else had similar experiences with any stock PCs?
That's uncalled for.
Ignoring everything else, the DC7100 sports a Prescott-series processor, and cooling that quietly is not something to be dismissed at once.
dukeofthomas, thanks for the information, and enjoy the machine. Can you describe what kind of environment the machine is in? How much ambient noise is there?
Ignoring everything else, the DC7100 sports a Prescott-series processor, and cooling that quietly is not something to be dismissed at once.
dukeofthomas, thanks for the information, and enjoy the machine. Can you describe what kind of environment the machine is in? How much ambient noise is there?
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I have to confess I didn't actually understand what he was on about!qviri wrote:That's uncalled for.
I believe the DC7100 has a Pentium 4 in it, with onboard Intel graphics, and it only takes half height AGP cards so I doubt I'll ever put one in, but it plays older PC games fine (like Serious Sam). It's in my bedroom, which is pretty quiet. I use the PC for copying DVDs and surfing the internet, that's the only reason I have it on top of the desk, but when it was underneath it was pretty much impossible to hear it, and that presumably was solely because of the desk being between the PC and my ears. Anyway, I'm very pleased indeed with it, I didn't buy it because I wanted it to be silent, (I wanted something small and flat that would fit under my VCRs on the desk!) but the virtual silence is a bonus.
Ignoring everything else, the DC7100 sports a Prescott-series processor, and cooling that quietly is not something to be dismissed at once.
dukeofthomas, thanks for the information, and enjoy the machine. Can you describe what kind of environment the machine is in? How much ambient noise is there?
We have a lot of DC71/7600's at work, and they all stay very quiet even under heavy use. Its a semi-btx layout with a thermal path for the CPU. A big step in the right direction, compared to the earlier D530 SFF models, that were borderline useless at anything other than idle, with the same Pressie CPU.
Suspect the C2D shod 7700's are going to be even better.
Suspect the C2D shod 7700's are going to be even better.
from what ive seen, most buisness computers from dell and hp run really quiet. I was suprised when i opened a dell once and saw ducts to reduce the fans in the system, and to move fans further to the interior of the case so less noise gets out.
When i have to recommend cheep computers to people i know that require good tech support because they have no clue what their doing, i always just tell them to buy a dell. There cheep, quiet, reliable, and have good technical support.
When i have to recommend cheep computers to people i know that require good tech support because they have no clue what their doing, i always just tell them to buy a dell. There cheep, quiet, reliable, and have good technical support.
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Well said rp. There was a time when I really disliked some 'big name' PCs precisely because they had custom cases and were hard to upgrade, etc. but the DC7100 is quite amazingly quiet, mine is about two feet from my head, on top of my desk, and it's audible but very quiet indeed, which I wasn't expecting from it. I think Dell realise that a lot of noisy PCs in a big office adds up to a lot of background noise that nobody wants, and they've done an excellent job here. I shall look into the new model you mentioned, so when I next need to upgrade I may get one of those second hand too!