Is SPCR Dead?

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whispercat
Posts: 376
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Location: Calgary, AB, Canada

Is SPCR Dead?

Post by whispercat » Mon Jan 09, 2017 11:06 am

No articles or reviews in over 6 months, almost no forum activity.

Just curious.

quest_for_silence
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Re: Is SPCR Dead?

Post by quest_for_silence » Mon Jan 09, 2017 11:25 am

There's a chance (it's dying), I guess.

nagi
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Re: Is SPCR Dead?

Post by nagi » Tue Jan 10, 2017 5:25 am

Eh, SPCR is a small community, and not advertised. Unless you are explicitly searching for ways to silence your PC, you are not even going to know about the site.

Add the fact that most young ppl (I sound old now... damn) would rather use reddit, twitter, tumblr, random video sites and the like, (all high-noise and nigh impossible to search efficiently) meaning all traditional "forums" have problems retaining user numbers, and you'll see it's not really an SPCR problem, but a global.

Maybe creating & curating an official subreddit would mean more exposure, but we would also need content for it.

flyingsherpa
*Lifetime Patron*
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Re: Is SPCR Dead?

Post by flyingsherpa » Tue Jan 10, 2017 9:39 am

I know MikeC said he recently moved houses and has had to reconstruct the anechoic chamber, among a million other things when moving to a new house. I'm hoping things pick up a bit here when he's more settled.

wayner
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Re: Is SPCR Dead?

Post by wayner » Thu Jan 12, 2017 10:24 am

I posted a similar thread - it sure looks like the site is pretty dead.

I know that I need this site less then I did in the past as noise isn't an issue for hard drives anymore as I only use them in servers where I don't care about noise. For any workstations I use SSDs. And recent CPUs have much lower TDPs so cooling them quietly isn't much of a challenge. And the integrated graphics on Intel's recent CPUs is good enough for pretty much everything other than gaming and VR so you don't need to worry about cooling a graphics card as often. I have two HTPC builds in my house that are totally solid state so totally silent using HD-Plex cases.

But I really like the reviews here of CPUs, fans, cases, etc.

I hope the site comes back to life.

Olle P
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Re: Is SPCR Dead?

Post by Olle P » Mon Jan 23, 2017 11:38 pm

wayner wrote:I know that I need this site less then I did in the past as noise isn't an issue...
But I really like the reviews here...
I hope the site comes back to life.
I totally agree with this!
Noise is pretty much no longer a problem since coolers and cooling has improved while power consumption doesn't go up.
+ The last time I actually heard an internal HDD without actively listening for it was nearly 15 years ago.
+ PSUs are more efficient and no longer come with noisy 80mm exhaust fans.
+ Even mediocre CPU coolers are fairly quiet and good enough.
+ Cases with sufficient ventilation using 12+cm fans are the norm.
+ Fan manufacturers compete to make the quietest fans.
- My latest computer noise issue was a graphics card I bought some two years ago. An ASUS Radeon R9 280 Direct Cu II. It used a bit too much power to be efficiently cooled in my (relatively) heavily dust filtered case, so while under load the fans had to run at speeds that created too much noise.
The solution was to replace the graphics card with a better one, which happened to be based on a GeForce 1060. Roughly twice the performance at half the power consumption. Now it's sufficiently quiet for me.

Reachable
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Re: Is SPCR Dead?

Post by Reachable » Tue Jan 24, 2017 11:58 am

It's still just reassuring to visit here every day.

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

Re: Is SPCR Dead?

Post by nagi » Mon Feb 06, 2017 11:09 pm

Yeah, I too jump to the forum new section and have the RSS in my feed. :)



TBH, in my last round of upgrades, I've had problems with cooling, as in cooling as silently as before. It seems pursuing margins and the process shrinks have eroded some of the achievements.

My i7-4770K was one of the first CPUs with the thermal material between the IHS and the chip, meaning even with a bigger CPU cooler, it is not kept as cool as the A8 I switched from. The newer i7s are even smaller, meaning it is even harder to extract all that heat. Maybe I should try delidding....

My GTX1080 with the same giant aftermarket Arctic cooler as my 290X has to be run at higher fan speeds (with noticeably higher fan noise) due to it artifacting at roughly 74°C. (It's OK at 71°C, but the difference is startling in sound.) The 290X had no problem like that with waaaay higher power draw and ran practically silent during gaming.

I did not replace my old, GOLD Seasonic X series 400W PSU, as Seasonic's newer Platinum versions all have a small electronic whine. I had no such problems with the gold one

With that said, SSDs are here to stay and are wonderful, and HDDs have also become steadily more quiet.

wayner
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Location: Toronto, Ontario

Re: Is SPCR Dead?

Post by wayner » Wed May 31, 2017 6:01 am

Almost four months later and still nada. I guess the site really is dead.

C'est dommage!

Riok
Posts: 28
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Location: France

Re: Is SPCR Dead?

Post by Riok » Sat Oct 07, 2017 4:39 pm

It seems like the trend for "silent pc" is going down:
https://trends.google.fr/trends/explore ... ilent%20pc

What I like in SPCR and why I hope it stays alive:
- great explanations for pc cooling basics
- proper noise reviews
- links to all good review sites directly on the noise effect page for GPUs
- silence focused community who can tell who manufactures a PSU and what fan is inside
- it's a piece of the history of silencing computers


Maybe it's not dying, it is just becoming more quiet :)

Olle P
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Re: Is SPCR Dead?

Post by Olle P » Wed Oct 11, 2017 2:39 am

Riok wrote:It seems like the trend for "silent pc" is going down...
... and so is "quiet pc", but not by much.
The interest for silent PC peaked in August 2014, while quiet PC was all fashion in September 2015.

edh
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Re: Is SPCR Dead?

Post by edh » Wed Oct 11, 2017 4:37 am

Compared to the early 2000's normal computer components have become much quieter. We no longer have 7200rpm disks running on bearings made from gravel. CPU's don't run at full speed all of the time and aren't cooled by little blocks of extruded aluminium with a 60mm fan doing 6000rpm. Graphics cards similar. Cases aren't limited to 80mm fans. Motherboards have decent fan control as standard. How many of these changes have been driven by SPCR? Is there perhaps less of a need for SPCR? I would not say SPCR is dying, to me it's more: mission accomplished.

wayner
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Location: Toronto, Ontario

Re: Is SPCR Dead?

Post by wayner » Wed Oct 11, 2017 5:54 am

That may all be true but it looks like this site is totally dead. Mike posted a short note about a movie but that is the only new content on SPCR in 14 months, at least as far as I can see.

Reachable
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Re: Is SPCR Dead?

Post by Reachable » Wed Oct 11, 2017 5:57 am

edh wrote:Compared to the early 2000's normal computer components have become much quieter. We no longer have 7200rpm disks running on bearings made from gravel. CPU's don't run at full speed all of the time and aren't cooled by little blocks of extruded aluminium with a 60mm fan doing 6000rpm. Graphics cards similar. Cases aren't limited to 80mm fans. Motherboards have decent fan control as standard. How many of these changes have been driven by SPCR? Is there perhaps less of a need for SPCR? I would not say SPCR is dying, to me it's more: mission accomplished.
Expressed so well. But, keep guarding the citadel, because you can never be sure that it might not again be under siege.

CA_Steve
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Re: Is SPCR Dead?

Post by CA_Steve » Wed Oct 11, 2017 10:40 am

Articles may have gone on indefinate hiatus, but the forums are still used and active.

Olle P
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Re: Is SPCR Dead?

Post by Olle P » Thu Oct 12, 2017 2:44 am

edh wrote:... normal computer components have become much quieter. ... mission accomplished.
I'd both agree and disagree.
* Today it's almost difficult to build a seriously noisy computer (>50 dB(A) at 1m distance) if you pick the parts randomly, so things are "quiet".
* There's still a bit to go for those that require <20 dB(A), and that's where SPCR come into play. It's easier to do those builds now, and more parts to choose from, but you still need to know what parts are good enough.

logscool
Posts: 57
Joined: Wed Jan 21, 2009 7:57 pm
Location: St.Paul, MN

Re: Is SPCR Dead?

Post by logscool » Thu Dec 14, 2017 1:01 am

In some ways it's kind of strange given the number of PC hardware products on the market today that are designed for silence. Look at how many more cases there are that at least acknowledge trying to be quiet. The number of "quiet" fans and heatsinks has exploded and graphics cards that have fans that shut off at idle are common. Is this a reason for SPCR to go away or does it just give this community even more great things to look into? Seems almost strange that the community is dying as the industry is just starting to take off.

Olle P
Posts: 711
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Location: Sweden

Re: Is SPCR Dead?

Post by Olle P » Thu Dec 14, 2017 2:11 am

logscool wrote:... Is this a reason for SPCR to go away or does it just give this community even more great things to look into? ...
I'd say "Neither" because I differentiate between SPCR and its community.
There's a heap of products that I'd love Mike C to test in depth, like his previous tests, so SPCR should by no means go away because of this.
Unfortunately testing by Mike seems not to be possible any time soon (mostly for private reasons) and "the community" doesn't have the means to do objective product tests that can (easily) be compared to each other.
logscool wrote:...Seems almost strange that the community is dying as the industry is just starting to take off.
To me it seems like a) most users (including myself) consider what they have to be "good enough" and b) if they're not they look elsewhere (mostly Facebook) for support.
That's why this community isn't growing any more.

Riok
Posts: 28
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Location: France

Re: Is SPCR Dead?

Post by Riok » Mon Jan 08, 2018 5:38 am

Image
Olle P wrote:
Riok wrote:It seems like the trend for "silent pc" is going down...
... and so is "quiet pc", but not by much.
The interest for silent PC peaked in August 2014, while quiet PC was all fashion in September 2015.
I see you're from Sweden. It's interesting such a cold country keeps a steady interest for "gpu temp". There was a peak in december 2013 and a the first google result for december is that toms's hardware forum thread:
"Good GPU temperature for my video card?"
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/answers/i ... -card.html

It's surprising that video cards draw much more power than the cpus and yet are not allowed even similar size coolers. It's equally surprising that case fans cannot be driven by the GPU temp for GPU intensive applications. Nothing really changed since the 80s :(

Olle P
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Re: Is SPCR Dead?

Post by Olle P » Mon Jan 08, 2018 6:51 am

Riok wrote:I see you're from Sweden. It's interesting such a cold country keeps a steady interest for "gpu temp". ...
Reminds me of a class mate who went to study in Edingburgh for a year. He noticed how much colder it was in Scotland than in Sweden.
When he complained about the cold they were amused given that it's supposed to be much colder in Sweden.
His reply was very logical: In Sweden it's cold outdoors, in Britain it's cold inside the houses!
The GPU temps are worriesome with a cozy room temperature...
Riok wrote:... It's surprising that video cards draw much more power than the cpus and yet are not allowed even similar size coolers. It's equally surprising that case fans cannot be driven by the GPU temp for GPU intensive applications.
At least the water cooling blocks for graphics are bigger than those for CPUs.
I do agree that contolling the case fans based on GPU temp would be nice. (Even better: Max of GPU/CPU!

Gunbuster
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Location: Scotland, UK

Re: Is SPCR Dead?

Post by Gunbuster » Mon Jan 08, 2018 7:31 am

Olle P wrote:His reply was very logical: In Sweden it's cold outdoors, in Britain it's cold inside the houses!
The GPU temps are worriesome with a cozy room temperature...
This is typical of the UK more people die of exposure in the UK than Sweden as well, we don't really take the cold seriously enough.
Riok wrote:... It's surprising that video cards draw much more power than the cpus and yet are not allowed even similar size coolers. It's equally surprising that case fans cannot be driven by the GPU temp for GPU intensive applications.
I recently got a new motherboard, it has temp sensors on both of the PCIE connectors and two temp probes you can attach to cards. Not perfect.

What they are also doing on some GPUs is putting fan headers on the cards themselves. Asus and Sapphire both have models with that option.

Riok
Posts: 28
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Location: France

Re: Is SPCR Dead?

Post by Riok » Mon Jan 08, 2018 11:46 am

Gunbuster wrote: I recently got a new motherboard, it has temp sensors on both of the PCIE connectors and two temp probes you can attach to cards. Not perfect.
Which motherboard has two temp probes ?

Gunbuster
Posts: 98
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Re: Is SPCR Dead?

Post by Gunbuster » Tue Jan 09, 2018 2:46 am

Riok wrote:
Gunbuster wrote: I recently got a new motherboard, it has temp sensors on both of the PCIE connectors and two temp probes you can attach to cards. Not perfect.
Which motherboard has two temp probes ?
This one http://www.gigabyte.us/Motherboard/GA-A ... -rev-10#kf

Riok
Posts: 28
Joined: Sat Oct 07, 2017 4:01 pm
Location: France

Re: Is SPCR Dead?

Post by Riok » Tue Jan 09, 2018 3:10 am

Gunbuster wrote:
Riok wrote:
Gunbuster wrote: I recently got a new motherboard, it has temp sensors on both of the PCIE connectors and two temp probes you can attach to cards. Not perfect.
Which motherboard has two temp probes ?
This one http://www.gigabyte.us/Motherboard/GA-A ... -rev-10#kf
Impressive. Can you drive the fans with thoose sensors in the BIOS ? It's not possible on ASUS (H170 Pro gaming), one needs to use the AiSuite software for that. That's very sad.

Why this board isn't not perfect for you ?

Gunbuster
Posts: 98
Joined: Sat Jun 21, 2003 12:27 am
Location: Scotland, UK

Re: Is SPCR Dead?

Post by Gunbuster » Tue Jan 09, 2018 3:26 am

Riok wrote:Why this board isn't not perfect for you ?
Yes you can drive each fan indpendantly based on each sensor, either the built in ones in the GPU slots, or those sensors. Its not quite as a good as a direct feed from GPU itself. You can also assign each fan its own curve, handy as the temps you would get from one sensor might not relate well to another, all from the UEFI. I would have liked the ability to stop fans, like the X399 boards, but nothing is perfect. UEFI is the correct option as the windows software by Gigabyte is pretty dodgy. Thankfully you can do almost everything as well in the UEFI as in Windows.

I also experienced electrical buzzing using the RGBW header (even in RGB mode) and had to use the 2nd RGB only header as the strip was fine. I guess its a good sign at idle that you can hear a strip buzzing over the system running.

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