Hey gang,
I've been meaning to put this up for ages, and I finally got around to it.
Here's a little expose on my studio PC: I've tangled with computer noise for the last decade or so. I've built dog-houses, tried numerous cases, fans, and mostly, just lived with the noise to some degree or another.
My last setup was built around an Arctic Cooling Silentium T2 case, and while passable, still left something to be desired.
So, last fall, with a little extra time & money, I set out to build a truly low-noise PC. And I succeeded.
Here's my machine:
The case I went with was the Cooler Master Cosmos 1000. It's huge & looks like something in the engineering section on the Starship Enterprise. ...and the design is brilliant.
The brilliant thing about this design is is has levers to disengage the side panels. No more fumbling with screwdrivers. Notice the pyramid foam to cut down on the side-chatter as well.
The right side panel comes off for easy cable routing.
and the front door opens for access to the large drive bays.
A feature that's been long overdue. USB, audio & firewire ports that are easily accessible.
Finally, the insides: Airflow moves from the bottom of the case to the top. Heat rises, so it only makes sense. There is one main case fan in the bottom bringing in cool air & three at the top exhausting the hot air.
Power is supplied by an Enermax Modu 82+... it's fans are self contained & quiet as death. ...a great piece of equipment!
A closer look at the heatsink/fan arrangement. All stock fans have been swapped out for 120mm low rotation Nexus fans. Note the top two exhaust fans, a rear exhaust fan, and one mounted on the CPU heatsink, which is a Scythe Ninja. 6 heatpipes & frakkin' gigantic. It was a bit of a pain to mount, but once it's in place, it's not going anywhere. I picked this one on recommendation from several PC gearhead sites. The mounted fan is pretty much optional at this stage, but I figure, 'better safe than sorry.' I don't need my CPU melting down mid-session.
Instead of screw mounting the fans directly to the case, Nexus has come up with a rubber-grommet standoff mount. No direct contact with the case = less noise transferred. I've nicknamed them "gorilla snots" You just pull them through the holes & they snap into place. Bloody genius, IMO.
The Hard Drive cages also feature rubber grommet mounts.
And finally, the video system: An ATI Radeon 5850. Not only is this a great gaming card, it's also quiet as death. The cooling system was designed locally at the University of Windsor. Under the case is a heatpipe/heatsink arrangement, with the fan blowing air down the chamber. At full strength, the fan is about as loud as a dust-buster. But, due to the efficiency of the design, the fan never ramps up to any sort of noise-making level. Even after very long gaming sessions. (I play a lot of Bad Company 2 on this machine. The Charlie G rules!)
This machine is pretty much dead-quiet. I only hear the slightest hum from the fans. The downside of it all was having to add an Ebtech hum eliminator to my rack as I could hear all kinds of electical buzzing & nastiness coming from various components that I'd never heard before!
Feel free to post comments/questions.
-0z-
I've been meaning to put this up for ages, and I finally got around to it.
Here's a little expose on my studio PC: I've tangled with computer noise for the last decade or so. I've built dog-houses, tried numerous cases, fans, and mostly, just lived with the noise to some degree or another.
My last setup was built around an Arctic Cooling Silentium T2 case, and while passable, still left something to be desired.
So, last fall, with a little extra time & money, I set out to build a truly low-noise PC. And I succeeded.
Here's my machine:
The case I went with was the Cooler Master Cosmos 1000. It's huge & looks like something in the engineering section on the Starship Enterprise. ...and the design is brilliant.
The brilliant thing about this design is is has levers to disengage the side panels. No more fumbling with screwdrivers. Notice the pyramid foam to cut down on the side-chatter as well.
The right side panel comes off for easy cable routing.
and the front door opens for access to the large drive bays.
A feature that's been long overdue. USB, audio & firewire ports that are easily accessible.
Finally, the insides: Airflow moves from the bottom of the case to the top. Heat rises, so it only makes sense. There is one main case fan in the bottom bringing in cool air & three at the top exhausting the hot air.
Power is supplied by an Enermax Modu 82+... it's fans are self contained & quiet as death. ...a great piece of equipment!
A closer look at the heatsink/fan arrangement. All stock fans have been swapped out for 120mm low rotation Nexus fans. Note the top two exhaust fans, a rear exhaust fan, and one mounted on the CPU heatsink, which is a Scythe Ninja. 6 heatpipes & frakkin' gigantic. It was a bit of a pain to mount, but once it's in place, it's not going anywhere. I picked this one on recommendation from several PC gearhead sites. The mounted fan is pretty much optional at this stage, but I figure, 'better safe than sorry.' I don't need my CPU melting down mid-session.
Instead of screw mounting the fans directly to the case, Nexus has come up with a rubber-grommet standoff mount. No direct contact with the case = less noise transferred. I've nicknamed them "gorilla snots" You just pull them through the holes & they snap into place. Bloody genius, IMO.
The Hard Drive cages also feature rubber grommet mounts.
And finally, the video system: An ATI Radeon 5850. Not only is this a great gaming card, it's also quiet as death. The cooling system was designed locally at the University of Windsor. Under the case is a heatpipe/heatsink arrangement, with the fan blowing air down the chamber. At full strength, the fan is about as loud as a dust-buster. But, due to the efficiency of the design, the fan never ramps up to any sort of noise-making level. Even after very long gaming sessions. (I play a lot of Bad Company 2 on this machine. The Charlie G rules!)
This machine is pretty much dead-quiet. I only hear the slightest hum from the fans. The downside of it all was having to add an Ebtech hum eliminator to my rack as I could hear all kinds of electical buzzing & nastiness coming from various components that I'd never heard before!
Feel free to post comments/questions.
-0z-
