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Etacovda · 12-08-2005, 08:33 PM

An interesting topic.

What defines 'silent'?

AskOxfords english dictionary -

• adjective 1 not making or accompanied by any sound.

But, silence is defined as such -

• noun 1 complete absence of sound.

Well, for something to be COMPLETELY absent of sound, it must be completely inanimate; so i say that no computers are 'silent'; if its got an hdd, its not a silent computer. Motherboard coils probably make high frequency squeals beyond what we can hear, i know some make them in the audiable range (my A7N8X-X's coils are very annoying...)

So, to me, no computers are 'silent', so we have go beyond the 'silent pc' idea, to 'quiet pc'. For a pc to be considered truely 'quiet' id say it would have to be below 21db or so.

For procoolers, I suggest that a silent pc is one that is quiet but perhaps audible (sub 25db), and is either at stock, or is overclocked. Anything underclocked here, for silence, just seems a bit too SPCR'ish for me

'Silent' in the pc world is 'inaudible', i guess; but thats a hugely subjective thing; whats quiet to another is deafening to me, and ive found that numerous times...

I guess my conclusion here should be, basically, what my ideal pc is.

A pro/quiet pc should be barely audible with no sacrifice to the computers usability or performance; ie, underclocking is OUT, instability is OUT. My ideal (realistic) pc at the moment would be;

Opteron 939 dualcore
2gb of ram
7800GT
Asus Premium motherboard (heatpiped mosfets + sb)
74gb raptor (the newer, quiet edition)
200gb seagate storage drive
DVD writer
Seasonic psu (or antec phantom, i believe they're fanless until above 30C)

All watercooled with a dynamically alterable mcp350, with 1 120mm fan in the psu, and one on a pa160 or similar (also dynamically altered), probably in a P180 Antec case, with suspended, enclosed drives.

If done right, i doubt you could hear it - and it would still overclock extremely well, and with dynamic water temp control, it would be EXTREMELY quiet when not being used for anything intensive. Best of all, its probably only around 2kUS to build...

12-08-2005, 08:33 PM	#2
Etacovda Cooling Savant Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Dunedin NZ Posts: 735	Re: What IS "Silent Computing"? An interesting topic. What defines 'silent'? AskOxfords english dictionary - • adjective 1 not making or accompanied by any sound. But, silence is defined as such - • noun 1 complete absence of sound. Well, for something to be COMPLETELY absent of sound, it must be completely inanimate; so i say that no computers are 'silent'; if its got an hdd, its not a silent computer. Motherboard coils probably make high frequency squeals beyond what we can hear, i know some make them in the audiable range (my A7N8X-X's coils are very annoying...) So, to me, no computers are 'silent', so we have go beyond the 'silent pc' idea, to 'quiet pc'. For a pc to be considered truely 'quiet' id say it would have to be below 21db or so. For procoolers, I suggest that a silent pc is one that is quiet but perhaps audible (sub 25db), and is either at stock, or is overclocked. Anything underclocked here, for silence, just seems a bit too SPCR'ish for me 'Silent' in the pc world is 'inaudible', i guess; but thats a hugely subjective thing; whats quiet to another is deafening to me, and ive found that numerous times... I guess my conclusion here should be, basically, what my ideal pc is. A pro/quiet pc should be barely audible with no sacrifice to the computers usability or performance; ie, underclocking is OUT, instability is OUT. My ideal (realistic) pc at the moment would be; Opteron 939 dualcore 2gb of ram 7800GT Asus Premium motherboard (heatpiped mosfets + sb) 74gb raptor (the newer, quiet edition) 200gb seagate storage drive DVD writer Seasonic psu (or antec phantom, i believe they're fanless until above 30C) All watercooled with a dynamically alterable mcp350, with 1 120mm fan in the psu, and one on a pa160 or similar (also dynamically altered), probably in a P180 Antec case, with suspended, enclosed drives. If done right, i doubt you could hear it - and it would still overclock extremely well, and with dynamic water temp control, it would be EXTREMELY quiet when not being used for anything intensive. Best of all, its probably only around 2kUS to build... __________________ Hypocritical Signature I tried to delete: Procooling: where scientific principles are ignored because big corporations are immune to mistakes and oversights.