How-To Build a Silent Gaming PC
PrintCan we build a PC that’s quiet and cool without sacrificing performance—or spending a fortune?
Anyone can build a gaming PC. Seriously, it’s easy. Minus a few technological bits of know-how here and there, there’s really nothing that tough about buying the fastest components you can afford and slapping them in whatever chassis you happen to have on hand. Done, right?
Maximum PC never shies away from a challenge, however, and Sr. Associate Editor Nathan Edwards has upped the ante for this month’s build-it. One of the key problems of building a tricked-out rig is that you’re sure to increase the ambient volume of the system as you increase its power. But I’m not here for a trade-off: No, I’ve accepted the challenge to build a gaming system that’s as quiet as a mouse.
Spoiler: It’s a lot harder than it seems.
Ingredients
Case Silverstone PS05 $50
- PSU Corsair AX850 $190
- Motherboard Asus P6X58D Premium $285
- CPU Intel Core i7-930 $300
- CPU Cooler Thermaltake Jing $60
- RAM Corsair TR3X6G1600C7 DDR3/1600 6GB Kit $125
- Optical Drive Plextor PX-805SA $100
- Boot Drive WD VelociRaptor 600GB $280
- Storage Drive Seagate Barracuda XT 2TB $170
- GPU EVGA GeForce GTX 480 $450
- GPU Cooler Zalman VF3000F $65
- Fan Controller NZXT Sentry LXE $60
- Soundproofing Foam FrozenCPU Dampening Material $20
- Misc NoiseMagic NoVibes III Hard Drive Silencer $23
- OS Windows 7 Professional 64-bit OEM $140
Total for Sound-Dampening Parts (incl. case): $278
Total for PC: $2,318
Choosing the Right Hardware
The backbone of my proposed gaming PC is fairly standard: a Core i7 CPU paired with an Nvidia GTX 480 videocard. That is more than enough to frag my friends in any title I toss at it, and more to the point, if you already own a PC you want to hush, these are parts that a Maximum PC reader could very well have. Of course, you don’t need these exact components—though the total cost of my silenced rig exceeds $2,000, the cost for the sound-damping materials (including case) is less than $300, and you can easily apply those materials to the PC you already have.
There’s no shortage of devices that promise awesome performance at an ultra-low acoustic profile. My plan was to stick as many quiet-themed products in my PC as possible—including a silent CPU cooler, an aftermarket cooler for my videocard, quieter fans, and as much acoustic padding as I had room to mount into the case.
But that’s not all. For comparison’s sake, I also decided to build a rig inside of Fractal Design’s R3 chassis—a $120 case that arrives on your doorstep pre-configured for silence (see review here). Besting this quiet beast was my secondary goal.
Thermaltake
Jing With two 12cm fans to push air over the heat fins, it’s a much quieter cooler than the stock Intel model that came with our CPU.
Zalman VF300F
This aftermarket GPU cooler replaces the hot-
and-noisy stock cooler of our EVGA GeForce GTX 480 with something larger and quieter.
Fan Controller
The inside of our case looked a lot cleaner before we inserted the PCB for our fan controller (and its tangle of fan cables and temperature probes).
Small Extras
Rubber mounting pegs rather than screws cut down on fan-vibration noise.
Putting It All Together
Staring at an empty case can be a daunting moment for the would-be soundproofer. Every part of the building process must be meticulously planned to avoid inducing rage and/or headaches caused by backtracking. The last thing you want is to try tacking acoustical foam all around a chassis once you already have your parts and wiring in place. I cannot think of a greater frustration than that, save for stripping the super-tiny screw on a videocard. More on that later.
Because of this, it’s really important to start this kind of build by determining how much soundproof padding you’re going to need and where you’re going to place it. You can pick up acoustical foam in a variety of configurations and sizes. Without getting too much into the intricate details, a simple rule of thumb is that more foam equals more soundproofing. Yes, you can buy super-fancy foam packs that are composed of multiple layers of various densities, but a single ordinary (albeit thick) density is fine.
Mounting the foam in my case was a relatively simple process. Next, I installed two 12cm fans into the chassis, using their included rubber fasteners rather than metal screws to adhere them to the case. The more I can cut down on unnecessary vibrations, the better.
You have to be careful, yet firm, when pulling the rubber fasteners through the fan and case. Too much pressure and you’ll rip the rubber fastener in two.
Although I intended to use some Yate Loon D12SM-12C fans, the 1,500rpm Silverstone fans that shipped with my chassis actually turned out to be a little quieter in an impromptu head-to-head contest. As always, the rear fan on the case was installed to push air out of the case, with the front fan sucking air in across the hard drive bays.
The Jing’s two fans pop off easily, which is good because you can’t install the cooler when they’re mounted.
I tossed in the system’s standard DVD burner to reward myself for my efforts thus far before tackling the elephant in the room: the aftermarket Thermaltake Jing CPU cooler that I picked up to replace the stock Intel cooler. Thoroughly describing how to install this particular add-on would require an article in itself. The short version is that it involved such enjoyable tasks as using two different cleaners to wipe thermal goop off the CPU; installing all sorts of screws, dividers, and other such accessories just to mount this behemoth of a cooler; and replacing one such mission-critical screw upon finding that it had snapped off within one of the mounting brackets. Thank [deity of your choice here] for spare parts.
Big and gaudy, just the way we like our CPU coolers.
Why go aftermarket, you ask? By slapping an ungodly large dual-fan cooler over the Intel Core i7-930 CPU, I believed I could achieve stronger cooling without having to crank the device’s fans to ear-splitting revolutions.
I slapped the cooler onto the CPU, then screwed the whole assemblage—motherboard and all—onto the chassis using the case’s built-in mounts. At this point, it appeared that I had reached the halfway point in our little adventure. The sweet silence of raw gaming power was in my grasp!
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Comments
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blueglowtech
April 18, 2011 at 10:37am
It would seem to me that it would be possible to craft your foam in such a way as to create air channels inside the machine, but leave everything else packed in foam. Basically, you would be left with really very little airspace in the case, but the airspace you have left would be much more efficient.
What I would have done with a similar setup is to mod the case so I would have basically 3 airflow channels - one for the CPU/North Bridge, one for the GFX card, and one for the HDD. The HDD channel would come in the front-side of the case, and out the other front-side. The GFX channel would come in as a slot-style intake near the middle-rear of the side and exit as the card's stock cooler would - I favor rear ejection over aftermarket for silent-ish builds. And last but not least, one larger channel for the CPU/N.Bridge that uses the main case exhaust as it's thrust.
Everything else is almost completely acoustic foam.
aferrara50
April 11, 2011 at 1:57pm
Looks like no time at all was spent on wiring. C'mon maximum pc! That computer is embarassing.
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rockaddict
March 22, 2011 at 7:39am
I would like to know where the sensors on the NZXT Sentry LXE were placed. I am using and H70 but I am not sure that it is a good idea to control those fans. But that is prolly a different article.
s.calvin.s
March 11, 2011 at 6:52pm
Although this PC has some nice specs, I must say that I found a much better PC build at www.buythebestpc.com It might not be as quiet, but it really kicks this PC's butt in proformace and price. I would recomend the 2000 dollar build on the site to anyone who wants a sweet custom PC.
zigojacko
February 25, 2011 at 3:39am
Great guide, will definitely keep this handy for when I attempt a silent pc build myself. I got mine from http://www.computerplanet.co.uk/systems/silent/silent_pc.html a while back which is serving me well currently :)
ligaweb
February 16, 2011 at 7:10am
I think that you can create a quiet and cool PC for even less than $2,318. Web design
lb_felipe
February 03, 2011 at 4:53am
I doubt that this setup is actually quiet, nor silent.
It should be relatively quiet. But we can do better. With the same cost and approximate performance.
For example:
AMD Phenom II X6 Black 1090T
ASUS Crosshair IV Formula
ASUS Xonar Essence ST
ASUS Radeon HD 6970
G.Skill Flare 8GB(4GB x 2) DDR3-2000 (PC3 16000) 1.55 Volts
Crucial RealSSD C300 128GB
Two of WD Caviar Green 2TB MVW
Pioneer BDR-206
Antec P183 V3
AcoustiPack ULTIMATE
Puget 120mm Fan Mount Cover
SilverStone SDP08
Antec CP-850
Thermalright Ultra120 eXtreme Rev.C
ARCTIC Accelero Xtreme Plus
ARCTIC VR001
ARCTIC MX-4
Arctic Silver ArctiClean
Scythe Slip Stream 120 PWM
Two of Antec TrueQuiet 120
Remove all stock fans. Use only front and rear case fans on the Antec P183 V3 (cover the top fan hole with Puget 120mm Fan Mount Cover). Apply AcoustiPack ULTIMATE in the case. Use Scythe Slip Stream 120 PWM with Antec P183 V3. Select all adjustments of speed fan to low.
Ready. Here is a really quiet computer project.
All key components were chosen based on analyses of Silent PC Review.
WD Caviar Green too. But the specific model number of Caviar Green was obtained with the help of a X-bit labs review.
FascistNation
February 01, 2011 at 4:27pm
Silent means silent. What you built was a quiet gaming system, but it can still be heard. Now get rid of ALL of the fans and I will be impressed. Until then you didn't come close to building a silent PC.
Athlonite
January 29, 2011 at 2:47am
A case that uses large fans like the RV02 uses 3x 180mm bottom mounted fans with 700/100rpm speed switch my comp is barely audible
QuadraQ
January 23, 2011 at 3:07pm
I subscribe to the magazine and I was a little disappointed in this article. You did a good job using parts that people might already have, but I was hoping for more.
I really think this is cover article material, and should include varius builds with different goals. You covered silencing a typical PC a user may already have, but what if I'm building one from scratch? What are the best options for silencing a PC? Best cases? Best powersupplies? Best fans? Etc.
More and more I want the most powerful PC I can get, but also want it to shut up - I'm just sick of the noise. I don't think I'm alone. Like you said building a top end gaming machine is easy. Making it quiet at the same time is hard - exactly the sort of thing readers like me look to the magazine for help with.
tonyaldr
January 23, 2011 at 9:13am
Guys, you left out the "Print" format button for the articles. Please bring it back! Otherwise we have to print screen by screen.
teejay007
January 23, 2011 at 8:55am
Amazing ..you have told us nice tips for assembling a silent pc at this cost...Thanks
Guisano
January 21, 2011 at 1:43pm
What is the purpose of wearing the latex gloves? Do they minimize static discharge or similar?
HeartBurnKid
January 21, 2011 at 3:49pm
I think this got asked in a letter to the magazine, and the answer was that they're there to cover up the editors' nasty-looking hands. They're geeks, not hand models. :)
TheMurph
January 21, 2011 at 3:51pm
I think that's total BS, mind you. My soft, moisturized hands would look great in a feature spread.
sniggler
January 20, 2011 at 4:31pm
You could build something for half this price and the same noise level if not better... Really, a GTX 480? Did you choose Nvidia's nuclear reactor so you could prove a point?
Why not go with a more budget-friendly and lower power-consumption build... Even a GTX 580 would fare better than it's hot-and-hungry cousin (still a beast but a big step towards better thermals for the Fermi lineup). Or why not a lower-end card, like a 6950 or a GTX 460?
And what's with the Thermaltake CPU cooler? Why not get a Hyper 212 and put some Noctuas on there, or even a Corsair H70 / Noctua combo?
I'll bet if i stuck an H70 in my system with Notcua fans / my 2 GTX 460's with their stock heatsinks would be quieter than this beast and still perform right alongside it (at least until you turned up the fans on them to %100, which NEVER happens without doing so manually).
Danthrax66
January 20, 2011 at 5:28pm
Well technically the silencer material including case cost $300 which isn;t bad the rest was just parts they had laying around probably and those can be interchanged.
Ruins
January 20, 2011 at 10:36am
are the Noctua family of case fans. I also used the Gigabyte Cupio 6140 Ultra Quiet Special Edition sold by Quite PC USA. I built a gaming system around these two componets and could not be happier with the results.
Sprunth
January 20, 2011 at 1:41am
" I also decided to build a rig inside of Fractal Design’s R3 chassis—a $120 case that arrives on your doorstep pre-configured for silence (see review here)"
Page 1...the 'here' is not hyperlinked. ;)
TheMurph
January 20, 2011 at 9:56am
Silencing an air-cooled PC impacts a larger number of people than trying to convince people with air-cooled PCs to build a custom water-cooling loop.
At least, if my geek skillset wasn't very high, I still think I'd be able to handle sticking foam in a case. Watercooling... not so much.
misha573
January 20, 2011 at 3:58am
I was wondering about that myself. Murph, unless cost was a factor, why didn't you put it under water? A decent radiator (or two, or three) and some quiet fans in push-pull, an appropriately sound-dampened pump, etc. and you should be gaming silently without compromise.
JonC
February 09, 2011 at 8:42am
I was considering using water cooling in my rig, but the closed-loop coolers (e,g Corsair H50/70) pumps are reported to be noisy (buzzy). Are there pre-packaged systems that are quiet, or can the Corsair pumps be silenced?
NanoTech
January 19, 2011 at 8:52pm
For a website based around PC enthusiasts I'd have to say this is rancid build quality. This is a good example of why Mac Users mock PC users. It may be silent but look at that Cable Management! Yuck! It's very simple to use some zip ties and clean up this mess as you build it.
If you are building a silent system, chances are you are using very low RPM fans. Better cable management = better the air flow which in return = Cooler silent system.
Nice choice in parts but I'd recommend cleaning it before you show it off.
Scootiep
January 19, 2011 at 9:44pm
"This is a good example of why Mac Users mock PC users. It may be silent but look at that Cable Management! Yuck!"
Good God, you sound like my sister looking at cars:
her: "Oh, but this one looks CUTE!"
me: "Yeah, but it's engine is a 7 horsepower lawnmower motor."
her: "But it's light blue! I LOVE that color!"
me to the salesman: "Dude, just take her money, she's an idiot and deserves it."
mah_101381
January 22, 2011 at 12:21pm
My sister is the same way, she went to a Dell retail store and paid $1000 for a pc that had XP with integrated everything, 1 PCI slot, 40GB HD and 128 MB RAM, this was about 6-8 years ago. She then had the nerve to ask me, after not letting me come aong, why it ran slow slowly. I added a 512 MB module of RAM and it ran a lot better. Couldn't do much else, we didn't have a copy of XP.
Tophar
January 19, 2011 at 9:29pm
Your gonna knock the cable management?
1. These guys probably have to build tons of rigs, cable management is nice, but it adds time to the build and is not needed.
2. The focus of the article was to build a quiet PC, not a neat looking one
3. Its probably also indicative of the build, since your adding a bunch of sensor's and have taken away space on the sides of the case to tuck wires neatly away, you probably can't route cables as neatly or easily.
4. Your right Mac users don't have to deal with messy cable management, they probably can't even figure out how to open their case and look inside
DJSPIN80
January 24, 2011 at 7:17am
I'm a Mac user, and I, too, can open my case and fiddle with stuff. And fiddle with stuff, I do.
On another note, adding a bunch of sensors does add more cabling. Cabling that can be difficult to re-route.
NanoTech
January 19, 2011 at 11:19pm
I understand that they might build lots of rigs on a weekly basis if not daily.
I also realize that the topic is not to build a neat PC but a Quiet PC.
Although seeing how you just took sentences I said out of context. I said that improving cable management improves air flow. That isn't opinion, it's fact. If it's clean and open inside you'll get more airflow which in return makes the system cooler. This is especially important when building a silent PC do to using low RPM fans. The lower the RPM = less air flow you get per cubic inch.
Mac users was just a term I happen to use. It could be related to anything. You wouldn't open a silent Alienware or Maingear system and have it look like that.
I was simply saying I expect a little more from a top rated PC Magazine to provide a cleaner build. They could of at least managed that rainbow colored cord and it would have looked 100% better.
Scootiep
January 20, 2011 at 7:09am
You're still somewhat missing the point of the article. It's not to make the tidiest looking PC with the best thermals out there, it's to make a nearly silent gaming PC. Keeping things cool is important, sure, but it wasn't the focus of the build. Also, you're griping about cable management. 3 or 4 black zip ties and your entire argument is gone. Who cares about a few zip ties. They don't need to show us that, any idiot can figure it out. The focus was high performance and silence. Something many, MANY people fail to do. Eye on the ball here Corky, eye on the ball.
TheMurph
January 19, 2011 at 11:30pm
rainbow cord -- if I'm correct -- was for front-panel sound. It was short enough such that there was no other way to route the cable except for right over the vidoecard. An annoyance, indeed.
Anyway, I agree. Better cable management equals better airflow. I do note, however: "The inside of our case looked a lot cleaner before we inserted the PCB for our fan controller (and its tangle of fan cables and temperature probes)."
SongEmu
January 19, 2011 at 7:56pm
I spent less than $800 on my gaming rig and I STILL managed to fit in a 1 TB drive AND an SSD. HDD spins down when not in use = a little less noise.
On top of this, there are way cooler cards than that toaster called the 480... least you could do is go with the GTX460, 500 series, or 5000 ATI line.
TheMurph
January 19, 2011 at 11:26pm
The focus of the feature was silence, not necessarily cooling. We picked the 480 due to its noise -- dampening it would be a challenge. As well, it would make a system louder, in general, for our acoustics tests.
nmanguy
January 19, 2011 at 7:06pm
That's pretty expensive. I don't like spending more than $700 on a PC. If I did want to make the computer silent, I'd spend an extra $80 on a huge-ass case with half a dozen fans and just set them rather low.
TheMurph
January 19, 2011 at 11:24pm
The most important thing you can buy is acoustic foam, which costs less than $80 for a full set. Next up -- replace or control thy fans.
Hondoe1950
January 19, 2011 at 6:53pm
I too took great pains to build my own "silent pc" and the result was just too darn noisy.
After living with it for a couple of years, I broke down and bought a new silent Serenity system from Puget Systems.
It was the best choice and the best computer I have ever owned.
Now when I enter my office, I can't even tell if my PC is on until I get really close.
Ah, the peace of silence.
bdcrlsn86
January 19, 2011 at 6:53pm
You could've saved a lot of money and produced less heat by going with a Sandy Bridge CPU/Mobo and a GTX 570. Just saying.
TheMurph
January 19, 2011 at 11:23pm
Didn't have access to Sandy Bridge at the time of the article's writing, alas. Also, the 480 was specifically chosen for its louder acoustics.
gvansly1
January 19, 2011 at 6:43pm
Case: Silverstone....Bad Link........................
Good Link: http://www.silverstonetek.com/products/enclosure.php?area=for
gendoikari1
January 19, 2011 at 6:06pm
Good for a silent gaming rig. I wonder how an entirely noiseless PC would work out (SSD, passive CPU cooler, fanless case, fanless PSU, passive GPU cooler)?
TheMurph
January 19, 2011 at 11:23pm
That'll be one low-power PC... if it even runs for very long. ;)
Danthrax66
January 20, 2011 at 5:46pm
SeaSonic makes a 400 watt fanless PSU.
Fanless CPU cooler
http://www.scythe-usa.com/product/cpu/036/scorc1000_detail.html
Fanless GPU
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125328
Remove the fans natural airflow case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129093
gendoikari1
January 20, 2011 at 9:58pm
That is quite possibly one of the biggest and ugliest CPU coolers I have ever seen
neo_mouse
February 01, 2011 at 1:15pm
i dont know about that, the cooler master v10 was pretty damn ugly!
rawrnomnom
January 19, 2011 at 5:34pm
Its kinda nasty that a professional PC magazine would post that rats nest on their site.... Cable Management Fail...
rawrnomnom
January 20, 2011 at 8:29pm
ive seen people shove more stuff in a PC case than this and have it look far neater. Even with a lot of cables some management can be had, dont believe me? check out some threads on thebestcasescenario dot com, i appreciate the silence as much as the next guy, i just like to see things done right. With all the emphasis on the need for silence and keeping a pretty hot and powerful PC cool cable management goes a long way.
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