Completely silent PC. (would this work?)

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Poita

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Nov 19, 2004
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Hi, this is my first post as i just joined the THG forums. I've been getting advice from the site for ages though.

I have no experience in modding or even overclocking or anything other than muddling my way through installing a graphics card or ram upgrade.
However, as I am sensitive to noise, especially rhythmic or humming/buzzing, i have always hated the sound my pc makes. I use my pc to watch movies a lot and the sound really distubes the mood sometimes (although after years my mind filters it out but i'd still rather not have it at all).
I've read here and there a few sollutions. They all seem half mesures aimed at 'reducing noise' though. One idea i have come up with may beat them all. It's simple and low tech but I need to ask the more experienced modders out there if it's feasable?
If this idea is old news and has been discussed to death please excuse me as i'm new to the forums.

How about if the PC is seperated into two parts.
On the desk/in the room the user is in are: the Monitor, on/reset button, CD & DVD drives, speakers & mic, keyboard and mouse.
In another room (ideally one that is not used much) is the case its self and all the componants.
The case in the other room and the input/output/control devices etc in your rooom are simply linked by longer than usual cables (that would be: monitor, mouse, keyboard, drives, speakers, on/reset button). Either they could be snaked around the room and out the door or in a more extreme sollution a small hole could be bored through the wall.
The pc could be litterally on the other side of the wall. You would rarely have to go to it exept for upgrades and maintainance and if the wall is of any substance you would have a perfectly silent PC from your point of view.
My question is: is this feasable? Do IDE cables come that long or have adapters to link them up, would the extra length affect data transfer speeds? (not that thatwould matter that much to some seeing as it's just CD/DVD drives). Surely the monitor, mouse, keyboard and on switch can have longer cables?
Please don't underestimate my ignorance as far as the practical side of PC use is concerned. A silent pc is my dream but i dont know what the obstacles are to my proposal.
Your input would be appreciated.
Poita.
 
Keyboard, Video & Mouse cables can be longer. I think the spec on analog vga cable is 15 ft, don't know about dvi. However, I'm certain shielded cables can carry the signal further. (the same way an old parallel printer cable wasn't supposed to be >15ft and I had printers running on 50ft cables easily - not sure vga can go that long, but even 15' lets you go thru a wall or around a corner) Keyboard & mouse probably longer yet with extensions, or use usb versions.

IDE... limit: 18" (yes, 1.5 ft) That's a pretty hard limit, though maybe it'll work at 24", though definitely not 10ft. However, since you're just talking about dvd drives and extreem throughput isn't required, get external usb versions of the drives and they can be anywhere.

So, you need an active usb hub (optional - to reduce the number of cables) with a long cable to your case, a long video cable, usb mouse and keyboard, usb dvd drive (those plugged into the hub), and you have your system.

Mike.
 
Thank's Mike,
wow, talk about online help. I got my answer within 10 minutes 😉
Actually Mike I'm not so fussy about the drives as I don't use them 'that' much. (though i'd probably get jacked off with leaving the room to insert a disk even 5 times a week).
I'm definitly going to do it as i just moved to 3 room apartment and I live alone. It may take me a while to get all the bits.
Ah, silence is golden (or it will be soon).
 
LOL!

Just lucky. I just happened to get down to here about then from my perusal during slow times at work.

Then I'd start with just the extended cables for keyboard, mouse and video, and get the USB dvd drive later if you want.

Mike.
 
you can also reduce the noise of your PC by using water cooling for processor and vid card. They also make silent PSU's and a good case could reduce noise further, along with using larger lower rpm exaust fan for whisper quiet operation.
And if you notice any drive clatter, you can even buy hard drive silent enclosers to muffle them. (and/or increase RAM to 2 gig for less hard drive activity)


<font color=red><pre>\\//__________________________________
And the sign says "You got to have a membership card to get inside" Huh
So I got me a pen and paper And I made up my own little sign</pre><p></font color=red>
 
What do you plan on using the computer for? If its just for surfing the net, listening to music and watching films then you might want to look into the VIA Epia Eden platforms. They are very very small and the Eden CPU can be passivly cooled (no fan).

I think SATA cables can be about 1m long so you might want to look into SATA CDROM drives. If you can drill a hoel thru the wall batween rooms then this might be feasable.
 
I think the max on a normal KVM cable is 25', but there is a network extender. I know Black Box makes one, but there may be others. It reduces the cables down to a cat5 that can be run about 1000', and makes it easier to hide the cables, since you only need one cat5 cable rather than three thicker cables. I took a quick look at the Black Box site, and it looks like its PS/2 and monitor only, no USB, though I may have missed it.

USB is a good option, as is firewire. They should be able to extend to the length you need for drives and peripherals.

Jarrett
 
Eden? You'd might as well set him up with a Pentium MMX, those can be passively cooled too!

<font color=blue>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to a hero as big as Crashman!</font color=blue>
<font color=red>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to an ego as large as Crashman's!</font color=red>
 
Actually i think i'll keep it simple and go for the monitor,keyboard, mouse & speaker extensions.

I know i can extend the speaker cables i just need mini jack extenders.
For the monitor is there a universal one or will i need a brand specific one (my monitor is LG 19" Flatron F900b but probably only in korea it's called that).
Do mouse extension cables exist?
What about Key board ones?
 
So you don't like my suggestion to quite your PC?

<font color=red><pre>\\//__________________________________
And the sign says "You got to have a membership card to get inside" Huh
So I got me a pen and paper And I made up my own little sign</pre><p></font color=red>
 
Well Rich, the key words here are 'reduce' in your post and 'completly' in mine.
No to mention that I've seen the THG video about water cooling and the componants look pretty expensive. Also i'm useless at installing stuff like that and would probably spring a leak somewhere.
I like the simplicity of must moving the pc to another room.
 
If your wanting to completely get rid of the noise, then you are goingt to have to probably get it out of the room. Video quality degrades sharply when you extend the monitor cable. Unless there is some way of boosting the signal, then you probably wont bew able to extend it very far.Is there a closet close to you in the same room?
 
I have the parts here where you could set up a PC with no drives as a terminal, boot if off a network, and connect it to the server in another room. And they're just old PC parts. No noise, except for the power supply, but you could also buy a silent power supply.

<font color=blue>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to a hero as big as Crashman!</font color=blue>
<font color=red>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to an ego as large as Crashman's!</font color=red>
 
If you dont mind spending money Zalman make a completly silent case, eg no fans at all, VGA card and processor cooled using heat pipe technology ect, use a silent PSU and the only sound you would have it the optical drive and the HDD, the HDD sound can be cut down by using the enclosure someone else mentioned above and the optical drive sound can be reduced by using a slower one. (i should point the zalman case is about $1300US last time i looked)
OR
THe oterh option is the most simple, just get some big speakers and drown the sound of the computer out all together :)
 
ha 😉 I already have a loud 5.1 set up.
I didn't know that the longer monitor cable would degrade the picture quality. that's something to think about.
Actually my desk and the monitor its self is about 5 feet max from the door. I could almost get the existing cables through the door and have the case to the left and on the other side of the wall. Not quite though. How about if i used a monitor cable extender that was about 6 foot long. Would that degrade picture quaility?
 
I dont think you would notice difference with one 6 foot cable, but there must be a way to use longer cables, like with dumb terminals. Those PC's are sometimes not even on same floor.

<font color=red><pre>\\//__________________________________
And the sign says "You got to have a membership card to get inside" Huh
So I got me a pen and paper And I made up my own little sign</pre><p></font color=red>
 
well the 6 foot cable would be attached to the existing 5 foot one and the case would be round the corner on the other side of the wall with the door closed so i think it would cut sound out quite a lot.
In fact i closed my door and stood in the spot it would be in and though i could hear it a bit it was very faint.
 
If your keyboard and mouse are PS/2 style, then just get2 PS/2 extension cables (one for each). They come in various lengths.

For your video extension, you want to be sure to get a quality cable. A shielded one will help preserve your video signal. If you use the regular 15-pin analog VGA connector, then its all the same, just be sure to get good quality. If you use a DVI (digital) connector, then I don't know for sure, but I would think they are the same as well.

Mike
 
Ohhhh my first post :)
I have to say for the monitor cable be REAL careful.....I had to do it once.....damn thing sucks....to my surprise a cheep NexTech KVM is good with a long cord 6 feel or so...then you can put that in the room and plug the keyboard mouse and video on at once....kill 3 birds with one stone... :)

Note:
my KVM only lets me use PS2 and D-sub....so no DVI or USB....for me that is good....and you can them have 2 comps in the other room :)

i hope something helps.....
 
It is possible to get longer cables, and there are signal boosters available that aren't too much money. I had to do a long setup about two years ago to connect a PC to two monitors, one regular and one touchscreen, that were attached to industrial equipment on a shop floor. To complicate things, I had to use really good cable, as the equipment had about 6 foot of travel to adjust to the needed cutting length. I believe I used 20 foot Belkin cables, but I don't remember what I used for a splitter/signal booster. It's been working fine since it was installed.

I would check the <A HREF="http://catalog.belkin.com/IWCatSectionView.process?Section_Id=2" target="_new">Belkin</A> site to see what lengths are available. Right off the bat when getting the link I noticed a 75-foot cable.

Jarrett
 
Belkin.....Ackkkk (sorry)
thats what i had to bring back.....but i may have had a bad one...i had ghosts with it.....not much....but i am soooooooo picky.....If you go for a cable as mentioned the amp for video is a GOOOOD idea....
 
My silent pc:

Closed window, but shades drawn open.
My neighbors office window, closed, but shades open.

It doesn't even register a decibel.

<font color=green><b><i>Lizards</font color=green></b> do <b>not</b> taste like <b><font color=yellow>chicken</font color=yellow></b>,<b> <font color=yellow>chicken</font color=yellow></b> tastes like <font color=green><b>lizard.</b></font color=green></i>
 
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