Mobile CPUs limit you to motherboards that support them, which severely limits the other parts you can buy and will drastically increase the overall cost. Instead, buy a low power desktop/server processor. Intel usually suffixes their model number with an "L" for these and they have wonderful power-to-performance characteristics.
I currently have a server CPU, the Xeon E3-1260L. It has 4-cores, is hyper-threaded, EXTREMELY fast, and can be run 24/7 at 100% with extremely minimal cooling.
Low-power Intel desktop parts are marked with a "T" instead of "L". Eg Intel® Core™ i5-2390T is 35W part, and there is couple of 45W Ivy Bridges available if you need more performance. Sadly AMD doesn't really provide much competition in this segment, almost all their desktop parts are 65W or (much) more, and trinity/llano parts are usually 100W.
This is an extremely badly researched and edited article.
As someone that has been building very quiet PC systems to have in close proximity to sensitive microphones, it is full of non-truths.
For a start Dell is one of the better manufacturers in quietness out of those he listed and comparing a dell from 2004 to something built in 2012 is madness. Machines get noisier over time, chips and chipsets more efficient.
Go and read silentpcreview and it's forum if you want real advice.
Personally my quiet machine has a water cooled radiator, taking the heat out of the chassis, ssd, fanless gpu with water block, fanless PSU mounted out of the chassis. My mistake in that system was using an AMD processor. Intel will be swapped in soon.
I wrote this article and was very surprised someone posted it on Hacker News, where the audience is highly technical. Your criticism makes it sound like the post was intended to be the ultimate guide to custom building silent PCs for the technically inclined. It was not. It was meant to answer the question: For about $600-$700 can an ordinary person with no technical know how buy an off-the-shelf system that is very quiet (and clean, while you're at it)? Among the thousands of possible off-the-shelf systems, what simple rules of thumb can you apply that insure the system will be quiet and clean?
Excluding my friends in computer/technology only a small number of people I know feel comfortable reinstalling Windows and hunting down all the drivers (I know how to do it and I personally find it to be an annoying waste of time). None of my nontechnical friends and acquaintances would buy a custom-built PC. I considered doing that when I purchased the systems and decided not to invest time in learning how to do it right (I agree with you that silentPCreview is a great resource for going down that path).
I considered the Mac Mini - which was quiet enough. But to run Windows Media Center I'd have to buy a copy of Windows and to run movies an external DVD which brings the cost up to about $1000. I considered boutique builders like Pugot but they all charge $1000 or more for their better Mac Mini like systems.
I actually started to write a much more detailed article half a year ago that you would no doubt have preferred but abandoned it because I thought only a sliver of systems building enthusiasts would care. My blog usually tries to make technical topics understandable by the masses.
I sometimes share my posts here but didn't consider sharing this post for a second - not the right audience.
You can get a fanless PSU and a fanless cpu cooler, I got http://www.zerotherm.net/eng/product/BTF95.asp and added a big fan with very low rpm on the case, coupled with a ssd you will never hear noise from your computer.
You can also buy any desktop system and relocate the tower into another room. Use long wires for video/USB/audio. Gives you the choice to run any hardware and you don’t have to loose out on speed due to optimizing for noise. As far as a clean system, reinstall your OS once you get it.
This is a massive pain for me. Desktop PCs are awfully noisy. However laptops are not always that quiet. Anything with a fan can start creating noise.
I know you can replace fans but this is nuisance if you don't know much about the inner workings of a computer. PCs are easier to open but laptops and other portable devices aren't always possible to open (breach of warranty and design etc).
Not related to the aspect of the article discussed in the headline (noise), but the article says:
"""... Dell model that was bogged down with useless preloaded software..."""
I don't know anyone only half-competent in IT things that would not install a new system from scratch exactly for that reason, so this complaint is really without merit.
5 years ago I might have agreed, but today tower coolers seem so large and efficient that watercooling doesn't really seem worthwhile, at least for low-power systems. In watercooling you have an additional noise-generating part (the pump) and you still need fans. Tower coolers can mount the same 120mm fans as watercooling kits usually do, and iirc 140mm is option for both too.
Surely for the price, stripping all the fans and dumping the pre-built computer in a bath of oil would give you less noise for less money, plus loads more power.
This trope has been around since 2004 or so. In terms of absolute price you might be correct, however any option other than oil will be vastly easier to work with. If you were going to buy a computer once and then never ever touch the insides of it again you may as well get a Mac.
[+] [-] altano|14 years ago|reply
I currently have a server CPU, the Xeon E3-1260L. It has 4-cores, is hyper-threaded, EXTREMELY fast, and can be run 24/7 at 100% with extremely minimal cooling.
Power-to-performance is actually not a well tracked metric. You can find some information on spec.org, such as: http://www.spec.org/power_ssj2008/results/power_ssj2008.html
Like my CPU, the Xeon E3-1260L: http://www.spec.org/power_ssj2008/results/res2011q2/power_ss...
[+] [-] zokier|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] timc3|14 years ago|reply
As someone that has been building very quiet PC systems to have in close proximity to sensitive microphones, it is full of non-truths.
For a start Dell is one of the better manufacturers in quietness out of those he listed and comparing a dell from 2004 to something built in 2012 is madness. Machines get noisier over time, chips and chipsets more efficient.
Go and read silentpcreview and it's forum if you want real advice.
Personally my quiet machine has a water cooled radiator, taking the heat out of the chassis, ssd, fanless gpu with water block, fanless PSU mounted out of the chassis. My mistake in that system was using an AMD processor. Intel will be swapped in soon.
[+] [-] FilterJoe|14 years ago|reply
Excluding my friends in computer/technology only a small number of people I know feel comfortable reinstalling Windows and hunting down all the drivers (I know how to do it and I personally find it to be an annoying waste of time). None of my nontechnical friends and acquaintances would buy a custom-built PC. I considered doing that when I purchased the systems and decided not to invest time in learning how to do it right (I agree with you that silentPCreview is a great resource for going down that path).
I considered the Mac Mini - which was quiet enough. But to run Windows Media Center I'd have to buy a copy of Windows and to run movies an external DVD which brings the cost up to about $1000. I considered boutique builders like Pugot but they all charge $1000 or more for their better Mac Mini like systems.
I actually started to write a much more detailed article half a year ago that you would no doubt have preferred but abandoned it because I thought only a sliver of systems building enthusiasts would care. My blog usually tries to make technical topics understandable by the masses.
I sometimes share my posts here but didn't consider sharing this post for a second - not the right audience.
[+] [-] barrkel|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] givan|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] boxcode44|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jarek|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] kinleyd|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] wyclif|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] masklinn|14 years ago|reply
Though there's no way you'll build the box for $700, you'll eat half the budget with a good case and a passive watercooling.
[+] [-] sparknlaunch12|14 years ago|reply
I know you can replace fans but this is nuisance if you don't know much about the inner workings of a computer. PCs are easier to open but laptops and other portable devices aren't always possible to open (breach of warranty and design etc).
[+] [-] cnvogel|14 years ago|reply
"""... Dell model that was bogged down with useless preloaded software..."""
I don't know anyone only half-competent in IT things that would not install a new system from scratch exactly for that reason, so this complaint is really without merit.
[+] [-] Synaesthesia|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] leppie|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] zokier|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ktizo|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jarek|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|14 years ago|reply
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