I just treated myself to a new PC. Pics and stuff on HardOCP’s forum here.
Cliff’s notes: Silvertone FT02 case with all fans removed, fanless PSU, i7-3770S CPU, 32 GB RAM, SSD, Nofan CR-95 fanless CPU cooler, Geforce 660 Ti with fans intact.
Completely silent in 2D mode, minimal noise when playing games.
What in the world are you going to do with 32GB of RAM? Running a server or something?
I was expecting a computer embedded in a giant quartz geode, or something.
Why, specifically, did you go with fanless? Generally, I can guess because it is quieter and still cool, literally and figuratively. But was it to see if you could, for specific applications, etc.? And if you don’t mind answering, how much did something like this cost (and assuming the £ price is similar to the $ when converted), and was every part new (assuming monitor, mouse, keyboard were reused)? Apologies if I missed something in the other thread.
Fanless? Nice!
A few years ago, I built a PC and with a combination of a drive isolation box, “silencer” power supply, low RPM fans and Dynamat, it was almost dead silent. If fanless power supplies were available then, I’m sure I would have used one.
I got a good deal on the RAM. Plus I will be running VMs.
Noise. Or rather, the utter lack thereof.
a fellow [H] member in the midsts!
How fun! Since this sounds like a mega gamer’s machine, I’m guessing it’s not your first one?
I built my first one back in 2002 (if I remember correctly), then re-built it a few more times over the years, as various components failed. It lasted 7 years before it needed its first re-build. The computer guys said that was like 100 years in computer time.
I went to laptops only a few years ago, and sold my old tower before I left AK. Someday I’d like to build a screaming gamer’s machine, with the fancy see-through tower etc. Yay you!!!
It’s not really a gaming machine, though it’s got a decent GPU. It’s for my main use with occasional playing of games. I’ve been building PCs for ~ 25 years. Pretty much everything was dictated by the requirement for silence. The PSU is the most powerful silent PSU I could find; the Silverstone FT02 is the only case to support a rotated motherboard without the PSU being directly underneath the CPU (q.v. Silverstone FT03), and the Nofan is a fanless CPU cooler. The Nofan has a wattage limit so I chose a CPU well under that limit
Remember, in desktop mode, this PC is not just quiet but totally silent.
i’m guessing, as a pc hardware enthusiast like myself, you built this machine because you thought it was cool versus actually needing to make a system that was fanless to be silent.
i have a fractal define r3, and a CM Hyper 212+ hsf on my processor. the case is designed with silence in mind, and even though i have a 120mm intake and 120mm exhaust, corsair ax 750 psu, and the 212+ my refrigerator is louder than my pc while i’m just doing desktop and web browsing stuff. a motherboard with fan controlling software or even a hardware fan controller go a long way, i can set the fans to run at about 700rpm while i’m just browsing.
Not at all. If you do a search there, you’ll find I’ve been banging on about noise for quite a while. I just finally had the funds to put my money where my mouth is.
Interesting. I only ever dabbled in building them just for fun, but it never occurred to me to think about a quiet one.
Very interesting build, it seems you had similar ideas as me, I have the i7-3770K, 660Ti video card, and 32GB of RAM as well. I have fans up the wazoo though hahah
I’d never even considered a fanless design, though with what I want to do it wouldn’t work too well.
I just built one…3.3 ghz althon, MSI board…I cant get win XP2 to update…so I’m looking into Linux.
I’m tired of windows.
How may goddam operation systems do I have to by from them? 3.1, 95, 98SE, XP Pro2, Vista…
I don’t mind paying a few bucks on occasion for updated stuff.
Unfortunately, all that updated stuff makes my older applications not work anymore. I am not buying a new comp and all the stuff in it every other fucking year.
This is my 5th comp build.
Frustrated…
That’s awesome - how much $$? (if you don’t mind answering)
Quite a bit. 
Rough prices for the key bits:
Case: £220
PSU: £120
SSD: £270 (500 GB, though)
Cooler: £100
RAM: £100
CPU: £250
GPU: re-used from old system, but was ~£250, less now, of course.
M/b: £150
IOW about £1500 including the GPU. (~US$2400) though we do have 20% VAT. Silence costs. But I spend a lot of time near the PC and the noise really bugged me.