Author Topic: Fanless/silent old PC  (Read 2718 times)

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Fanless/silent old PC
on: June 11, 2020, 18:31:47 PM
Anyone got any good suggestions on where I could obtain an old (must have PCI) desktop style PC that is fanless/silent? Can be as low power as you like as long as it has PCI as I plan on using it as a HiFi streamer with my existing pro grade sound card (which is PCI).

Haven't seen anything decent on ebay and its very hard to find any old computers that are being described as fanless/silent or don't cost silly money.

If I can't find something suitable I'll probably end up buying a DAC.

  • Offline Vini

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Re: Fanless/silent old PC
Reply #1 on: June 11, 2020, 21:13:50 PM
Pi + DAC, running Volumio, or similar? I had 4/5 of those prior to going Sonos.

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Re: Fanless/silent old PC
Reply #2 on: June 12, 2020, 08:42:13 AM
I'd probably buy a dedicated HiFi DAC, it was more the fact I could re-use my soundcard as part of a dedicated streaming PC to connect to the HiFi, as otherwise I might as well sell the card because it will be useless when I next upgrade.

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Re: Fanless/silent old PC
Reply #3 on: June 12, 2020, 15:52:01 PM
Mine is silent as long as I don't switch it on, or you are deaf....

Main noise producers are the fans in PSU and on CPU, you can buy low noise PSU options now. As for use on a low power CPU just a large normal heatsink will do, or fit a control to reduce.

Overall though I suggest going for something new and buying a DAC.

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Re: Fanless/silent old PC
Reply #4 on: June 13, 2020, 11:25:25 AM
DAC might be a long term goal, costs a lot more though. I made a cheeky offer on something on ebay that should be pretty much silent (one internal fan I can deal with, might be able to disconnect it and get away with it) so that's getting delivered on Monday. I'll show you guys what I'm putting together.

Re: Fanless/silent old PC
Reply #5 on: June 23, 2020, 19:20:57 PM
if you get something old, bodge a modern heat sink onto it?

it's crazy when you think back how crap heat sinks were back in the day :-o

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Re: Fanless/silent old PC
Reply #6 on: June 24, 2020, 07:38:58 AM
It does have a pretty crappy looking heatsink actually for the CPU!

I'll take some photos when I put the unit I bought back together, its clearly had a rough life and stank of fags, had chewy sweets wedged in one of the heatsinks, full of dust and grime. So I stripped it down and cleaned it, then blew it out with compressed air and unplugged the poor quality Evercool 40mm chassis fan it has, I'll see how it copes without it as it was the only fan but not even drawing air over the heatsink!

It has a 3.5" Seagate 250Gb SATA 'video' spec HDD installed which I will be swapping for an SSD - not even going to bother testing it with that as I want cool, fast and quiet - so I might flog that on. Just gotta swap an SSD and the soundcard out of my main rig.

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Re: Fanless/silent old PC
Reply #7 on: June 24, 2020, 09:33:06 AM
be quiet! PSUs are very good and what I use for my arcade builds and test boxes.

Noctua fans I use for pretty much everything, they're super quiet and come with voltage resistors that you can wire in line, pricey though.

I've used a couple of these systems, https://www.asrock.com/mb/index.asp#Intel%20CPU intel CPU on board and passively cooled.

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Re: Fanless/silent old PC
Reply #8 on: June 24, 2020, 09:43:16 AM
I did wonder if Noctua were still making some of the best fans, if I do need a replacement I'll see if they make one in a compatible size.

I saw BeQuiet! apeared out of nowhere and assumed it was some generic crappy asian brand (Choco pie ITS NOW!) but actually their cases and other equipment look premium and are designed for quiet, probably going to use one of their cases next.

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Re: Fanless/silent old PC
Reply #9 on: June 24, 2020, 09:57:46 AM
I did wonder if Noctua were still making some of the best fans, if I do need a replacement I'll see if they make one in a compatible size.

 (Choco pie ITS NOW!)

 :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

TBH generally any fan can be made quiet, even a clunky old POS if you wire a resistor inline to slow it down, depends how much airflow you need I guess.

Fair play on the be quiet case, the PSUs I have (3 of them, 2 diff types) You basically can't hear unless you put your ear on it.


Re: Fanless/silent old PC
Reply #10 on: June 24, 2020, 17:32:27 PM
I did wonder if Noctua were still making some of the best fans, if I do need a replacement I'll see if they make one in a compatible size.

 (Choco pie ITS NOW!)

 :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

TBH generally any fan can be made quiet, even a clunky old POS if you wire a resistor inline to slow it down, depends how much airflow you need I guess.

Fair play on the be quiet case, the PSUs I have (3 of them, 2 diff types) You basically can't hear unless you put your ear on it.




pfffft, you fancy basterds with your resistors

what happened to good old 7v mod?

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Re: Fanless/silent old PC
Reply #11 on: July 07, 2020, 20:41:41 PM
I’ve got a HP DC7900 SFF that I’m just about to bin... ripped out of my MAME cab. Has what appears to be 1x 80mm and then whatever the PSU has. It doesn’t have a front, or side... but it works!

It's literally as pictured. You're more than welcome to it if its of any use/we can sort logistics! Else it's going in the bin.




Last Edit: July 08, 2020, 09:06:49 AM by Vini #187;

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Re: Fanless/silent old PC
Reply #12 on: August 04, 2020, 07:14:14 AM
So the machine is all put together now, here's some pics


 

 

 

 

 

 

The Atom processor is sloooow (D410) - even with an SSD its very laggy to respond to anything - but hopefully once I've finished optimising Windows and with the soundcard I'm using it should be fine with Foobar2000 and FLAC decoding.

I'm also well aware that I could have used some linux flavour to make it snappier but I cba with it or trying to ensure drivers, etc work, this is simpler for me and means I can use remote desktop right off the bat.

The Evercool garbage is going to be replaced with a suitable replacement fan - I thought Noctua would fit but they don't do anything 10mm deep :( - or maybe two with a 3-4 pin molex adapter.

BTW if ever you need a VGA to HDMI converter in your life I highly recommend that well known asian brand VENTION
Last Edit: August 04, 2020, 15:46:35 PM by Clock'd 0Ne #187;

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Re: Fanless/silent old PC
Reply #13 on: August 04, 2020, 16:35:15 PM
Best I could find at 15mm, its going to be tight as a nuns to fit but ordered two and a 3-pin splitter :yarr:

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/noiseblocker-blacksilent-pro-fan-pc-p-80mm-2500rpm-fg-047-nb.html

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