"Chris Nowak" wrote:

The customer is always right......and he wants a quiet system 2.8 Athlon xp
tower. Does this mean I just need a quiet cpu fan / power supply? or is
there more to it?

A quiet machine just needs a bit more thought and money to build but
the result will be not only quieter but almost certainly of better
quality than a typical build too.

You really need to check how quiet they want it to be. The noise
level from the PC can be reduced by spending a few extra quid on a
decent CPU cooler and PSU, but a truly quiet machine can cost a couple
of hundred pounds more than a similar machine using cheaper, more
common, parts.

Main culprits are the fans fitted to the PSU, CPU, GPU and case.
Replacing or removing them will reduce noise but can increase
temperatures so you'll need to put a bit more thought into airflow.
Where performance is not paramount consider using more conservative
components which generate less heat.

Athlons aren't the easiest to get quiet but there are a few decent
heatsink/fans with low noise. QuietPC or Zalman PSUs are almost
inaudible. Zalman do a whole range of components designed with
efficiency/noise in mind. Case fans can be replaced with good quality
Papst or YS-Tech and/or throttled back to reduce noise.

Having all but eliminated fan noise you'll find other components seem
noisy, drives especially. Seagate or Western Digital hard drives tend
to be quieter than most although other manufacturers now have
utilities for balancing performance vs seek noise.

Although they only tend to be audible in use, CD-ROM/DVD-ROM drives
can also be distracting, especially in a quiet PC where they may well
be the loudest component. I find Toshiba to be by far the quietest
and most cheap drives to be noisy, with the exception of Pioneer, who
tend not to be cheap but are one of the noisiest.

One more thing I see sound output quoted in dBa, but is 20Dba quiet or
should it be less?

20dBA will be practically inaudible in most environments. Anything
less than mid-20s should suffice.


--
iv Paul iv

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