Quiet Computer Case

[clocker]

Hey Detale, The Meghalem you linked to - in addition to a fan attached to it, would be nearing 1 kg in weight!

Would that cause some unnecessary stress on my motherboard/parts after being mounted for prolonged periods of time?

Probably not, especially if the case is not frequently moved.

[Detale]

I know it sounds "weighty" but the thing is designed to be installed there bud

[Appzalien]

I spent $20 on a cheapo case of very flimsy aluminum, and then at the local Home Depo, bought some corkboard and glued it to the sides and bottom and part of the top (the powersupply was close so I had to remove that part). I had to be careful where I placed the board so it didn't interfear with opening and closing the side panels. But when it was done it was not only nice and quite but also less flimsy. I just wish that cheapo case had a better card mounting mechanism or the regular screw in would have been better. I also had to sand inside the case to remove the razor sharp edges. but that was easy.

Look, its on sale for $18

http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0257843

I didn't use it for a gaming case, just for my music keyboards and DAW so I don't play around inside much. Once the audio card and extra USB was installed thats that. Reusing a powersupply, memory, sound card and optical drive I was able to put together a fairly powerful PC for around $300 because I'm using onboard video (I do have a card to use now [ATI HD 4650 512mb] but I haven't got around to it and don't really know if its necessary.

OH! I forgot, the excess cork board came in handy to make gaskets for my fans to make them vibration free, and much quieter as well. there wasn't enough room to get cork next to the hard drives or I would have done that too. It really is the quietest PC I have at the moment (I don't want my microphones picking up fan noise). The case is a piece of junk but serves its purpose well.

[clocker]

The case is a piece of junk but serves its purpose well I made it usable.

Fixed.

[Rart]

Curious on what you think of this detale:

What if I slapped one of these into my case, mounted the Megalahem onto my CPU w/o a fan, and didn't install any case fans? How would that work for silencing .

Would the higher temps from passively cooling be detrimental to my temps?

Even if I don't go completely passive, the HD4850 passive does seem rather attractive considering the GPU normally is one of the biggest sources of noise.

[Detale]

Well for silencing it would be great but it would be awful for you temps. I had a passively cooled Asus 3650 for my old HTPC and it ran OK but the temps were borderline unacceptable. Passively cooled is okay, but it's not meant for gaming. Also it's planing on your case having good airflow to work well. You still need some air moving around in there at very least for your ram or you may get odd restarts and such. Instead of spending $130 on a new card you could get an aftermarket vid card cooler for half that amount bud. What card do you have again?

[Rart]

Mostly just thinking out loud. I haven't actually purchased anything yet, will most likely buy my parts ~mid summer.

I was thinking of getting this 5770 as I heard from reviews on sites and from the previously linked SPCR that it can run very silently for a stock cooler.

I'm open on any suggestions you have for aftermarket coolers for GPU's though if they work well, anyway to silence the GPU would be great.

Are GPU heatsinks significantly more difficult to replace though? I know CPU's are pretty simple with a little screw in over the motherboard, but I'm worried that I might break something wrenching off a GPU cooler (again, I'm very new to this stuff, you probably have magnitudes of more experience than I do). You also have to replace memory heatsinks? Or are they already put on a stock cooler?

[Detale]

I've only done it a few times myself, but thus far it's been pretty straight forward. A few screws here and there, thermal paste and voila! I had gotten a little crazy and decided to "super-void" my warranty and make a custon air/water cooler for my GTX 260 here Honestly it works well and i only have the fan running at 20% and it keeps the ram chips cool She looks like this ATM though

[clocker]

Vid card coolers can be a bit tricky to remove because they cover so many components- not just the GPU itself but typically all the RAM chips as well.
You're removing a lot of thermal tape at one time.

Not difficult, just be aware and prepared.

[BlueMax]

have you looked at netbooks?
Unless you are into gaming, they are probably all you need!
Quiter than the quietest desktop; then cheap and portable to boot!