KVR Audio

fishbowl.tucson.az · Post by **fishbowl.tucson.az** » Tue Nov 30, 2004 4:48 am

I saw the ads for the Hush PC. Very $$$$$.

I was wondering about other options. Are there any fanless or very quiet 19" rack cases that can take an ATX board and fit (depth-wise) in a typical audio rack? (All PC rack cases I've seen are Deeeep).

How about Mini-ITX? I have a C3-533 box, but I've never even considered using it as a VSTi host, I can't imagine that it could run even a single instance of many synths. Maybe there is a fanless Mini-ITX that's good enough to use as a musical instrument and/or multitrack recorder? (Or even, just 2-tracks at a time?)

I've got my Shuttle XPC down to "fairly quiet", but nowhere near "quiet enough to use in the same room as a condensor mic."

I don't have any delusions about the quietness of my room, but I also have precious few options. (There's not going to be any "putting it in the control room" or "recording in a different room from the PC" here, not unless I get a bunch of money and permission to do some construction.)

So whenever I record piano, flute, or voice, I'm stuck with either picking up the ambient sound of the computer, or recording it on the DAT recorder (which is obviously no solution).

Because the expense of getting a quiet PC seems to be SO high, it makes dedicated digital recorders seem cheap by comparison.

Even the Muse Receptor has a FAN! (I think it has TWO fans!).

(But is the Muse quiet? Quiet enough to use within 5 feet of a hot mike?)

Yeah, I know, if I need a room this quiet, I should be recording in a studio. That's not going to happen either. I'm just looking to make my surroundings quieter. Pin drop on tissue paper quiet. I realize that's a costly goal.

o'malley · Post by **o'malley** » Tue Nov 30, 2004 4:57 am

The computer has to have a CPU fan or it will overheat. However, I have seen isolation boxes made for computers with thick sides and foam on the inside that drasticlly reduce noise. I think they are also alot cheaper than super qquiet PCs too. You actually might be able to make one yourself. I don't know what kind of experience you have had with woodworking, but it would probably be an easy project. Just make sure the computer can still get ventalation. They also make thermometers to monitor the computers temperture.

DevonB · Post by **DevonB** » Tue Nov 30, 2004 5:06 am

omalley wrote:The computer has to have a CPU fan or it will overheat.

Actually, that would be incorrect.

Seriously, if you want whisper quiet, you're going to pay the price. Youv'e got case fan, power supply fan, cpu fan and hard drives to fight with for noise. All of them are going to cost you to get quiet.

Devon

freeztar · Post by **freeztar** » Tue Nov 30, 2004 5:15 am

If your room is untreated, then you will probably pick up more room noise in a LD mic than fan noise. That's the case here at least. But then again, My fan is ultra-noisy so I only do very close takes on my LD mics .

lo3q · Post by **lo3q** » Tue Nov 30, 2004 5:17 am

Actually you can run a computer without a CPU fan. You just need to have a very good heatsink.

There are quite a few available:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=fa ... gle+Search

Last week I saw (as in was physically present) a 3.0GHz Pentium system running with only a single fan (the one in the power supply). It was effectively silent. Had a monstrously tall heatsink on the CPU though...

One thing to watch out for, by the way, is CPU-throttling on Pentium CPUs. That's a feature which slows down the CPU when it overheats. Which is good, in theory, but there's no warning that's happening. As far as I know, AMD CPUs don't have this feature/bug.

And, because of the limited space inside, it's much harder to build a small PC (like an XPC) with no cooling fan on the CPU. I don't know if any exist... maybe somebody else does?

o'malley · Post by **o'malley** » Tue Nov 30, 2004 5:24 am

DevonB wrote:
omalley wrote:The computer has to have a CPU fan or it will overheat.
Actually, that would be incorrect.

Devon

Wow, what a monster heat sink

! I had never heard of such a thing. Thanks for enlightening me.

caganer · Post by **caganer** » Tue Nov 30, 2004 5:25 am

Or you can get a Pentium-M based computer:

Motherboard
DFI

CPU:
Pentium-M

Due to the low power consumption, these CPU's can operate only with a heatsink, afaik...and Pentium-M's are fast

freeztar · Post by **freeztar** » Tue Nov 30, 2004 5:28 am

Here' something
Yet pretty $$$.
Still has a fan, but is rated at 34dBA.

o'malley · Post by **o'malley** » Tue Nov 30, 2004 5:29 am

lo3q wrote:One thing to watch out for, by the way, is CPU-throttling on Pentium CPUs. That's a feature which slows down the CPU when it overheats. Which is good, in theory, but there's no warning that's happening. As far as I know, AMD CPUs don't have this feature/bug.

No, the AMD cpus don't, unless they added the feature recently. I saw a video where they take the heatsink and fan off an AMD cpu, and it hoverheats, burns up and dies

, while the Pentium just slows down.

freeztar · Post by **freeztar** » Tue Nov 30, 2004 5:30 am

m|7o wrote:Or you can get a Pentium-M based computer:

Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduct.a ... rty&DEPA=0

CPU:
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduct.a ... rty&DEPA=0

Due to the low power consumption, these CPU's can operate only with a heatsink, afaik...and Pentium-M's are fast

Links don't work, What is the deal with the Pentium M processor?

mike.0 · Post by **mike.0** » Tue Nov 30, 2004 5:34 am

Heres a completely noiseless case:

http://www.zalmanusa.com/usa/product/co ... p?code=020

I have one. I cant even hear it. The birds in the trees outside are louder than my PC.

hlmst · Post by **hlmst** » Tue Nov 30, 2004 5:35 am

Well I'm running a cheapo copper insert cooler and an Athlonxp @ 2100mhz with 1.45V power. Even a 80x80 cooler running like 1000RPM can cope with that.

lo3q · Post by **lo3q** » Tue Nov 30, 2004 5:37 am

No, the AMD cpus don't, unless they added the feature recently. I saw a video where they take the heatsink and fan off an AMD cpu, and it hoverheats, burns up and dies , while the Pentium just slows down.

Actually, AFAIK, that wouldn't happen with any modern AMD CPU. And, I think, only happened with a few motherboards which didn't implement AMDs safety features (anybody else know more about this...? I don't really remember the details)

There are two different features:

The first is CPU-throttling, which slows the CPU down when it gets hot (in the range 70-90, typically). Intel has this, AMD doesn't (again, AFAIK)

The second is some kind of automatic emergency shutdown, when the heat goes way too high (over 100C or higher). Both Intel and AMD CPUs have this.

SecondSkin · Post by **SecondSkin** » Tue Nov 30, 2004 5:48 am

My girlfriend just got a cheap-ass new HP in her office -- damn thing is so quiet you can't even tell if its on.

fishbowl.tucson.az · Post by **fishbowl.tucson.az** » Tue Nov 30, 2004 5:53 am

SecondSkin wrote:My girlfriend just got a cheap-ass new HP in her office -- damn thing is so quiet you can't even tell if its on.

I found out what was quiet in my office, wasn't so quiet in my music room.

Fanless or Very Quiet PC?