Ideas for people trying to keep their HTPC noise down

[Nightmare77]

One idea i had to keep the noise down on a beefy htpc , is to lock it in the cabinet and not have it viewable , basically have it in the cupboard of the home theatre cabinet , then all you need to do is have the MCE remote receiver on the outside and put your DVD drive into a external cradle via USB and have that on the outside as well, then everything should be quiet but still workable . Just a thought for some people, its what i'm going to do so i dont' have to worry about getting a nice case either as no one will ever see it in the cupboard door of the entainment unit

[Zeuser]

Saw your avatar. I've got the same Bach box (minus the LCD).



And I don't know about you but I didn't plug in the HDD or power LED; they're annoying. The case LED (blue surround on the left) is just fine though.

Anyway, about the noise. You have a problem with your setup: Airflow!

And I know how lousy the airflow is in those Bach boxes. Despite the 2 rear fans and the front fan, everything in there is so damn tight that air has a hard time flowing around the components.

The goo news is that the CPU air evacuates directly above. I hope you didn't put another component on top of it and hurt the airflow even more.

On thing I noticed that improves airflow is to leave the panel covering the drive bays (on the right) open and removing the dummy plates. It looks ugly but the increased airflow allowed the temperature monitor to slow down the fans a bit and reduce noise.

I fear that enclosing the Bach in a cabinet is a terrible idea and this thing will run way too hot and fail sooner. I would only do that if I had water cooling or some other cooling system that's silent and doesn't require a huge amount of airflow in the box.

I know where the noise is from in my box; the CPU fan. The problem is that the CPU is too close to the power supply so I can't fit many other cooling fans that have better airflow and run silent.

Anyway... do not enclose in a cabinet without carefully checking the temperature your system is running at.

[Nightmare77]

i haven't actually ordered this case yet, its the one i want, but now i'm thinking of not getting one at all, and doing this idea instead. as i was thinking of just using my existing setup/case and maybe just drill some cooling holes in the case

[martyyn]

Im way ahead of you on this one, I have my shuttle, stb and amp all inside a cabinet with the LCD on top and the IR receiver under the bottom.

The main issue I have is not noise but heat. The cabinet is wood and its very thick wood so it has a propensity to heat up in there.

Even with the back of the cabinet removed and the case off the shuttle its still running hotter than I would prefer.

Shame I dont have a photo with me, Im quite proud of how its all hidden away

[and-81]

I know my solution is not for everyone, if you're renting for example, but if you have a room or cupboard behind the TV room, why not consider putting the HTPC on the other side of the wall?

Again, not for everyone, but I've done it and I'd never go back. There is no noise! And the computer is well ventilated, so there's no heat issues.

The only presence in the room with the tv is the IR receiver and an external DVD burner, but with software to control the drive speed it's practically silent.

Here's a couple of pictures...





A few notes:
- The hole in the wall is between my lounge room and my laundry, the lounge room has a cupboard that the TV sits on top of, the hole comes in to the cupboard and then a small pre-existing hole in the cupboard brings the power, audio and video cables up to the TV.

- The PC is slightly raised off the ground in case the laundry floods, and is tucked away in a corner of the laundry where no visitor will ever see it.

- I need the TV to work instantly, just like a real one, because I still live at home. For this reason the PC is on 24/7. It also lets me use it as a file server for my 2 XBMC setups around the house.

As you can see these aren't glamour shots of my HTPC, I just thought others who maybe haven't considered the possibility might be interested.

[Nightmare77]

hehe damn those look sweet, i sadly can't have the pc through the wall or it will be sitting outside near the dog kennels LOL, the only option for me would be to have it in a different room and just have a really like DVI cable , but they cost a fair bit, think i might need to go with martyyn and just hope its cooled well enough in the cabinet.
Damn sweet pictures dudes

[Zeuser]

Also a problem for me. The only room that borders the living room is a bedroom. All the other walls are outter walls (where the other side is outside the house).

So you see, I can't really put a noisy PC inside a bedroom.

You did give me another idea though; what if you simply used a fridge in the cabinet? You put the PC in the wood cabinet, grab an old mini fridge, remove the door and shove it into the cabinet. Without it's door, the mini fridge will simply have to cool down a slightly larger area (The wooden cabinet). Just make sure the cabinet is as airtight as possible; even the opening for the cables.

This should allow you to hide the PC, make it less noisy and still allow it to run cool.

What ya think?

[and-81]

The heat exchanger for the fridge (the back of it) would need to be outside the cabinet that you're cooling, otherwise the heat it's removing will have nowhere to go and it will actually make it hotter (it's generating heat from it's motor as well).

At least, that's my understanding.

But a large enough air space (inside a cupboard or cabinet) with some sort of hole or vent in it to let the air in/out should be able to keep a pc cool enough.

Also consider this ... The less hardware there is, the less there is to cool. What I mean is, every piece of hardware in the pc contributes to the heat. So ... Try to use only one hard disk, no floppy drive, and an external dvd drive, this should remove a bit of heat out of the case. And also free up some more space in there for air to move around in.

Cheers,

[johnbobjamesson]

On terms of energy waste, it's a pain in the a... Other than that, why not?

J

[ziphnor]

My HTPC only has 2x92mm "9db" SilenX fans(one in PSU, one in the case, none on the CPU), so its pretty silent, its by far the DVD drive thats the most noisy part. My HD is placed loose inside the case on top of a sponge

I would recommend visiting:
http://www.silentpcreview.com

Lots of info on silent parts.