Hi all, I have been asked by a friend to build a silent 10 screen PC.. This will only be used to surf the web and browse pages. Constantly browsing stock exchange sites. Requirements are: 1. Not water cooled. 2. No noise. 3. Must be able to run 10 monitors in 1 box. 4. Only need to supply the box, he wil buy the monitors etc. The watercooled thing puzzles me as does the silent thing but that is what he wants. I am really struggling to come up with the answer. This could be due to my folding and gaming nature, Ideas please my friends. Thanks, Keith.
No such thing as silent really, not without loads of passive components - you want something that's inaudible, i.e. 25dBA or less.
I completly agree and am stumped really. I am looking for something quiet then, '25dBA or less'. As I said, not something I have ever thought about. Advice required as to the possibility of a build? Cheers, Keith.
i guess that, if money's of minimal concern, you could ask Matrox about the noise levels of their Matrox M9188 (8 monitors a piece) cards since they're specifically designed for this kind of purpose & are likely to be quieter than going for some kind of Eyefinity setup. Well, either two of them (or it 'may' be possible to pair one with the TripleHead2Go or one of their dual display cards to make up the 10 more cheaply) could be an option... if you then added in a whole bunch of AcoustiPack foam you could try & balance air flow with noise... Mmmmm... i guess the other, much simpler alternative, is to house the PC in a different room from the screens & that way it can be (within reason) as loud as it wants to be.
something completely inaudible... ... ten monitors support... hmm... well.. i think the answer its in an old well known friend of us gamers... ¡¡¡MATROX!!! MATROX has today the best solutions for multiple displays, Pls take a look at this http://www.matrox.com/graphics/en/products/graphics_cards/m_series/m9188pciex16/ The storage could be done with a full SSD solution: http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/128G...-25-SSD-SATA-3Gb-s-Read-250MB-s-Write-170MB-s Passively cooled PSU, no problem, tho i found this one, honestly i cannot recomend it as i havent try it http://www.axiontech.com/prdt.php?item=87557 I think the problem would be having a silent CPU without watercooling...
If size isn't an issue, you could use a HUGE tower cooler for the CPU with a couple of super low dBA level fans, along with the Matrox card(s). If the Matrox stuff is too loud, then you might be a little stuck. I find this is often a problem with requests from people. They specify too much. For example, my dad wants me to build him a DAW, and I said to him that he can either tell me specs or price, but not both. Knowing him and his approach to computers, he would ask for 16GB of RAM on a £400 computer and so on. Having too many goals to meet is just increasing the likelihood of failure. Either way, I think that an all SSD storage solution, along with the Matrox card(s), a big tower cooler with low dBA fans (bit-tech has a good guide to 120mm fans) and lots of foam to absorb the noise. As for PSUs, according to CPC, the Seasonic X650W is silent under 50% load, as the fan doesn't spin up until it's needed.
Fantastic replies, many thanks! Liking the looks of the Matrox Not seen them before, Any other ideas to top up the bag? Big TY, Keith.
Last I heard passively-cooled PSU's are not reliable. Some components really do just need that fraction of air moving over them. Plenty of PSU's out there are almost totally inaudible away from peak load. For the graphics I'd think about something like the Matrox cards. One question is though, why 10 monitors?
Stock exchanges... ...Im sure he wants to setup his own wall street office at home, looking at graphics all over the place...
5870 in 3 way crossfire vapor x editions set fan speed to 10% or something and they will just tick over such a waste of power but its best way i can think off you could run 2 silent psus seasonic 750 watts is near enough silent in general usage. fenrir on low speed is pretty quiet as well inaudiable doesnt exist if money is no object a near quiet build could be built for some money that would support it
See the Matrox links above, they're really nifty cards. Also, 3x 5870s would only provide nine total screens. You could use two Eyefinity 6 versions of the 5870 for a total of 12 mini-display ports. Once you have one fan in the case, however, you can always add more as long as they aren't louder than the first. There is no graphics solution capable of 10 screens which does not have some sort of fan, so just add in a couple very low RPM 120mm fans and a big, quiet CPU cooler like a Gelid Tranquillo. Slap it all into a quiet case like a Define R2 and you should be pretty good. There comes a point where you just have to tell a customer that things aren't always possible
No way.. hehe.. sorry.. but MATROX its the way to go, period... I see no reason to go for ATI high end on this one.. maybe you're not familiar with MATROX work... pls see my early reply...
Well, here's a better idea: Go for three Matrox M9148 LP , with this you get 12 output ports and the best of all its that this card in specific its passively cooled, NO FAN http://www.matrox.com/graphics/en/products/graphics_cards/m_series/m9148lppciex16/ we're getting closer to the OP needs.. Keep looking guys
i did look at them, but wouldn't you then have to increase the airflow significantly in the case to stop them overheating which may well defeat any saving... ...whereas if the Matrox M9188 we both suggested would work with the TripleHead2Go (or mixing the Matrox M9188 with a single passive one) then there'd only be the one fan specifically designed to cool that card. & can anyone find a dBA level for the Antec KÜHLER Box? Just wondering what they mean by 'whisper quiet'...
Believe me I've seen stock exchange monitoring software... Unless you're looking for 3 or 4 people working from this one computer it's overkill. One screen is enough for monitoring a myriad of stocks.
I think at least an exaust FAN could be used, with some gromets on the screws to make it more quiet. http://www.noctua.at/main.php?show=productview&products_id=5&lng=en
Just remembered the other problem i'd read with trying that (why i'd not suggested it) - "It offers multiple operating system support, and can be paired with another M9148 graphics card to support up to eight DisplayPort monitors from a single system." "Joined graphics card mode Insert two M-Series cards into the same system to drive even more monitors across a stretched desktop(1). (1 - Operating system, hardware and driver compatibility need to be verified for large monitor configuration arrays. Contact Matrox for details.)" - which is kind of suggesting that you can only use 2 of the M cards together, not 3... That means that, to get 10 displays working, at least one of them would need to be the Matrox M9188.
If you just got all of the same fans running at the same low rpm each with grommets wouldn't the noise be the same as having only one? To my understanding, two sounds that are exactly the same don't make each other louder when interfering. The only "loudness" from multiple fans is the sound coming from more than one location and making it seem "bigger", or slightly different tones making it sound "thicker". Not saying to go overboard and just deck the whole thing out with fans, but the benefit of having at least a single intake to go with the exhaust would probably be worth it. My own experience is that single fan setups get covered in dust anyway, thus causing automatically controlled fans to increase their speeds.
Just offering my thoughts: 1) Get a mobo with at least 5 PCI-E 2.0 slots, e.g. Asus P6T7 WS SuperComputer. 2) Buy an i7 920 + uber huge air cooler. 3) Buy 5 of these 4350s and install 4) Install Win 7 Professional (because your friend's a professional, right ). 5) Set up monitors 6) Profit
