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silentbob
Apprentice
Joined: 09 Nov 2003
Posts: 159
Location: UK
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 Posted: Tue Jan 13, 2004 12:59 am Post subject: Silent PC... any suggestions? eg terminal server client? |
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I have a pretty simple idea... I want to build a *completely* silent PC for my bedroom that will quickly boot up running Gentoo. My idea is to use my current PC as a terminal server and use VNC to connect to it from a very slim client. Why..? because I've got a dual-Athlon 2000 XP machine which has serious grunt, but also lots of noisy fans. I can count the following fans: 2 x CPU coolers (Thermaltake variable rate fans depending on the heat, when I emerge something big I can literally hear them winding up!), 3 x case fans, 2 x power supply, plus 3 hard disks. Although it does run nice, stable and cool!
I have an idea of hiding this machine somewhere out of the way (under the stairs / in the loft, heat conditions permitting) and then connecting to this machine via VNC. I've been eyeing up the VIA range of mini-ITX motherboards [VIA] for a while now and I reckon they would be ideal, you can get silent (fanless) motherboards measuring only 17x17cm with almost everything built-in and only requiring tiny amounts of power, around 50-60W which means DC power without power supply fans / noise. I can get one of these for < £100 (GBP UK) and only need to then add RAM and make up a really neat custom made case of some kind. Obviously the on-board CPUs aren't exactly powerful, the fanless systems have 600Mhz VIA CPUs up to a 1000Mzh C3 Nehemiah system (with a single, quiet, CPU heatsink). Since I've got plenty of computing power in my main system I could use DistCC for any big builds, so that isn't really a problem.
The question is, before I go ahead and spend the money, will this plan work? I'm thinking of having the VIA motherboard net boot (if available) for general use at home so no hard disk noise to worry about, and just run everything on the main dualie system to display on the client. Is this likely to be OK for everyday use running across the 100 mbps LAN - I mostly browse web / mail / some web & DB coding etc, note I don't play games on the PC (I've got an X-Box for that!). I'd also like to make the PC box absolutely tiny & portable so that I can, for instance, take it to my girlfriends place on the weekends and sit it in the corner, turn it on (with no monitor / keyboard / mouse) and then VNC into it from her (ahem!) Windows XP laptop and use, if possible? I guess this would need a way of keeping my files synched between the main pc and the clients hard disk for when it is away from home.
Anyway, that's just some thoughts that I'd thought I'd run past the forum to see if it's got a future or I should save myself the £100 odd quid (maybe buy a laptop instead to travel with) and put up with the noise! 
Thanks all!
http://www.mini-itx.com/
http://www.mini-itx.com/projects/windowsxpbox/ - link this, but Gentoo! |
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ozonator
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Joined: 11 Jun 2003
Posts: 591
Location: Ontario, Canada
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| Posted: Tue Jan 13, 2004 5:48 pm Post subject: Re: Silent PC... any suggestions? eg terminal server client? |
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| silentbob wrote: | | I'm thinking of having the VIA motherboard net boot (if available) for general use at home so no hard disk noise to worry about, and just run everything on the main dualie system to display on the client. Is this likely to be OK for everyday use running across the 100 mbps LAN - I mostly browse web / mail / some web & DB coding etc, note I don't play games on the PC (I've got an X-Box for that!). I'd also like to make the PC box absolutely tiny & portable so that I can, for instance, take it to my girlfriends place on the weekends and sit it in the corner, turn it on (with no monitor / keyboard / mouse) and then VNC into it from her (ahem!) Windows XP laptop and use, if possible? I guess this would need a way of keeping my files synched between the main pc and the clients hard disk for when it is away from home. |
The VIA board was sounding like a great option for you until I read this paragraph. Two thoughts.
First, if you're diskless and netbooting at home, what were you planning to do when you bring it to the GF's place? Were you planning to use a disk only then? Or can you set things up there for netbooting? Frankly, many IDE drives are nearly silent -- especially Seagate, in my recent experience -- so I'd say just get one of those. Besides, unless you go for a fanless power supply, chances are the tiny bit of sound from the PSU fan will be louder than one of the Seagate IDE drives.
Second, if you really want the portability, my sense is that a laptop would be a much better deal. Sure, it might be a bit more expensive, but maybe not if you're looking at fanless power supplies and portable cases for mini-ITX. A laptop is certainly portable, many are extremely quiet (especially if they're not under load and the fan hasn't cut in), and plenty useful for what you suggest using it for (not to mention that it's pretty much 'instant-on' if it was 'asleep'). Oh, and you won't compete with your GF for use of her laptop.  Maybe an entry-level iBook or Thinkpad? Chances are, a refurbished or used model might do the trick, too.
That being said, I might as well add that the VIA boards are terrific. I've set up a couple of M10000 systems lately (1 GHz Nehemiah CPU), and was extremely impressed with the quality and speed ('feels' just about as fast as my Duron 1200). With a decent 250 W power supply (overkill, but cheap and standard) and a Seagate drive, the boxes are extremely quiet.
One final thought: if your incentive for doing this is the noise of your dual-athlon box, why not look into making that quieter? After tiring of the whine from the stock 5000 RPM fan on my Duron, I replaced it with a Zalman CNPS7000A-AlCu, which is pretty much completely silent (and more efficient at cooling than the AMD HS/fan combo); add a quiet, variable-speed fan power supply (Enermax) and a speed-controlled case fan (also Enermax), and with the Seagate drive I already had, my system is extremely quiet -- my fastest fan runs at just under 2200 RPM. It's not totally silent, but more than quiet enough to be within earshot while working and sleeping. Now, that Zalman unit might not fit in your case or be okay for a dual-CPU box, but there might be others that are appropriate. In any case, the principle I learned was this: larger, slower fans are not only quieter, the sound they do make is a much more pleasant tone than the whine of a high-RPM fan. |
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silentbob
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Joined: 09 Nov 2003
Posts: 159
Location: UK
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| Posted: Tue Jan 13, 2004 8:45 pm Post subject: |
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Thanks for the info, I really appreciate hearing other peoples views and sharing experience. The Zalman fans you linked to look great, but sadly becuase its a dual-Athlon system their is very limited space for CPU coolers. The 2 Thermaltake fans I have are about the largest I could squeeze together, they nicely touch each other and have variable rate fans (20.55 CFM at 1300 rpm to 75.7 CFM at 4800 rpm) depending on heat. But as you might imagine on a compile or what the noise goes up to a loud roar (my girlfriend used to complain that they sound like a lawnmower when she sayed round!) pic of my PC (854.5Kb)
However I got a little excited about the mini-ITX idea today. I saw (and bid on) a cheap VIA Nehemiah 1Ghz mini-ITX motherboard on eBay this afternoon, brand-new and it is £40 cheaper than buying the same thing from mini-itx.com - I couldn't resist getting it 
Not sure exactly what I plan to do now, I'm torn between my original plan - making an *absolutely* silent PC for my room OR create a tivo type multimedia centre. Think I'm gonna play around with it and see how it goes, now to find a really unique or custom made case for it. |
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jetblack
Guru
Joined: 15 Jan 2003
Posts: 340
Location: Evanston, IL, USA
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| Posted: Tue Jan 13, 2004 9:01 pm Post subject: |
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I don't think you can make a completely silent 1GHz Nehemiah, there's a processor fan that makes a little hum. However, even with the CPU fan and a small case fan, they're almost inaudible at 3 feet (I've got 5 of them sitting behind me - convinced the employer to buy the beasties for me so I could test out diskless cluster options  )
I've got one of the 500 MHz models at home that sits in my room and plays mp3s. That is completely silent. It's very nice. |
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ozonator
Guru
Joined: 11 Jun 2003
Posts: 591
Location: Ontario, Canada
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| Posted: Tue Jan 13, 2004 9:49 pm Post subject: |
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Congrats on getting the epia! It really is a nice board, and should make a nice 'media center', if you choose that route. (Nice-looking Athlon box, BTW.)
Having just been looking around for updated versions of epia-related kernel patches myself, here's their new home: http://epia.kalf.org/ -- there are even ebuilds there now, ready to drop into /usr/local/portage. The epia howto and other similar documents still mostly seem to have links to the old location of the patches, though the configuration info in those docs still apply. |
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