Cooling The Silent PC

1. Create A Silent Wind Tunnel In Your Silent PC If your silent PC is pushing the heat threshold, use a silent rear exhaust case fan rather than an intake fan. We recommend an exhaust fan because airflow from an exhaust fan is much greater than that which is produced from an intake fan. Also due to the location of the fan, an exhaust fan can also be noticeably quieter. Because heat rises and because the power supply, CPU, and northbridge chipset produce so much heat (all centrally located by the rear exhaust fan), it is recommended that the exhaust fan be placed in the rear, just below the power supply. This improves computer airflow around these essential components (PSU, CPU, and northbridge chipset).

As you can see from the above silent PC cooling diagram, the idea behind a rear exhaust case fan is the creation of a "wind tunnel" in your computer just over the CPU and northbridge chipset. We recommend Nexus real silent case fans, which we have found to be the most reliable, truly silent case fans available anywhere. Silentpcreview.com gives the Nexus Real Silent 92mm fan their highest recommendation here. Papst silent fans are our second choice for quiet CPU fan - the 9 db Papst is an excellent choice for a quiet CPU fan. Papst has long been relied upon as the standard in silent PC fans.

Our favorite silent power supplies, the NX-3500 and the NX-4090 are especially helpful in creating this "wind tunnel". In fact, when using these versions of the Nexus Real Silent Power Supplies, you should not need a case fan at all. This is because the NX-3500 and NX-4090 include a 120-mm silent power supply fan located on the bottom of the power supply, pulling air out of your case up through the silent power supply and out the back. The NX-4090 Real Silent Power Supply also provides plenty of power, stays cool, and is truly silent.

2. Silent PCs Need Adequate Heatsinks Proper cooling of the silent PC begins with choosing an adequate heatsink. See our Silent CPU Comparison Chart for silent CPU cooler and fan recommendations.

3. Use Quality Thermal Compound An important component of superior cooling of the silent PC is the use of high quality thermal compound when attaching heatsinks. For improved CPU cooling and performance, we recommend Arctic Silver 5, which alone can drop your CPU temperature from 3-12 degrees Celsius when switching from standard thermal compound. Since creating a silent PC involves using large, efficient heatsinks and silent, slow-moving fans as your only source of cooling, proper installation of your CPU cooler and the use of high-quality thermal compound is imperative. Arctic Silver has excellent thermal compound instructions. Your silent CPU cooler manufacturer is usually a good resource of CPU cooler installation instructions.

4. Organize Your Cables Making sure all wires and cables are routed and bunched out of the way so as to not block airflow, is another very important key to proper computer cooling in the silent PC. Use cable ties and the like to bunch cables out of the path of the airflow "wind tunnel". For IDE and Floppy Cables, we recommend Rounded Cables since they not only look cool, but are easier to move and bunch out of the way of your case's airflow.

5. Leave Some Room Try and leave slots near intense heat producing cards (for instance video cards) open for better airflow around the card, and therefore improved cooling of that computer component. A Zalman Silent Video Fan is an excellent alternative for silently cooling your high-end video card.

6. Find A Cool Place For Your Silent Hard Drive Try and leave a bay next to your silent hard drive open to allow for better airflow and better cooling around these heat producing components, or else use a Smart Drive Enclosure to safely silence your hard drive (the Smart Drive reduce temperatures slightly). If you aren't using Smart Drive enclosures, but are using two silent hard drives or an extra 3 1/2" peripheral, then you may want to purchase a 5 1/4" to 3 1/2" drive bay converter so that one hard drive or peripheral can be separated into one of your large drive bays in order to stay cooler.

7. Don't Use A Front Case Fan Front case fans not only add to your computer's noise level, but are generally not necessary since they do not significantly improve computer cooling. In fact, according to AMD's Guide To Cooling, some tests have shown that front cooling fans are actually more likely to re-circulate warm air rather than introduce cool air.

8. Your Silent PC Needs To Be Clean Keeping your silent PC free of dust helps ensure proper PC cooling. Dust causes computer components to hold in their heat, thereby contributing to their wear and even causing them to overheat (and therefore die). You can start by keeping your computer in as clean an area as possible. If your computer has dust in it, use a can of compressed air to clean out all fans and the inside of your computer. Make sure not to tip the can of compressed air upside down, as this will cause the can to spray out a frozen liquid that can damage your computer. Keep in mind that canned air is all that should be used to rid your computer of the unsightly dust that is heating up your computer. Water and solvents can damage components, and a vacuum should NEVER be used on your computer unless it is a specialized computer vacuum. Normal vacuums have huge static electricity build-ups and can instantly kill various computer parts.

9. Air Filters May Or May Not Help Air filters over the case front/rear airflow vents can slow down airflow into and out of your case (especially if they are dirty), thus reducing computer cooling. On the other hand, the use of dust filters may help you keep your computer clean and therefore reduce overheating, especially in a dusty environment. If you use air filters in your silent PC, make sure to clean them on a regular basis.