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A Silent PC is a computer with reduced noise emission levels. Common uses are video editing, sound mixing and domestic installations, including as a home theater PC.

Root Causes of PC Noise

On a fundamental level, noisy computers are a byproduct of increased power demands in PCs. Computers from the late 90s and prior generally had very modest power demands, and could typically be cooled via passive methods. Because of the substantial increase in power consumption (and thus thermal output), active cooling was required for stable operation. The vast majority of PCs being sold today require active cooling solutions for stable operation, with some noteworthy exceptions.

In the instance of hard drives, noise has increased due to increasing rotational speed. DC Notebook Power Adapter. Disk manufactures increased rotational speeds to improve drive performance, but a byproduct of that has been increased thermal and acoustic output.

In recent years, graphics cards have also begun to consume very substantial amounts of power, leading to acoustically intrusive cooling methods. A trend towards multiple video processing cards (known more commonly as SLI or Crossfire) has doubled this already exacerbated factor.

Simply put, there is an inverse relationship between quiet computers and power consumption.

Sources of Noise and Silencing Methods

Computers have two main sources of noise: