4 ms·

My favorite design idea: move your computer out of the room. My PC is in the next room / closet and the room is completely silent. In my case all I needed was a

by yboris 6y ago

My favorite design idea: move your computer out of the room. My PC is in the next room / closet and the room is completely silent. In my case all I needed was a small hole for an HDMI and a USB cable.

ahelwer 6y ago
Looks like this person has a triple monitor setup, so that'd be either three DisplayPort/HDMI cables or a single DisplayPort cable if they can daisy chain them (only possible if these are all 1080p monitors). It is an appealing idea, though. I wish there were an easy thin client solution where everything from your actual computer just goes over cat6. Unfortunately cat6 can only handle about 10 Gbps, vs. a single DisplayPort 1.2 cable that handles 18 Gbps. Wouldn't work for multi-monitor 4k setups.
- war1025 6y ago
  > Unfortunately cat6 can only handle about 10 Gbps What is the main limitation for cables regarding transmission rates? Do we just need to move to fiber? I was surprised recently looking into wifi options that apparently the new wifi 6 claims to handle 2400Mbps. I assumed a wired connection would always trounce wireless (and I guess cat6 can do 4x that), but it seems like people are moving mostly to wireless setups. Is it solely because of the inconvenience of wiring things through a building?
  - rand49an 6y ago
    You still need to have multi gigabit switching and cabling to supply those WiFi6 points though!
  - dragontamer 6y ago
    > I was surprised recently looking into wifi options that apparently the new wifi 6 claims to handle 2400Mbps. The entire WiFi network can handle 2400Mbps. While a 10Gbps CAT6 cable can handle a 10Gbps connection up and down stream per wire. In short: 10Gbps CAT6 vs WiFi6 on "apples-to-apples" terms is 20Gbps (10Gbps per direction) vs WiFi 2.4Gbps. Note that each additional CAT6 cable you add to the network increases your aggregate bandwidth by another 20Gbps (10Gbps duplex). A 8-port 10Gbps switch can be organizing 80Gbps duplex (80Gbps to, and from, every port), or 160Gbps in WiFi terms.
fabian2k 6y ago
If you don't need a high-end GPU, it's pretty easy to make a PC essentially silent. And even for a GPU it's possible if you're willing to sacrifice some performance and lower the power target. My desktop is not specifically designed to be silent, but the CPU and case fans are not audible from a typical distance.
- 0xffff2 6y ago
  This requires either a low noise sensitivity or a willingness to replace fans every year or so. I've put a ton of research and work into building silent PCs over the years. They inevitably start out silent, but as the fans wear they become audible around the year mark and annoying around the two year mark.
- formerly_proven 6y ago
  Honestly I find people claiming something is "inaudible" or "not audible" on the internet extremely dubious, because every time I buy some cooler that people claim is "inaudible", I find it very audible. Either I have good ears, or people have very bad ears or loud environments. I assume in many of these cases people simply live in loud cities and have lost any feeling for what the word quiet means and regard PC fans whirling around at 20-25 dBA as quiet. And in any case, with air cooling and components that aren't bottom-of-the-barrel, the quiet part ceases as soon as load is applied anyway. But that's what I'm here for, so a PC that's only quiet as long as I don't use it - pointless.
  - BrandoElFollito 6y ago
    I have a standard computer without an extra video card (only the one on the MB) that I use as my main server running 30 services or so on docker. It sits in the living room and I honestly do not hear it ever, except when it starts to vibrate for some reason sometimes (I will hunt that down someday) This includes the time I slept a few times on the couch that is just next to it and I was annoyed by a small wall clock 5 meters away (I took the battery off and it is 11:15-ish now for 2 or 3 years, nobody noticed I think) So that really may happen. EDIT : I just checked and the clock is still off :)
justinlloyd 6y ago
I have done precisely this. Though my cabling needs were a bit more significant. The computer sits in a separate room, behind a wall. I cannot hear the multiple fans or coil whine or anything else. Beautifully silent. The computer stays cool, and so does my office. Four or five monitors, couple of USB hubs/peripherals, speakers, and so forth. It is unfortunate though that I spent more on cabling than most people probably spend on their entire computer.
gcds 6y ago
After I gather all electronics tools I need to build electronics, I will be working on Centralised cooling with 0 fans inside the room :) Keep tuned

by yboris 6y ago

ahelwer 6y ago

Looks like this person has a triple monitor setup, so that'd be either three DisplayPort/HDMI cables or a single DisplayPort cable if they can daisy chain them (only possible if these are all 1080p monitors). It is an appealing idea, though. I wish there were an easy thin client solution where everything from your actual computer just goes over cat6. Unfortunately cat6 can only handle about 10 Gbps, vs. a single DisplayPort 1.2 cable that handles 18 Gbps. Wouldn't work for multi-monitor 4k setups.

war1025 6y ago
> Unfortunately cat6 can only handle about 10 Gbps What is the main limitation for cables regarding transmission rates? Do we just need to move to fiber? I was surprised recently looking into wifi options that apparently the new wifi 6 claims to handle 2400Mbps. I assumed a wired connection would always trounce wireless (and I guess cat6 can do 4x that), but it seems like people are moving mostly to wireless setups. Is it solely because of the inconvenience of wiring things through a building?
- rand49an 6y ago
  You still need to have multi gigabit switching and cabling to supply those WiFi6 points though!
- dragontamer 6y ago
  > I was surprised recently looking into wifi options that apparently the new wifi 6 claims to handle 2400Mbps. The entire WiFi network can handle 2400Mbps. While a 10Gbps CAT6 cable can handle a 10Gbps connection up and down stream per wire. In short: 10Gbps CAT6 vs WiFi6 on "apples-to-apples" terms is 20Gbps (10Gbps per direction) vs WiFi 2.4Gbps. Note that each additional CAT6 cable you add to the network increases your aggregate bandwidth by another 20Gbps (10Gbps duplex). A 8-port 10Gbps switch can be organizing 80Gbps duplex (80Gbps to, and from, every port), or 160Gbps in WiFi terms.

fabian2k 6y ago

If you don't need a high-end GPU, it's pretty easy to make a PC essentially silent. And even for a GPU it's possible if you're willing to sacrifice some performance and lower the power target. My desktop is not specifically designed to be silent, but the CPU and case fans are not audible from a typical distance.

0xffff2 6y ago
This requires either a low noise sensitivity or a willingness to replace fans every year or so. I've put a ton of research and work into building silent PCs over the years. They inevitably start out silent, but as the fans wear they become audible around the year mark and annoying around the two year mark.
formerly_proven 6y ago
Honestly I find people claiming something is "inaudible" or "not audible" on the internet extremely dubious, because every time I buy some cooler that people claim is "inaudible", I find it very audible. Either I have good ears, or people have very bad ears or loud environments. I assume in many of these cases people simply live in loud cities and have lost any feeling for what the word quiet means and regard PC fans whirling around at 20-25 dBA as quiet. And in any case, with air cooling and components that aren't bottom-of-the-barrel, the quiet part ceases as soon as load is applied anyway. But that's what I'm here for, so a PC that's only quiet as long as I don't use it - pointless.
- BrandoElFollito 6y ago
  I have a standard computer without an extra video card (only the one on the MB) that I use as my main server running 30 services or so on docker. It sits in the living room and I honestly do not hear it ever, except when it starts to vibrate for some reason sometimes (I will hunt that down someday) This includes the time I slept a few times on the couch that is just next to it and I was annoyed by a small wall clock 5 meters away (I took the battery off and it is 11:15-ish now for 2 or 3 years, nobody noticed I think) So that really may happen. EDIT : I just checked and the clock is still off :)

justinlloyd 6y ago

I have done precisely this. Though my cabling needs were a bit more significant. The computer sits in a separate room, behind a wall. I cannot hear the multiple fans or coil whine or anything else. Beautifully silent. The computer stays cool, and so does my office. Four or five monitors, couple of USB hubs/peripherals, speakers, and so forth. It is unfortunate though that I spent more on cabling than most people probably spend on their entire computer.

gcds 6y ago

After I gather all electronics tools I need to build electronics, I will be working on Centralised cooling with 0 fans inside the room :) Keep tuned