[Ray Thomas[_2_]]

I found this unit in a search for a 'quiet PC'...that elusive grail which
has been promised (and now approached) for a long time, but only via
elaborate cooling jackets (like a car radiator even !), whisper quiet fans,
dampening pads on the casing, etc. This one seems to achieve it via sheer
surface area of heatsinking...and dispenses with fans altogether ! Ok, it's
definitely a stripped down machine, designed for wall or floor mounting and
with specific applications in mind. I can't see myself toting it around to
location recording gigs (does it even fit in a 19" rack ?) but if you check
the specs and intended applications you'll see it's hardly purpose built for
the audio fraternity. However, the fanlessness of it got me thinking...if we
audio guys could come up with a list of specific requirements that addressed
our particular needs, and an approach was made to companies such as this, we
could see a niche product assembled for us... rather than having to adapt to
the mainstream consumer stuff we routinely try to bend to our will ? Makes
you think....maybe ?

So, give this a lookover:
http://www.aaeon.com.tw/PD_Products_...US_UTF-8.html#

Ray

[Don Pearce[_3_]]

On Thu, 09 Apr 2009 11:15:33 GMT, "Ray Thomas"
wrote:

I found this unit in a search for a 'quiet PC'...that elusive grail which
has been promised (and now approached) for a long time, but only via
elaborate cooling jackets (like a car radiator even !), whisper quiet fans,
dampening pads on the casing, etc. This one seems to achieve it via sheer
surface area of heatsinking...and dispenses with fans altogether ! Ok, it's
definitely a stripped down machine, designed for wall or floor mounting and
with specific applications in mind. I can't see myself toting it around to
location recording gigs (does it even fit in a 19" rack ?) but if you check
the specs and intended applications you'll see it's hardly purpose built for
the audio fraternity. However, the fanlessness of it got me thinking...if we
audio guys could come up with a list of specific requirements that addressed
our particular needs, and an approach was made to companies such as this, we
could see a niche product assembled for us... rather than having to adapt to
the mainstream consumer stuff we routinely try to bend to our will ? Makes
you think....maybe ?

So, give this a lookover:
http://www.aaeon.com.tw/PD_Products_...US_UTF-8.html#

Ray


I started down that route, discovering along the way that the quieter
stuff generally was less good at cooling. Finally I hit upon the real
solution - I drilled a hole through the wall for the cables and put
the pc in the next room. Quick, easy, cheap and silent.

d

[Arny Krueger]

"Ray Thomas" wrote in message


I found this unit in a search for a 'quiet PC'...that
elusive grail which has been promised (and now approached) for a long
time,
but only via elaborate cooling jackets (like a car radiator even !),
whisper quiet fans, dampening pads on the casing, etc.

A modern medium performance desktop PC draws about 125 watts. Add CPUs,
GPUs, RAM, and hard drives and that number might double. Or more.

No mechanical work is done, minimal light is emitted, so all that power
*must be* dissipated as heat.

Temperature rise in any component must be limited to less than 140 degrees
if the machine is to be reliable. 120 degrees is a better number, and 110
degrees would be ideal.

Now, do the math. How many cubic feet of air per minute at 110-140 degree
air does it take to carry away 125-250 watts? Of course that depends on the
initial ambient temperature of the air which can go up to at least 85-100
degrees in temperate climates. You may want to carry all that heat off with
just a 5 degree C temperature rise.

Hmm 3600 joules per watt-hour, air has a specific heat of about 1 kJ per
kg-degree C. In one hour say 200 watt-hours must be carried away, that is
720 kJ. 5 degree temperature rise, that is 144 kg of air. The mass of air
is 1.3 g.L, so 110,000 liters of air hot air need to be moved per hour.
That's about 2,500 cubic feet or something like a cubic foot of air per
second. Order of magnitue, YMMV. And of course, I may have made a stupid
mistake in my calculations. ;-)

This one seems to achieve it via sheer surface area of heatsinking...and
dispenses with fans
altogether!

Got to get that air volume up, and air temperature down.

Ok, it's definitely a stripped down machine, designed for wall or
floor mounting and with specific applications in mind. I can't see myself
toting it around to location recording gigs (does it even fit in a 19"
rack
?) but if you check the specs and intended applications you'll see it's
hardly purpose built for the audio fraternity. However, the fanlessness
of it got
me thinking...if we audio guys could come up with a list of specific
requirements that addressed our particular needs, and an approach was
made to
companies such as this, we could see a niche product assembled for us...
rather than
having to adapt to the mainstream consumer stuff we routinely try to bend
to
our will ? Makes you think....maybe ?

So, give this a lookover:


http://www.aaeon.com.tw/PD_Products_...US_UTF-8.html#

I think they already have purpose-built machines with low energy dissipation
and convenient small packaging on the market. They call them, ummm, laptops?
;-)

I just did a choir festival gig with a PC as my backup recorder. The
coincident pair was about 20 feet in front of, and above the computer,
facing away of course. It contributed zilch to the noise level in the
recordings which was about 70 dB below peak levels.

[Arny Krueger]

"Don Pearce" wrote in message
news:49fee215.253081296@localhost

On Thu, 09 Apr 2009 11:15:33 GMT, "Ray Thomas"
wrote:


So, give this a lookover:

http://www.aaeon.com.tw/PD_Products_...US_UTF-8.html#

I started down that route, discovering along the way that
the quieter stuff generally was less good at cooling.
Finally I hit upon the real solution - I drilled a hole
through the wall for the cables and put the pc in the
next room. Quick, easy, cheap and silent.

Been there, done that, and it worked. Now that we do so much with USB-2
and HDMI, it is probably eeven more practical than it was when I did it with
PS/2 mouse, keyboard, HD-15 video and walk to the next room to change
optical media.

[Scott Dorsey]

In article 49fee215.253081296@localhost, Don Pearce wrote:

I started down that route, discovering along the way that the quieter
stuff generally was less good at cooling. Finally I hit upon the real
solution - I drilled a hole through the wall for the cables and put
the pc in the next room. Quick, easy, cheap and silent.

Studios have used separate machine rooms for noisy recorders and dubbers
for years.... it's not a big step to make one for noisy computers too.
--scott

--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

[polymod]

"Scott Dorsey" wrote in message
...
In article 49fee215.253081296@localhost, Don Pearce
wrote:

I started down that route, discovering along the way that the quieter
stuff generally was less good at cooling. Finally I hit upon the real
solution - I drilled a hole through the wall for the cables and put
the pc in the next room. Quick, easy, cheap and silent.

Studios have used separate machine rooms for noisy recorders and dubbers
for years.... it's not a big step to make one for noisy computers too.

Plus it's a good excuse to get off our arse from time to time g

Poly

[Steve King]

"polymod" wrote in message
...
|
| "Scott Dorsey" wrote in message
| ...
| In article 49fee215.253081296@localhost, Don Pearce
| wrote:
|
| I started down that route, discovering along the way that the quieter
| stuff generally was less good at cooling. Finally I hit upon the real
| solution - I drilled a hole through the wall for the cables and put
| the pc in the next room. Quick, easy, cheap and silent.
|
| Studios have used separate machine rooms for noisy recorders and dubbers
| for years.... it's not a big step to make one for noisy computers too.
|
| Plus it's a good excuse to get off our arse from time to time g
|
| Poly

Separate room, really an under-stairs closet, has been my solution to CPU
noise for years. I installed a small port from the studio into the "machine
room" about 8" x 18" approximately. That gives me room to access the DVD
burners/players in two tower CPU cases. I use a plug door with tight
fitting weather seal, when the plug is in place. The amount of fan noise
transmission is insignificant at my recording position. The dual monitors,
keyboard, and mouse are on 25 foot extensions. Whether recording or not it
is great to be free of the fan noise, and the computers stay cool.

Steve King

[Mr Soul]

I've read through this thread and indeed it's nice to have the
computer (noisy equipment in another room) but for those who don't
have that option, it's not hard to get a DAW that's quiet enough to be
in the same room. I build them and so don't many others - www.endpcnoise.com
for example. You can pay the expense for a fanless computer or you
can just get quiet fans. I prefer to work at a workstation where my
computer and recording hardware is. A baffle in front of the computer
can also cut down on noise.

Mike
http://www.pcdaw.net