Computing's silent revolution

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AMD's desktop processors throttle down chip power when the processor is idle or executing simple tasks. As a result, the processor runs cooler and requires less fan speed, said Jonathan Seckler, senior product manager for AMD.

"The goal is we would be able to reduce the noise as much as 10 or 15 percent and reduce the actual power usage as much as 60 percent," he said. "In a lot of cases, that means you're reducing the decibel rating to below 25 db," the same level as rustling leaves or someone whispering and close to the level of ambient noise in a quiet home.

The shift toward quiet is something of a turnaround for AMD, which helped spark the move to noisy, high-speed cooling fans in 1999 with the original heat-spewing Athlon chips. Seckler said the market has changed since then to put a value on aesthetic concerns such as sound.

"You no longer have this race where it's power and performance at all costs," he said. "We've seen there is a price you pay for performance. At the end of the day, noise and heat do matter."

That's a message underdog chipmaker Via Technologies has been been pushing for years. Most of the Taiwan company's PC processors and motherboards are low-power models designed to run without a cooling fan, an advantage that has helped Via chips find their way into an increasing number of media-centric PCs. Werner du Plessis, project manager for processor platforms at Via, said it's about time the PC industry looked at issues beyond processor speed.

"Our message has always been cool and quiet processing," he said. "We've never participated in the megahertz race, and finally people are waking up (to the fact) that we had it right from the beginning."

Via is well-positioned to grab a major chunk of the market for media PCs, du Plessis said, because it's easier to build a quiet system around a chip designed for fanless cooling than to retrofit mainstream chips.

"Having a processor designed to run cool and quiet...is something you have to aim for," he said. "It doesn't happen naturally."

Which is why Via and other quiet-computing proponents don't expect the mainstream PC industry to adopt a "silence is golden" ethos anytime soon.

Hush Technologies' Booth said consumers who want a truly quiet PC will have to continue to seek out specialists.

"Everything we've seen so far and into the forseeable future," he said, "is that the mainstream PC companies are going in the opposite direction from us."

Apple Computer got it right!

I've never owned a P.C. personally, but I have worked on them in
computer labs and in business settings. I agree that they are
SOOO Loud! I personally own 3 Apple Macintosh computers.
Amazing! Steve Jobs understands the meaning of quiet and
strives to make sure the Apple product line is quiet! I love it!

[katamari]

Years?

You must be intentionally forgetting about the release of the PowerMac G4, which received public media attention for sporting an AMAZINGLY loud PSU and CPU fans.

<a class="jive-link-external" href="http://www.g4noise.com/news.php?ID=72" target="_newWindow">http://www.g4noise.com/news.php?ID=72</a>

Nice try.

[rpms]

Any computer can be made quieter...at the expense of performance

Your belief that all PCs are noisy is false. There is a wide variety of components and cases. Companies like Lian-Li make solid cases that dampen noise. Companies like ASUS include fan control logic on their motherboards.

It's also important to understand that there is a fundamental tradeoff between performance/heat and noise. The fastest components, like 10K RPM PATA hard drives and 15K RPM Ultra320 SCSI hard drives, will always be noisy.

Here's a little story about Apple's quiet hardware...

My PowerMacintosh G4 (Gigabit Ethernet) is super-quiet. However, Apple crippled it with a weak cooling system. The machine can only accommodate two 3.5-inch hard drives, one 5.25-inch CD or DVD drive, and a ZIP drive, if you want. Though there's plenty of room inside its gigantic case, there's no additional cooling capacity. My favorite is the second 5.25-inch bay, which has a welded steel bracket that absolutely prevents you from installing anything larger than a ZIP drive. Apple admits (<a class="jive-link-external" href="http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=58200" target="_newWindow">http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=58200</a>) that this is due to heat. A PC case of the same size allows you to install extra fans and hence, extra drives.

[Jonathan]

Apple has been listening for years...

The only problem is they live on such a fine edge of the thermal tolerance on their computer parts that death by heat becomes more of an issue on a Mac simply because of Steve's unwillingness to allow some noise to occur. I can tell you from the experiences of my Mac friends that failure of internal components on PowerBooks and iBooks becomes a larger issue because of heat.

[Sboston]

Hmm

So I wonder, based on your post, how the Mini stacks up on heat?

Overheating?

Ok, whatever. I've never had a component go bad in either of my
Mac laptops, nor have I ever heard or read of such a thing
happening due to overheating. I'm sure it's happened, but it's far
from a common occurrence.

[katamari]

Years?

You must be intentionally forgetting about the release of the PowerMac G4, which received public media attention for sporting an AMAZINGLY loud PSU and CPU fans.

<a class="jive-link-external" href="http://www.g4noise.com/news.php?ID=72" target="_newWindow">http://www.g4noise.com/news.php?ID=72</a>

Nice try!

[samkass]

Yes, years... decades, even

There have been a few loud Macintoshes, but in general Apple's machines have been the quiestest in the industry throughout their history. The original Macintosh had no fan at all through the Plus. When the SE added a fan there was a near revolt among Mac users. Through the last 20 years, though, Macintoshes have been among the quietest machines in the industry, and their current lineup are probably all orders of magnitude quieter than comparable PCs.

It's extremely ironic that this article doesn't mention Apple once.

[lookoutmama]

Shhhhhhh! .. the fanless are coming the fanless are coming

Last couple of years I have noticed a demand for quiet machines especially from the over-clockers. Even Antec has come out with a cool (could be hot) 250W ATX Power Supply. <a class="jive-link-external" href="http://www.antec.com/us/productDetails.php?ProdID=24350" target="_newWindow">http://www.antec.com/us/productDetails.php?ProdID=24350</a>

Looks like VIA gear have offered fanless solutions for the past couple years on the various ITX sites. Obviously the VIA processors are easier to cool than a top AMD or Intel CPU. I noticed that even the Intel Mobile processor is being used in Fanless designs. Check out the Fanless that fits in your hand - looks like some kind of high-end stereo component. <a class="jive-link-external" href="http://www.littlepc.com/products_fanless_p4.htm" target="_newWindow">http://www.littlepc.com/products_fanless_p4.htm</a>

Actual Powerful Fanless Mini PCs

No offence to the VIA cpus but they really aren't that powerful and they definately lack in performance. The only decent thing about ITX stuff is that it is super cheap.

If you really want more perfomance and still want a small mini computer system then you should look into something like this:
<a class="jive-link-external" href="http://www.littlepc.com/products_fanless_p4.htm" target="_newWindow">http://www.littlepc.com/products_fanless_p4.htm</a>

In those systems you can even buy solid state flash hard drives as well for a true fanless noise free system.

[Llib Setag]

Sounds of Silence = Apple

Original iMac was super quiet, energy efficient &#38; fanless.

PowerMac Cube was super quiet, energy efficient &#38; fanless.

PowerMac G5 tower, super quiet, energy efficient &#38; thermal
zoned with computer controlled fans per zone that turn on &#38; off
as needed, yet QUIET due to multiple fans (instead of one large
loud fan in most PCs) an water cooled dual G5 processors.

Having used WinPC towers &#38; PowerMac Towers for years, my
ears are very thankful of the quiet, well designed &#38; engineered
products from Apple.
Open any PowerMac G5 tower &#38; see how Apple sweats the
details in layout, engineering, user upgradability &#38; acoustics.

Think Different &#38; Hear Different, use an Apple Computer.

[simcity1976]

The best and far cheaper way to

Have a quiet computer is to build one from scratch, not only is it more bang for your buck but you choose what you put in it.

There are plenty of brands of power supply, heat sink and case fans that make supper quiet componets.

But since apple doesn't open there hardware up, it's hard to build a super mac from scratch. So I stay away from apple because I like power.

High importance?

This is definately not a high importance story. For one thing, in another cnet article 3/4 of those surveyed said they didn't have a home network. Probably those 3/4 don't have multiple computers, and would be too impacted by noise. So we have 3/4 of the people pretty much unaffected by this story.
Secondly, most families are busy and have something going in their house that is louder than the computer fan, ie. kids yelling, tv, telephone, you name it.
This only high importance to the overpaid editors of cnet who can actually afford to have enough of the latest technology in their house to worry about noise.

[rpms]

Exactly!

This is definitely not an important article.

I like the way you put it into perspective, by comparing the noise from a computer with the noise from children in the household. It reminds me of the reply I give when people make claims about the "sound quality" of an MP3 player: not noticeable over the noise in the listening environment (gym, bus, street, train, plane, etc.).

Here's another perspective on the original article: it glosses over the fundamental tradeoff between performance and noise. My 15K RPM Ultra160 SCSI hard drive is rather noisy, but I do appreciate its speedy response time and high throughput.

[lookoutmama]

noise maker noise maker you have no complaint

Dude - I believe the story is about emerging trends in microcomputer technology. If its a non-story to you then great - why bother everyone with your noisy blabbering about kids yelling, tv and telephones? Please do not assume that most people live/work in the same environment as you. Believe it or not computers do get used in environments where noise levels have to be extremely low.

[Hobyx]

uhh.. noise cancelation anybody? hello!

Why does every article about computer noise fail to mention the
most promising technology of ACTIVE NOISE CANCELATION? Not
only does it allow you to use any system of cooling you choose
but it also keeps quiet every other device that makes noise
(most often, disc-based storage). Also in addition to the
auditory benefits, it can reduce the amount of vibration in the
devices before they even reach the air.

This ain't rocket science, people! It's proven, cheap and really
easy to apply in enclosed spaces like the inside of a computer.

<a class="jive-link-external" href="http://www.school-for-champions.com/science/" target="_newWindow">http://www.school-for-champions.com/science/</a>
noise_cancellation.htm

[201293546946733175101343322673]

Dell PC is quiet too......

And so is Sony. Just to let those Apple fanatics know there are some good PCs out there so they won't stay in their little Apple world and know nothing.

[Llib Setag]

Something you should know

<a class="jive-link-external" href="http://www.apple.com/powermac/design.html" target="_newWindow">http://www.apple.com/powermac/design.html</a>

ALSO, read the CNET articles above all the comments about all
of the LOUD PC's &#38; how they are trying to deal with it.

By the way, I use UNIX/Wintel PCs / Sun Sparc / SGI / Macs
frequently &#38; provide system analysis for creative architectural,
3D, animation &#38; video teams.

[davebarnes]

White box is the way to go

Want a quiet computer?
Either build your own white box or have it built for you.
You can specify components that are quieter.
For example:
1. a video board that does not have its own fan
2. fluid bearing disk drives
3. rubber grommets on the disk drive mounts
4. variable speed CPU cooling fan
5. "whisper quiet" power supply
6. aluminum case with larger diameter fans
7. higher quality, quieter fans

All of these add only a little bit to the overall cost and can drop the noise level by 10-20 dB.

It is what I did.

,dave

[technewsjunkie]

Years later, WinTel catches on. Apple led the way.

When I go into a Lab of WinTel PCS at school, the noise level and
heat is immediately noticeable.

When I walk into a Lab of iMacs that were "engineered to be
nosieless, with NO fans", it is an incredible contrast. The only
thing clicking is a working hard drive, and Apple pays attention
to that nosie factor as well. Attention to detail and the user
experience are what Apple computers are about.