Quiet quandaries: make your PC silent

If your motherboard is an older model or only has a three-pin connector, you may need to buy an additional control that works like a dimmer switch to manually adjust the fan speed ­ and therefore noise levels.

The Shuriken is a low-profile cooler, designed for the confines of a low-profile case, so won’t perform as efficiently as a full-size model. So if you have a full-size case, a bigger model would be more appropriate. But the Shuriken should still be much quieter than your original stock cooler, so it sounds like it just needs to be told to slow down a little.

We can’t comment on your particular PSU, but some models feature a control to adjust the fan speed. Even then, if the unit is not running efficiently due to a high load, it may have no choice but to run its fan quickly. We’d recommend investing in a unit reported as being quiet that will run efficiently given your PC’s load. We’ve recently been impressed by Corsair’s HX520W.

At this point it’s also worth looking at your PC’s environment. If its vents are dusty, the surroundings are warm or the case is in a corner with little airflow, and a load of papers sat on top, then its coolers will have to operate faster and more noisily than you hoped in order to keep things sufficiently cool.

Indeed, forcing them to run slower could cause overheating.

These are all important points if you’re attempting to assemble a quiet, or even a completely silent PC. Silent PCs are certainly possible by using hefty but fanless heatsinks and dampening enclosures for hard disks (or solid-state drives), but the heat generated by your components still has to go somewhere.

Super-quiet PCs only work if there is sufficient cool airflow both internally and externally, or your system will overheat and become unstable.

If you’re feeling inspired by the idea of a silent PC, check out specialist manufacturers such as Hush Technologies and Tranquil PC.

If you’d like to upgrade a PC or assemble one from scratch, we’d recommend visiting QuietPC, which also gives advice on the best way to select, install and configure components.