This seems to have become something of an annual ritual for me. I’m looking to build a new system, to replace my production system. And I’m going to do my best to build a quiet system.

Right now, my current production PC isn’t terrifically noisy, but it’s certainly noisier than I’d like. The situation is exacerbated somewhat by the fact that I’m still running a Netburst CPU (Intel Pentium Extreme Edition 955, if you must know.) When people ask me what CPU I’m running, it’s almost too embarrassing to admit that the CPU I’m using can also act as the heater in an EZ Bake Oven.

By using an Antec P180 case and a Zalman CNPS9500 cooling fan, the whole affair is quieter than it could be. But it’s much louder than I would like. I’ve had to crank up the three-speed, 120mm case fans to their medium setting to keep temperatures reasonable, and the middle setting is much louder than the lowest setting.

For the new system, I’m moving to Core 2, though I’m wrestling with whether I should go with quad-core or stick with Core 2 Duo. Being the insecure geek I am, I might feel inadequate if I don’t drop in a quad-core CPU and push the clock rate up just a little. And I’m still on the fence when it comes to motherboards: Intel 975? Intel 965? The new Nvidia 680i? The 680i boards offer some nifty new features, but I’m never going to run SLI, even though this system is also my primary gaming rig. I will likely shell out waaaayyyy too much money for an 8800 GTX graphics card, though.

Most of all, I want to reduce the noise as much as possible. Right now, I’m considering the black version of the Antec P180, which replaces the plastic front door with one made of the same sound-deadening sandwich material as the side panels. I’m also likely to shift my CPU cooler from the Zalman to the lower-cost Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro.

I may overclock the CPU, but it won’t be more than about two speed grades, max. And the Freezer 7 Pro enabled me to run the Core 2 Extreme quad core processor at 3.55GHz. There’s a new version of the Freezer 7 Pro out now that supports fan speed control through the system BIOS. I’ll also likely replace the Antec 120mm fans with BIOS-controlled fans, too.

I’m not trying to build an utterly silent system, just one noticeably quieter than I have now. But I have the luxury of starting from scratch.

But the manufacturers of high end PCs often pump up performance at the cost of sounding vaguely like you’re living in a giant wind tunnel. The one thing we noticed about the uber-gaming systems we reviewed in last week’s Ultimate Game Machine roundup was that silence wasn’t their strong suit, at least not for the top performers.

Last week, we received a reference system from that big green CPU company. This platform is targeted squarely at the enthusiast space, for people who do what AMD is calling “megatasking.” But it’s easily the loudest computer I’ve ever had in my office. It’s almost painful to run. Now, this is just a reference system, and I’m sure if I built one from scratch, it wouldn’t make as much noise. But I wish system vendors would start factoring in decibels generated as one facet of their system specs. And remember, when it comes to decibels generated by a personal computer, fewer is better.

For more on quiet PCs, check out Mike Chin’s web site, Silent PC Review. Another good personal story on building a quiet PC is Jeff Atwood’s article from his blog, Coding Horror. Be sure to check the resources on ExtremeTech as well, including Joel Durham’s article of tips and tricks for quiet PCs and our quiet gaming PC built-it.

Drop by the forums and tell us about how you build a quiet PC.

This Week on ExtremeTech

This week, Jason Cross tackles the whole issue of quiet PCs from a different angle: How can you take an existing system, and reduce the overall noise. Be sure to check that article out later in the week. Today, we’ve got Jim Lynch’s rant on why gaming sucks on Linux. Jeremy Atkinson looks at yet another gaming mouse, while Loyd takes a look at the World’s Loudest PC and examines the state of computer audio. It’s another week at ExtremeTech.

Don’t forget about our weekly podcast, and be sure to catch the latest shenanigans at Digital Life Television.