Philip Goddard - Posted: 25 Jan 2012 11:46
(10/10)
MY A40 MINI-REVIEW
A silent, convection cooled computer with solid-state storage was a dream of mine ever since my old Amstrad PC1512 (floppy disk version) in 1986 or 87, which was actually even then not fully silent because of a distinct and rather irritating very high pitch 'whistle' from the electronics. Since then all the computers I've had were somewhat troublesome for me because of the fan plus hard disk noise. After being more than just nudged by a quietpc.com full page ad in PC Advisor mag, and getting more and more interested as I went through the website details of these silent PCs, I placed my order for an A40, and actually received the computer before a week was up - not bad for a stated lead time of 7 days.
The computer is a joy to use - completely silent for all practical purposes, and much faster and more 'snappy' than anything I'd used previously; I would definitely give it a top 'star' rating. It was most encouraging to see the CPU core temperatures displayed by the very handy SpeedFan utility while I ran a quite processor-intensive compressed backup task. Even when CPU activity was nearing saturation, the core temperatures were still fluctuating in the 40s (47 maximum), and each time the activity in either core dropped back a little, almost instantaneously its temperature dropped back just as though the system had a really efficient fan cooling system. Indeed, my impression was that the temperatures were a little more rapidly responsive in dropping back than was the case in my previous, fan cooled computer with an Intel Core Duo CPU.
One little grouse of mine is the oh-so-fashionable use of black as the case colour for the Nofan computer range. To me that is really ugly, and symbols and text upon that black are very difficult to read, and when I try to plug something into one of the USB ports on the front I grope about somewhat because the sockets are actually quite difficult to see in detail unless I shine a torch close directly at them. That grouse aside, I shall definitely be recommending Nofan Silent PCs to others, and am still sighing great sighs of relief to be no longer bugged by constantly nag-nag-nagging system noise as I work at the PC.
Chris Stanbury - Posted: 16 Dec 2011 16:43
(10/10)
THE BEST EVER!! ABSOLUTE SILENCE.
I've spent nearly eleven thousand pounds on goods from Quiet PC over the last few years and it's fair to say I've not found a more knowledgeable or helpful company. I've had some excellent PCs in that time including several water cooled machines. Until now, the best ever was a Zalman TNN 500 based machine which was as close to silent as possible but it was still audible (just) if you stuck your ear next to it and anyway they don't make the case anymore.
2005
This PC is not audible at all!! It is eerily silent. I now have four PCs running in my office and the loudest noise is the cat purring. It is what I've dreamed of for more than ten years (sad isn't it).
I can't recommend this PC highly enough, if you are serious about silence it's worth every penny!
Chris
890
