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Nofan A480 Silent Desktop
Discontinued
Discontinued
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Quiet PC Nofan A480 Silent Desktop

We are now offering a fully-built 100% silent PC, using Nofan’s revolutionary IcePipe processor cooling technology. This high-specification machine doesn’t compromise on performance and comes with a two-year fully inclusive warranty.

At last - Affordable PC Silence!

We are proud to offer the Nofan A480 Silent Desktop which is a fully-built silent computer system, ready to go. It uses Nofan’s unique IcePipe processor cooler for no noise, no dust, no moving parts and no maintenance. The machine can be configured to your exact specification and offers, as you would expect, totally silent operation.

Top Performance and Reliability

The PC itself doesn’t compromise on performance, and can be built pre-installed with up to 32 gigabytes of memory and one of Intel’s 4th Generation Core processors. Famous for their excellent performance/value balance, these ‘Haswell’ processors have a quad-core architecture and under heavy loading, will automatically “Turbo Boost” their clock speed by up to 12%. Regarding memory, although Microsoft Windows 7 will run on 2GB, we recommend a minimum of 4GB to ensure that the machine has plenty to spare and will always offer excellent responsiveness even when running multiple applications simultaneously. We are now offering our systems with Ubuntu Linux pre-installed, and again we would recommend a minimum of 4GB for this operating system to perform at its best.

GIGABYTE 9 Series Motherboard

We supply the Gigabyte GA-Z97X-UD3H Ultra Durable motherboard with this system which offers a wealth of features suitable for all applications. GIGABYTE 9 Series motherboards support the latest 4th & 5th Generation Intel Core processors, bringing together a unique blend of features and technologies that offer the absolute ultimate platform for your silent PC.

Like most modern motherboards, the GA-Z97X-UD3H board has only one USB 3.0 internal header. The cases we use need an internal USB 3.0 header to connect the USB 3.0 ports on the top of the case but if you have an additional USB 3.0 requirement (such as a fast USB 3.0 internal card reader) then you would need to decide whether you wanted to have the case USB 3.0 ports or the card reader connected as you can’t physically connect both.

One way around this limitation is to fit an internal USB 3.0 PCI Express card. This will give the PC an additional internal USB 3 header and this is available in the configuration options.

Clean Build™ Promise

The price of many pre-built PCs these days is often supported by cash kickbacks from software companies who pay hardware manufacturers to pre-install limited or trial versions of their software and then hope that the customer pays to upgrade to the full version. The downside to this approach is that the new PC comes pre-loaded with a lot of “junkware” which bloats the operating system and can cause severe performance degradation.

Here at Quiet PC we believe that customers have every right to expect the best possible performance from a brand new PC, so every system we build comes with our Clean Build™ promise. We install the operating system (if you order one), motherboard drivers, OS updates and (for Windows 7 only) Microsoft Security Essentials / Windows Defender - that’s it. You won’t be pestered by pop-ups and nag screens and you can get on with using your new PC immediately without having to uninstall lots of junkware first. Your new machine will boot in super-quick time and will stay running quickly for many months and years to come.

Features

  1. Fully built silent PC system, configurable to your exact requirements
  2. 100% fanless design gives zero noise and no dust build-up
  3. We build to your specification and deliver within 7 days
  4. Clean Build™ Promise and original OS+drivers supplied on DVDs
  5. Two year warranty with open-case policy
  6. Full-size ATX design allows plenty of expansion possibilities

Free hardware support and fully inclusive warranty

We offer free hardware technical support for as long as you own the machine. This support covers any hardware query or problem, including advice on maintenance and upgrades. We regret we can’t offer software support or training so we would recommend contacting the software vendor in this instance. Support for Ubuntu can be obtained through online forums, or on a commercial basis from Canonical Ltd.

Our hardware warranty runs for two years and is “collect and return” meaning that you don’t need to worry about getting the machine back to us - we will instruct our courier to collect it from you on a day of your choosing, then after we have checked and repaired it we will send it back to you by express courier at our expense. In addition, unlike many other PC suppliers, we have an “open-case” policy which means you are free to open the machine and perform your own minor modifications or upgrades without worrying that your warranty might be affected.

SpecificationsNofan A480 PC
Machine nameNofan A480 Silent PC
Compatible Operating SystemsWindows 7 / Windows 8.1 / Ubuntu Linux
Power supplyNofan 400W Fanless PSU
MotherboardGigabyte GA-Z97X-UD3H
GraphicsIntel HD4600
Graphics portsDVI-D, HDMI and VGA (up to 3 ports simultaneously)
Max resolution DVI-D / VGA1920 x 1200 @ 60 Hz
Max resolution HDMI4096 x 2160 @ 24 Hz
Maximum shared graphics memory1 GB
NVIDIA 2-Way SLI SupportYes
AMD 3-Way CrossFire SupportYes
Supported RAMDDR3 1600/1333 MHz memory modules
Memory slots4 (max 32 GB)
SATA 6Gb ports6 (SATA 3Gb compatible)
SATA RAID SupportRAID 0, 1, 5 and 10
M.2 PCIe connector1
LANIntel GbE LAN chip (10/100/1000 Mbit)
USB 3.0/2.0 ports6 (2 internal / 4 rear panel)
USB 2.0/1.1 ports8 (6 internal / 2 rear panel)
AudioHD 2/4/5.1/7.1-channel with 6 x audio jacks
RS232 serial port headerYes
Other rear panel portPS/2 keyboard and mouse ports
PCI Express x16 / x8 / x4 / x1 / PCI 2.0 slots1 / 1 / 1 / 3 / 1 *
PCI Express versionx16 / x8 slots conform to PCIe 3.0, all other slots PCIe 2.0
Motherboard DimensionsATX form factor (30.5 x 21.4 cm)
PC dimensions (W x D x H)200 x 490 x 470 mm
Clean Build™ promiseOS+updates, drivers and MS Security Essentials only
Recovery methodWindows installation and drivers DVDs supplied
Warranty typeCollect and return, open-case policy
Warranty24 months
  • *When a PCIe x4 card is installed in the x4 slot, all the PCIe x1 slots are disabled
SpecificationsNofan A480 PC
Machine nameNofan A480 Silent PC
Compatible Operating SystemsWindows 7 / Windows 8.1 / Ubuntu Linux
Power supplyNofan 400W Fanless PSU
MotherboardGigabyte GA-Z97X-UD3H
GraphicsIntel HD4600
Graphics portsDVI-D, HDMI and VGA (up to 3 ports simultaneously)
Max resolution DVI-D / VGA1920 x 1200 @ 60 Hz
Max resolution HDMI4096 x 2160 @ 24 Hz
Maximum shared graphics memory1 GB
NVIDIA 2-Way SLI SupportYes
AMD 3-Way CrossFire SupportYes
Supported RAMDDR3 1600/1333 MHz memory modules
Memory slots4 (max 32 GB)
SATA 6Gb ports6 (SATA 3Gb compatible)
SATA RAID SupportRAID 0, 1, 5 and 10
M.2 PCIe connector1
LANIntel GbE LAN chip (10/100/1000 Mbit)
USB 3.0/2.0 ports6 (2 internal / 4 rear panel)
USB 2.0/1.1 ports8 (6 internal / 2 rear panel)
AudioHD 2/4/5.1/7.1-channel with 6 x audio jacks
RS232 serial port headerYes
Other rear panel portPS/2 keyboard and mouse ports
PCI Express x16 / x8 / x4 / x1 / PCI 2.0 slots1 / 1 / 1 / 3 / 1 *
PCI Express versionx16 / x8 slots conform to PCIe 3.0, all other slots PCIe 2.0
Motherboard DimensionsATX form factor (30.5 x 21.4 cm)
PC dimensions (W x D x H)200 x 490 x 470 mm
Clean Build™ promiseOS+updates, drivers and MS Security Essentials only
Recovery methodWindows installation and drivers DVDs supplied
Warranty typeCollect and return, open-case policy
Warranty24 months
  • *When a PCIe x4 card is installed in the x4 slot, all the PCIe x1 slots are disabled

Customer Reviews

Excellent System

,

Ordered with i7 4770K, Nofan CR-95C Cooler, 32GB Ram, and the Aurum 500W PSU. Bought as a gaming rig.

Added my own hard disks (4x SSD), and graphics card (780 GTX Ti SC ACX).

Predictably… the only thing I can hear are the graphics card fans. Running temperatures for general usage is around 29°C on processor, although I have managed to push this to alarm point of 70°C after 4 hours of Farcry 3. I did have concerns that the proximity of the large copper cooler to the pcie x16 slot on the GA-787X-UD4H motherboard would impact on the effective cooling of the graphics card, but haven’t found this to be the case - hottest I have had the graphics card is around 60°C at heavy load.

The case itself has 2x grommets for feeding pipework for an external radiator on the rear, which isn’t mentioned anywhere… but will come in handy should I wish to silence my now (in relative terms anyway…) noisy graphics card with a water cooling block (if I don’t mount it internally anyway… probably have room for that too).

Slot 5 of the easy swap drive arrays wasn’t connected by default, which I did myself (5th SSD), and highlighted to me the tidy cabling done by quietpc, very neat indeed!

SSD’s pull around half a watt of power each, processor 84W, and graphics card 250W at max load, so well within the limits of the PSU (although nVidia suggest 600W minimum for a 780 GTX Ti).

Not running with any overclocking or similar, but I’m not against the idea of it, will be interesting to see how the memory and cpu cooler handle it.

This machine rocks!

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This machine replaces my last QuietPC.com machine (a TNN500AF) and is exceptional. It is a high spec workstation machine which is completely silent making it a complete pleasure to work on. The service and support from QPC during the ordering process was great (thanks Ellen!). In summary its a fantastic piece of kit put together by an excellent company.

Nofan A480 Silent Desktop

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Amazing desktop - had a few and this is by far the best, not only because it is virtually silent, but because the choice of components really do work well together. My choice of hard disk drive, as opposed to SSD, means a tiny amount of noise and also results in a lower ‘Windows Experience’ score (a nonsense measurement anyway!), but the PC boots fast and easily handles Office 365, IE, flash videos etc (using just Intel graphics). I really can’t tell that it’s on most of the time and the passive cooling genuinely works - the i7 processor (65w) rarely heats above 45 degrees and the Nofan case copes well with whatever heat is produced. Service from QuietPC was top class - machine was built in a couple of days and delivery was ridiculously inexpensive. Yes, you may well be paying a little over the top compared with some other, dubious, retailers, but the build quality is excellent - cables tidied up, all spare bits and bobs packed in the motherboard box and no bloat ware! I would not hesitate to recommend this PC, and the people who put it together :-), to prospective buyers.

UPDATE:

I have had this PC for several weeks now - enough to know it’s merits in greater detail - so I thought it might help to add this update :-)

All good! I have added a SSD (Samsung pro 128gb) and would recommend people to do this as it really does speed the system up. I use this drive just for desktop files and system files, switching everything else to the WD hard disk installed by QPC (it is very quiet and cool running, btw). Literally not a whisper comes from the PC - completely silent. I listen to music through this PC and I have never once noticed any extraneous noises from it - even in hushed passages of music. Everything inside the NOFAN PC remains cool - the hard drives (three in total) seldom go above 35C and the CPU only touches 50C to 60C when extremely pushed (which is rare, given the power of the i7 processor). I am also happy I put 16GB of ram in the PC - this leaves plenty of headroom. After tweaking Windows 8 to cut down on unnecessary processes, I have managed to get minimal latency in the system such that FLAC 96 KHz and 192 KHz files are delivered, through USB, to my DAC with little delay and only occasional ‘hiccups’ due to me carrying out more intensive processes on the PC (e.g. graphics editing). I would thoroughly recommend this PC as the core of a high quality music system. All in all, an outstanding product - thank you very much, QuietPC :-)

fantastic tower

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I loaded it with extras taking full advantage of the advice of Andy the technical manager of Quiet PC to learn it is possible to have 5 3.5” disks (mine are a pair of 128GB Samsung EVO Pro’s in RAID1 and three 256GB Samsung EVO Pro’s as RAID5). I’m a storage hound so have another pair of RAID1 WD30EZRX Caviar Green Quiet SATA in a pair of Smart Drive Classic SATA HDD Silencers - quiet no silent yes, completely. Given that I’ve a 35W i7 is outstanding and when you consider I chose to pair it with an AMD HD7750 DirectCU Fanless Graphics Card is to say the least very surprising. Does it get warm? yes but only over the rear vent over the cooler and not distressingly so.

The A480 it does what it says on the can

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I am very rarely moved to write reviews but this is one of the few occasions where I feel the need to put fingers to keyboard. This is the first silent PC I have purchased from QuietPC but it won’t be the last. I have purchased so-called silent machines from other suppliers before but this is the first one that really is silent. So much so that I actually thought the machine was broken the first time I started it up. It is really fast too. The service I had from Ellen in Sales was also first class. She was really helpful and a significant reason why I have recommended QuietPC to my son who is another IT techie. I haven’t had any reason to call upon QuietPC’s tech support yet and I have no reason to believe I will need to do so, but if their service is as good as that of Ellen’s, then QuietPC certainly have the complete package that will keep me going back to them.

Exactly as described

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The PC is powerful, fast and completely silent. “Clean build” is such a worthwhile offer: the machine is actually usable out of the box. Couldn’t be happier and will be a repeat customer. Really good business to deal with, too. Competent and friendly.

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