Product Reviews

Take a day trip to the Sun and you'll have some idea of what it feels like to be a new CPU, which means bigger and more extravagant cooling systems. The good news is your PC won't overheat; the bad news is a large case to cope with the airflow, and the vibrating whirs of all the fans. However, Intel is finally experimenting with new, small form factor and acoustic-friendly designs, which are showcased in the Hailey project.

The Hailey measures just 332 x 347 x 90mm (W x D x H), with a capacity of 9.7 litres. The idea is that it's a production-ready system that OEM vendors can produce, or at least take ideas from, in the high-volume production of small Pentium 4 PCs. Intel has no plans to produce the Hailey itself, but big players like HP are apparently already showing an interest in the ideas.

VIA has also got silent plans, and its Signum Silent PC looks like it may have the answer. It was recently showcased at CeBIT without a single fan in sight - it's all liquid-cooled, even the power supply, so the only noise comes from the hard disk. We should be getting a look at VIA's Pentium 4 solution next issue, so watch this space.

In the meantime, the Hailey makes do with traditional fans, but under the supervision of Intel's thermal acoustic strategy. Intel has aimed to direct the airflow through the case as efficiently as possible, and has

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measured the noise at 35dB from an acoustic chamber filled with 16 microphones.

At the front is an input vent with a square grille shape that Intel claims can cut down emissions. This grille is placed in front of the CPU, to provide the optimum ratio of airflow against pressure and thus the correct fan curve, which all helps to reduce turbulence.

The CPU's 700g copper-based heatsink is also a new design, which specifically uses short fins, as longer ones need more air pressure to push air down the fins. Its weight could cause problems in terms of shock and vibration though, so Intel introduced a lever retention system, providing two plastic supports across the motherboard, thus transferring any shock down the arms into the chassis corners where it has the maximum strength.

The motherboard has been based on a standard microATX board, but with some repositioning to optimise the airflow. The CPU and memory core have been rotated 90 degrees and the ATX I/O panel, along with the AGP and PCI slots, has moved from one side to the other to minimise the system airflow impedance by reducing obstacles and the need for a larger fan. The front bezel is also designed to have no outlets with a line of sight to the fans, so noise has to bounce around inside the system and decrease before it comes out.

It all sounds plausible, but the end result, while quieter than your average Pentium 4 system, has some way to go. You can still hear the fan noise enough to be irritating and the hard disk, while mounted on rubber, is also clearly audible, along with the noisy mobile optical drive.

Intel expects the cost of Hailey designs to be similar to standard microATX systems, and less noise can only be a good thing, especially when our 2D benchmark of 1.05 shows no negative impact on performance and there all the features you need. However, it looks like liquid cooling is going to be the only real way forward for complete silence.