My computer in my recording studio is wayyy to loud!

I

insanarchist

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Sep 3, 2004
Messages
1,387
I have one of those Antec mid-tower cases with 5 case fans, a psu with 2, and the stock intel HS/F, along with 2 newly added SCSI drives. All in all, this creates a hell of a lot of noise (which is to be expected with said equipment), and I'm trying to decide what the best upgrades/minimally invasive mods would be in order to basically silent this thing! My first inkling (sp?) would be to just buy that damned 'sonata' case from Antec, as well as one of those huge HSF's from Zalman, but I'm not sure if there are easy (read: cheap!) ways to quiet the case I already have? I know what parts are generating the most noise, but I'm not sure of the best way to make them stfu. Help? :confused: :D
 
two words.... power ...... switch

now really, I know that some guys have had success with rubber gromets for hard drives, gaskets for fans, and fanbusses, any one or all of these won't run you a pile (except maybe a fanbus) you could try a few of these things, but if you have 5 fans, check your temps, see if you can kill one or two, then check your temps again, you may find you only need one in the front, one in the back and the psu... who knows


oh and check out silentPC.com they are obsessed with silence
 
yeah, I kinda figured that 'silencing' the fans was pretty much a bs excuse for having a shoddy HSF on your proc. I definately need to do something about temps, though, as it generally hovers around 56c at full load which, although its not close to an 'instant death' scenario, will lower the lifespan by a non-trivial amount, I would imagine. I will check out silentPC.com right now, though! :)

Edit: uhh, I don't think 'silentpc.com' was the site you were looking for, haha (check it out...) I did do a google search on it and came up with some decent stuff, though.

The SCSI HDD's are making quite a wicked scream at this point, and I'm not sure what do do about that...
 
insanarchist said:
The SCSI HDD's are making quite a wicked scream at this point, and I'm not sure what do do about that...
Click to expand...

nothing you can do about that but get new HDD's

i know it sucks, i was searching for some way to fix that too, as i absolutly LOATHE that sound
 
He probably meant www.silentpcreview.com, there's a number of cheap ways to quiet down stuff but it won't really do much for your temps, best way to go about solving that is obviously going to the source and improving the components... If you already have 5 fans the HSF would be the culprit I'd guess.
 
TheMostWantedPolishTwin said:
what are the specs for this rig?
I suggest getting Antec Sonata case and 2 120mm papst fans.. maybe passively cooled PSU..
Click to expand...

Specs:

Abit IS7
P4 2.4 w/ stock HSF
1 GB PC3500
1 x 80GB 7200 8mb Seagate (nice n' quiet)
2 x 36GB 10000 Atlas (not so quiet)
Thermaltake 420Watt PSU (dual fan)


RE: Antec Sonata
Yeah, that's what I was kinda thinking. Its not a cheap case, but the money I put towards it would probably be better spent than some gimmicky half-assed 'super uber fan cooler system' for my current case.
 
my mom has a sonata case stock, and it is so quiet, its in the kitchen and unless u knew it was there u wouldnt notice it.
 
Why not try to control the fans, instead of disconnecting them? There are 3.5" drive bay controllers like these , or 5.25" drive bay controllers like these , or even a funky new one like this one (which is funky, but pretty ugly, IMHO).

With a fan controller, you can dial down the fans to where they're likely to be a bit quieter than they are now, and dial them back up in speed if you need to do so (which you can't do if they're disconnected).

Hope that helps! :D
 
The SCSI drives are gonna be a bitch to silence. As far as the fan noise, you could always re-do the wiring on 4-pin molex connectors to make them run at 5v or 7v. Google "7v trick" and you should find the information to do both. That is, if switches/controllers aren't your thing. You could also ditch all those fans and replace them with AcoustiFans, Vantec Stealths, or Panaflo L's.

A big, copper heatsink for your CPU wouldn't be a bad idea. Thermalright makes nice big heatsinks (I've got two).

As for the SCSI HDs you may be out of luck. There's an HD suspension kit out there that suspends your hard drive in a 5.25" bay. It doesn't do anything from the whine of the spinning but it keeps vibrations from transferring into the case.

You might also look into lining the case with sound-absorbing pads, like Akasa PaxMate or Spire Soundpad. For a cheap alternative, check out cloth mousepads. :)

See also www.quietpc.com
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top