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My computer is still too loud!

A

ArtificialHero

n00b
Joined
Jun 17, 2003
Messages
30
Hey guys.

I'm building a comp for my uncle and as an exercise in what if i thought i'd go for quiet rather than holy sh*t fast this time - here's everything that makes noise in the system (ex. hard drives and 1 cdrw/dvd):

Vantec AlCu CPU cooler (you know the one!) turned right down on the fanmate
Zalman silent PSU (400W)
MSI GeForceFX 5650 (256MB)
2 x Vantec Stealth 80mm

My question is: other than 7 volting the vantecs, which i plan to do, what else can I do to reduce noise - it's really not that quiet! certainly much much louder than the antec sonata based box i built for my dad.
 
Can you Dynamat the insides of the case to reduce the noise?
We used that stuff to reduce road noise on my friends 82 Trans Am and it worked pretty good. Kinda pricey though, but shouldn't be too much to do a computer case.
 
Yeah, what hard drive? The hard drive is the number one source of noise in my computer(s), might look into that...
 
I've got 14 drives running right now and the majority of noise is from the case fans.
I am running 7200 SCSI barracudas, 7200 IDE WD's, 10K SCSI Cheetahs and Fujitsu drives.
 
Originally posted by ArtificialHero
Vantec AlCu CPU cooler (you know the one!) turned right down on the fanmate
Click to expand...
actually i DONT know which one ur talking about. Did u mean the Zalman one?

ur FX card may be loud b/c of its fan, get the Zalman Heatpipe w/o optional fan u wont need it

the mobo may be loud b/c of the nb fan, get some passive cooling on that

if u 7v ur stealths, wouldnt that ruin the CFM? I'd suggest going with a rheobus so u can turn them up and down as you please
 
stealths suck, get a couple panaflos, those are stealth if you ask me. and get some of that foam stuff that comes in motherboard and video card boxes, it works just as good as normal sound foam. get lots of passive heatsinks too, for your northbridge, etc.
 
I second going to panaflows, the 20db ones. the vantec stealth fans just aren't very quiet.
 
Watercooling will give you quietness but it doesn't seem like you need it too much...Keep it in mind...
 
Originally posted by WS6
Can you Dynamat the insides of the case to reduce the noise?
We used that stuff to reduce road noise on my friends 82 Trans Am and it worked pretty good. Kinda pricey though, but shouldn't be too much to do a computer case.
Click to expand...

Yeah I think Dynamat is your best bet, that stuff works great. I also like panaflo's better than stealths because stealths make noise at an annoying frequency, but if you already have stealths I dont think it is worth switching.
 
Just go one noise-source at a time. Figure out what is loudest. Then make it quiet. Then figure out what is next loudest. Make it quiet. Lather, rinse, repeat. Of course, you could go on forever like this, but there's probably a threshhold where it won't make much more difference and it'll be quiet enough.
 
Well I've gotten mine down there fairly quiet but it still needs work. Here's what I did.

Antec Sonata case, this ought to be obvious $99 at newegg and last i checked a few days ago free shipping.

I put an Alpha PAL8942T on my P4 2.4Ghz, on top of which I have temporarily placed an Enermax thermal control fan until I can afford something better. Its quiet enough, possibly may do a fan adapter an a very low speed 92 or 120mm fan.

I will say this, those rubber things your hard drive sits on in this case really do work, my 80GB WD SE drive sounds barely louder than a Seagate Barracuda did in my old case, only thing is seek noise (which I got since i lowered the accoustic management on the seagate. This is something you might investigate doing yourself.)

I want to do some follow up work yet though.

My Radeon 9000 Pro has a fan on it, and I am intending to replace it with a Radeon 9600 AIW (Only to win the one-a-day this time :D) Since this is passive only, it should be a big help.

I'm hoping to replace the stock 120mm fan, which is of Antecs lowest grade and is significantly louder than thier Pro models (which aren't thermal control mind you since I'm using the power supply's fan only connectors which are voltage regulated for this purpose) Why Antec included this fan in my case i don't know, all the pictures showed the clear ones and I got a black one--which means not one of the better ones, I should ask them on this.

I hope to replace the fan on my heatsink with a very high quality sleeve bearing fan, such as a papst. From the best of my knowledge it should last as long as most ball bearing fans do before the the ball bearings start making so much noise you have to throw it out anyway.

I also hope to get those silicone gaskets for my power supply and fans if i can make them work with my case right. Should cut down on some more noise.


My final advice is this, find a small HARDWOOD table, without metal legs or anything. Small means not much area to resonate, and hardwood means its more dense and less likely to resonate. You'd be amazed how much of the noise you hear is resonance through your desk.


Hope this all helps.
 
i'd try removing one case fan....really you should have an intake and an outtake i know but 2 case fans aren't really necessary imo
 
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