My PC is causing hearing loss

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diggƒreak

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jan 8, 2006
Messages
173
How do you keep your PC quiet?

I have a semi-loud case fan that causes a random low vibrating noise when it is turned on, a loud GPU cooler with a fan that touches the metal slightly, a moderately loud cpu fan, and a NB fan running at a constant 7500rpm that I can't control. My PSU fan is fairly quiet. When this is all running it sounds like a hairdryer set to what would be 80%, and if you know what a hairdryer sounds like on high power, that's pretty loud.

I know this is nothing compared to some people who have three case fans and a 7800GT cooler, but I don't understand how those people can stand it. I recently moved my PC into the basement to one of those 'computer desks' with the compartment to put your case in and the sliding keyboard drawer. The case is located to my lower right. I thought that secluding it under the desk was going to help; however, It seems to be just as loud if not louder because of the acoustics of the wood.

This week I noticed that after being on my PC for a couple hours at a time my hearing in my right ear was weak. This concerned me as even the day after at school I would have trouble hearing in my right ear. So as of right now I am using my father's laptop with noticeably bad hearing in my right ear. I am discontinuing use of my gaming rig until I know that it will not further damage my hearing.

I have a few solutions in mind and I would like to know if you think that they are feasible and whether or not they will decrease my noise level.

1. The application of a better thermal compound to my nb, cpu and gpu. Although my NB fan would probably still run at 7500rpm, hopefully the other two fans would slow down because of less heat.

2. Replacing my gpu cooler with a completely passive solution. This is where I need your advice, is a heatsink enough for a 6600GT that I've seen go up to 69C? (if I remember correctly)

3. Replace my case fan with a quieter one (suggestions please!), and implement a fan controller. (does this allow you to control any three prong fan? [nb] )

4. Slice a piece of foam, from an old egg-crate style mattress thing and place it on the inside of my case door

5. Re-locate my pc to a carpeted surface far back under a table

Is there anything else I can do to keep my pc quiet besides water cooling? Are there any quiet fans or coolers that you recommend? My situation as a pc gamer is desperate. Is ceramique really better than silver 5?

My specs, I'm taking down all overclocks as well to reduce noise
sig5fk.png
 
If you search the forums you will find a lot of help, but I will comment on your solutions to help out.

1. Thermal compound is not going to make that much of a difference, if your fans are loud at stock settings, they are going to be loud no matter what compund you use or how fast or slow the rpms, in the end you are going to end up replacing fans. NB fan is always loud, there are passive solutions but the main issue is clearance because the NB usually is in the vicinity of the video card, I think Zalman and Cooler Master makes passive solution for NB.

2. Passive solutions for anything require that your case has good air flow, whether it be to replacing case fans, wire management, relocation of drives and/or cards or simply having to buy a better case to house your components in. I'm not to familiar with totally passive solutions for GPU, use the search function in the forums ans that will help you alot.

3. First, you need to know the size of fans that you need before anyone will recommend anything, and with fan controllers, are you wanting an all in one solution or individual controllers for each fan.

4. Sound dampening should be the last thing you do, you will want to take care of everything else first and see if this step is necessary. And also to mention there are sound dampening and anti-vibration solutions to case fans.

5. As long as dust, heat, static or cabling is not an issue, this could be an option, but in my book that is a last resort option unless you don't have a choice.

What kind of case are you using, I cant tell from the pic.

The case that you use is going to be the biggest factor in what you can do. So I would not rule out buying a new case as an option.
 
1. The application of a better thermal compound to my nb, cpu and gpu. Although my NB fan would probably still run at 7500rpm, hopefully the other two fans would slow down because of less heat.

Nope. It'll still run at 7.5k.

2. Replacing my gpu cooler with a completely passive solution. This is where I need your advice, is a heatsink enough for a 6600GT that I've seen go up to 69C? (if I remember correctly)

Yep. Try a zalman or thermalright.

3. Replace my case fan with a quieter one (suggestions please!), and implement a fan controller. (does this allow you to control any three prong fan? [nb] )

that works.

4. Slice a piece of foam, from an old egg-crate style mattress thing and place it on the inside of my case door

Not particularly important.

5. Re-locate my pc to a carpeted surface far back under a table

doesn't really help.

Try:

buy:
-Stretch magic
-Thermalright V1-ultra
-Zalman CNPS 7700
-Zalman Fanmate II
-Zalman Passive NB cooler
-Yate Loon fan in 92 mm (I believe it's Yate Loon D92sl12)
-Yate Loon fan in 120mm (Yate Loon D120SL12)
-Several squares of linoleum

1. replace stock cpu fan with CNPS 7700. Hook up the fanmate that comes with it.
2. replace stock GPU fan with Thermalright V1-ultra. Rig up the fan it comes with with the Fanmate II
3. replace chipset fan with the passive zalman.
4. Replace the fans in the power supply with the yate loon SL-12 fan of your choice. (80, 92, 120mm)
5. Replace case fan with quiet fan of choice.
6. Use Stretch magic to suspend hard drive in the 5.25 bay. Something like the Antec P150 style. More details at Silentpcreview.com
7. Use the square linolium to "dampen" the interior of the case. Stick it to the innards of the side panels. Make sure when you tap on the panels, they don't have any ring. They shoudl sound like tapping on wood.
8. Wire manage like mad.
9. screw down everything as securely as you can.
 
kinda on topic... but are hard drives really THAT loud? i dont notice mine... at least i dont think.... mine is a regular 7200rpm
 
Bbq said:
-Stretch magic
-Thermalright V1-ultra
-Zalman CNPS 7700
-Zalman Fanmate II
-Zalman Passive NB cooler
-Yate Loon fan in 92 mm (I believe it's Yate Loon D92sl12)
-Yate Loon fan in 120mm (Yate Loon D120SL12)
-Several squares of linoleum

1. replace stock cpu fan with CNPS 7700. Hook up the fanmate that comes with it.
2. replace stock GPU fan with Thermalright V1-ultra. Rig up the fan it comes with with the Fanmate II
3. replace chipset fan with the passive zalman.
4. Replace the fans in the power supply with the yate loon SL-12 fan of your choice. (80, 92, 120mm)
5. Replace case fan with quiet fan of choice.
6. Use Stretch magic to suspend hard drive in the 5.25 bay. Something like the Antec P150 style. More details at Silentpcreview.com
7. Use the square linolium to "dampen" the interior of the case. Stick it to the innards of the side panels. Make sure when you tap on the panels, they don't have any ring. They shoudl sound like tapping on wood.
8. Wire manage like mad.
9. screw down everything as securely as you can.
Click to expand...

1. That looks like a good choice, but was wondering which was quieter, the 7700 or the 92mm 7000B?
2. That cooler is a little out of my price range, I am a high school freshman on a budget here. Would a Zalman VF700-CU be just as quiet? Did you choose the V1 because of the better northbrige clearance?
3. After having that VF700 on there I was thinking of trying something like this guy. I don't know where I'm going to find an old flat heatsink like that though, does the Zalman NB cooler fit with a VF700?
4. Right now my Antec seems pretty quiet with a single 120mm fan pointing down, I'll will take this step after I can actually hear it next to my CPU cooler running to see if it needs to be replaced.
5. Would an 80mm Nexus be sufficient for airflow? Is it really the best fan out there?
6. I cant really hear my hard drive so this will have to wait until phase two as well (which will be right after the first time I power up with my new fans, I really don't want to mess up my ears)
7. Doesn't that create an echo? I thought you would use a soft surface, I'll have to find some pics of this
8. Yeah I need to get some zip ties
9. OK

Sorry for not replying directly to the first guy but my case is a Rosewill, and the fan that comes with it is an 80mm, with holes for only an 80mm. So I'm thinking of going with a panaflow or a nexus. I also taking off that cone thing and coverinf those holes in the plexiglass.

All pics are thumbnails


My horrible cable management


My loud GPU and NB coolers (with flash)


(without)


NB clearance


psu, case and cpu fan


My 12cm psu fan


My only rear fan mount. If my fan is an 80mm, then what are the smaller holes for? Is my current fan really a 92mm (I didn't know what to measure)

I also used the thermal pad that came with the cpu cooler as I didn't want to void my warranty at the time. Is that going to be really hard to get off/actually get the heatsink off?
I'm buyiung a 5cc of Arctic Silver for the new cooling.
 
You might need to heat the HSF with something to get it to release from the CPU (you seem to be familliar with hairdryers :) use that). Once the CPU and the HSF are seperate, throw it in the freezer for 20 minutes, and use something really sharp (razor, high interest rate credit card, etc.) to scrape off whatever's left of the pad. 5cc of Arctic silver will be more than enough :).

You might want to cut a larger exhaust hole in your case, if your up to that kind of challenge. Personally, I like 2 80mm fans at 7v more than a 120mm fan at 7v, it seems to spread the airflow out over a larger area, therefore better for passive cooling.

Also, as a quick hack, you might wanna stick on a larger 80mm fan onto your HSF unit... forcing a larger fan onto a smaller HS has always worked out very well for me.

**Edit** I forgot to mention that my back fans are intakes and my front fans are outputs of air. That's why 2 80mm fans are better than a larger 120mm fan for me, probably not you.
 
1. That looks like a good choice, but was wondering which was quieter, the 7700 or the 92mm 7000B?

The 7700 is quieter. It uses the bigger 120mm fan, which needs to spin less to move the same amount of air, which means quieter. That, and it's much easier to swap out the stock fan (bad accoustics) for somehthing better.

2. That cooler is a little out of my price range, I am a high school freshman on a budget here. Would a Zalman VF700-CU be just as quiet? Did you choose the V1 because of the better northbrige clearance?

I'm also in HS :) I chose the V1 because you can choose the 80mm fan of your choice to go on it. Unless you SLi, the V1 should be a better choice (not enough clearence for the bridge card). Even the V1 standard is nice.

3. After having that VF700 on there I was thinking of trying something like this guy. I don't know where I'm going to find an old flat heatsink like that though, does the Zalman NB cooler fit with a VF700?

It should.

4. Right now my Antec seems pretty quiet with a single 120mm fan pointing down, I'll will take this step after I can actually hear it next to my CPU cooler running to see if it needs to be replaced.

Pop off the grille. It'll be even better.

5. Would an 80mm Nexus be sufficient for airflow? Is it really the best fan out there?

An 80mm nexus should be sufficent. It's one of the better fans. Not to mention the V1 doesn't really need a whole lot of airflow. I run mine passive, and it doesn't go above 55 degrees, full load. Just remember to really crank it down when you install it, or it won't make proper contact.

6. I cant really hear my hard drive so this will have to wait until phase two as well (which will be right after the first time I power up with my new fans, I really don't want to mess up my ears)

Ok. Good luck with that.

7. Doesn't that create an echo? I thought you would use a soft surface, I'll have to find some pics of this

It's more for the vibrations. A case made from thin steel, or some cases made of aluminum, have horrible accoustics when they are in contact with moving stuff. Hard drives, optical drives, etc. I'm sure if you want to be completely sure, the best choice would be the tiles, then on top of that,some melemane sound-dampening tiles.

8. Yeah I need to get some zip ties

Yes, you do. Right now, you could just toss the whole big bundle into the optical drive cage, so it's out of the way.

9. OK

As for the case, I suggest taking a drill, or nibblers, or some tool to all the fan grilles. Then file them off so you don't chop your fingers off.
 
OK I have been thinking about this all day and I have a plan in mind.
[after shipping]

Zalman VF700 (mod a nexus 80mm on it, I saw instructions on spcr forums) [$35]

3 Nexus 80mm, one for case one for gpu mod one for cpu [$36]

I will mount the Nexus on my current cpu heatsink. I've never seen my cpu go over 42C and its 37C with prime running toture test for 30min. now, so my current heatsink is pretty good and with an 80mm running at 7v it shouldn't be too loud. Adapter [$8]

2 extra fanmate 2s for the case fan and cpu fan [$15]

That little NB heatsink I've been asking around for [$3]

Please feel free to comment and/or call me a dumbass on any of these points. Basically what I'm doing is removing one fan and replacing three potentially loud fans with very quiet fans. All in all this will cost less than $100 without the thermal compound which is what I was going for. I would like to know your thoughts on how my NB will be cooled using a "greenie" and if a nexus running at 7v will be enough to cool my cpu which is now that 38C after 39min. of torture testing.

I need some suggestions on the thermal compound for my gpu and northbridge.
Is ceramique safer than AC5?
 
Arcygenical said:
Ceramique isn't much safer, a bit better, and it's cheaper too.
Click to expand...

Thanks, so you're saying that ceramique is actually better than AC5?

How about that Nexus on the cpu, do you think it will cool well enough?

I am going to do some wire managing and take out my grilles as well.
 
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