Quiet down the noise machine

shadowbreaker513

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Feb 15, 2005
Messages
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Recently, the noise from my computer has been driving me crazy, everything from the fans to the hard drive seem too loud lately. I want to start taking it steps in quieting it down, and I wonder if you guys have any suggestions. A few things I thought of:

1) New case - Mine has only 80mm fan mounts, and I was needed a new one anyway
2) HDD - SATA Seagate? Or something else? This WD drive is damn loud when loading things though
3) Quieter fans - Zalman on my cpu, and lower dBA fans; 120mm if my case can support them
4) Quiet power supply - Mine isn't loud enough to hear over my case fans, but when they are turned off I can definatly hear it. Seasonics are a bit out of my price range. I was thinking the TTGI/Superflower 550w Modular. It has a 140mm fan so it should spin slowly and quietly, plus I like the look of it.

Any other recommendations? Only thing I'm not willing to do is void the warrenty on this video card and install a third party cooler; I killed my last card doing that.
 
Super Lanboy. Has mounts for 120's in font and back.
 
GlobalFear said:
Since you oced the card isn't the warrenty void anyway?
Not overclocked anymore, haven't updated sig.

EDIT: Fixed. Also, I was looking at this case. Has two 120mm fans in a cpu windtunnel, and a 92mm intake fan in the front. I can always take my 92mm slot exhaust fan and stick it above my video card for that. I also like the large size, and the inverted ATX design. Anybody know anything about that case?
 
If you go with that one, make sure your PSU wires are long enough.
 
Looks like you've covered most of the basics you can do without going to water cooling. The only other thing you could possibly do is to install Dynamat or some other sound-deadening material inside the case.

I have the Zalman CNPS7000CU-B and love it. It fits in my Super Lanboy case without a problem. The only beef I have with the Super Lanboy is that the supplied fans are actually louder than you would expect. I installed some Coolermaster fans and they are quieter.
 
I have two Nexus orange 120's going and it keeps it cool enough.
 
Tiny said:
If you go with that one, make sure your PSU wires are long enough.
I have a Xazer II. The cables could reach from here to china and back and still be long enough to wire up a Chemning server case. :rolleyes:
 
shadowbreaker513 said:
Also, I was looking at this case.

I read a bunch of the reviews, but this one from Maximum PC strikes me as the most accurate. Also looks like you really have no choice but to have some ugly PS cables out in plain sight. Of course you can sleeve and stuff, but my goal is to always have no visible cabling as much as possible. I think it would really come down to which Mobo you're using whether or not this case would work for you. I would personally try it out if a I could return it at a local store; but I wouldn't risk having to pay return shipping or a restock fee on it.

 
Thanks for the review. One thing that would help silence it would be watercooling, but the only one that is really in my price range is the Thermaltake Bigwater kit. Anybody know if it's any good?
 
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