Why isnt my PC Quiet?

G

garrettgjb

Gawd
Joined
Apr 13, 2006
Messages
576
I've been slowly making my computer silenter, but its still not quite silent enough. I hope to get some info on why its not quiet.

Here are some of my Parts:

Seasonic 430w silent psu.
Zalman CPU quiet fan.
3 Stealth fans
eVga 7600gt stock fan
Wavemaster2 case

Then the only thing I havent change that has a fan is my video card fan, which I dont think would make much of a difference. Thats it, I dont care much about my hard drive. Those only make noise when loading files, right? Everything else has no fan so I didnt list it. All 3 of the things I have were said to be quiet, but still the noise is still their. I have a case with a see through panel so I dont want acousic crap blocking my view.

Here's a couple images of my rig.


case.jpg


inside.jpg
 
You need to do a few things:

at least 7v the fans, Stealth fans arent exactly the best silent fans, but they are ok.

Yes, HDDs make noise because they DO actually spin when not "loading files", called idle noise..and if you have a ball barring HD you will hear a high pitched whining sound.

Try stopping the video card fan with either software or your finger, and see if you need to replace the fan. Most likely its louder than you think.

PSU is a good unit, and is quiet :)
 
Thanks dchrsf for the fast reply.

What do you mean 7v the fans? I Turned off the computer and started it up again without the hd's but it didnt seem to make a difference. I also stope the fan on the video card that made a small change but not significant. I think the stealth fans may be making the noise, but im not sure.
 
Also, in the picture inside the case, just below the zalman fan you can see a slot with a little red card in it. On the mobo, it says slave (x8) and on the one that is hooked up to the video card it says master (x16/x8). Can I use the slave slot instead of the master. I'd like to add a tv tuner.
 
If you want silent fans I recommend the Nexus Real Silent line. They don't move a ton of air but they are dead silent. I replaced the case and psu fans in one of my computers I use as a fileserver along with putting a passive heatsink on the processor and it makes no audible noise now other than the hard drives. You will likely notice the video card once you silence the case fans. Was rather surprising to me tha it made as much noise as it did once everything else got quiet. Luckily I had an old passively cooled one so that did the trick.
 
My best guess at the loudest noises are:

The Vantec Stealth fans. I bought 6 of those when they came out and ended up junking them because they made two types of noises that I couldn't stand. One was a clicking noise because of the motor and bearings. The other noise was a whistling sound because the blades of the fan were so sharp and jagged.

The second noise culprit there is the cpu fan. Unless you have that speed controller on that zalman fan, it isn't exactly that quiet, but it is definately better than the stock fan and the pitch of the noise is lower. If you slow that fan down, you have to watch temperatures though. If your case doesn't have good ventilation, then the cpu might get pretty toasty.

Next up is the video card fan. I would say an investment into a quieter and better aftermarket cooler would be wise. Personally, I like ones that can dump the heat directly out of the case. Those types keep overall case temperatures down.
 
I fogot to mentin that putting in the fans was a pain in the ass. It took a whole day to do, if that my only solution i'm just going to live with it. My zalman does have a speed controller, so its not too bad. Instaling the stalth fans did make my pc noticeably quieter than normal. I was thinking amout some chipset coolers foir my video card, but I dont know if it will be worth it. I guess I'll have to live with the noise, again its not very loud or annoyng, i'm just picky. :)
 
take each possible noise source, HDDs, each fan, all of the stealth fans, GPU fan, etc, and stop each individually.
Unplug the HDDs, see if the noise goes away.
Leaving those undone, unplug (or stop in some way) the GPU fan
Then CPU fan
then each case fan one by one.
When the noise goes away, you've found what you need to swap out.

I run 3 yate-loons, a scythe ninja (with a yate), passive chipset (unplugged the fan anyway), etc. Completely silent. I can turn off all but one fan and run almost completely passive. PSU and HDD (in the P180 tunnel I need it with all 4 drive bays full) yate loon. The ninja and upper bay fans can be turned off without ill effects.
 
Ok, thanks, since I have 3 fans, I think it would be easier to buy a fan controller, and less scary for me to do than cut wires. :)
 
Fan controllers are the way to go, my box used to sound like a hurricane was in the area of my room. After picking up a vantec fan controller for $15, i now dont hear anything and my pc manages to stay cool usually maxes out a 40c thats very rare though.
 
i would get a new case. i have the antec sonata 2, and its dead quiet. plus you can get rid of some of your fans.
i have the PS fan and 1 more fan on the back of the case. The only other fans are a NB motherboard fan, stock fan on processor and the video card fan which is dead silent when i dont play games.
i have found that minimizing fans and components in general in a nice quiet case makes a big difference. I tried fan controllers and such before, but not with the same degree of success.
And i can still overclock without problems.
 
Asian Dub Foundation said:
im willing to bet is mostly the case. aluminum resonates a hell lot. either get a new case of get some dampers
Click to expand...

I'm going to go buy some cork soon myself. I like the way it looks, honestly :p
 
I have 2X 120MM fans and a Silent Boost TT HSF, and the only thing that was loud was the stock x800xl gpu fan. Once ati tool was deployed the niose during idle and surfing was near silent. 7600gt's have loud fans i know that for sure because i just bult two systems with pny 7600gt's that were fine at idle but screamers once i started P95 and 3Dmark loops.
 
Those Vantec Stealth fans are crap. I had a bunch of those and threw them out because they were so loud.

In my system I have:

Seasonic 600w PSU
BFG 7900GTX
1 x 120MM Intake 5v
1 x 80MM Zalman Intake 5v
2 x 80MM Zalman Output 5v
1 x 120 CPU fan controlled by motherboard. Usually runs at 5v goes up to about 7v under heavy gaming
2 x 320gb 7200.10 hard drive suspended.

My system is dead quiet. I can't tell when it is on or off, all on air. I had to suspend my hard drives because the vibration noise from the platters spinning was the loudest thing in the case. I dont use a fan bus, everything is hardwired to be 5v.

You need to buy an aftermarket heatsink for your 7600gt that exhausts all the air outside the case. This will allow you to reduce the fan speed of the case fans without increasing the internal case temp.
 
Vantec Stealth 80mms are 23 dBA; that's hardly quiet anymore. The fans in my last desktop were about that loud and I had to get a controller to slow them down so the idle noise would be tolerable.

For my latest system, knowing that I wanted something quieter, I hunted for something better than 23dBA and found the Scythe S-flex 120mm (http://www.pro-clockers.com/article.php?id=130&page=3). 800rpm, 8.7dBA, 33.5CFM. It's very impressive compared to a ~20db fan. Or if you don't have room for a 120mm case fan, they also make ones that insert into several 5.25" bays and are just as quiet.
 
Also, keep in my also manufactures dont always tell the real db rating, and that 23 could really be 25 or 28, but compared to your old fans they may be quiet.

Anyways, you can do better fan wise. Nexus fans while expensive are the best bet if you want a good quiet fans that will also undervolt well.
 
Wow thats way too many people saying that stealth fans suck, I still have all the boxes, once I get my zallmans im going to try to return them at frys. The things were 10 each, and the zalmans were 5. I remember the guides to making a silent pc and 2 of them has the stealth fans, so that was miseleading. Thanks for all your help guys, its been really insightful.


Got this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835118206

Here's my order.

3 FAN| ZALMAN 8025MM W/ADPT ZM-F1 RT - Retail
Item #: N82E16835118206 $4.29 $12.87
Subtotal: $12.87
What's this? Tax: $0.93
Shipping: $9.00
Grand Total: $22.80
 
The problem with fans is how they test their dB rating. They basically hang them in a sound proof chamber to measure it. Take out your stealth fans and run them just hanging from the cord. You'll notice the fans are much quieter. As others have said, aluminum cases resonate badly. The problem with stealth fans is that the cause the case to resonate at a very annoying tone. At 12v the zlamans will be just as loud, or even louder than the stealth fans; but the noise they make is much more pleasing to the ear.

Just so you know, the adapters that come with the fans actually runs them at about 6.5v. They will still produce some noise at that voltage. If you hard wire or use a fan bus to get them down to 5v, their noise will vanish into the backround noise of the room.
 
Stealth fans do not have quiet motors, AFAIK, so even at lower speeds and soft-mounted, they will still be louder than many other fans at the same speed.
 
I use an Antec Sonata Case with a low rpm 120 mounted inside pulling heat away from the hdd's, a 80mm Vantec Stealth exhausting, and a YS Tech TMD (Tip Magnetic Driving) cpu fan. Sitting on the floor, this system is silent. I have never had a problem with loud stealth fans, but this set up is 3 years old so they may not be as good as when I bought em. This is the most quiet air cooled solution I've built. Probably why I havn't bothered to make any serious upgrades. My vid card fan gets stupid when it ramps up durring gaming. But I digress.
 
Didn't read this entire thread, but I noticed mentions of videocard fan.

Next to my hard drives, my videocard fan is by far the loudest thing.
It's godawful how much noise the little thing makes. I think small
fan usually = more noise so check any other small fans if you have any
on other chipsets.

Taking out my videocard made me realize how much noise it makes...

Then it was my western digital caviar hard drives, very loud.

Now my computer is much quieter, no videocard and no hard drives ;)
 
Oh... my... god.

I canceled the zalman order. I stopped the fan on the Video card and I was sooo shocked.The thing is loud as hell.

Gonna check out the adds tomorow morning to find a good replacement. Suggestions are highly appreciated.
 
You dont need a VF900 for your card. Just get a Zalman VF700 it will be plenty of cooling, cheaper and be plenty quiet as well.
 
Why does 30$ seem so high for a heatsink fan? A good silent fan will cost you 15$, you are getting a good silent fan with a heck of a lot of copper on it :)
 
The VF700-AlCu is cheaper and probably offers similar performance, if the CNPS7000-Cu and -AlCu HSFs are any indication.
 
just check out silentpcreview forums to find out what fans are the most quiet instead of debating with people here

i have yate-loon D12SL-12 fans and they are pretty damn quiet
 
dchrsf said:
[POST #2] You need to do a few things:

at least 7v the fans, Stealth fans arent exactly the best silent fans, but they are ok.

Yes, HDDs make noise because they DO actually spin when not "loading files", called idle noise..and if you have a ball barring HD you will hear a high pitched whining sound.

Try stopping the video card fan with either software or your finger, and see if you need to replace the fan. Most likely its louder than you think.

PSU is a good unit, and is quiet :)
Click to expand...

garrettgjb said:
Oh... my... god.

I canceled the zalman order. I stopped the fan on the Video card and I was sooo shocked.The thing is loud as hell.

Gonna check out the adds tomorow morning to find a good replacement. Suggestions are highly appreciated.
Click to expand...

lol.

I've had experience :)
 
The computer is too close to you.
It is literally at your eardrum level.

Move it under your desk or on the side below the desk.
 
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