Hey guys, i've decided to write this before i leave for my trip down to miami.
Acoustic management is mainly comprised of two things: Reducing noise sources and absorbing excess noise. The goal is just to make a PC quieter.
Reader beware. Acoustic management has a slippery slope. Once you quiet down a part, you notice how much noise the others make, and once you silence those, you notice a new one, and it keeps going until you come to the part you silenced in the beginning.
Acoustic management also generally means less performance, especially overclockability, and thermal management. (with exception of water cooling) So the goal of this guide is to make your computer near silent, absolute performance comes second.
Note: In order to notice the effects of acoustic absorption, you have to reduce the amount of noise coming from your components first, hence this primer. If you don't, you'll have wasted alot of money for not much noise dampening.
I've planned out 3 installments, kinda like an easy payment plan XD.
1. Primer
2. Acoustic absorption
3. Hard drive/Optical drive management.
Reducing Noise sources
Noise and Noise
What? Noise and noise? That's right, a computer usually has 2 types of noise, both of which need to be silenced if you want a nice PC. There is Vibrational Noise and well just Regular noise. Each type of noise has a different type of solution. Vibrational noise is huge with hard drives and PSUs and optical drives. Regular noise is really more of a concern with hard drive seeks (the *click) and the rotational noise of an optical drive. Air noise made by the CPU fans and the case fans are actually noticeable once you remove all vibrational noise.
Vibrational noise
All objects which rotate tend to have a slight wobble, especially at high RPMs and if they are heavy i.e. Hard disk Platter. The noise created by this wobble is actually not from the object itself, but from the case. This is normally a very loud noise, typically a rapid *clang. Many cheap cases directly mount the HDD to the case, and make it very easy to transmit vibrations throughout the case. Put your hand up to your case and feel it. There is a very slight vibration right? that's from the hard drive and fans. If your case is poorly constructed, reverberations can be very loud, even hazardous to your components. One way around this is to mount your HDDs in rubber grommets, which absorb all the vibration. This is a very effective way, but suspending your HDD is even more effective. Of course most people, including me, worry about data damage. Many people will not take the risk, and many people will. Neither of them have ever been proven right or wrong.
Optical drives also create a large amount of vibrational noise, well actually just a large amount of noise in general. However, there is little or no way to deal with it. Anyone with a loud optical drive is really out of options. I've considered building a custom external case for the optical drive, but i'll get back to you guys on that.
More on these parts in the actual part of the guide about vibrational noise =p (and you thought THAT was long hahaha)
Regular Noise
On top of vibrational noise, regular noise also exists, albeit its a softer and harder to notice. Its also more tolerable. Regular noise is generally a culprit of the CPU or fans on the system. The hard drive's seek (*clickity clickity) is also one very annoying one. If you don't know what i'm talking about, you either A. have really bad hearing, B. have horrible vibrational noise that's covering it up. C. Already have really quiet components, but then again if you did, you wouldn't be reading this right? =p
There is no solution to a loud part, except for replacement. Don't even try to build your own CPU fan =p. Save yourself the huge time factor and the possibility of ruining your cpu, and just buy the cooler.
Seek noise on the other hand, can be reduced through automatic acoustic management.
HDDs come in two varaieties, ball bearing, and fluid dynamic bearing motors. Ball bearings are a racket, if you have one, sell it or throw it out the window. Avoid these like the plague. FDB motors are quite pleasant, and make very little rotational noise. However in both type of HDDs seek noise, the noise made by the arms moving, are very loud unless automatic acoustic management is enabled. AAM is done through software, using specialized tools with their own boot. One such is from Hitachi/IBM, Feature Tool Download the Feature tool, not the others. Of course this increases seek latency and WILL slow down your PC noticeably. Find a range where you dont' mind the noise, and don't think your pc is that much slower.
Silencing Individual Parts
The blowers
The loudest individual part of your computer are the fans. Hands down, its the fans. Well, unless you have a 15k scsi drive. Power supplies and case fans are the usual culprits, but video card and CPU fans can be quite a racket as well. If possible, get silent parts, heatsink it all (passive cooling). While this is possible for low wattage power supplies and video cards, CPUs are almost unheard of, and well, i've never seen a passive fan =p.
Fans are divided into several categories: fluid bearing, single ball bearing, and double ballbearing. You want fans with double ball bearings. They last the longest and are the quietest. Panflo and Adda have advanced fluid bearing designs on the fans, which are actually quieter than ball bearing fans. (credit: operandi)
Generally speaking, fans with larger diameters are quieter, because they can spin slower to move the same amount of air as a fast small fan. The result is less noise in a large fan. 40mm fans are outrageously loud, avoid at all costs, 80mm are tolerable, but 120mm are the real kings there. I suppose you could get a 200mm fan, but they're not standard computer equipment.
The cpu fan is one of those inevitable parts which will make a racket. Scythe Ninjas are very quiet HSF, and provide pretty good thermal performance as well. You should seriously consider getting one of these, of course they're pretty expensive. But silence comes at a price. Zalman all-copper cpu coolers are pretty good too, but take a back seat to the Ninja. Larger fan means lower rotational speed and less noise, providing it fits into your system =p. (Have you seen some of the zalmans?!) Thermalright XP/SI-90, XP/SI-120 and Ultra90/120 are supposed to be very good aswell when paired with the right fans. (thx operandi) Always try for the 120mm fans, as they need to spin slower than their 90mm counterparts.
I'm not too familiar with modding active chipset cooling into passive. However, i know generally if possible, go with passive cooling. burnt chipset fans are a pain to replace. There are probably mod kits out there for changing to passive cooling.
Video card fans can be very annoying. Many stock ATI and Nvidia fans are hell. Get an aftermarket solution to cool them, that's probably the best way. Zalman has a few, but i'm not too familiar with these. Make sure its designed to fit your specific card, there is NO standardized mounting hole on a video card. Arctic cooling is also very popular around this area with their NV and Ati silencers. (thx 992gt2) I don't know how quiet they are though.
Case fans are very annoying if they're loud and whiney. Panaflo are generally regarded as the quiestest fans. Yate Loon are also quite quiet, but only if you find a good one. Their QC is horrible aparently. Try softmounting the fans to reduce vibrational noise if possible.
PSUs are an eternal source of headache for people. I will say this only once. I work at a computer store, i see people try to save a few bucks on a PSU and pay for it with a burnt MB and ram. DON'T CHEAP OUT ON A PSU. Don't cheap out on a case either, but that's slightly less important. Antec and Enermax PSUs are regarded as quality performance, with the most accurate voltage regulation. Seasonic however, is regarded as the quiestest. Check out their S12 line of PSUs. They're supposed to be very quiet. The voltage is also supposed to be very well moderated, not as well as antec or enermax though. Toms hardware has a few very good guides on this.
The spinners
I'm going to dedicate a third installment of this guide to HDDs and Optical drives specifically.
HDD and optical drives are horrificly loud if not properly dealt with. Samsung's Spinpoint P120 series is supposedly the quietest out there. There's a whole crap load of stuff about individual drives not being quiet, and some being very quiet. Keep your fingers crossed if you buy one. Or get one from a store where you can exchange it =p. AAM was already talked about previously. Vibrational noise was too, i'll cover more of it later.
Optical drives are generally loud, there really is no solution to this without taking a HUGE hit to performance. Slow it down. That's right, slow the thing's RPM down. This seems like a very heavy statement, and it is. But there is no other solution other than enclosing it in a sound proof case. I'm currently trying that, need $$$ first =p.
Fan controls
Operandi has pointed out fan controls are very useful, and they are. I myself have a fanmate2 that came with my zalman. I don't usually fiddle with the controls though, it really doesn't make a difference with my system, cause the cpu HSF is the quietest part anyways =p
------
Anyyyways... that's pretty much everything you need to know about sound reduction. Its expensive, so either save it for your next upgrade, or wait till something burns out.
check out SPCR for much more detailed information and reviews about this topic. Theres another site that independently benchmarked all the HDDs out there(acousticly). Storage Review I think it needs registration.
This is probably going to be everything that i'll be writing for 2 weeks. I have to pack for my trip soon. If you guys crave pictures because the sight of words hurt, give a shout and i'll add them. And if someone could point me to an affordable but good sound meter, please tell me. Its crucial for the acoustic absorption section.
-----------------
Acoustic management is mainly comprised of two things: Reducing noise sources and absorbing excess noise. The goal is just to make a PC quieter.
Reader beware. Acoustic management has a slippery slope. Once you quiet down a part, you notice how much noise the others make, and once you silence those, you notice a new one, and it keeps going until you come to the part you silenced in the beginning.
Acoustic management also generally means less performance, especially overclockability, and thermal management. (with exception of water cooling) So the goal of this guide is to make your computer near silent, absolute performance comes second.
Note: In order to notice the effects of acoustic absorption, you have to reduce the amount of noise coming from your components first, hence this primer. If you don't, you'll have wasted alot of money for not much noise dampening.
I've planned out 3 installments, kinda like an easy payment plan XD.
1. Primer
2. Acoustic absorption
3. Hard drive/Optical drive management.
Reducing Noise sources
Noise and Noise
What? Noise and noise? That's right, a computer usually has 2 types of noise, both of which need to be silenced if you want a nice PC. There is Vibrational Noise and well just Regular noise. Each type of noise has a different type of solution. Vibrational noise is huge with hard drives and PSUs and optical drives. Regular noise is really more of a concern with hard drive seeks (the *click) and the rotational noise of an optical drive. Air noise made by the CPU fans and the case fans are actually noticeable once you remove all vibrational noise.
Vibrational noise
All objects which rotate tend to have a slight wobble, especially at high RPMs and if they are heavy i.e. Hard disk Platter. The noise created by this wobble is actually not from the object itself, but from the case. This is normally a very loud noise, typically a rapid *clang. Many cheap cases directly mount the HDD to the case, and make it very easy to transmit vibrations throughout the case. Put your hand up to your case and feel it. There is a very slight vibration right? that's from the hard drive and fans. If your case is poorly constructed, reverberations can be very loud, even hazardous to your components. One way around this is to mount your HDDs in rubber grommets, which absorb all the vibration. This is a very effective way, but suspending your HDD is even more effective. Of course most people, including me, worry about data damage. Many people will not take the risk, and many people will. Neither of them have ever been proven right or wrong.
Optical drives also create a large amount of vibrational noise, well actually just a large amount of noise in general. However, there is little or no way to deal with it. Anyone with a loud optical drive is really out of options. I've considered building a custom external case for the optical drive, but i'll get back to you guys on that.
More on these parts in the actual part of the guide about vibrational noise =p (and you thought THAT was long hahaha)
Regular Noise
On top of vibrational noise, regular noise also exists, albeit its a softer and harder to notice. Its also more tolerable. Regular noise is generally a culprit of the CPU or fans on the system. The hard drive's seek (*clickity clickity) is also one very annoying one. If you don't know what i'm talking about, you either A. have really bad hearing, B. have horrible vibrational noise that's covering it up. C. Already have really quiet components, but then again if you did, you wouldn't be reading this right? =p
There is no solution to a loud part, except for replacement. Don't even try to build your own CPU fan =p. Save yourself the huge time factor and the possibility of ruining your cpu, and just buy the cooler.
Seek noise on the other hand, can be reduced through automatic acoustic management.
HDDs come in two varaieties, ball bearing, and fluid dynamic bearing motors. Ball bearings are a racket, if you have one, sell it or throw it out the window. Avoid these like the plague. FDB motors are quite pleasant, and make very little rotational noise. However in both type of HDDs seek noise, the noise made by the arms moving, are very loud unless automatic acoustic management is enabled. AAM is done through software, using specialized tools with their own boot. One such is from Hitachi/IBM, Feature Tool Download the Feature tool, not the others. Of course this increases seek latency and WILL slow down your PC noticeably. Find a range where you dont' mind the noise, and don't think your pc is that much slower.
Silencing Individual Parts
The blowers
The loudest individual part of your computer are the fans. Hands down, its the fans. Well, unless you have a 15k scsi drive. Power supplies and case fans are the usual culprits, but video card and CPU fans can be quite a racket as well. If possible, get silent parts, heatsink it all (passive cooling). While this is possible for low wattage power supplies and video cards, CPUs are almost unheard of, and well, i've never seen a passive fan =p.
Fans are divided into several categories: fluid bearing, single ball bearing, and double ballbearing. You want fans with double ball bearings. They last the longest and are the quietest. Panflo and Adda have advanced fluid bearing designs on the fans, which are actually quieter than ball bearing fans. (credit: operandi)
Generally speaking, fans with larger diameters are quieter, because they can spin slower to move the same amount of air as a fast small fan. The result is less noise in a large fan. 40mm fans are outrageously loud, avoid at all costs, 80mm are tolerable, but 120mm are the real kings there. I suppose you could get a 200mm fan, but they're not standard computer equipment.
The cpu fan is one of those inevitable parts which will make a racket. Scythe Ninjas are very quiet HSF, and provide pretty good thermal performance as well. You should seriously consider getting one of these, of course they're pretty expensive. But silence comes at a price. Zalman all-copper cpu coolers are pretty good too, but take a back seat to the Ninja. Larger fan means lower rotational speed and less noise, providing it fits into your system =p. (Have you seen some of the zalmans?!) Thermalright XP/SI-90, XP/SI-120 and Ultra90/120 are supposed to be very good aswell when paired with the right fans. (thx operandi) Always try for the 120mm fans, as they need to spin slower than their 90mm counterparts.
I'm not too familiar with modding active chipset cooling into passive. However, i know generally if possible, go with passive cooling. burnt chipset fans are a pain to replace. There are probably mod kits out there for changing to passive cooling.
Video card fans can be very annoying. Many stock ATI and Nvidia fans are hell. Get an aftermarket solution to cool them, that's probably the best way. Zalman has a few, but i'm not too familiar with these. Make sure its designed to fit your specific card, there is NO standardized mounting hole on a video card. Arctic cooling is also very popular around this area with their NV and Ati silencers. (thx 992gt2) I don't know how quiet they are though.
Case fans are very annoying if they're loud and whiney. Panaflo are generally regarded as the quiestest fans. Yate Loon are also quite quiet, but only if you find a good one. Their QC is horrible aparently. Try softmounting the fans to reduce vibrational noise if possible.
PSUs are an eternal source of headache for people. I will say this only once. I work at a computer store, i see people try to save a few bucks on a PSU and pay for it with a burnt MB and ram. DON'T CHEAP OUT ON A PSU. Don't cheap out on a case either, but that's slightly less important. Antec and Enermax PSUs are regarded as quality performance, with the most accurate voltage regulation. Seasonic however, is regarded as the quiestest. Check out their S12 line of PSUs. They're supposed to be very quiet. The voltage is also supposed to be very well moderated, not as well as antec or enermax though. Toms hardware has a few very good guides on this.
The spinners
I'm going to dedicate a third installment of this guide to HDDs and Optical drives specifically.
HDD and optical drives are horrificly loud if not properly dealt with. Samsung's Spinpoint P120 series is supposedly the quietest out there. There's a whole crap load of stuff about individual drives not being quiet, and some being very quiet. Keep your fingers crossed if you buy one. Or get one from a store where you can exchange it =p. AAM was already talked about previously. Vibrational noise was too, i'll cover more of it later.
Optical drives are generally loud, there really is no solution to this without taking a HUGE hit to performance. Slow it down. That's right, slow the thing's RPM down. This seems like a very heavy statement, and it is. But there is no other solution other than enclosing it in a sound proof case. I'm currently trying that, need $$$ first =p.
Fan controls
Operandi has pointed out fan controls are very useful, and they are. I myself have a fanmate2 that came with my zalman. I don't usually fiddle with the controls though, it really doesn't make a difference with my system, cause the cpu HSF is the quietest part anyways =p
------
Anyyyways... that's pretty much everything you need to know about sound reduction. Its expensive, so either save it for your next upgrade, or wait till something burns out.
check out SPCR for much more detailed information and reviews about this topic. Theres another site that independently benchmarked all the HDDs out there(acousticly). Storage Review I think it needs registration.
This is probably going to be everything that i'll be writing for 2 weeks. I have to pack for my trip soon. If you guys crave pictures because the sight of words hurt, give a shout and i'll add them. And if someone could point me to an affordable but good sound meter, please tell me. Its crucial for the acoustic absorption section.
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