Holy smokes! Silence!

[arcas]

I'm planning to upgrade a couple machines this winter but so far I've only gotten round to buying a Sonata case. Yesterday I finally got tired of listening to my existing 24/7 machine so I moved it into the Sonata temporarily. Pretty big difference by itself but after a few hours I decided that the high pitch of the 60mm CPU fan has got to go (the old case's fan drowned it out).

Rummaged through my box of fans and found an 80mm guy rated at 29db. Half-ass screwed it onto the heatsink at an offset and fired it up. Ahhhhhhh. The silence is almost deafening. And the CPU is running 4F cooler than it was in the old case.

I've gone from around 45db to 29db and to top it off, my temperatures have dropped a bit. Kudos to Antec. The Sonata is expensive but silence is worth it.

 

[CraigRT]

silent computing is wonderful.

even my wavemaster with stock fans is plenty quiet. the loudest sounds in my room @ night is the typing on the keyboard by far.

 

[CheesePoofs]

I personally like the low hum of my fans going full blast ...... it drowns out the sound of my brother when im trying to work.

 

[darkswordsman17]

Yeah, I'm working towards getting a quiet computer. I have a Tsunami and am waiting on the replacement fans. I put on a Zalman Cu-7000B and NV Silencer 5 and wow what a difference it makes. I can clearly hear my case fans, so I decided I needed to change them.

I still have some tinkering to get the temps to drop some more, and rework the cabling. Also I need to clean the case some. It'll be a nice project for a boring weekend.

 

[cyberknight]

I swear, silencing a computer is addicting.

 

[Tiamat]

Originally posted by: cyberknight
I swear, silencing a computer is addicting.

Indeed. Because we fail to accept silencing as an asymptotic relationship. As the money and effort approach infinity, the sound level diminishes towards ambient.

 

[akira34]

Originally posted by: cyberknight
I swear, silencing a computer is addicting.

Very much so... I'm working more on getting my system to be silent at over 5 feet away from it (fairly reasonable distance). That way, when I'm watching some tv (in the same room) I don't have to turn up the sound system to offset the sound from the computer.

 

[Spike]

My first attempt at silence was not a complete failure, nor was it a complete success, somewhere in the middle for sure. Unfortunatly I am now hooked to getting my computer as quiet and cool as possible, though this is not as possible with my mobo setup as the loudest part, my HSF, cannot be replaced by a 90 or 120mm HSF due to size restrictions. When I drop all my fans to 7 volts, my comp is darn near silent, but with our current "heat wave" here in Seattle (65 f outside yesterday) and a recent reapplication of AS 5 my idle temps hover around 49c. While this is not really dangerous, I still prefer a cooler setup. Ah well, such is life...

To the OP, good job with the silent computer! I am learning that if you don't build your comp with silence in mind from the ground up then it is much more difficult!

-spike

 

[akira34]

I see a ducting mod in my computer's very near future... Most likely starting tonight or tomorrow...

 

[Spike]

Originally posted by: akira34
I see a ducting mod in my computer's very near future... Most likely starting tonight or tomorrow...

Ducting scares me... I would like to add a simple duct going from my "sucking" HSF to outside, but I have been hesitant. Maybe sometime soon I will overcome my fear and do it...

-spike

 

[akira34]

Originally posted by: Spike

Originally posted by: akira34
I see a ducting mod in my computer's very near future... Most likely starting tonight or tomorrow...

Ducting scares me... I would like to add a simple duct going from my "sucking" HSF to outside, but I have been hesitant. Maybe sometime soon I will overcome my fear and do it...

-spike

Just remember, it's duct season... lol

I have very little fear anymore. Once you've worked on systems long enough, you become comfortable with your knowledge level and know how far you can take things. I'd even go into liquid cooling, if it wasn't for the cost, and not being 100% certain that it will be quieter.