How can I make this system silent?

[50]

Ok, I know there are about 20 threads out there just like this...but this is for the Poor guys who don't have 100+ dollars to spend on silenting their system. I saw what KenAF did and man that is sweet, but my problem is...you got it, I'm poor. So...What can i do with 50-75 bucks? It seems my main sound problem is from my HD and HSF.
Here are my specs:
2.4B INtel
Radeon 9700 pro
WD 80 gb SE
Intel Retail Heatsink/Fan

I think I will get some grommets and isolaters. I also think I will get a Rheobus and 5 fans. What do you guys think of the silentdrive? Is it a piece of crap? What about the Smartdrive2002? That one costs a lot more than the silent drive.

 

[EeyoreX]

I really have no advice for you other than to try the rheobus solution. I did that and my PCs didn't get silent, but they are whisper quiet. The other option is to check Silent PC Review out, this is the place to go if you are looking for PC silence. (However, I have read little and what I did read all was too costly for me, as I don't spend lots of cash to silence my PCs. Only ~$40.00 between my two PCs (bought 2 Sunbeam rheobuses from SVC.com.)

\Dan

 

[TXMatt]

75 bucks is a lot of money - you can make amazing improvements with that kind of dough.

I have a rheobus and don't use it. The key is to buy hiqh quality fans with specs as loud as you can stand them from the start, and save the $20-$30 the rheobus would cost you. Manufacturers design the fans to run as efficiently as possible at stock speed - you will likely find as I did the highest and lowest settings on the rheobus are the only ones you use; a ghetto 5V molex mod is just as effective.

Second piece of advice is re-examine your case. I cannot reccommend highly enough looking into a cae that utilizes 120mm fans. There are several on the market that can be had for your price range. 120mm fans move as much air spinning at 1500 rpm as 80mm fan do at 4000. Not only that, but the air is moving through a larger opening, so you get less turbulence noise. Look into Antec's SLK3700AMG, Coolcases' D8000, or Compucases' LX-6A19. The last one listed there can be found for $39 sans PSU. All 3 of these cases mount the HDs on rubber grommets, and place them directly in the path of the 120mm intake fan. This works better than closed off disk silencer imo, and you don't have 2 or 3 more noisy 40mm fans cooling the hard drive. You will find once your case is cooler, your CPU HSF can be replaced with an ultra quiet model, as cooler air will be being pushed over the HSF.

If you really really don't want to buy a new case, look into cutting bigger holes in your existing case for 120mm case fans - one intake and one blower.

Hope this advice helps
Matt

 

[NYHoustonman]

I'm probably going to go with a fan controller, as I have all the fans on low right now but at times the house is hotter than others, and an out-of-box adjuster would be nice.

 

[EeyoreX]

you will likely find as I did the highest and lowest settings on the rheobus are the only ones you use

I actually use the lowest and the middle setting most often. Lowest being off (my temps never get about about 48C on the 2800+ Barton rig, 52C on the 1700+ Pally) Medium is about 7 volts on the Sunbeam (IIRC the dual light LED switches at 7 volts, I keep mine just before the light switches). Very rarely do I pump the fans up to full speed. I also use LED fans, and I didn't find any good quiet ones at the time, and I also didn't want them on 24/7, so the rheobus was the way for me to go. Of course, your results may vary.

\Dan

 

[lobadobadingdong]

the p4B's run pretty cool, if you're not oc'ing you're ok with less cooling than you might think, a good power supply, and 1 80mm case fan (+hsf of course) should be more than enough cooling for an ambient temp of 110 degrees Farenhiet. I work on a lot of systems in manufacturing and you'd be surprised how tough a non-oc'd system is when it comes to heat.

 

[Cogman]

if your going to a lan party, get some headphones (HIGH Quality) A vantec Tornato, and a rheobus. Once you get there, put on your headphones and give the Tornato the power , Garanteed to distract everyone else from playing while you have to edge of earphones that block out that noise