How quiet are dells?

[knightc2]

I would wonder whether they can keep using those ducted heatsink systems if and when they move to AMD's processors..

Gateway used to use AMD processors, but they have since switched to using only Intel processors. One of our machines is an Gateway SB 1000 with an Athlon 1000 and it has a regular heatsink and fan on it. No fancy ducting. It is quiet too. Not sure if they will go back to AMD or not.

As for the Dells being quiet, they are very quiet. Sometimes I have trouble telling if they are on. I will agree that the servers are loud, but that shouldn't be an issue. Cooling is the top priority in a server, not noise. In my opinion Dell makes great computers and servers for low prices.

 

[aDub]

My roomate has a Dell 8100 and I think it's louder than my custom pc, but the main difference comes from the hard drive and his whines a lot louder than mine.

 

[trikster2]

>If ya own a dell and a cusotm built comp, which is quieter?

I have a dell L800R and a "cusotm" built 1Ghz Duron (not over clocked).

Read everyting I could on making the Duron quiet. Antec case, Panaflow exhaust fan, Panaflo on the HSF, and the PSU fan are the only fans in the case.

Compared to the dell (which I call maggie, small and quiet) my duron roars.

Now most people would probably not consider my duron that loud, but it's in the family room and the lil dell set the standard.....

The L800R does not use ducting, it jams the PSU (w. the only case fan) up against the small HSF on the CPU.

The dells I have at work do use ducting, it looks really neat and I can't find anything like that for the do-it-yourselfer.

This is nothing like dell's ducting but it's the same idea:

Cool HSF ducting kit from enermax

But it only works with a 50mm hsf.

Wish I could find one for a 80mm HSF......

edit:

Just did a search on google for duct and HSF and came up with a Fong Kai case that has a build in duct

Fong Kai Case with built in Duct

Course the first thing mikhailtech does is rip the thing out as the fan was blowing the wrong way?

 

[Bluefront]

I just opened up a Dell Dimension, P4 1.8, cdrw, dvd, maxtor 20gig. Its quiet. I have to get behind it and bend down to it, to hear the fans. This is a somewhat different setup than other Dells I've seen. It has the power supply fan which is extremely quiet. It also has another 80mm fan right below the power supply. This is not mounted directly on the back of the case, but rather receeded about 3/4" or so on an internal bracket. This fan blows in through a large plastic shroud which almost completely covers a really big passive heatsink on the CPU. The escaping air blows into the case. No other fans. This is a very quiet setup...don't have any temp readings however.

 

[ChefJoe]

No HSF and a 1 fan PSU with a high quality fan is likely to be just as quiet. If you can setup a duct system, you're set.

My dad has an old dimension XPS from them... very quiet until the PSU started to "gunk up" and needed some compressed air. SCSI HD whine is louder than the other components.

 

[SteelCityFan]

Originally posted by: mechBgon
I second what Pheran said. Dell uses proprietary motherboards and PSUs. If you must have a quiet PC, all you need to do is search Cases & Cooling for "quiet" and you will have the information you need. If some of the methods sound a little expensive, compare them to what Dell will charge you for a 3-year extended warranty. 'Nuf said.

You don't have to buy the warrentee if you don't want to. They have about 5-6 to choose from starting at 1 year mail in service.

 

[GiZzO]

Dell on there top of the line 8200 uses Datech fans also known as RDJD and JMC. 92x32mm Low speed very quiet 11db / 20cfm, there dual ball bearing pretty nice fans, this is the only "case fan" and also is ducted to pull heat away from the large CPU heatink. Amazingly does the job pretty well at stock speed on a 2.5g. The main noise from this case is coming from in order: Power Supply, Hard drive, Graphics card, what helps a little too drown out the sound is the case is made pretty much all plastic, and the case has no openings in the front horrible intake but doesn't allow sound too escape out the front, so sitting infront of it you don't really get that direct effect.

To answer this question: If ya own a dell and a cusotm built comp, which is quieter?
You can always do better then a dell

GiZzO's Fan Database Page

 

[Anubis]

too quiet