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How to get PC to run silently?

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Davez621

Member
I just recently got a new system with a Core 2 duo E6750 and although it's much quieter than my old P4 Prescott 3.6 Ghz, the system still makes a little bit of noise. I've seen other people's PCs running, as well as PCs in stores, and they are incredibly silent. How come mine seems to be so much noisier? The most frustrating thing is that I went out and bought especially a new 'silent' PSU - a Coolermaster "Extreme Power Duo" 600W, but it's no less quiet than the standard PSU the case came with.

More details:

Stock Intel HSF.
Generic case.
1 extra 8mm fan in case.
8600GT 512M
 
What case do you have lol ? What videocard, what kind of HSF ? What kind of casefans are you using ? HD's ?
 
Stock Intel HSF.
Generic case.
1 extra 8mm fan in case.
8600GT 512M
WD Caviar 400GB.

According to my motherboard, the idle temps are: 30C system, 36C CPU. Those are reasonable aren't they?
 
Yeah, you could always replace the stock HSF with a arctic freezer 7 pro. 80mm fans aren't as quiet as 120mm fans, so if possible replace that fan with a quieter one. Or replace the complete case with something more quiet, like a p182, which also comes with better suspension methods for your HD. http://www.silentpcreview.com/ is worth reading up on, for example the PSU, which could be replaced by a corsair 450vx.
 
As Marc mentioned, an 80mm fan can get a little loud... especially if it's not a "silent" model. If you're case will accept larger fans, move to either 92mm or 120mm.

I'm not familiar with the cooler on the 8600GT, but I know that the stock cooler on my 7900GS makes quite a bit of of noise. I'm just going to take the fan out of the picture by installing a passive GPU cooler - the Accelero S1 is sitting on my desk waiting to be installed.

My suggestion is to poke around your case and locate the specific components that are making too much noise for your liking. Then, you can target $$$ at replacing specific components with quieter versions.
 
The simplest solution is to try and isolate the one or two noisiest components and replace or damp those, as jdkick mentioned. See whether the noise is coming from case fans, CPU cooler, or PSU. In your case, it may be all of them.

To give you a complete answer though, it would help to know how much you're willing to spend. Generic cases aren't often made with quiet operation in mind, and you might be surprised at the difference just from switching to a case engineered with low noise in mind.

If you do go that route, the P182 is a good choice, as is its smaller cousin the Solo. Whichever case you buy, if you replace your old one, try to get one that uses 90-120mm fans as they run quieter than the smaller 60mm and 80mm fans. Yate Loon, Nexus, and Scythe all make quiet fans that still push a fair amount of air.

You could also try lining your case with sound damping material or using rubber/silicone mounts for your fans, power supply and hard drive.

Hope some of that helps.
 
Originally posted by: Davez621
The most frustrating thing is that I went out and bought especially a new 'silent' PSU - a Coolermaster "Extreme Power Duo" 600W, but it's no less quiet than the standard PSU the case came with.
Click to expand...

This PSU? It is pretty noisy. Whoever told you it was silent never owned one. 😛 Those are based on older and less efficient designs.

Ask yourself this... how much money are you willing to spend, and how "quiet" do you want it?

Originally posted by: jdkick
My suggestion is to poke around your case and locate the specific components that are making too much noise for your liking. Then, you can target $$$ at replacing specific components with quieter versions.
Click to expand...

Best suggestion. Typically anything that MOVES can make noise. This means any fans and any drives. Usually fans are the noisiest. Locate ALL of them in your system - power supply, motherboard chipset, video card, case front/back/side, CPU. Stop them (carefully, or unplug them if possible) one at a time to see which one generates the most amount of noticeable noise. For video card, chipset or CPU fans, those are easy to replace. For PSU fan you'll want to replace the PSU. For case fans, if your case only takes 80mm fans then time for a new case.

It's safe to say that the PSU is noisy, as I used a 500W version of it and it was very noisy. So, you'll have to replace it. If you don't have much of a budget and can find a deal on it, get an Antec EarthWatts. If you have a bit more money to spend, get a 450-550W Corsair.

Wtih your video card, if you weren't going to upgrade it anytime soon you can get an Arctic Cooling Accelero S2. It runs under $20 and your card will not make any sound whatsoever.

CPU, get any of the tower type with heatpipes. Generally speaking those mostly use 92mm or larger fans and outperform stock Intel HSF while being quieter. Best bet for super quiet is if you have a case that uses 120mm fans you can use a Scythe Ninja heatsink on your CPU and run it fanless.

Antec makes some of the more quiet cases, such as the Solo, P150, Sonata Designer, P180, P182. Even the cheap cases like the NSK4480 isn't too bad for quietness, plus comes with an EarthWatts 380W that is sufficient for your system.
 
Here's the deal about "quiet" computers you hear in stores, particularly big stores like BestBuy. They aren't really quiet at all.....their actual sounds are being covered up by the ambient sound level in that store. Take that "quiet" computer home, then see how noisy it is.

Quieting down a noisy computer to a level below the ambient noise of a quiet home.....difficult. And it's more than installing quieter fans. It starts out with a selection of quiet internal parts, a solid quiet case with internal dampening, an airflow path that doesn't allow noise to escape that's pointed directly at your ears, quieter drives than the norm (maybe laptop drives), a video card that can operate without a noisy/small fan, on and on.

Probably SPCR is a better place to learn about quiet computers..... 🙂
 
Originally posted by: Bluefront
Here's the deal about "quiet" computers you hear in stores, particularly big stores like BestBuy. They aren't really quiet at all.....their actual sounds are being covered up by the ambient sound level in that store. Take that "quiet" computer home, then see how noisy it is.

Quieting down a noisy computer to a level below the ambient noise of a quiet home.....difficult. And it's more than installing quieter fans. It starts out with a selection of quiet internal parts, a solid quiet case with internal dampening, an airflow path that doesn't allow noise to escape that's pointed directly at your ears, quieter drives than the norm (maybe laptop drives), a video card that can operate without a noisy/small fan, on and on.

Probably SPCR is a better place to learn about quiet computers..... 🙂
Click to expand...

or you can spend rediculous ammounts of money on one of those completely passive zalman cases. they can cool a quadcore and an 8800 Ultra, right? 😉
 
Like they said, you're going to want 120mm fans and as few of them as possible as a general rule of thumb. New coolers that are designed to run under low-airflow or passively would be good too, like the Scythe Ninja for the CPU and Arctic Cooling Accelero S1/S2 for the video card. There are some quiet 80mm fans, but not many - I know Noctua makes the NF-R8, and Scythe probably has some too but I can't be sure.
 
DerwenArtos12....... I've been visiting SPCR since the site first opened up. I can't remember a single person admitting to buying one of those Zalman cases. My sister likes quiet computers, and the cost was no concern, but she couldn't take the look of the things.

I wonder if anyone around here ever got one? They look like a neat potential silent project. 😀
 
Originally posted by: Bluefront
DerwenArtos12....... I've been visiting SPCR since the site first opened up. I can't remember a single person admitting to buying one of those Zalman cases. My sister likes quiet computers, and the cost was no concern, but she couldn't take the look of the things.

I wonder if anyone around here ever got one? They look like a neat potential silent project. 😀
Click to expand...

I honestly have never run across anyone, anywhere that will admit to buying one. I won't say it doesn't have the potential to work however that potential is going to depend entirely on platform flexibility and on number of and quality of heatpipes used. Still though, there is going to have to be airflow in the room, it's not like you could put the thing in a stagnant closet and expect it to cool very well.
 
Originally posted by: DerwenArtos12
Originally posted by: Bluefront
DerwenArtos12....... I've been visiting SPCR since the site first opened up. I can't remember a single person admitting to buying one of those Zalman cases. My sister likes quiet computers, and the cost was no concern, but she couldn't take the look of the things.

I wonder if anyone around here ever got one? They look like a neat potential silent project. 😀
Click to expand...

I honestly have never run across anyone, anywhere that will admit to buying one. I won't say it doesn't have the potential to work however that potential is going to depend entirely on platform flexibility and on number of and quality of heatpipes used. Still though, there is going to have to be airflow in the room, it's not like you could put the thing in a stagnant closet and expect it to cool very well.
Click to expand...

box fan anyone?
 
Originally posted by: trOver
Originally posted by: DerwenArtos12
Originally posted by: Bluefront
DerwenArtos12....... I've been visiting SPCR since the site first opened up. I can't remember a single person admitting to buying one of those Zalman cases. My sister likes quiet computers, and the cost was no concern, but she couldn't take the look of the things.

I wonder if anyone around here ever got one? They look like a neat potential silent project. 😀
Click to expand...

I honestly have never run across anyone, anywhere that will admit to buying one. I won't say it doesn't have the potential to work however that potential is going to depend entirely on platform flexibility and on number of and quality of heatpipes used. Still though, there is going to have to be airflow in the room, it's not like you could put the thing in a stagnant closet and expect it to cool very well.
Click to expand...

box fan anyone?
Click to expand...

kinda defeats the purpose, don't you think? If you're going to have a big box fan sitting there to keep this thing cooled down, why not spend less money on a good case with some low-rpm 120mm fans?
 
Originally posted by: Bluefront
Here's the deal about "quiet" computers you hear in stores, particularly big stores like BestBuy. They aren't really quiet at all.....their actual sounds are being covered up by the ambient sound level in that store. Take that "quiet" computer home, then see how noisy it is.

Quieting down a noisy computer to a level below the ambient noise of a quiet home.....difficult. And it's more than installing quieter fans. It starts out with a selection of quiet internal parts, a solid quiet case with internal dampening, an airflow path that doesn't allow noise to escape that's pointed directly at your ears, quieter drives than the norm (maybe laptop drives), a video card that can operate without a noisy/small fan, on and on.

Probably SPCR is a better place to learn about quiet computers..... 🙂
Click to expand...

Also, some of them just have all the pretty lights and stuff hooked up and the PSU just shorted so they all turn on... no hard drive or HSF hooked up and running. *COUGH*MICROCENTER*COUGH*
 
Best thing to do is start reading over at SPCR (www.silentpcreview.com). 3-4 things that will make the absolute most difference:

1) Silent case fans (there is a list on SPCR which has the best quiet fans, http://www.silentpcreview.com/article63-page2.html, rated by pushing the most air while being under 19db from their SPL meter with all fans tested the same way)

2) Suspend your hard drives (http://www.silentpcreview.com/article8-page2.html) This is the cheapest thing you can do that will make a significant difference. It will cost $10-15 on parts and maybe 20 minutes of time.

3) Silence the CPU heatsink (again read the list of recommended at SPCR, http://www.silentpcreview.com/article30-page1.html)

4) Change out your power supply (again, read the recommended list at SPCR, http://www.silentpcreview.com/article699-page1.html)

If the above don't help a lot, the next steps are to check the graphics card fan and motherboard chipset fan (if one exists), and replace them with passive cooling or larger slower/quieter fans. The final step in silencing is to do case dampening. This is usually the most expensive for the least amount of return, which is why it is the last thing you do to meet your goals.
 
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