I need tips for building a quiet Mid tower.

[aznsurfer]

Hi huys,

I built an AMD 1800 about a year ago. Now I realize that it's pretty loud compared to my Macintosh. What parts usually are the nosiest and how can I tone down the fan/blowing noises?

I have a 320 watt PS a (stock) CPU fan and one generic case fan. Can each of these items be quieter or will I just waste money to replace.

any tips on making my machine whisper quiet without compromise cooling?

thanks

D-

 

[OulOat]

Best tip would be to read and search through this forum, there is already and abundance of posts about noise already.

 

[Texun]

Low RPM 80mm fans are a popular way of reducing noise. Tons of info in here on that but it would help if you could list more info on your system, such as how many fans, size and RPM.

 

[Cerb]

More info. In general, get a CPU fan that will use an 80mm fan and get a quiet one. Get a quiet PSU and quiet exhaust fan. After that, realize that Apple doesn't make anything near as good and it still costs too much

 

[Blain]

Tip 1 - Large high CFM fans running at reduced voltage.
Tip 2 - High quality heatsinks with quiet fans.
Tip 3 - Patience, thought and research.
Tip 4 - Zalman

 

[RaymondY]

I personally have been looking at the Antec SLK-3700 (has mounts for 2-120mm fans)

 

[chizow]

1) Get a PSU with quieter fans. The new Enermax and Antec True PSUs have variable speed fans that are much quieter than stock PSU fans.

2) Make blowholes or buy a case with more fan mounts and use more fans with lower RPMs. 80mm fans are most common, but a few 120mm or 92mm fans work well if you do your own mods (120mm on the side, 92mm on the top and/or front).

3) Variable speed fans whenever possible. You can adjust them manually or rig them up to a rheobus/baybus.

4) A larger lower rpm fan on your heatsink (80mm is a must).

Chiz

 

[mechBgon]

If I were building a quiet PC with off-the-shelf parts I would probably go with

• Antec 1080AMG case with TruePower 430W PSU
• dual 80mm NMB 18dB exhaust fans powered from the TruePower's thermally-regulated "Fan-only" connectors
• 80mm NMB 18dB fan on Alpha 8045 heatsink
• Ooops, forgot the CPU... something that doesn't generate a ton of heat, such as a Thoroughbred 1700+
• Asus A7N8X-Deluxe or EPoX 8RDA+ (passive northbridge cooling)
• Seagate Barracuda ATA V hard drive(s), far and away the quietest according to StorageReview.com
• Whatever optical drives you want, they only make noise until they spin down
• Corsair XMS or other good RAM such as Mushkin, Crucial or maybe Kingston
• Some kind of passively-cooled video card
• Cut out the rear grillework over the rear exhaust fans and either leave it bare or use chromed-wire grilles for low restriction/turbulence/noise
• Stick some kind of soft material to the front of the HDD cage to damp vibration between it and the front wall of the case

You could also line the interior with Dynamat or thick, dense carpet if you really want to. The case has good intake vents that will allow the rear fans to pull air through the case without too much work. This setup would probably run a bit warm. You can flip the PSU over so it pulls the stagnant air from the top section of the case: how to