Loudest part of system?

[Achtung]

Hi all,

I'm wondering, if I've got a fairly tight budget, and a loud computer I'd like to quiet down, what is generally the first thing I should replace? I've heard some people say the PS, while others say the CPU heatsink/fan combo is loudest. My GeForce4 Ti4200 video card also has a fan on it, and I'm not sure if that generates a lot of noticeable noise as well. Also the case fans of course, but I don't think they are that big a deal. Its just sort of hard to stick my ear next to the machine and figure out which part is the loudest.

Anyways, just trying to do this one step at a time, and hopefully not spend anymore money than I need to. It'd be nice to have a quiet computer, but it doesn't have to be totally silent.

Specs:
Antec SX630 case with 350W stock power supply
AMD XP 2000+ (soon to be upgraded), stock heatsink + fan
512 MB RAM
WD 1000JB hard drive
Gainward GeForce4 Ti4200

Thanks for the help!

 

[klocwerk]

It totally depends on your system.
for me, the 'only' source of noise is my CPU fan.

Here's what I did:
open case.
turn on computer.
CAREFULLY stop one fan at a time with your finger (use a glove if you've got sharp or really fast fans)
don't stop them for long, just see which one causes the greatest drop in noise.

The power supply's a little hard to check, I did that one with a q-tip.

 

[labrat25]

though I've never done it, stopping the PS fan seems a bit risky, especially considering how much power is going through that box

but that's just me

my vote is for just opening up the case and poking your head around

 

[Gravity]

Well, that's an interesting process. However, it would have saved me some trouble. AFter replacing my fans and PSU, I was still hearing a very highpitched whine so I unplugged drives until I discovered that a WD 40 gig was on the way out. I rma's it and got a refurb.

Drives are the loudest thing in all my boxes now. Not sure how to solve that when I have 5 per box.

 

[WobbleWobble]

Originally posted by: klocwerk
It totally depends on your system.
for me, the 'only' source of noise is my CPU fan.

Here's what I did:
open case.
turn on computer.
CAREFULLY stop one fan at a time with your finger (use a glove if you've got sharp or really fast fans)
don't stop them for long, just see which one causes the greatest drop in noise.

The power supply's a little hard to check, I did that one with a q-tip.

That'll work.

Except I'd rather actually disconnect the fan then try it on. Your PSU won't fry within a couple minutes, let alone a few seconds.

 

[Polishwonder74]

Here's an old mechanic's trick:

Get a little length of hose, like little 3/8" automotive fuel line or vacuum line. Any hose will do. Stick one end in your ear and poke the other end around in your case. Point it at each fan & hard drive and just listen. It'll work just like a stethoscope.

I don't think it's a real good idea to stop those fans like that. I suppose it probably wouldn't kill them, but jamming them up and eliminating the resistance that they make from turning might be a mean thing to do to the windings and such.

Good luck, I've got a little noise problem that I'll be looking to eliminate in my case soon, too.
See this thread

 

[hytek369]

my 13 fans

 

[Achtung]

Originally posted by: hytek369
my 13 fans

Yeah I saw that in the other thread.... thats hardcore man. At least it should be ultra-cool.

So I did the "fan stop" test, actually used a q-tip for all the fans since I figured it'd be safer. The loudest one was definitely the CPU fan, followed by the PS fan. Guess I'll look into getting a Zalman heatsink/fan for my CPU (I believe my Palomino XP chip runs very hot, so I'll need to find something good, and a good thermal grease). And then maybe some sort of quiet PS, but we'll see.

 

[Dman877]

I try all my fans out in open air before I install them in my comp. I have a nice DC power supply (Leader 5 amp model) I check with but you can also short 2 pins on a regular computer power supply to get it going without a motherboard. It's real easy to tell whats making the most noise with the fan right in front of you and nothing else on. My GF4 Ti4200 fan made a lot of noise so I replaced the fan. Gainward makes good stuff though, I doubt your 4200 makes much noise, mine is a PNY piece of junk.

 

[vegetation]

Try unplugging the hard drive first, I often find older hd's to be notoriously loud, and it's not easily evident.

 

[helloguy]

Originally posted by: vegetation
Try unplugging the hard drive first, I often find older hd's to be notoriously loud, and it's not easily evident.

yup,hard disk.

 

[Achtung]

Originally posted by: vegetation
Try unplugging the hard drive first, I often find older hd's to be notoriously loud, and it's not easily evident.

Is mine considered an older drive then? I haven't really been keeping up with drives too much, since my 100 GB drive from a year and a half ago has proven to be more than enough storage for me. I suppose it makes a good deal of noise when its loading something, but how would I quiet it? I guess I could get one of those Seagate drives with the fluid bearings, which are supposed to be very quiet.

 

[Mullzy]

Drives can start to make a lot of noise even just after a couple months of use. I had an 80GB Maxtor that started to make a nice *whine* after only about 3 months. Even though it still worked fine, I was able to RMA it.

Maybe I need to stop buying the cheapest drives I can get my hands on... which are usually Maxtor. *shrug*

 

[edmundoab]

yeah agreed its the fan(s) in the system.

 

[screw3d]

Definitely the fans. Your casing also amplifies the noise from the vibration from the fans.

That tiny video card fan is making a lot more noise than you think!

 

[wetcat007]

That HD you have might make some of the noise, my friends have WD's that are louder than their 6000RPM fans

 

[Nemmeh]

Just do what I did..

Open up your case, lay it on it's side and unplug everything except the main motherboard power connector.

Unplug the CPU Heatsink fan (but don't remove it), Videocard fan, any case fans.. It won't hurt anything if you only leave it on for a few seconds. I then powered it up and listened to my PSU fan. I then powered it down and hooked up the CPU Heatsink fan, listened for a second.. Then unplugged the cpu heatsink fan and hooked up the video card fan and listened for a few seconds.. Just alternate like this and you can see exactly how loud everything is in your system.

For me, my cpu hsf was the loudest, followed by the fan on my ti4600, rear case fan and psu fan.

I now know exactly which order to replace things in if I don't want to spend all the money at first.

 

[Nebor]

The loudest part of my system is definitely my Creative Gigaworks. No contest.