make pc quieter

[chuckywang]

are there any materials you can put onto the case to make your pc more quiet?

 

[JammingJay]

Dynamat helps a bit. Very expensive however, and the db is only quieted a bit from dampening the vibration

 

[Corporate Thug]

look here

 

[0roo0roo]

best to get at source of noise though... panaflos? fan speed controllers? trying to muffle noise is hard with pc's.

 

[vegetation]

Yep, go for the fans first. Eliminate or replace with quieter, larger fans. Anything less than 60mm fans will be too loud. Drop voltage on your fans to spin them down a bit, much improvements are made this way. Also your hard drive could be a big culprit especially if it's older as they tend to get louder due to age. Replace. A cheap ghetto solution is to place the system in a different room from where you sit, even something like a closet would decrease the noise tremendously to your ears.

 

[0roo0roo]

and go to storagereview.com etc to look at quieter harddrives

 

[InlineFive]

SilentPCReview is your friend.

-Por

 

[GRIFFIN1]

Originally posted by: 0roo0roo
and go to storagereview.com etc to look at quieter harddrives

All you need to know is Seagate and the new Hitachi drives. Throw away any western digital or maxtor hard drives you might own.

 

[WobbleWobble]

Originally posted by: GRIFFIN1

Originally posted by: 0roo0roo
and go to storagereview.com etc to look at quieter harddrives

All you need to know is Seagate and the new Hitachi drives. Throw away any western digital or maxtor hard drives you might own.

Since newer Maxtors are also fluid bearing, they are also quite quiet. Not as quiet as Seagates, but by no means are they loud. If you have one of the older ball bearing models, then yes, those are loud.

 

[Metron]

Originally posted by: 0roo0roo
best to get at source of noise though... panaflos? fan speed controllers? trying to muffle noise is hard with pc's.

I second OrooOroo's position.... you're better off attacking the sources of noise, rather than trying to muffle them.

Check out EndPCNoise.

What are the db ratings of all your current equipement?

Biggest sources of noise:
a) Power Supply Can you beat 19.2 db?
b) Heat Sink Fan Can you beat 20 db?
c) Case Fans Can you beat 12 db?
d) Hard Drives Can you beat 25 db idle / 31 db seek?

Metron

 

[Dufman]

if you dont have the money for new quiter parts, there is a really cheap thing you can do to get hte noise down

go to your local walmart, and buy and egg crate (thoes comfy things you put on a bad bed) you can get one for ~5 bucks. cut it to size, and put it into your case.

it is simple, and easy, and VERY effictive

 

[MercenaryForHire]

Originally posted by: Metron

Originally posted by: 0roo0roo
best to get at source of noise though... panaflos? fan speed controllers? trying to muffle noise is hard with pc's.

I second OrooOroo's position.... you're better off attacking the sources of noise, rather than trying to muffle them.

Check out EndPCNoise.

What are the db ratings of all your current equipement?

Biggest sources of noise:
a) Power Supply Can you beat 19.2 db?
b) Heat Sink Fan Can you beat 20 db?
c) Case Fans Can you beat 12 db?
d) Hard Drives Can you beat 25 db idle / 31 db seek?

Metron

a) Rubbermounted 1500rpm 92mm = inaudible
b) Have no heatsink fan
c) Have no case fans
d) 20db idle, 22db seek

Now turn off that racket.

- M4H

 

[Thegonagle]

Originally posted by: Metron

Originally posted by: 0roo0roo
best to get at source of noise though... panaflos? fan speed controllers? trying to muffle noise is hard with pc's.

I second OrooOroo's position.... you're better off attacking the sources of noise, rather than trying to muffle them.

Check out EndPCNoise.

What are the db ratings of all your current equipement?

Biggest sources of noise:
a) Power Supply Can you beat 19.2 db?
b) Heat Sink Fan Can you beat 20 db?
c) Case Fans Can you beat 12 db?
d) Hard Drives Can you beat 25 db idle / 31 db seek?

Metron

I like those suggestions, but those Pabst fans are high-end imports and are not cheap. Panaflow low-speed fans are a good compromise, especially if you run them at less than 12 volts. The 80mm "L1A" is a good fan that's usually about $5-7 each.

Most Panaflow low-speed fans (like the "L1A") don't support RPM monitoring, even if you connect the third pin, so if you want RPM monitoring an any of your fans (for instance, if you endeavor to replace your PSU fan and the PSU has a tach output you'd like to use) you might be happy with a Vantec "Stealth" fan.

I don't have any experience with the Vantec Stealth, but I will soon--I just ordered two from directron.com, along with one 92 mm Pabst ($23, yikes! :Q ), 4 more Panaflow L1As, and some kind of copper Global Win CPU cooler that accepts any stock size 80 mm fan I care to use. The Pabst (with RPM monitoring) and one of the Panaflows (or one of the Stealths--haven't decided) are going inside my Antec True-Power PSU, one of the Stealths is going on the CPU cooler, and the rest of the Panaflows--well, I'll figure something out eventually--they're great to have around for whatever comes up.

I can tell you for sure that current Seagate drives are quiet (I have two 120G drives from the 7200.7 series in my system), and I'm amazed how loud my previously quiet Maxtors have become after about a year of use, so I certainly recommend Seagate for your next drive. They're competitive in price and performance.

I don't know much about CPU coolers, but I hope what I've picked out will work well enough with a quiet fan for my P4 2.4C (not OC'd more than 10%--I think my RAM is the limiting factor, but I don't care to OC to the max anyway).

For power supplies, many Antecs (and probably many others) have a "fans only" output for your case fans that outputs low voltage when things are cool and power draw is low, but automatically, gradually increases the voltage as things heat up or power draw increases. You should check those out. I highly recommend this PSU feature to anyone building a new system from scratch.