Silence ACHIEVED!!!!

[Kaervak]

I'm finally done with my mods to make my system quiet. It's so nice, barely a whisper, great temps, and hella fast. My thanks go to Panaflo for making such wonderfull L1A fans and rubber grommets that eliminate and vibration related noise. My fan setup is 80mm exhaust, 80mm on my GC68, 80mm PS exhaust and 92mm PS intake (Enermax whispersys) I replaced my 8500's retail HSF with a big socket 7 one. The fan is powered from the card header. Runs nice and quiet and pumps out a substantial amount of air. Temps with my processor(System is in my sig, Goliath) at full load and an ambient case temp of 26c are 41c. Just wanted to share my happiness and let people know that you can have a hella fast system and it can be quiet too.

 

[Gog]

Hi Kaervak, how about sharing some of your happiness there?

Besides my heatsink/fan combo (which I'll be soon replacing), the loudest component in my computer is my Maxtor 740 DX 40gb 7200rpm drive. I had the original one rma'd because it made too much noise and the one they sent me in exchange is still way noisy. How do I go about quieting this bastard down?

I don't want to use those foam hard drive enclosures because they aren't recommended for 7200rpm drives due to heat. I was considering getting some rubber washers and mounting the drive on those, but I'm not sure whether that would reduce much noise. Most of the noise seems to come form the drive just spinning. I regret not getting a Seagate.

I'd appreciate any help you have to offer.

 

[Gog]

Btw, I forgot to mention that I would be replacing my current heatsink with a GC-68. What fan are u using? Did you buy this heatsink at SVCompucylce? I had in mind to buy the YS-Tech adjustible fan...

 

[bearmeat]

hahah you said "hella"

 

[ThisIsMatt]

Originally posted by: bearmeat
hahah you said "hella"

Twice! :Q

 

[tallest1]

Looking at your rig stats, wouldn't your Western Digital 20.5 GB @ 7200 RPMS be making noise


Anyhoo, I have nearly the exact same rig as you

80mm exhaust, 80mm on my GC68, 80mm PS exhaust, 80mm intake, All Panaflos. Radeon 700o Heatsink (no fan)
Rubber Grommets between the exhaust and CPU fan

Motherboard: 29.8C
CPU: 35.4C(normally it runs 32C. Something this week has caused it to jump a bit)
Aux1: 21.7C

I got 2 harddrives in there but I'm saving for a 80GB Seagate now.

 

[Kaervak]

Originally posted by: ThisIsMatt

Originally posted by: bearmeat
hahah you said "hella"

Twice! :Q

HELLAAAAA!! MWAHAHAHAHA.

 

[h2sammo]

How about some good old numbers?
What does "my systems is sooo quite..." mean?
I think in dBs.

im at 45.2

 

[Kaervak]

Originally posted by: Gog
Hi Kaervak, how about sharing some of your happiness there?

Besides my heatsink/fan combo (which I'll be soon replacing), the loudest component in my computer is my Maxtor 740 DX 40gb 7200rpm drive. I had the original one rma'd because it made too much noise and the one they sent me in exchange is still way noisy. How do I go about quieting this bastard down?

I don't want to use those foam hard drive enclosures because they aren't recommended for 7200rpm drives due to heat. I was considering getting some rubber washers and mounting the drive on those, but I'm not sure whether that would reduce much noise. Most of the noise seems to come form the drive just spinning. I regret not getting a Seagate.

I'd appreciate any help you have to offer.

For hard drives the only thing I can think of would be a silent drive type enclosure, but they tend to cook 7200RPM drives. You could try some sound deadining material on the cage around your drive. Other than that, go for te Seagate baracuda IV drives.

 

[Kaervak]

Originally posted by: Gog
Btw, I forgot to mention that I would be replacing my current heatsink with a GC-68. What fan are u using? Did you buy this heatsink at SVCompucylce? I had in mind to buy the YS-Tech adjustible fan...

On my GC68 I've got an 80mm Panaflo L1A. It's running full speed. I've got rubber grommets between the fan and HS just incase. I got both the GC 68 & Panaflo's from SVC. An adjustable fan isn't a bad idea either, I js went with the Panaflo cause it kept things at a great temp and didn't make a mess of noise.

 

[Kaervak]

Originally posted by: tallest1
Looking at your rig stats, wouldn't your Western Digital 20.5 GB @ 7200 RPMS be making noise


I got 2 harddrives in there but I'm saving for a 80GB Seagate now.

Yeah, it does make about 95% of the noise. don't mind when I'm using it, but when it's in stand by, that's when it's silent.

 

[Kaervak]

Originally posted by: h2sammo
How about some good old numbers?
What does "my systems is sooo quite..." mean?
I think in dBs.

im at 45.2

I haven't the slightest idea how much dba my system is. If I can get ahold of a sound meter, I'd love to see what it's at.

 

[bunker]

Congrats...mine's as close to silent as I can get.

The only thing I can hear is the hard drive and even that's not loud (seageate barracuda IV)

All panalfo L1A's on the cpu, exhaust, front intake, PSU (opened it up and replaced stock fan).

 

[TSDible]

Where can I get some of these grommets that everyone is using?

TIA

 

[Kaervak]

Originally posted by: TSDible
Where can I get some of these grommets that everyone is using?

TIA

I got mine from 2cooltek.com If you don't anything else to order from them, just fan grommets aren't worth the order. You probably could get some washers at a hardware store and use those.

 

[Banana]

Originally posted by: tallest1
CPU: 35.4C(normally it runs 32C. Something this week has caused it to jump a bit)

Yeah--it's called heatwave. Oh wait--you live in FLA--permanent heatwave.

BTW: What does this "rubber grommet" look like?

1YP

 

[shyguy74]

Originally posted by: Gog
the loudest component in my computer is my Maxtor 740 DX 40gb 7200rpm drive. I had the original one rma'd because it made too much noise and the one they sent me in exchange is still way noisy. How do I go about quieting this bastard down?

It's funny you should mention Maxtor. I have a Maxtor Diamondmax VL40 (5400RPM) that I wanted to upgrade (for both space and speed reasons), so I bought the 740DX 60GB drive with the fluid ball bearings. I figured even with the increased capacity and faster RPM that it'd be almost as quiet as the Diamondmax, but sadly, that's not the case at all. The Diamondmax was absolutely whisper quiet at all times, yet the 740DX is quite audible when reading/writing/seeking. When it's idle, I don't hear it, so I guess it's not all bad. Perhaps the drive wasn't set to quiet operation, so I'm gonna try out the Acoustic Management software as soon as I get my darn floppy drive working

 

[podingX]

When you guys replace the fans in the PSU, do you power the fans using the wires [of the old fan] from the PSU or do you connect them outside the PSU using the 3pin to 4pin connector or something like that? Also, does swapping out the fans cause the PSU to overheat?

 

[bunker]

Originally posted by: podingX
When you guys replace the fans in the PSU, do you power the fans using the wires [of the old fan] from the PSU or do you connect them outside the PSU using the 3pin to 4pin connector or something like that? Also, does swapping out the fans cause the PSU to overheat?

I cut the wires going to the old fan and spliced in the ones from the new fan.
It does run a little warmer, but not too bad. It's also only a 300watt psu so it doesn't put out as much heat as the larger psu's.

 

[Banana]

Originally posted by: podingX
When you guys replace the fans in the PSU, do you power the fans using the wires [of the old fan] from the PSU or do you connect them outside the PSU using the 3pin to 4pin connector or something like that? Also, does swapping out the fans cause the PSU to overheat?

I connect them outside the PSU--too lazy to solder or splice. Also, like Bunker, I only have a 300W PSU. No noticeable change in temp.

1YP

 

[XFreebie]

unplug your HD when your not using it

 

[Grimner]

Gratulations on the silence - now remember to dust once a month

Speaking as one who has been there (and beyond), you might experience a funny phenomen:

Rid of the constant whine, your hearing will improve... see what I'm getting at?


Water is the next step

 

[roamerr]

I am trying to get my Dell 4400 silent (or very close). I replaced the stock 92mm fan with a Vantec Stealth 9225L. The fan is really quiet but the shroud Dell had to force air onto the heatsink rattled or caused a fan thrumming (made that word up!! -- like a drum but almost silent) -- could not stop since it "squeezed" the fan so I removed it.

The Stealth is quiet but does have a slight airflow noise. Does the 92mm Panaflo have any audible sound. My PSU fan is virtually silent. I unplugged the Vantec and the system barely purrs. I also installed a Cuda IV 80gb and it is silent -- need another now for backup.

I totally agree with Grimner that your hearing improves. I am below 28db(guess) but want less.

Any info on the panaflo is helpful. If it is quieter I do need 3 wire with heat sensing since my Dell gives a "fan not detected" otherwise.

 

[Kaervak]

Originally posted by: Grimner
Gratulations on the silence - now remember to dust once a month

Speaking as one who has been there (and beyond), you might experience a funny phenomen:

Rid of the constant whine, your hearing will improve... see what I'm getting at?


Water is the next step

I may go water, not entirely sure. I'm planning on going to Perdue or RIT fairly soon, so water cooling might get put on the shelf for a while.

 

[Kaervak]

Originally posted by: podingX
When you guys replace the fans in the PSU, do you power the fans using the wires [of the old fan] from the PSU or do you connect them outside the PSU using the 3pin to 4pin connector or something like that? Also, does swapping out the fans cause the PSU to overheat?

I've got them powered by the PS. Haven't run into any problems with them like that yet. It's a 350w Enermax whispersys.