Silent PC countermeasures

[Schadenfroh]

alright i now am the prowd owner of one of the loudest rigs on anandtech. i have 2 Tornado fans each rated 55 DB a piece. this system turns my pc into an o/c behemith. i wear headphones (which are superior in gaming) to compensate. i felt i had to share this out of my disgust for the "silent computing fad" that has occured recenltly. all i need now is a 5800 Ultra Flow FX, my 4200 is too quite. btw would i even be able to hear a flowfx over this rig?

 

[boyRacer]

I didn't care about noise either... until my computer became more and more obsolete. people would ask my why its so loud and it tell because its overclocked... then they ask how fast it is and its slower than the oh so quiet computers they just bought from dell. Let's just say I dont have to notify the control tower everytime i have to turn on my computer now, and its not obselete just yet either. I'm happy.

 

[0roo0roo]

you wear headphones all the time? ack!

i can dial up my fans to make quite a racket, but i can also turn em down

 

[Nebor]

I thought the same thing when I put togehter my 1080 case w/ 5 80mm antec blue led fans... Well, I'm down to 3 fans now... and I'm putting a Zalman 7000 on there to quite that whiny ass stock P4 processor. The noise is unbearable from it.

 

[clicknext]

Unlike you, I prefer to have a quiet working/gaming/lovemaking environment.

 

[oldfart]

I like quiet too. Fast /overclocked does not have to mean noisy. I run a P4 2.6C @ 3.34 and a 9700 Pro...full specs in my system rigs profile. It is nearly silent. In fact, it is quieter than the Dell my neighbor just bought.

 

[gagaliya]

1) Having a vacuum system next to you with 2 delta fans blasting is not good for your health. I dont understand how anyone can stand it, you may use earphones to cover it up during gaming. But it's pretty stupid to wear an earphone when surfing the web or just doing general work on your pc, especailly with so many quiet options avaliable nowdays. Back then i didnt have much choice...

2) Even with a pair of $300 earphones, a set of average 5.1 speakers with a good sound card will blow it out the water when playing games. And you dont need to have that big thing lodged in your head.



gaga

 

[Nebor]

2) Even with a pair of $300 earphones, a set of average 5.1 speakers with a good sound card will blow it out the water when playing games. And you dont need to have that big thing lodged in your head.

You sir, don't know what you're talking about. I have surround sound Altec Lansing speakers, an Audigy 2, a pair of bose triports, sennheiser hd590s, and sennheiser RS85s... For games, the triports rule. They give you GREAT positioning, and generally clearer and louder sound. You can hear footsteps in the snow more easily. I never really use my headphones, mainly for convenience, I just use my speakers. I like the rumble that speakers give you... but still, sound quality, positioning and volume all go to headphones.

 

[fyleow]

Originally posted by: Nebor

2) Even with a pair of $300 earphones, a set of average 5.1 speakers with a good sound card will blow it out the water when playing games. And you dont need to have that big thing lodged in your head.

You sir, don't know what you're talking about. I have surround sound Altec Lansing speakers, an Audigy 2, a pair of bose triports, sennheiser hd590s, and sennheiser RS85s... For games, the triports rule. They give you GREAT positioning, and generally clearer and louder sound. You can hear footsteps in the snow more easily. I never really use my headphones, mainly for convenience, I just use my speakers. I like the rumble that speakers give you... but still, sound quality, positioning and volume all go to headphones.

You have a pair of 590s and you actually think the triports are good? Why not just go for the Sennheiser HD 280s.

IMO headphones are better for positioning in games and I enjoy the superior sound quality. Too bad my HD 600s are connected to my CD player so I don't use it for gaming

 

[Nebor]

I always thought the 590s seemed kinda underpowered, and overpriced. For $150 the Bose Triports are simply awsome headphones, available to the masses. I feel they are better in everything than my 590s. Although w/ a good signal (sitting 2 feet away from reciever) the RS85s have GREAT sound.

 

[Lonyo]

What CFM are your fans?

I know there are some 80mm fans that push over 80CFM, not sure of their dBA though.

 

[Nebor]

^^ That would be a Vantec Tornado or Delta fan... they are about 55dB I believe. Pushing 84cfm too.

 

[beatle]

I don't see why you're in disgust of silent pcs. What's wrong with a lack of noise?

 

[Schadenfroh]

here is a recording of it

ok, i do admit that i have a speed controller on it.

 

[gagaliya]

Originally posted by: Nebor

2) Even with a pair of $300 earphones, a set of average 5.1 speakers with a good sound card will blow it out the water when playing games. And you dont need to have that big thing lodged in your head.

You sir, don't know what you're talking about. I have surround sound Altec Lansing speakers, an Audigy 2, a pair of bose triports, sennheiser hd590s, and sennheiser RS85s... For games, the triports rule. They give you GREAT positioning, and generally clearer and louder sound. You can hear footsteps in the snow more easily. I never really use my headphones, mainly for convenience, I just use my speakers. I like the rumble that speakers give you... but still, sound quality, positioning and volume all go to headphones.

i have the pioneer hdj1000 pro earphone and creative thx 6.1 speakers and uses audigy. the sound is so much better with speakers, for example in ghost recon/ravenshield when u open up with the machine gun and the surround environment sounds.

to each of his own..

 

[Bonesdad]

Originally posted by: Schadenfroh
alright i now am the prowd owner of one of the loudest rigs on anandtech. i have 2 Tornado fans each rated 55 DB a piece. this system turns my pc into an o/c behemith. i wear headphones (which are superior in gaming) to compensate. i felt i had to share this out of my disgust for the "silent computing fad" that has occured recenltly. all i need now is a 5800 Ultra Flow FX, my 4200 is too quite. btw would i even be able to hear a flowfx over this rig?

This ain't no fad...until about a year ago, I had a computer I could hear from the other side of my house. Silence IS golden. I was just outside on my front deck last night, watching the traffic go by. My neighbor's teen son decided it was time to wash his car with the audio cranked to a level 10, people came out of their houses to see what was going on...amazingly, it must have embarassed him cuz he stopped what he was doing and went inside. Not five minutes later, another person's car alarm went off 2 houses down. THAT went on for about 10 minutes. I am in a small, quiet town, not an urban neighborhood. People have forgotten the value of silence...can't even go into a restaurant anymore without a damn TV hanging over your head...

Anyway, I love my whisper quiet PC.

 

[Slammy1]

All things are balance in system design. Form, function, silence; you just have to find your position in the trade offs. I have a very quiet system, but I wasn't going to do without my Raptor just for the sake of quiet. I might try a heat pipe for my 9700Pro, take it down another notch while providing a better cooling over stock. But yes, evem low volume music and my old SCSI system used to be drowned out. Without it, well, imagine a large fan on high. Now imagine that fan has a broken bearing and squeaks. My old system was louder and more obnoxious than that fan .

 

[tweeve]

silent PC are nice at times, but when the up stairs of my house reaches 90+ degrees in the summer due to the AC not working well, it is nice to reach over and punp the fan contolers up to high and let the 3 80mm and 1 90mm Tornados fly and cool down the system. Besides if fun when some one walk in the room, and askes what the fan conntroler is for then you trun them all up and make the computer give the vacume a run for its money on how loud it can go.

I like silent PC dont get me wrong but no silent PC can pump out 160+CFM.

 

[WinkOsmosis]

Do you think all this noise really helps cooling? You sound like one of those 13 year old kids who just started OCing after reading HardForum..

 

[Schadenfroh]

Originally posted by: WinkOsmosis
Do you think all this noise really helps cooling? You sound like one of those 13 year old kids who just started OCing after reading HardForum..

can your silent 80mm fans move 85 cfm each?

 

[AgaBoogaBoo]

Here is my setup incase anyone is interested and is whisper quiet!

P4 2.8C with Retail HSF
Asus P4P800 Deluxe
2x 256MB Corsair
Antec Sonata Case
Radeon 9800 Non Pro
Winfast Leadtek TV Tuner
WD 120GB JB

I think one of the biggest is the Antec Sonata case. AThe hard drive sits on rubber things absorbing lots of the vibrations. The PSU included is a True380W which is very powerful so even if you only need a total of 200W, it doesn't have to work as hard as say a 250W PSU and so the fan can spin much lower. The fan changes speed according to temps.

Then, the 120mm fan included can push 120CFM with around 40 to 50db. BUT, the PSU gives connectors for fans, which it controls based on thermal readings. The fan on my CPU is controlled by the "Asus Q-Fan" feature so it speeds up or slows down based on temperatures.

Oh yeah, with the Sonata case, you get rubber grommets for the fans too. I only have one outtake fan which throws the air inside the case out. Then there is a place for the air to come in on the front which has a filter on it which you can remove for cleaning or just not use. Personally, I have it there to avoid getting dust inside so I don't have to clean it.

Also, all my parts run at stock speeds and voltages, no overclocking at all. At night, the system seems really quiet I'm not sure if its on or not, hehe. I have to look at the blue lights on the front of the case. Oh yeah, speaking of the front of the case, the case also has 2 audio ports, 1 firewire, and 2 USB ports which is useful in many cases for me.

 

[AgaBoogaBoo]

Originally posted by: Schadenfroh

Originally posted by: WinkOsmosis
Do you think all this noise really helps cooling? You sound like one of those 13 year old kids who just started OCing after reading HardForum..

can your silent fans move 85 cfm?

Well, 120mm fans can push 120CFM at around 44DB, hehe. They are larger and so they can spin muc more air at the same noise volume.

 

[0roo0roo]

Originally posted by: Schadenfroh

Originally posted by: WinkOsmosis
Do you think all this noise really helps cooling? You sound like one of those 13 year old kids who just started OCing after reading HardForum..

can your silent 80mm fans move 85 cfm each?

no, but 3 of em can 3 low rpm are far far less annoying then one roaring high pitched one.

 

[magomago]

Oh good god that is your PC! That is one of the loudest things I've herad in a long time...and this is on 24/7?

WOW

I don't care much either for the purists who feel like "argh!! .5 decibales of noise just came my pc!!!"

I thought my pc was somehwat loud but compared to yours mine is absolutely silent!

Anyway I figure as long as it doesn't bother YOU it isn't annoying...because in the end it won't be your buddy, who loves to talk about how loud your computer is, but it will be you using the computer

but if you can stand that more power to you i guess

 

[JulesMaximus]

Anyone who knows anything about HiFi audio knows that Bose sucks.

I don't know why anyone buys that overpriced over hyped crap.