Tired of my LOUD PC. How to make a Quiet PC?

[SleepyGuy]

I was into modding my case and now it kinda annoying. Is there anyway i can run a quiet case without overheating my PC? Tech specs:
Case InWin Q500a (modded)
CPU Taisol 742 w/sunon
Powerman (quiet) 300W PS
120 Paps 12v blowhole fan
120 Nidec 7v frontintake
Small AIW Radeon fan (came with vc)

Maybe a some sort of reostat fanbus eh? I could turn off the fan's when surfing or working, and crank them when Quaking or UT'ing. Hmmm... could i buy one? I'm too lazy to build one... no more free time... damn job! Peace out.

 

[RandyHarris]

I'm getting ready to modify my case to quiet it up too!

After doing a lot of reading, here are a few things that I'm going to do.

1) Swap out the case fan and the power supply fan for Quiet Panaflo fans.
2) Make a Power Supply "Muffler". (scroll down this page and you'll see a box "muffler" this guy made for his computer. I'll do a nicer looking, less restrictive muffler along the same lines. CLICK HERE TO SEE
3) The Case fan now bolts to the front of the computer, I'm going to extend a tube into the case 3 or 4 inches with sound dampened tubing and attach the fan to it. Bringing it inside the case further should help lower the noise level.
4) I already have a quiet heatsink/fan (Chrome Orb) if you don't have a good, quiet one, swap yours for a quieter one.
5) Cover up any open drive bays on the front of your computer, the sound comes right through to you easier if they're not covered.

I'm going to wait to do my mods until I can borrow my brothers Digital SPL meter. I'll take sound and heat measurements before and after each change so I can objectively tell the changes and hopefully improvements.

Let us know what you end up doing and how well it works.

 

[GasX]

Remount your case fans with washers. At $0.56 for three fans, you can't beat the bang for the buck!!!

 

[fitzhue]

I remounted my case fans with washers. It obviously didn't cost that much money, and the benefit is pretty much slim to none. I admit there was one fan that kept on vibrating a little bit and now that is gone, but still the sheer amount of airflow going through my case is still too loud. Your best bet would be to purchase good quiet case fans (panaflo L1A) and a whisper quiet power supply along with a decent CPU fan.

 

[lotust]

if you overclock water cooling might be good too,

 

[fitzhue]

With water cooling, wouldn't you need at least 1 or 2 120mm fans cooling on the radiator?
This would mean equal if not more noise due to the noise of those big fans, unless there's some other way to cool the radiotor that I'm not aware of?

 

[DeathFlame]

Couple comments...

You think the chrome orb is quiet? Well then my computer must be incredibly quiet compared to "loud" ones, cause I thought the chrome orb (with only one other quiet case fan that you cann't tell if it's on) was loud. I mean real loud.

I think water cooling and going to 1 or 2 120mm fans would be much quieter. I have hooked up a 120mm fan and it is not even close to as loud as my curren HSF.

 

[RandyHarris]

The Chrome Orb is only about 30db and that's inside a closed case - yes I think its quiet.

 

[Yoshi]

Get rid of all the un-needed fans.

In general ATX based systems require a cooler on the CPU and a power supply fan blowing out. Most also include a front fan blowing in. A lot of OEM type systems, like Dell, Gateway, HP, etc, don't even use these.

Computer systems stand up to heat pretty well. I don't really understand peoples obsession with keeping the inside of their case at ambient room temp. Computer products produce heat and are meant to tolerate it. Yes keeping your equipemnt will extend the life of it, but give me a break. I don't think anyone, even non-power users, keep their computer for more than 5-6 years.

 

[fitzhue]

Yoshi
you make a good point about the unneeded fans. You're right about OEM companies not even using them. But, OEM companys don't overclock their processors. I have my tbird running at a high voltage, and the only way I could achieve stability was to either a) run my computer with the case off, and a fan on it, or b) with intake and exhaust fans. I found b to be more practical as I dont like having my system cover off, exposing all the innards. My suggestion would be to install a baybus or rheostat of some sort. This would allow you to run your fans on max when your gaming, doing extensive operations, and run them low or even off at times of more idle operation.

 

[DeathFlame]

The Chrome Orb is only about 30db and that's inside a closed case - yes I think its quiet.

30db coming from where?

While the thermaltake site mentions a decibel rating of 29...

From Anandtech:

"Not much noise from the fan motor, but a noticable hiss from the strong air flow. Only slightly quieter than the fan used by Taisol." Shown here

Then go to this link which shows the Taisol putting out 50db of sound, because of the air being moved. Slightly less than that is not 30db.

Then go on over to Tomshardware.com and look at his old review here. Where the Chrome orb (Thermaltake Aircooler) puts out 49db in his test.

In both tests, the Taisol scores very similiar to the Chrome orb. His problem is NOT his cooler.

 

[lotust]

if you watercool and use a 120mm fan it dosent make it lout cuz its big IT all depends on the RPMs of the fan fitzhue.

If you use a 3500rpm fan its very quiet.

 

[Viperoni]

Change your Radeon fan.
It's the noise maker.
Stop it with your finger and you'll see

 

[skriefal]

I have a Taisol 742092 on my Duron, and personally I think it's loud -- even though nearly everyone else seems to say that it's quiet. I'm considering replacing the fan with something a bit quieter.

 

[SleepyGuy]

thanx for the responses. yeah i roll out a lot of Dell and IBM pc's where I work and they don't even have a fan on the heatsink! Runs whisper quiet! Maybe i'll dish out some doh and purchase a dell box. Hmmm... thanx again! peace out.

 

[DeathFlame]

I experimented. Turned off all the fans. There is still a whirring noise... Hard drive? or just the computer in general?

 

[Yoshi]

I don't buy the overclocking argumenmt for extra fans.

If you buy say...a 800Mhz Thunderbird and overclock it to 1000Mhz, in terms of heat production this is no different than just getting a 1000Mhz Thunderbird and running at stock speed (unless you really crank the voltage).

How many 1Ghz T-brids you seen on the shelf at Best Buy with extra cooling blow holes, etc built into the case.

Another prime example. I put an A7V and a Duron 800 in my girlfriends machine. When I put it together I made sure CPU cooler was approved for use on a 1.2Ghz T-bird. This way when I get around to overclocking it there should be more than enough cooling headroom. I did not add any fans to the case. There is a 3" fan in front blowing in and the fan in the powersupply blowing out the back.

Remember a faster chip produces more heat. For some strange reason overclockers think their overclocked chip should run as close to the stock speed temperature as possible. Not true, it needs to run at the correct temperature range for that chip at that speed.

 

[RandyHarris]

Yoshi, I agree. I've got a stock Enlight case which comes with only a front fan (aside from the power supply fan) and I run a Thunderbird 950 in it, my mobo temp is only 30C with a 19C ambiant temp. Not at all too hot, in fact, the cpu runs at 31C. I've got no problems with heat and I run a stock box.

My only beef is the noise of the stock components, so I'm working to reduce the noise. Actually I just ordered a cool looking new case (It's hard to tell from this pix, but its silver not putty colored.) I decided that if I'm going to make a quiet system, I may as well start with a cool looking case!

 

[mcvan]

Hey, Randy, I just spent half an hour whipping up a PS "muffler" box and dampening my case -- and man what a difference!! I've got at least a 10 db reduction in noise. It's quite amazing.

The box takes away all the whining from the fan, while the dampening on the case panels ensures little noise gets out in other ways. My muffler box looks like crap, but the computer sits under the desk anyway, so who cares.

Anyone who hates fan and general machine noise really should have a look at these pages and try out some of these simple tricks: www.makeitsimple.com/projects/ They work!

 

[AncientPC]

Do a search for "Leo V" and check one of the posts she had about a Quiet PC. She only has one fan in the case and that's it, with little sacrifice in 3d bench marks in actually improving in hdd benchmarks.

I'm too lazy to look for that thread for you. It's super long and really in-depth, you ought to look at it.

 

[CHHASmatroxuser]

Here you go.

Thinking about doing this mod myself.

 

[stultus]

Could you put a Panaflo L1A on your HSF? I'm just wondering if it'd push enough CFM. Right now I'm using a Sanyo-Denki fan. It's not that loud, but I'm trying for as-close-to-silent-as-possible-without-spending-hundreds-of-dollars.

What do you think? L1A on an Alpha PAL6035? I think an M1A or H1A would sound the same if not louder than the Sanyo.