too loud!!!

[JoeFaheyx]

my old gateway is just so loud, its probably the fans, but could there be anything else....can how could i tell? also, it it was the fans, if i were to buy a new one, what would i look for on the fan to see if it was quiet? THANKS

 

[huesmann]

You could ask in the Cases and Cooling forum.

There are many possibilities of what could be noisy in your system. Try running without various items and see if the noise is less. Could be your hard disks, vent fans, CPU fan, PSU fans...

 

[imported_raybay]

My guess is CPU fan. But some Gateway powersupplies have fans that are too loud. Look for a higher quality power supply. Also, certain models have CPU fans that are load and bad (particularly K6 and other Slot 1) Only other choice is the case fan, but they are not usually noisy. All these fans are very low priced items made by the millions. Even new ones can easily fail. Luckily, the are cheap enough if you shop around. First, test the CPU fan by replacing it with a CoolerMaster or better. then look for an Antec, Sparkle, or other good quality power supply (many mentioned in other sections of Forums.

 

[gordanfreeman]

another possible problem area could be optical drives. the cdrw drive in my old emachine has a habit of reving up randomly, especially if there is a disc in it. it would probably be fairly obvious tho, if this was the problem.

 

[Cheetah8799]

Originally posted by: JoeFahey
my old gateway is just so loud, its probably the fans, but could there be anything else....can how could i tell? also, it it was the fans, if i were to buy a new one, what would i look for on the fan to see if it was quiet? THANKS

As you suggest. Likely a fan or multiple fans are going bad. How to tell? Open the case and listen. Some of them you may be able to un-plug for a couple seconds to see if it helps. Once you isolate the problem, buy a new one.

FOr buying, just look at the RPMs (speed) and cfm (amt of air) that it puts out, and the dB level. Around 30db or less is pretty quiet. > 35db is getting loud and I wouldn't want to use it personally. YOu also need to make sure it's the same size fan so you can re-attach it to your system properly.