What is it with computer equipment and sound levels?

[OfficeLinebacker]

I've always been able to tune out ambient noise. The whirring of a fan or hard drive has never bothered me. Yet for some reason there is a premium put on noise levels in computer equipment. Me, I'll take a Vantec Tornado that sounds like a Blackhawk helicopter landing in my yard over some lower performing, higher-priced piece that's a few DBs quieter.

How about you?

 

[Trygve]

I like quiet. I'd really like silent, but that's tougher to do. My previous generation of computers up here were a couple of dual-athlon systems with stacks of external SCSI enclosures and dozens of 10K drives--and that whole setup was far too noisy. I'm much happier with the water-cooled Xeon and P4 systems I've got now with their SATA arrays.

In the old (pre-PC) days, it was easier for me to keep the computers in another room, so the noise was less of an issue, but that's harder to do these days.

 

[flxnimprtmscl]

<---- Uses a Vantec Tornado along with 4 80mm case fans. Nuff said.

 

[geno]

I like quiet

 

[dighn]

i'm sensitive about noise. so i like my equipment to be as quiet as possible.

 

[SynthDude2001]

Meh... My CPU fan is running at 4800 RPM. It doesn't bother me (obviously, or I wouldn't have had this setup running 24/7 for 1.5 years )

 

[Demon-Xanth]

I once had a case with about 10 fans in it. 2 120mm fans on the side, 2 60's on the front, a 92 on the front (etc...)

I kinda like my A64 with a quiet setup. Nothing special, but my P90 that's a router is now noisier than the Athlon64 setup. They got retail HSF fans down good.

 

[Viperoni]

I sacrifice speed for quietness.

 

[Koing]

I'dd take quiet also.

When I am trying to concentrate on some Physics or Maths I can't do it with the pc being noisey. I'll pay and have paid to get my system more quiet. Ideally I'd like a G5 silentness

Koing

 

[Conky]

I like the noise.

It doesn't bother me during the day, it definitely doesn't bother me when I am gaming, and at night the gentle hum of the fans is a perfect white noise that helps me sleep. :thumbsup:

 

[Kaido]

I used to like the sound. I'd always leave my first athlon tbird system running. Now tho, the sound keeps me up. I ended up buying a laptop last December and that's my main system. It's dead silent 90% of the time and the fan kicks in the other 10%, but I can live with that. When I come home, I hook it up to my monitor, keyboard, and mouse, then take the laptop and mouse on the go with me.

 

[Patt]

I'd like to eliminate the sound from my machine as much as possible. It is cranking in the next room often while I'm doing other things, and although it does get tuned out there are moments it bothers me.

I'm looking into water cooling systems now, but don't know if I can afford it right now.

 

[Aftermath]

Computer volume wasn't an issue when I was single. I had an XP1800+ with a Volcano7+, the fan spinning at 6000rpm most of the time due to shoddy wiring in the fan control switch. I'm married with a kid now, so I prefer my system to be as quiet as possible. The hair dryer droning of my PC wasn't as appreciated by the missis. (Neither was the clickity clickity of my IBM keyboard.)

 

[OfficeLinebacker]

Originally posted by: Aftermath
Computer volume wasn't an issue when I was single. I had an XP1800+ with a Volcano7+, the fan spinning at 6000rpm most of the time due to shoddy wiring in the fan control switch. I'm married with a kid now, so I prefer my system to be as quiet as possible. The hair dryer droning of my PC wasn't as appreciated by the missis. (Neither was the clickity clickity of my IBM keyboard.)

keep your pimp hand strong bro

 

[trmiv]

It used to bother me. But now I have a reef aquarium in my living room with pumps, fans, water flowing, and a protein skimmer going, so the computer doesn't seem that loud anymore.

 

[Baked]

I use Panaflo fans, none of those fake silence whatever fans.

 

[Leper Messiah]

Originally posted by: flxnimprtmscl
<---- Uses a Vantec Tornado along with 4 80mm case fans. Nuff said.

what? I can't hear you over the 5 tornados in my A64 set up!