Why is everyone so obsessed with silence?

[DangerAardvark]

I put as many fans with reasonable CFM/dB ratio as I can find. And I put the fastest on my CPU. When I boot up it sounds like a jet taking off. And I'm fine with that. A high performance PC should sound high performance. I want to scare my cat every time I hit the power button.

 

[shadow goat]

I like my rig being silent as I find it easier to concentrate on what I am doing but I would still much rather have high airflow so I have a bunch of 80mm vantec tornados. The noise doesnt annoy me too much and if I wear my headphones and listen to music I cant hear it anyway.

 

[stackingreasyBBs]

Same reason some people like cases with windows and UV lighting and stuff. Different strokes for different folks. HTPC builders, of course, have more practical reasons for wanting silence. I just like not being able to hear my computer from the living room.

 

[akira34]

Since my computer is in the living room, along with the tv, I like being able to have the computer running AND watch tv without needing to crank the volume (on the surround sound system) up to '11'... My neighbor downstairs (also my landlord) appreciates that I don't play the tv too loud. With a silent, or nearly silent, rig, I can have it doing it's thing (like downloading items) while I watch tv and use the same volume as when the computer is off.

I do have a goal of having the computer being dead silent from no more than 5' away (the closer the better) so I'm replacing the case fans as soon as the new ones arrive. I hope that the new ones have lower dbA at the same CFM ratings (if not higher CFM) than the stock fans... Then I would not only have better cooling, but a quieter rig too...

It is an obsession with me right now to have the silent rig... Without going to liquid cooling that is.

 

[Nessism]

Originally posted by: akira34
Since my computer is in the living room, along with the tv, I like being able to have the computer running AND watch tv without needing to crank the volume (on the surround sound system) up to '11'... My neighbor downstairs (also my landlord) appreciates that I don't play the tv too loud. With a silent, or nearly silent, rig, I can have it doing it's thing (like downloading items) while I watch tv and use the same volume as when the computer is off.

I do have a goal of having the computer being dead silent from no more than 5' away (the closer the better) so I'm replacing the case fans as soon as the new ones arrive. I hope that the new ones have lower dbA at the same CFM ratings (if not higher CFM) than the stock fans... Then I would not only have better cooling, but a quieter rig too...

It is an obsession with me right now to have the silent rig... Without going to liquid cooling that is.

Case fans are only one piece of the puzzle. One of the largest contributers is the video card fan assuming you are using a modern card like a 6600 or 6800 of some sort.

I receintly rebuilt my box and switched over from an Antec 800 series to a Compucase 6919.

Antec: Zalman 7000, two 80mm Panaflo L1A's in backboard

Compucase: XP-120 w/Yate Loon 1350rpm fan, one Yate Loon 120 in backboard, one 80mm Panaflo L1A in front blowing on hard drive, rubber mounted hard drive

The rubber mounts on the HD do help a little but the bottom line is that the cases sound about the same for the most part since the video card fan is the loud offender.

Good luck.

Ed

 

[CraigRT]

My PC is in my bedroom, and I don't like my PC off, ever

so silence it is!

 

[akira34]

I have an arctic cooling unit on my 6800GT, which made it damn near dead silent... With the XP-120, and fan on it, I'm one step closer to my silence goal... The case I have also has the sound dampening materials installed (at the factory) so I didn't need to bother doing that myself.

I've found that the rubber mounts for drives do very, very little if anything...

 

[Jeff7]

Depends. If you don't need to hear everything that's going on around you, load up the PC with Tornado fans. If you need to know when a mouse is taking a leisurely stroll on the other side of the house, get a heatpipe-cooled case.

I ditched my modded cases (rather, I'm TRYING to ditch the one on the , the other became scrap metal) and got Antec SLK3700's. Rather than having fans all over the damn place, these have one in front for intake, and one on the back for exhaust. Combined with a fanbus, and some good fans - Aluminum Evercool fans in this case - these things are fairly quiet, and they still keep the components cool

Plus, with the fanbus, if you do want it really quiet, you can turn off the two noisiest fans in the case, at least momentarily.

 

[Nessism]

Originally posted by: akira34
I have an arctic cooling unit on my 6800GT, which made it damn near dead silent... With the XP-120, and fan on it, I'm one step closer to my silence goal... The case I have also has the sound dampening materials installed (at the factory) so I didn't need to bother doing that myself.

I've found that the rubber mounts for drives do very, very little if anything...

Of course everyone is different but the folks over at Silentpcreview would disagree with your assertion that the Artic Cooling unit is "dead silent" and that rubber mounts do..."very, very little if anything".

I don't have an Artic Cooler but considering the fan runs at over 2000rpm, I don't understand how anyone can call that silent. Quieter than stock maybe but not quiet per say. And as far as rubber mounts go, I have lots of personnel experience with them and they DO HELP reduce seek noise chatter. Not all silent hard drive mounts are equal though and there effectiveness depends on the specific application.

 

[CharlesMcKinney]

I must say that silence is definately a subjective matter. While some are not bothered by loud cases (I wasn't at first, but the Volcano 11 on my CPU started to get annoying), some people demand it, for their own reasons. My tower sits less than 2' from my left ear, and the hum of the fans gets annoying.

Also, on another note, I have an NV5 on my 6800, and I must say it is NOT silent. In fact, it's the loudest thing in my case. I'm planning on putting a fanmate on it this weekend to remedy that.

 

[ribbon13]

http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=11-999-209&depa=0
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=11-999-211&depa=0

those are more effective than trying to dampen your HDD.

also

http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?&DID=7&Partnumber=268-010
http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?&DID=7&Partnumber=268-015

I put this inside cases and it works pretty well.

There is a lot better stuff but its rather expensive and geared for audiophiles, and cars that go boom.

 

[MrControversial]

Originally posted by: DangerAardvark
I put as many fans with reasonable CFM/dB ratio as I can find. And I put the fastest on my CPU. When I boot up it sounds like a jet taking off. And I'm fine with that. A high performance PC should sound high performance. I want to scare my cat every time I hit the power button.

Welcome to the club. I love noisy rigs just like some people like the sound of choppers. They could make quieter choppers if they wanted to, but the novelty of having one is the manly-ass noise that comes from it.

All I care about is a cool case. Noise is of no concern to me.

 

[akira34]

It probably doesn't hurt that the case I have came with the sound dampening material pre-installed. I've tested the system and, right now, the loudest thing in it appears to be the processor fan. If I turn it up, I can really hear it. If I turn it way down, then the rig is damned near dead silent from just about any distance. I hope that putting in some higher CFM fans, with lower dbA ratings, will mean I can spin them slower and have either the same, or better, air flow inside the case. That should make for a cooler mobo/processor which will, in turn, mean that the fan on the processor can spin slower/more silent. Couple that with the planned processor to exhaust fan duct work and I might be closer to my silent goal.

As for the drive rubber mounts, I'm going off of personal experience here. It could be that the p160 uses poor rubber mounting methods/items making them no better than other (solid/quality) cases mounting methods.

I do know that the Lian-Li hard drive mounting inside my case doesn't contribute one dbA to the sound coming from it. I hear normal drive sounds, which I expect from the drives I have (same exact sound level/types as when they were in the p160)...

 

[cyberknight]

You can't really appreciate a quiet PC until you have one. You know, it's a fact that extraneous noises increase a person's stress level.

I replaced my MSI RX9800 heatsink with an Arctic Cooling Rev3 and it's like wayyyyyyyyyyyy quieter than stock. Not jsut a little bit quieter.

Although, currently it's the loudest thing in my case when I set it on high. I'm torn if I should put it on Low for more silence but less overclock, or jsut leaving it on High...

 

[CraigRT]

Originally posted by: cyberknight

Although, currently it's the loudest thing in my case when I set it on high. I'm torn if I should put it on Low for more silence but less overclock, or jsut leaving it on High...

low low low!!!

 

[akira34]

I'd set it to low and let it run at stock clock speeds... I'm not overcocking my 6800GT and it's running cool and quiet...

 

[Pauli]

Originally posted by: MrControversial

Originally posted by: DangerAardvark
I put as many fans with reasonable CFM/dB ratio as I can find. And I put the fastest on my CPU. When I boot up it sounds like a jet taking off. And I'm fine with that. A high performance PC should sound high performance. I want to scare my cat every time I hit the power button.

Welcome to the club. I love noisy rigs just like some people like the sound of choppers. They could make quieter choppers if they wanted to, but the novelty of having one is the manly-ass noise that comes from it.

All I care about is a cool case. Noise is of no concern to me.

A quieter computer is a better computer to 99.999% of all PC users (my own estimate). The rest of you are oddballs who are probably very bad company anyway. Besides, simply adding more fans does not mean that you are making the system cooler - there is a point of diminishing returns. If you are willing to spend some time and effort, you can have both a quiet, cool, and powerful system.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Silence is golden.

 

[CraigRT]

Originally posted by: akira34
I'd set it to low and let it run at stock clock speeds... I'm not overcocking my 6800GT and it's running cool and quiet...

I'm overclocking my 6800GT and it runs cool and quiet

it's running @ Ultra speeds.. 51C at idle with my nV5 silencer, and I cant hear it.

 

[akira34]

I get low 40's at stock speeds and silence...

 

[CraigRT]

Originally posted by: akira34
I get low 40's at stock speeds and silence...

well mine's silent too is all I am getting at

51C is low for one of these cards, and it runs @ Ultra speeds all day long under load, so hey... sweet

 

[wisdomtooth]

Sources of noise I identified in my computer:

PSU, CPU HSF, Northbridge HSF, vid card stock HSF, and case fans.

To get rid of those noise sources, I swapped in the following:

- Seasonic Super Tornado PSU. This thing has a 120mm slow-speed fan and ventilates very well. And it's one of the quietest PSUs you can buy.

- Zalman CNPS7000AlCu CPU heatsink. Big heatsink means you don't need a very fast fan (if you are not overclocking). Includes a fan controller, mine is always set at the lowest speed.

- Soldered a 100-ohm resistor into my Abit northbridge fansink. Slowed the fan speed from its stock screaming-banshee 6000rpm down to a whispering 3200. You can do the same with a fan controller.

- Arctic Cooling ATI Silencer 1 for my 9800pro vid card. MUCH quieter than the stock fansink, and it pipes heat right out of the case and thus does not add to the thermal burden of the PSU and CPU, so those fans can run slower (and quieter) too.

- Panaflo L1A low-speed case fans, with rubber washers for vibration dampening.

With these parts in place, my computer is nearly Dell-silent. Case temps 31C when ambient room temp is 25C.

I'm a happy camper, especially when listening to music or watching DVDs (I'm using my machine as an HTPC to drive a big-screen HDTV), without an annoying whine from my computer in the background. :thumbsup:

 

[Gamingphreek]

Originally posted by: CraigRT
My PC is in my bedroom, and I don't like my PC off, ever

so silence it is!

Aksi when you achieve incredible performance when it is silent and not much more than 2C improvement with all fans at 100% why keep it noisy? My ambient temp is 69F my case temp is 70F (21C) and my CPU under max load is 43C (Idle is 40).

-Kevin

 

[Tiamat]

Performance != level of noise. I sleep in the same room as my computer. At ~ 28 db it is still too noisy.

 

[HardWarrior]

Originally posted by: DangerAardvark
I put as many fans with reasonable CFM/dB ratio as I can find. And I put the fastest on my CPU. When I boot up it sounds like a jet taking off. And I'm fine with that. A high performance PC should sound high performance. I want to scare my cat every time I hit the power button.

You're serious? Why does it matter to you that others want some quiet with their computing?