[dekoded]

Here's a very interesting site regarding all things quiet!

mrmoo, there is also some interesting reading regarding earthing HDD's,this is probably where I read about this issue some time ago, the info could well be out of date by now though and the IBM drives mentioned are probably obsolete!

Still it proves I'm not going completely bonkers !

[Dunkwho]

Mr Nuts sir ...

If I may be so bold ... I'd approach the quiet PC side of things from a different angle. In my system I've got a CPU cooler fan, and a PSU fan. Theres no case fans in or out and just a few vents to let in\our - TBH they don't do much. Internal temp with all things sealed is 40 degrees, CPU is 49. Given that you've got 3 case fans, no CPU fan, and the PSU running away I'd advise cutting 2 of the case fans and leave one as a slow turn intake (I intend adding this to my system as my adventures-in-cooling continue), shift one of the fans to directly on the CPU cooler (either with clips onto the heatsink directly, or by using one the zalman 6000 flower cooler style brackets that mount on the PCI screws and float the fan into the middle of the system), and leave the PSU as it is. That way you'll get the most benefit from the minimum fan use = quieter system.

I'm planning on cutting open my spare standard ATX psu thats already got a standard 92mm intake and no exhaust fan, adding a 80mm exhaust fan and pulling the supply lines for both fans out of the case to a fan controller. I'm going to add an intake case fan (80 or 120 depending on what I've got lying around\can get hold of), and may upgrade the heatsink portion of my CPU cooler with the existing 80mm fan I'm using. All 4 fans are going to be controlled by one of the PWM controllers I mentioned before - they work not by adjusting the drive voltage but by sending pulses on the supply to keep the fan kicking round at a speed adjusted by the width of the pulses (PWM = pulse width modulator from memory!).

for what its worth ...

Duncan

[monkeynuts]

Duncan,

For what it's worth, thats very helpful

I do think that 3 80mm fans is overkill for what i need but i'd like to see if i can get them all running slower and see what it's like then. I briefly disconected the case fans last nite and the PSU fan was louder than i'd have expected, but still quieter by itself.

I'm in the process of ordering some CDRs so will tag on a fan controller and get playing, may try and get one of those zalman brackets as i've seem them around....

I've also logged a complaint with ebuyer regarding the PSU as it's not anything like it is advertised as. It's not anywhere near "silent" and it has some stupid coloured LEDs on it that weren't mentioned and are very, well, stupid!

Thanks for the replies

[monkeynuts]

Quick update:

Coolermaster aerogate 1 arrived today and am running all the fans on minimum, much quieter than before, tho still a hum from the PSU fan but i'm getting there!

Fan controllers are a great idea that i wish i'd have known about in the past!

I'm monitoring the CPU temp with Asus Probe to ensure the lower air flow doesn't cause any problems, but with my kind of PC usage it shouldn't be a problem.

Thanks to everyone for all your help I'm definitely getting somewhere!

Cheers

WARNING

Opening and mucking about with power supplies is extremely dangerous. there are LETHAL voltages retained in the capacitors. Please just don't bother.

[monkeynuts]

This is an old thread of mine, but i never did manage to get the damn PC quiet enough!

Anyone come up with any other ingenious sound proofing methods?

I'm after some dampening material for the case sides and am going to experiment with some underlay type stuff unless someone knows of anything better....on a budget of course!


PC -Coolermaster Wavemaster case
-Copper Ebuyer flower heatsink with a 120mm fan on a Zalman bracket
- Nexus PSU
- No case fans running at the moment...

[deksawyer]

Have a trundle around here;

www.silentpcreview.com

D.

[guido]

Have you tried one of these to silence your PSU?: http://www.silverstonetek.com/products-pp02.htm

Been thinking about giving one a try.

[Uridium]

I bought a pack of this http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/NEW-SPEEZE-ULT...QQcmdZViewItem

quietened my machine down nicely.

[monkeynuts]

-Not sure why i didn't go have a rummage on the silentpcreview forums, so thank you for the reimnder!

-I spotted something similar to that PSU silencer in the clearance section of Maplins last time i was in one...wish i'd have tried it as it was only a £5-7. If you try one soon then let me know if it makes a difference!

-Might have to get a pack of that ebay stuff as it's not a bad price, but 4mm seems a bit thin...?


Thanks for the replies, much appreciated

[Media-Man]

The silverstone PP02 is about £6.
4mm sounds fine. The Acousti foam is about 4mm thick. - it's very dense/heavy though which helps enormously.

[dannyg81]

Originally Posted by monkeynuts

This is an old thread of mine, but i never did manage to get the damn PC quiet enough!

Anyone come up with any other ingenious sound proofing methods?

I'm after some dampening material for the case sides and am going to experiment with some underlay type stuff unless someone knows of anything better....on a budget of course!


PC -Coolermaster Wavemaster case
-Copper Ebuyer flower heatsink with a 120mm fan on a Zalman bracket
- Nexus PSU
- No case fans running at the moment...

The main thing that makes the noise in a standard PC is the CPU, PSU and graphics card fans. I swapped my standard PSU for a Hiper Type R 480w, which is pretty much near silent.... then installed a Zalman CNPS9500-LED CPU heatsink/fan
with fan controller, set to the lowest setting (CPU runs about 40 degrees). This is then lined up so the airflow blows onto my exhaust fan at the rear of the case, which is an AcoustiFan Dustproof 80mm, which is attached to a Zalman fan mate running at 5v (slowest). For my ATI X800XT I fitted an Arctic Cooler VGA Silencer 4 (rev. 2)... which reduced the overall noise drastically!

The only noise from this now is the maxtor 80gb, which sounds similar to your HDD you had... noisy clicking on disc access!

[monkeynuts]

Well i've ordered a pack of that foam sound proofing, as just putting a hand on the side of my case quietens things down considerably!

My Nexus PSU was already very quiet, but i've changed the fan for an acoustifan which has made it even better...

...though i'm still not impressed with the noise of the fan i've currently got on the bracket over the flower cooler, so more investigation and trial and error needed there!

I've got a fanless graphics cards which helps things considerably!

Thanks for all the advice, much appreciated!

[scooby do]

Monkey,

Run you Fans at 5Volts +ve connected to the red wire of the molex, this will make the a lot quieter. If it runs too hot @ 5 then go for 7 volts:-

You use the yellow 12v wire as the power connector to the fan and use the red 5v connector as the fan ground. The fan sees the potential difference between the 12v and the 5v so is run at 7 volts.

Although some power supplies dont like working like this

See the following site for tips http://www.7volts.com/quiet.htm

Ps what you doing with your old 80Gb I need a cheap Hardrive for a build

[bibamus]

Perhaps you should think laterally about this. You have a lot of fans that create noise and want to use soundproofing inside the case , that will effectively insulate the case keeping the insides nice and cosy, so the fans will have to work harder to get rid if all that heat = noise.
As Dannyg81 says, most noise comes from the cpu graphics and psu coolers. So, why not do away with fans on the cpu and graphics card?
I had the same problem with heat build up and noise when I built an acrylic cased PC. No metal work to dissipate the inside heat, and I had 5 case fans as well as all the others.
I used watercooling to cool the cpu and graphics card with an external radiator and fan. ( This can be in another room or even outside) and I understand now, that fanless rads are available, so no heat or noise inside the case. I then changed my PSU to a near silent one ( Antec True Power).
My CPU ( a Barton cored AMD 3200) ran at less than 35 deg, inside case was less than 28 deg and it was pretty near silent. And watercooling using flourescent dyed water running through tubes in a clear case was pretty spectacular too!
Worth a thought?
Allan

[Media-Man]

More fans doesn't necessarily create more noise though

[bibamus]

Ah, but apart from the hard drives ( which are generally very quiet nowadays), the fans are the only moving parts and as such, they are the only things that create the noise in the first place.
Allan

[monkeynuts]

I appreciate that the sound proofing will indeed insulate the case and make things warmer, but it runs so cool anyway that even 10-15C rise won't make things unstable.

The main reason for soundproofing is the fact that the entire case is aluminium which doesn't bode well for noise!

There is a Lian-Li PC60 case in the classified that i'm tempted to try as an alternative to the wavemaster, as looks really don't bother me and maybe the more traditional design will help things....

Alternatively, can ayone recommend a good case that isn't silly money? e.g. around the £70-80 delivered mark?

[Media-Man]

Originally Posted by bibamus

Ah, but apart from the hard drives ( which are generally very quiet nowadays), the fans are the only moving parts and as such, they are the only things that create the noise in the first place.
Allan

Noise is relative to how hard they are working, not how many fans their are.

If 4 fans running slowly each generating 10dBA of noise shift as much air as 1 x fan running quicker and generating 21dBA of noise, the 4 fan system with be quieter as the total noise generated by all 4 fans (10dBA in ideal conditions) will be less than the single fan system (HDD's although quiet are still relatively noisy - Samsung spinpoints are 24-25dBA, and all HDDs can be especially noisy if not isolated from the chassis too well).
The mistake people make is they aim for fanless system, with the exception of the CPU (HFX cases excluded here). They can actually make their systems more reliable, cooler and quieter by adding more fans and letter them run slowly (this is why the Silverstone LC16m, LC17, LC18 and to a certain extent the Zalman HD160 are my current cases of choice - they all allow for multiple fans of at least 80mm). This will lower case temps which in turn allows you to run the CPU fan slower and you've guessed it, more quietly. Also avoid cooling the HDD at your peril. I've known too many 'stable' systems suffer from HDD failure even after several months of use due to the HDD being left to get too hot - it's all too easy to monitor CPU temps and sort out that aspect, but HDD's tend to get forgotten.

[monkeynuts]

I can vouch for the HDD temperature problem!

I had a Maxtor SATA in a silent enclosure.....which it didn't like! Oh and it's now very silent on my shelf!

I'm now using an older seagate barracuda that is suspended in a 5.25" bay and this seems to be a good safe alternative!

I'll have a look at the cases recommended as i like the idea of running more fans pref. 120mm nice a slow to get a good air flow through

Cheers

[monkeynuts]

Just had a look at the cases you mentioned and they are all extremely nice cases...but all HTPC orientated.

I appreciate that this is the quietest market sector for cases, but could you recommend any midi tower cases?

I've spotted this:
http://quietpc.com/gb-en-gbp/products/cases/p180
but it's a bit over budget but seems like a very cleverly designed case....

Thanks again for the help

You could try putting a larger heavy wooden casing around the entire PC with a removable panel at the front for access to the external drive bays and power switch. The wooden casing could be lined with some sound absorbant material (felt carpet underlay is quite good as it only has to dampen the sound waves and not stop the panels resonating). Leave enough room for ventilation and if necessary add some slow 150mm fans to the front/back to help push some air through

If the pc is still directly on the wooden floor then try putting it on suitably sized sheet of plywood that sits on a small partially inflated inner tube.

I see you haven't tried recording the noise and playing it back out of phase yet.

[monkeynuts]

lol, yes this does all get a bit out of hand!

and yes i am sad

[Media-Man]

Antec P180 is one I would have suggested (I'm bit cheaper than QuietPC) as I would the Silverstone TJ02 (1 120mm intake + 1 x 120mm exhaust) which is quite a bit cheaper (~£54+VAT)

What was your budget?

[monkeynuts]

Budget probably won't stretch to the Antec and not sure on the silverstone yet...can you PM a price for the Antec just out of interest?