Best solution to quieten HD noise ??

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cosmic023

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Hi All,

Well i'm looking to build a new HTPC at a later date, something around a P4 2.8 or 3.0.

But the problem i have is it's gotta be silent as it'll be in the main room, the noisiest thing is my WD HD's. (10.2gig & 80gig)

The seek noise is acceptable, but the spindle noise isn't.

I've seen a few thing's here @ Quiet PC.

The thing is they run too hot to fit into a drive enclosure, would anyone recommend one of the other devices ??

Or do you have any other suggestions ?? And i'm trying to use the same components out of this build, and just change the mainboard, CPU and memory to keep costs down.

Cheers

Cosmic023

Current Spec:
Q-Technology 350w PSU
Gigabyte GA6-IEML Mainboard
PIII 1.0ghz CPU with Quiet PC CPU cooler
512mb 133mhz SDRAM Memory (1 stick)
ATI Radeon 9500 Non Pro 128mb
WD 10.2gig & 80gig 7200 HD's
Pioneer 105sz Slot DVD Drive
Pioneer 120s Slot DVD Drive
 
HI m8 this may sound realy stupid but why dont you try elastic bands and hang the hd on
 
Hi Slim,

Really ?? :confused: No wind up ?? :(

Have you got this to work then ??

I was looking into mounting them into a 5 1/4 slot with these things from Quiet PC

Cheers

Cosmic023

Edit: But then i think it quietens the seek noise, and not spindle noise correct ??
 
Elastic band suspension will do nothing for idle noise of drives, it might help with seek noise and vibration but the whiney high pitched idle noise won't be helped at all.

I have just built my HCPC (which is always on and in my lounge too), at first I went with a pair of new samsung spinpoint SATA drives, believing them to be very quiet. To say I was disappointed is a massive understatement, they whined like hell:( To rectify this I managed to get hold of a seagate barracuda IV from ebay (unused, £39 for a 40GB one) and its perfect, seek noise is just about audible but not annoying, there is absolutely NO idle noise at all.

TBH I'd recommend this route as the only way to get a quiet HD. There simply aren't any quieter 3 1/2" drives than barracuda IVs - just make sure its a IV you get though, 7200.7's and 5's are not nearly as good. I just stuck the SATA drives upstairs and use them over the network which is fine.

Also, Rob, I'm not sure that SATA drives are inherently any quieter than PATA ones.

HTH
Owain
 
Mine is, and every other one i have fitted, so im pretty sure they are, how many have you used ?
also satas use less power and therefor dont heat up as much therefor they can handle being "muffled" better.
 
Mine is, and every other one i have fitted, so im pretty sure they are, how many have you used ?

Don't want to get into a flaming session over this, one of the things that makes this forum so much more pleasant than avsforum.com is that it is a lot less spoilt by people with big egos :)

All I can say is that of all the hard drives I am currently running at home (10) the only one which could come close to actually calling itself silent is the barracuda IV (obviously a PATA drive given its age). This seems to be borne out by the extensive research that's done over at www.silentpcreview.com. Apart from going for a 2.5" notebook drive there simply is no better drive than a barracuda IV. Admittedly I have only personally seen the two SATA drives which I have described in my earlier post, but I've never seen anywhere a test which shows that, say, a spinpoint 1614C is quieter than a 1604N. If you have a link or something I'd be interested, similarly if you know of any SATA drives which are quieter than a barracuda IV then I'd be delighted, please let us know if you do, I'm sure a lot of others would be interested too.

Why do you say that they are less power-hungry, this isn't something I've come across either. Any links for this?

Cheers,
Owain
 
Thanks for the info Guys.

Well if that's the with the HD's, I'll have to build a soundproof box to put the PC in then.

If that's the only option i've got to go on, as i said in previous posts i'd rather not change the drives because the 80gig i've only had since xmas.

I do agree with Owain 'tho on the Barracuda drives, as i've used them before and they are very quiet. I have thought about doing a small raid setup, for streaming music & DVD's, so i might have to rethink about this solution at a later date ??

Cheers

Cosmic023
 
Another option suggested to me was to get a new quiet single drive for the HCPC and stick the SATA drives in a USB 2 enclosure, this can then be put in a cupboard or somewhere it won't be as annoying, it would mean spending a bit more but is probably the quickest and most effective way of getting a truly quiet PC. Costs would be around £40 for a barracuda IV and maybe £25-50 for the enclosure.

Just a thought,
Owain
 
Cheers Owain ,

Yeah i did think about that as well, becasuse my current PC will become the Internet PC and that PC will be in another room.

Use a small SATA drive 40gig to run windows, and a few basic programs....and a small storage area.

Still looking at networking both machines and streaming the movies off the internet PC via the WD HD's ?? 1 Gigabit Lan was a thought, but then i've read somewhere that there is way of using USB2 to connect 2 PC's together.

Is this correct ??

Cheers

Cosmic023
 
Yeah I'm sure you can use USB2 to do that (not done it myself though). Plain old 100MBit networking over standard cat5 would be more than enough for streaming DVDs to a client PC, you could acommodate several streams with that TBH. Setup costs would be very small too, <£10 for a NIC (if your MB doesn't have onboard LAN) and about £20 for 30m of cable. Gigabit would definitely be overkill, doesn't mean you shouldn't do it though ;), just that it might not need to cost you that much.

Having considered all the options myself after my disappointment with the samsungs I have to say that small amount of storage on lounge PC, linked by cat5 to a larger PC with lots of storage was the only way to go, cheapest, simplest and most expandable.

Owain
 
Many thanks again Owain:

I wasn't sure about basic networks, with DVD streaming.....but then i'll have both machines with basic 100mbit connections (Once i've built the new HTPC !!), so that's settled then.

I'll keep an eye out for a Barracuda IV of around the 40gig mark, to go in the new HTPC build !!

That's that one solved then !! ;)

Cheers

Cosmic023
 
All,

I have a LMP case, Q-technologies psu, Zalman mahooosive cooler, and fan mates. The hard drives are still the noiseyest (sp?) components, i am running 2*80Gig barracuda IV's. My system is quiet, to the extent that if i have my window open during the day i cannot hear it, though at night, it is still audible with silence in the room - playing a movie at "night time" levels, makes teh PC inaudible.

I confess to not trying to put any passive soundabsorption in teh case, i think it could really help - just to say that getting something totally silent isnt as simple as just getting the components, it all depends on how long youll take, and what you class "silent" as.

my system is pretty silent during the day, but most certainly isnt at night.

HTH

Stu
 
Cheers Stu:

Well my next HTPC build needs to be almost silent (Read whisper quiet) So when your watching a movie, that the noise of the HTPC doesn't affect your viewing !!

I've made a few differences since my last post, i re-flashed my 120s drive with new firmware and that drive is silent now. (unlike the noisy 105s which sounds like a helicopter !!)

Looking at a 2.8mhz P4 with a Asus P4P800 mainboard for the new HTPC, i think that would be a good base build. Or then i could wait 6 months and see how these 64 bit CPU's come along ??

I think a Barracuda IV HD would be whisper quiet, over the noise of my exsisting WD drives. I've read the new fluid bearing WD HD's are very quiet. But then that's overkill getting a 120gig drive just to put windows XP on it !!

Sorry for my rambling.............. ;)

Cheers

Cosmic023
 
Originally posted by rob12770
Mine is, and every other one i have fitted, so im pretty sure they are, how many have you used ?
also satas use less power and therefor dont heat up as much therefor they can handle being "muffled" better.

Sata hdd's ARE P-ata hdd's. Its that simple, the only difference is the interface - sata hdd's have a p-ata > sata bridge built in.

They do not run inherently cooler, the do not use less power as a whole, and they definatly are not in any way quieter than P-ata hdd's. Take a look at the 10k sata raptor and then tell me its quieter than a pata hdd.

The tech is one and the same for both types of drives so your theory is completely throw out the window. Now it may be that you bought say, baracuda HDD's, which are well known to be VERY quiet. They are also available as p-ata drives.

Edited by moderator - Kramer
 
http://www.digit-life.com/articles2/seagate-barr-sata/

It should be noted that Seagate is the only company that doesn't makes SATA drives out of the parallel drives by simply using a bridge. Just have a look at the photos.

EVERY other manufacturer uses the exact same drive for both their sata and pata versions.

Edited to remove inappropriate comments by moderator - Kramer
 
removed - Kramer
 
Anyway, again the verdict here is go with the 'Cuda IV. Wether its a sata or pata drive is irrelevant, just make sure you get the 'Cuda Iv as said before..
 
Originally posted by rob12770
flaming great

NO, not flaming great.

I will not be editing either of your comments again. I suggest familiarising yourselves with the rules again & especially this one:

Members of these forums must not:

1. Post libellous, INSULTING, antagonistic, racist, aggressive OR otherwise ABUSIVE REMARKS about any individual or company either within forum posts or the PM system.

Any more of this behaviour & a ban(s) will ensue.
 
Originally posted by Kramer
NO, not flaming great.

I will not be editing either of your comments again. I suggest familiarising yourselves with the rules again & especially this one:

next time i wont bother reporting somebody for flamming at me:(
 
Reporting a post/thread does not entitle one to then induldge in rule breaking themselves.

You've both been warned & I certainly am not wasting any more of my Sunday night watching the two of you throw insults at each other.
 
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