Originally posted by: phantom309
Originally posted by: ChoppedBroccoli
Originally posted by: phantom309
Originally posted by: bamacre
Originally posted by: DaShen
Originally posted by: Glayde
How quiet are the 9100's?
They are super quiet. They vent through the front on the lower part of the case. I got on this deal a month ago. Good buy. Definitely recommend.
Agreed, 9100's are very quiet.
They have very big thermostat-controlled fans. If it's hot in the room, they're pretty audible, but at 70-75 degrees it is respectably quiet. I was a little disappointed with mine in this because I have some 400SC's out on the floor that are totally silent, and the 9100 isn't. You can hear it from 3 feet away.
I also had to shock-mount the drives because the case tends to amplify their seek chatter - even with Seagates. Can't hear them at all now.
I'm anal about this because I do recording with mine. In every other respect the 9100 is a superb computer, and the 820 dual core is a screaming deal for $100 more.
Cool...sounds exactly like what I need. The computer is generally quiet, but the HDD (the included 160GB Maxtor) noise is killing it for me! It is so loud. Any suggestions on how to make it quieter? Just use rubber padding or something? Let me know (YGPM)...EDIT: Guess you don't have PM enabled so just reply in the thread if possible. Thanks!
Also, will any SATA HDD fit in the case's drive slots...or does Dell use some proprietary system? (I am thinking of picking up a quiet Seagate SATA HDD when I see a sale for a 2nd HDD)
There's this rubberized mesh stuff that mechanics use to line the drawers of their toolboxes - you can find it at Wal-Mart very cheap. I have a pair of 250g Seagates in a mirror set. I took them out of their sleds, wrapped them once with the mesh, and stuffed them into the slots minus the sleds. They fit pretty snug; they're not going anywhere. The mesh allows air to get in there to keep the drives cool, but it also prevents the drives from transmitting noise to the case.
The improvement is dramatic - the drives went from being by far the loudest things in the computer to being basically inaudible. Zero problems with overheating after two weeks.
Any SATA drive will fit in a 9100 - but there are only two real drive slots. If you want to add more you gotta use the 5-1/2" slots with adapters. Or you can use the "phantom309 approved" method of velcroing the damn things anywhere there's room.