Help quieting down the system..

[Daniel]

I'm not looking for total silence, granted it would be nice but I'm realistic, at this point both pcs are just way too loud. I built a dual p2 350 the other day with a antec 250 watt ps and its easily 1/3 of the sound of these if not quieter. I'll give my specs.

pc 1:
Duron 650@950
gc68 with 80mm fan
antec sx1030 w/ 1 antec case fan in, 1 out
2x western digital 20 gig drives

Over the last week I moved from an antec ks282 w/ 300 watt ps and a agilent articooler trying to quiet this thing down a bit, I don't notice a change at all, I thought the power supply on this 1030 was supposed to be fairly quiet but when I stop each other fan I don't hear any difference, could it be the ps, if not are these antec case fans that come with the case very loud by themselves?

pc2
Duron 1 gig
gc68 with 80mm fan
antec ks282, with 1 sunon case fan going in
1 maxtor 20 gig drive

Today I went from a fop32-1 with a ystech fan to the gc68, swapped the case fan from some generic one to the sunon and swapped the 80mm fan in the ps with a more quiet one, and still I hear no difference, same question as above... can it just be the ps itself, shouldn't I have a fairly quiet system at this point?

thanks,
Daniel

 

[Witchfinder]

The key to a quieter system is efficient cooling as you get to use larger slower fans to keep it at the same temps.. the ideal arrangement Iv`e discovered is to have an over-powerful PSU with a temp controlled fan in, one or two slowish intake fans and a good 3000RPM 40ish CFM (Panaflo?) or two slower exhaust fans right near the CPU with minimal restriction through the case.. My setup is actually quieter than my BX based server now and I can hear the heads on my HDDs!. .

If the GC68 is as good as they say it is, a 3000RPM Panaflo should almost freeze a 1gig CPU without any hassle and not much noise, in an ideal situation you should be able to cool that with a 21CFM virtually silent real slowie.. the way to test which fan is making all the racket is to hold a piece of tubing to your ear and move it around the fan positions to hear them, some cheapies can whine even a low speeds (AddAs are terrible for this). The PSU is usually a good culprit (that`s what makes all the noise in the server) that`s why I got the heavy duty Macron PSU, it`s fan spends most of it`s time running at about 100RPM

 

[mcvan]

Two articles will interest you:

<a class=ftalternatingbarlinklarge href="http://www.silentpcreview.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=Sections&file=index&req=viewarticle&artid=15&page=1" target=blank>Run a Power Supply without a Fan?
</A>
<a class=ftalternatingbarlinklarge href="http://www.silentpcreview.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=Sections&file=index&req=viewarticle&artid=9&page=1" target=blank>Quieting the Enermax & other thermistor fan PSUs
</A>
Come to think of it, just about everything at www.silentpcreview.com will be of interest

 

[Daniel]

Thanks for the suggestions I'll look into them today.

 

[poppasp1ce]

check that maxtor. unplug it and power up.

 

[ltfields]

How about sound insulation? Does anyone know of good sites to get thin soundproof materials? I was thinking of sticking some to the inside left and right panels of my case, but the only sites I've found sell in quantities of around 1000 square feet of material. Just like Daniel, I'm not looking for miracles, but every little bit can help...

Thx

 

[mcvan]

RE: thin soundproof materials. Best to think about what you're trying to achieve:

1) Block / reflect the noise -- very difficult with thin PC case panels. Obviously, it happens to some degree. Only real way to improve this is add mass & density & thickness. I tried 1/2" medite board where I could in one PC. Glued a large piece with silicone to the left side panel. Helped a little, but didn't seem worth the trouble.

2) Absorb noise. Stuff like foam, fiberglass. Works best on highs, a little less well on mids, not at all on lows. Thickness has to be limited; concentrating on areas around noise makers is good. Remember that sound is like water, if there is a gap, it comes through.

3) Dampen vibration. Stuff like Brown Bread or Dynamat. (do a google search). This stops panels & other parts inside the case from vibrating in sympathy with the moving components, ensures stuff like fan and drive vibration doesn't get converted to extra noise. There is a surprising amount of this kind of resonant noise in a PC. You'd be surprised. (NOTE - review of Brown Bread coming soon at www.silentpcreview.com -- check there for more noise reduction tips.)

 

[Daniel]

<< check that maxtor. unplug it and power up. >>



I tried that too, it did lose some of the whining sound. I replaced all case and ps fans with some quiet nmb 80 mm fans I got from the fs/ft board. Even with the hard drive unplugged it was still pretty noisy considering I would think it would have been near silent, very strange. I built a dual p2-350 little server for my parents off a bit ago and I can't even hear that thing running, only difference seems to be the 250 watt ps, even with the different fan can the PS be generating a noise or what else could it be?

 

[mcvan]

Identify the noise source by process of elimination. just pull the plug on each noise maker one by one & find one. If you're scared for your CPU, rest assured that a few seconds without the fan will not hurt anything if the HS is on.

One you have id'd the problem(s) then you can do something. If it is the PSU, you may have to do more than just replace the fan; you may have to slow it down. See these articles...

<a class=ftalternatingbarlinklarge href="http://www.silentpcreview.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=Sections&file=index&req=viewarticle&artid=15&page=1" target=blank><FONT face=Tahoma color=#000080>Run a Power Supply without a Fan?
</FONT></A>
<FONT face=Tahoma color=#000080>Quieting the Enermax & other thermistor fan PSUs</FONT>

 

[Pheran]

Daniel,

You don't mention what motherboards you are using, but if they have northbridge fans be sure to check those out. Despite their small size they can be obnoxiously loud, as the one on my KT7-RAID was until I ripped it off and replaced it with a Zalman ZM-NB32 heatsink. Also, as mcvan suggests, simply unplug everything and try things one at a time until you find the noise source.

 

[Daniel]

The two boards are a k7s5a and a msi k7t pro2a, I should check about fans on them I never even thought about that.