I need suggestions for what to replace to quiet this PC down

[Special K]

I'd like to do something to reduce the noise of my current PC. Right now I have a Thermosonic Thermoengine, 2 case fans (1 says MAGIC on the label - I cant find a website for the manufacturer - anyone know the specs on this thing?) I cant quite read the label on the exhaust fan, but neither of these 2 fans seem to be what is making the most noise. I also have a fan on my northbridge and the fan that came with my GF2. I unplugged both of the case fans and started the computer up and the difference in noise was not very noticeable. My Sparkle 350W PS is what seems to be making all of the noise - the fan on that thing seems to be very loud. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to make this thing quiet? I wasn't looking to spend a fortune doing it, but I'm open to any and all suggestions. The case is an enlight 7237, btw, if it matters.

EDIT: Is it possible to just replace the fan inside the PS with a quieter one? Would that be a bad idea?

 

[mechBgon]

You can replace the fan inside the power supply. It would be best to do that only if you're comfortable working near the powerful capacitors inside... they could administer very nasty (possibly lethal) shocks. And IMHO you should solder the connections, which not everyone is skilled at.

If you're going to get a new fan for it, Panaflo L1A is what I use and have never had any issues arise. You could get an M1A if you wanted a bit more flow, or an Enermax adjustable-speed model so you can dial it up to suit your noise threshold.

You might try unplugging the fan on the Thermoengine for a second and see if that changes the noise level much. As far as I know, the quietest fan that Thermoengines come with, stock, is a thinline 21cfm Delta like this one, which runs 36dB and can't really be called "quiet."

 

[Special K]

I really don't feel comfortable replacing the fan inside the PS - I've never soldered anything in my life, and I don't think it would be a good idea for me to try. With that said, would my only other option be to buy a whole new PS - such as one of the QuietPC power supplies? And what would be a good fan to replace the fan on my Thermoengine? I was doing some reading and came across the panaflo fans - are they better than the QuietPC fans? They seem to be noticeably cheaper. Do they make a panaflo for HSF units?

 

[optimistic]

Yes, I'd buy a new powersupply.

Powertronics brand is very quiet.
Codegen I think it also quiet.
I have an Enermax 300w seems to be quiet at first, but the fan then speeds up and get noisy after 20min of use.

 

[Special K]

Anyone else?

 

[whitelight]

i'm going through a quieting my pc down phase also, and this is what i did. i replaced the 80mm fan in my psu with an enermax adjustable fan (now on its lowest setting), and ran the 3pin connection out of the psu (through the hole where the 92mm fan used to be and plugged it into the mobo fan header). then i took off the hsf off my video card and replaced it with the heatsink from this hsf unit.. after that, i replaced the 92mm fans in my case with enermax adjustable fans (again set on the lowest setting) and finally replaced my taisol hsf, with an alpha pal8045 because it offered great cooling with a low cfm 80mm fan. my computer is pretty quiet now, and to get it to the quietest possible setting, i'll have to replace the hsf on my north bridge with a larger heatsink and replace my harddrive with a seagate barracuda iv.

and if you don't want to replace the fan in your psu, you can purchase the new antec truepower psu's. they're supposedly very very quiet. and if that's too loud for you, you can take out the 92mm fan and i'm sure it'll still perform fine.

 

[DrVos]

I really don't feel comfortable replacing the fan inside the PS - I've never soldered anything in my life, and I don't think it would be a good idea for me to try.

You dont really have to solder, though it does make things tidier. You can just snip the wires leading to your psu's fan and either cap them or seal them with electrical tape. Then install the panaflo (or whatever fan you choose) and run it out with the rest of your power fans. Its a relatively simple mod, and not difficult at all. Just make sure you dont touch the capacitors!

 

[Special K]

Does anyone here use a QuietPC PS or case fans? How are they? How do they compare to the Panaflos?

 

[Pheran]

Originally posted by: SpecialK
Does anyone here use a QuietPC PS or case fans? How are they? How do they compare to the Panaflos?

See this thread about the QuietPC PSU.

 

[Jhhnn]

The fan on the thermoengine is likely the noisiest thing in your box, depending. Find out by turning off the 'puter, opening the side panel, holding the fan so it can't spin, and boot from a floppy. (I like to use a floppy for this stuff because shutdown/restart is faster.) Get a feeling for the noise level, then let the fan run to compare the before and after. You can do this with the psu fan, too, using a pencil or similar. No components will be damaged if you keep a fan immobile for less than a minute or so.

Identify the loudest source of noise, work on that first. Noise adds up logarithmically, the loudest source being by far the most important. All the others just add to it in small ways.

 

[Special K]

I did some testing as suggested by Jhhnn. The loudest component was the fan on the Sparkle PS; second was the fan on the thermoengine. Next were the case fans, which seemed to be even louder than before after I silenced the PS fan and temorarily unplugged the fan on the HS. Finally I unplugged everything except the vid card fan and northbridge fan; the PC was then virtually silent; I could actually hear the HD making noises, haha... I thought the 60GXPs were silent before..

With that said, should I:

1. mod my PS with a panaflo fan or buy a new one (quietPC or antec truepower)? You mean I can get a lethal shock from the capacitors inside the PS even if it has been unplugged and set aside for a long time?

2. replace my 2 case fans with panaflos or quietPC fans? The panaflos are significantly cheaper...

3. replace the fan on my thermoengine? Can I buy a fan separately from the HS? My temps are fine right now and I really don't have any need to get a whole new HSF unit.

4. is the northbridge fan on my A7M266 really necessary?

 

[Jhhnn]

1. Replacing the psu fan is extremely easy. Shut down, unplug the psu from the wall socket, hit the power button a coupla times to (mostly, anyway) discharge the capacitors. After you get it out of the case, remove the screws that hold on the cover, unscrew the fan, disconnect the wiring. If they're soldered to the board, leave a few inches to work with. strip about 1/2" of insulation off the wires, twist red to red, etc., tape the joints back against the wires. Reassemble. You really don't have to touch anything else inside the psu if you're careful, don't do this barefoot on a concrete floor. At your own risk, of course.

2. Panaflos are very good fans, and cheap too. They usually don't have the right connectors on the leads, though, so some wire-working skills are necessary. The adjustable Enermax fans are also well-regarded, haven't tried them myself.

3. Replacing the fan on the thermoengine is more problematical, just because it's easy to go too far. KDcomputers carries a fairly powerful quiet 60mm SanyoDenki fan that I like, but they're expensive and it's hard to say if it would be sufficient. A mid-20's cfm sunon would probably do a decent job. Less cfm= less noise, higher temps in general. Just the way it is.

4. The northbridge fan is pure eyecandy- lots of boards with that chip just use a waffle-pattern sink, no fan at all.

 

[Pheran]

You definitely don't need the northbridge fan; I suggest replacing it with a Zalman ZM-NB32 heatsink.

 

[Special K]

2. Panaflos are very good fans, and cheap too. They usually don't have the right connectors on the leads, though, so some wire-working skills are necessary.

They don't have the right connectors on the leads? I thought they were all either 3 or 4 pin.

3. Replacing the fan on the thermoengine is more problematical, just because it's easy to go too far. KDcomputers carries a fairly powerful quiet 60mm SanyoDenki fan that I like, but they're expensive and it's hard to say if it would be sufficient. A mid-20's cfm sunon would probably do a decent job. Less cfm= less noise, higher temps in general. Just the way it is.

Since the HS unit is less than 60mm long, how would I attach a new 60mm fan since the screw holes on the HS wouldn't line up with the holes on the fan?

 

[iampants]

well, if you wanted to be really cheap, you could just solder a few resistors to your fans-- I wouldn't try this for the CPU fan, obviously, but it'll work great for case fans!
I used 30-ohms for a 120mm case fan, and that slowed/quieted it significantly, you should be fine with just 10-15 ohms each fan. I don't know about the PSU fan, I don't have the guts to try that one yet...
although I guess it would be possible to play with the PSU and add much more passive cooling, thereby cutting down the need for such a large fast fan... just a thought.

 

[whitelight]

They don't have the right connectors on the leads? I thought they were all either 3 or 4 pin.

some are bare wire and some have 2 pin connectors on them. but the website you're buying it from will tell you what type you are getting.

 

[Jhhnn]

Unless you have some model of thermosonic I've never heard of, it has a 60mm(2-3/8") fan, somewhere between 10 and 25mm thick. The psu and case use 80mm(3-1/8") as standard equip.

 

[Special K]

Yeah you're right Jhhnn - it's a 60mm fan. I don't know what I was thinking earlier. Panaflo and QuietPC don't seem to carry 60mm fans - what would be a good, quiet 60mm fan to replace the thermosonic with?

 

[Jhhnn]

I suspect that you have the low profile fan, 10-15mm thick. If so, this fan will deliver almost identical temps with less noise-

PicoAce

Like I said, not cheap. Or this one, won't perform quite as well-

Adda

 

[Special K]

Thanks for the suggestions. I originally bought this computer from Monarch Computer, and had no idea at the time that it would be this loud. If I replace all of these fans and the PS I may come close to eliminating all the money I saved by going with them over Dell in the first place, and I know the Dell would have been quiet to begin with. Oh well I guess if decide to buy (or maybe build) a custom pc in the future ill know to research all of the cooling methods/components used first.

 

[tracerbullet]

Link

There's what I did, in a long story.

I'd start with Panaflo's in the back of the case, and see if they don't make you happy. Maybe the CPU setup next. None of it requires soldering.

 

[Special K]

I actually just got done reading your story after I came back and read your reply to my message. You gave a link to the place where you bought your panalfos - they were $17 each. Someone else gave me a link to a place that was selling them for only $7 each. Do you think the augmented fans were worth the extra money over the standard panaflos?

 

[doraemonxo]

i believe u can find panaflo's at www.bgmicro.com or at http://www.svcompucycle.com

the later site also has their own cheap fans which dish out more cfms but with slightly more noise. @$3, it's worth a try.

 

[Special K]

Jhhnn - on that second link you posted (the ADDA fan) I noticed that they also carry a model that is only 16.1 dBA, but also only 13.2 CFM. Do you think that would provide adequate cooling?

 

[Jhhnn]

The low flow adda would probably be inadequate. Like I said before, it's easy to get carried away.

If the psu fan is the noisiest, fixing that will do the most good. Otherwise, you're just chipping away at the edges of the problem.....