Killing noise levels

[joohang]

I am doing a mad research to keep the noise level down for my next machine, which I will probably build some time in December or when the DDR motherboards become more distributed.

Any ways, I plan to upgrade to a Duron 750+ and ABit KT7. I'll have a Maxtor 20GB hard drive, a cheap video card (not so power-hungry), 256Mb or 512MB of RAM, SB Live! and a CD-ROM drive.

The main use of the machine will be a web development machine, running stuff like IIS, Visual Studio.NET, etc. So it could get quite CPU intensive, but not as much as games. I also don't require a top-of-the-line video card, as I'm not into games.

First of all:
I could be wrong, but from my experience, 300W power supplies seemed to be much louder than 250W PS. So I want to avoid 300W PS if 250W can pump enough power for my new machine. UNLESS, of course, there are quiet 300W PS.

I was wondering if the Fong Kai 603 case really is quiet, as the AnandTech review stated. Also, is the Fong Kai 250W PS good enough for my use? What happens to a computer when the PS doesn't pump enough power?

Secondly:
I need to find a quiet CPU fan. I want to get a thermal controlled fan, similar to the ones found on laptops. So I want a quiet fan that can cool the Duron just enough so it doesn't overheat.

If possible, the level of noise I want would the level of Sony Vaio laptops. Or the level of old Pentium 166's that didn't require CPU fans (with pretty quiet chassis fan and hard drives).

I realize I typed very wordy, but I'll appreciate if anyone gives me a hand or shares his/her experience fighting PS/CPU fan noise.

 

[Hairways]

Joohang,

I know what you mean about the noise that modern PC's give off. Mine was driving me mad. :|

I haven't got that much experience with different wattage power supplies. My 250W power supply was very noisy so I ended up taking it apart and changing the standard fan to a Pabst 3412 NGL, which gives off 23dB. I also changed my case fan to another Pabst 3412 NGL.

When I mounted the case fan I put some spacers between the fan and the case and then built a baffle around it out of thick cardboard to ensure that all the air was still getting blown out of the case. After the spacers were put in place the fan seemed to get quite a bit quieter. I guess because the fan wasn't blowing again the metal of the case.

I've been happy with the Pabst fans that I've got, although if I was buying them again I think I'd buy the temperature controlled fans that they do. Panasonic's Panaflo fans are supposed to be pretty quiet too. I'm sure there are others as well but I don't have any experience of them.

There's a recent review of Socket A and Socket 370 CPU coolers on Anandtech. The quietest cooler was the JMC "Arctic Breeze Plus" which is temperature controlled. At the end of the review it says that the fan is not yet available in retail channels but if you're not looking to build your system for another couple of months then it might be available then. Also, its says that the fan isn't suitable for overclocked CPU's, as it doesn't cool them enough, but should be fine for ones running at a standard speed.

A good graphics card for you might be the GeForce 2 MX. Its pretty quick and more importantly for you it doesn't need a fan to keep it cool.

For reviews of hard disks check out the leader board over at StorageReview. When they review hard drives they tend to comment on the amount of noise they give off.

I'm going to try lining my case with some Dynamat soon. I heard some mixed reviews of it in the forums. Some people seem to say it made a huge difference and others that it made no difference at all. I guess it?s whether your PC is making noise because it vibrates (which the Dynamat should help to reduce) or just because of wind noise from the fans. It's only £15 a roll in my local car audio store which I don't recon is too bad.

Anyway, good luck with building the PC.

 

[joohang]

Thank you for your reply.

I am likely to wait for the Arctic Breeze Plus, since I do not intend to overclock. For me, noise level is more priority than gaining extra MHz. Nonetheless, it wouldn't hurt for me to know for alternative choices, like the Pabst fan you mentioned. Do you know any online stores that carry Pabst fans? I realize that you live in UK somewhere, but do you happen to know any stores that ship to USA or Canada?

About the GeForce2 MX, does it matter which brand I choose? I am not really into video cards, as I'm not a hardcore gamer, but did notice that there are different companies that manufacture this card. i.e. nVidia, Asus, Creative. In terms of their drivers and compatibility, which company is best? Also, this video card should be good enough for not-too-complex VRML rendering, right?

And lastly... what is Dynamat?

 

[hyperphate]

Dynamat is some material that you apply to the inside of your case to deaden internal sounds. There is some talk about an odor, but I hear that it goes away after awhile -- also a heavier case. There are some substitutes for it, like foam, some people even use cardboard, I've tried it, and it helped a little, but I ended up removing it because it made my case very cramped.

I am buying a new case (Addtronics 7896A fulltower) with new ps (Enermax 330W, supposedly a VERY quiet PS), fans (All Panaflo low noise L1A series), etc. and I am looking for the quietest way to do things. Of course I like this case because it's a nice case. It's probably not the quitest out there. If it were up to me, I would get one of these cases as seen on www.noisecontrol.de -- But I have not yet seen a site in English devoted to quiet computing with custom made cases -- and that is too bad because I would buy.. What makes these cases so special is that the drive bays are enclosed

So are these Papst fans even quieter than the PAnaflo's? Thermally controlled? wow.. That might solve alot of problems..

Here is what I'm considering:

* Low noise fans + ps, as stated above
* Hard disk enclosure to reduce vibration, like the Molex silentdrive, Which I can't find right now on Molex.com
* Dynamat, or some other type of proofing, maybe layers of it

Anything else I'm missing?

 

[Hairways]

Joohang,

The Papst fans I mentioned are not alternatives to the JMC Artic Breeze Plus. The Papst fans would generally be used as case fans whereas the JMC fan is a CPU cooler. I'm sorry if I didn't make that clear.

I brought my fans online at Maplins, which is an electrical component reseller here in the UK. They are very similar to companies like Radio Shack which I think have stores in the US and Canada.

In my opinion the brand of the GeForce 2 MX card is not really that important. nVidia are the company that makes the graphics chip that powers the card. Asus and Creative are companies that take the graphics chip that nVidia has made and build the graphics card. Usually companies such as Asus and Creative just follow the reference design the nVidia created when they launched the graphics chip. They sometimes have small differences like s-video outs or tailored graphics drivers that allow you to do certain things but generally they are the same. I use the reference graphics drivers published by nVidia for my Creative GeForce 2 GTS card (good card but noisier than the MX card because it has a fan built into it to keep it cool). Check out the recent review of budget video cards on Anandtech for the differences between the various cards.

I can't realy help you about VRML rendering as I don't know too much about it but I would have thought it would be Ok.

Hyperphate,

I don't think that there is a lot in it between the standard Papst (non thermally controlled) and Panaflo fans in terms of noise. If you go to the websites I quoted in my previous post, the spec sheets show the amount of noise that each fans gives off.

The Molex drive enclosures are a really good idea but you can only use 5400 rpm drives in them , or rather drives that give off less than xx watts of heat (I can?t find the reference on the website either at the moment). Since most hard drive manufactures don't seem to specify the amount of heat their drives generate in the spec sheets, Molex recommend that you only use 5400 rpm drives.

You can try setting your hard drives to power down after 3 minutes of inactivity in the control panel. That way you can tell how much they add to the overall noise generated by your PC. You might find that you don't need the Molex enclosure.

The noisecontrol website says that they are in the process of converting it into different languages, including English. Hopefully they wouldn't take too long doing it.

I think you're list has just about got things covered apart from buying low noise components (other than your PS) in the first place.

 

[itsmeeh]

i have a noise level problem too... it really gets on my nerves. but i cant find fans that are quieter and blows the same amount of air...

 

[Startide Rising]

If the fans are moving a lot more air than necessary, can you lower the speed of the fans by connecting them to the 5V instead of 12V? I've never tried it, but am tempted.

 

[Usul]

Try thislink, the article about Dynamat

 

[joohang]

What do you think about the products in www.quietpc.com?

 

[Hairways]

Itsmeeh,

Try looking for larger fans, e.g. 92mm or 120mm instead of 80mm. Due to their size they can spin slower and still move a lot of air.

 

[Jhhnn]

The idea of noise suppression as it relates to computers is pretty much a contradiction in terms, as there are way too many soundpaths available. Only a small part of the noise can be absorbed. Any noise created will pretty much find its way out of the case and into the user's ears.

Thinking in terms of noise prevention is more productive, and you seem to be on the right path.

Case-Anything with low restriction airflow-look at the SX-antecs for a good idea of how this works. This allows for wimpy, low-noise fans.

Fans-L1A panaflos, PCPower&Cooling Silencers, and some others, I'm sure.

PSU-Something with a reputation for quiet, preferably with a temp-controlled fan. I have an Antec PP-303x and an Enermax Eg351P-VE, both are extremely quiet. The standard Fong Kai (Enhance) 250w will likely serve your purposes, if you keep the system simple. No 4-drive RAID arrays, No GF2, nothing that dims the lights when you fire it up.

Vid card-Matrox G200,400,450. can't go wrong with one, they have excellent 2-D, and all the 3-D you'll need with low heat output.

Dynamat or similar-keeps the case from singing in harmony with the fans. I use Dynamat Super. Not a big noise killer, but a nice finishing touch to an already quiet system. Other tricks you can use include mounting the fans on grommets, and using soft rubber feet to reduce vibration trasmission into the desk or floor. Soft sound absorbing surfaces behind the computer help stop reflected noise, too.