hushing my loud PC. any ideas?
 

I suppose this isn't a problem, as much as it is a convenience thing.

I have a PC that is incredibly loud. I have heard newer dell-ish type PC's that are silent as can be.

My PC is currently housed in a cheapo 30 dollar case i picked up a few months ago and had lying around.

I have three harddrives which add to the noise quite a bit.

During normal operation, I don't mind the sound (although I wouldn't complain if it were quieter), but its when I goto sleep, and often end up shutting down the PC before I can get to sleep.

It isn't a rumbling or vibrating noise, it is just "normal" computer noise, but I figure if newer pre-built PC's can be silent, mine can too.

Are there any tip to keeping things a bit less loud? I don't want to break the bank on this one, but would love some suggestions or tips that would get this sucker to a managable decibel level at night without having to turn it off.

if you need any more specs from me, please don't hesitate to ask.


by the way, I haven't noticed any of the harddrives being particularly noise on their own, it's just the collection of them all.

If it's a Windows machine, take a look at your power settings. You should have the option of turning off your hard drives after some period of inactivity.

More likely, you have a fan forcing air through the power supply. Did your cheapo case come with a cheapo power supply? If so, consider replacing that component.

Good luck.

turning off your PC makes it as quiet as it can be =P

Past that the fans are most likely your issue, I have 8 fans in my PC and my GF cant sleep with it on at night. I could buy some double ball bearing silent types but im not donald trump over here. The hard drives shouldnt be too noisy, but as Peetster suggested, try setting your hdd to turn off after a few minutes and see if the noise subsides greatly. Past that upgrade your fans and your system should quiet down.

I doubt it's the hard drives that are the problem. It's probably the fans. You could either take some of those fans out, and leave them out, or you could purchase a cheap rheobus. It's a device that you hook all the fans into in one of your PC's bays. They have control knobs for your fans, so you could turn all your fans down to their lowest setting at night, when there is no activity. It renders your fans nearly silent. You could probably find a decent one under 20 bucks.

Something like this: http://www.xoxide.com/rheobus4port.html

yea, i know the feeling.

mine has 3 fans that are not connected to the mobo, but directly to the power supply and they will run even when the pc is in standby. :(

i'm thinking about investing in one of those fan controllers, but havent bothered to yet.

i shut it down before i go to sleep cuz its a power sucker.

For a long time I was all about extreme cooling and whatnot. I even put up with the Delta black label for over 6 months before losing it (for those unaware of the Delta, imaging a 60mm fan at 7000rpms).

After that I started the quest for a quiet but well cooled PC.

I started by dropping the voltage on all my fans to 7v. I did this at first just by combining the 12v and 5v leads, but that just made a mess with wires. I invested in a cheap ($12) baybus that had six switches with 12v, off, and 7v modes of operation.

I then bought a decent case. I had been using an el-cheapo aluminum, but that didn't mask any noise. I upgraded to a sturdy steel case with 1.0mm thick panels. That reduced a hell of a lot of noise. This case also has a very thick door over the optical drives, providing more noise insulation. Oh yeah, its a GMC Trinity X21.

I also got a decent power supply, but switched one of the exaust fans to a silent, temp sensing fan. I voided my warranty, but what the hell :D (/legal rant, don't fiddle around inside a power supply unless you know what you are doing or are willing to lose a finger, the large capacitors in there can store lots of juice for a long time. I am not advocating modifying power supplies so if you do I am not culpable for any damage you might incur to your hardware or your body /legal rant)

Lastly, I got some of that rubber/foam/no slip drawer liner stuff and glued it to the inside of the case panels. That reduced the higher pitch noises from the hard drives (two 7200rpm drives).

I have a total of seven 80mm fans in my case (2 front, 2 back, 2 powersuppy, 1 CPU) and I can barely hear my PC when its 3 feet from me.

Good luck!

Just what everyone else has said, its probably fans that are causing the noise. You can get a fanbus and replace your power supply which should help, also a better cause helps alot. Killing the harddrives are some inactivity will also cut down the ambient noise being put out.

a better case with a sound barrier may help some.

Besides the fan, you may also want to take a look at your cpu cooler. If you want something really quiet, switch it to a Zalman heatsink/fan. It generates about 25-26db of sound and that is pretty much silent.

I changed mine about more than 1 year ago. It is dead silent. Everything else is much louder and you finally realize that you need to quiet down all the other stuff as well.

Fans. Most likely the heat sink/fan. Thats whats usually so loud, and is also the most difficult to find a high-quality, quiet replacement.

My Heatsink is an Arctic Cooling Super Silent Pro, and its not too bad. I've got a fan on the back of the case that I'll try to switch on or off.

I didn't think of the fans being the source of the noise. thanks for the tips.

and thanks for that link to that controller. definitely seems like something to check out.

i have 5 80mm fans in my case and it can get a little annoying when im sitting right next to it, but its bearable

Nitrogen based liquid-cooling is the only way to go... tomshardware.com did it :)

I suggest getting an Antec steel case that has 120 mm fans. hey push a lot of air and are very quiet.

That would bring up another question. I've been meaning to buy a full tower case for a while now. I have three hdd's in there atm, and have 2 disks and another optical drive that I wanted to use but just dont have the space for.

Any suggestions on models of full tower cases that you'd reccommend? I'm not looking for super-high end, and don't necessarily care for how pretty it is, but i'll take all suggestions if there are any.

thanks for all the help folks.

My newest computer is a P4 3.0 in a SX1040BII Antec file server case......

$95.00 from http://www.newegg.com/

It's Pretty! :)

http://ashtonxxx.smugmug.com/photos/1779468-L.jpg

If you just have a bunch of hard drives, here is a "5 in 3" for IDE drives. It takes up 3 5.25 bays but fits 5 IDE hard drives. There's also "3 in 2"s if you need. I have a buddy with 2 of the 5-in-3's in his full tower. He got the tower used off ebay, around 85+20 USD for shipping.

Link for 5-in-3: (search for it on pricewatch for price)
http://www.cremax.com/mb810-ide.htm

hook all your fans beside cpu and powersupply up to a switch

when going to sleep, turn them off.

Bad idea.

Mosfets on the motherboard, also hard drives will still produce heat, right along with the CPU. If your power supply isn't good at exhausting heat its going to build up and cause problems.

All of that and also if your PC is housed in/on a desk it may be amplifying the noice.

Every little helps, but i know your problem, my PC is right beside my bed and i have to canel DL's before they finish to go to sleep.
And the dam user has always left when i wake up again. :(

Dynomat is always a good idea to quite a beast.

One thing that most people over look is vibration noises from the hard drive. Im sure most people will disagree, as i did, but its a good idea to mount your hard drives with rubber grommets between the chasis and the actual HD. It makes more of a difference than one might expect, especially with SATA drives.

Ashton:: Where did you get that volt/temp monitor?!?!?

The best website for quiet pc info is www.silentpcreview.com
As far as quieting the fans, I have found the Panasonic Panaflo fans to be the best combination of price, low noise and good airflow. They are available from Newegg and Directron. A good heavy case with thicker panels helps. I have heard that Brown Bread from www.b-quiet.com is a more effective, lower cost alternative to Dynamat, but I haven't tried it. Silent PC Review has all the info you'll need to quiet that PC though.

This looks pretty decent,

http://www.thinkgeek.com/pcmods/cases/6132/

I have about 8 fans in my system and 3 Maxtor drives. You have to remember that all harddrives are different and some are louder then others. I have 3 maxtor drives in my system and I can hear a pin drop because they are so quiet. I may have just gotten lucky but I have never had a noise issue until I put fans in my systems.

This seems like so much work.. I'm thinkin' of just telling the local computer parts store to customize a silent case for me.

It does seem like a mission. I'm thinking of putting it on the floor under my desk, and turning it off at night.

I don't want to rebuild the machine, because if I did, I would get carried away with upgrading.

Use a dremel tool and chop all the grills out of the PC's case and the Power supply.

Did that with my case and it is noticably quieter with increased airflow! PIV 2.0 Running with stock cooling @ 34 degrees celcius! I've lined the inside of my case with the foam that comes in motherboard boxes and mounted everything with rubber washers between the screws.

My PC's literally at the foot of my bed and all I can hear is a slight distant hum.

I'm studying the picture, looking for the sound barrier you mentioned before realizing it's your avatar. :lol:

mine is pretty noisy.. I have 8 cheap fans in it though
1 on the powersupply (noisy)
1 on the processor
1 on the videocard
2 on the back of the case
1 big one on the front (very noisy)
and 2 inside channeling air

the best I can say has been said: get a good powersupply fan
and any BIG fans.. put a control to turn the speed down while you sleep

but DO NOT CUT POWER TO THE PROCESSOR COOLING FANS! that is a very bad bad bad bad bad bad bad idea....


and just so I can show off... here's my case... yes I cut the window with a dremmel tool

and no I haven't painted the drives yet :rolleyes:



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