Silencing my system journey

Dru · Post by **Dru** » Mon Aug 12, 2002 2:32 pm

I finally received all the components for suppressing the noise from my PC. This was my original setup with manufacture dbA in ():

AMD Athlon XP 2000+ retail (stock fan from AMD)
Soyo SY-KT333 DRAGON Lite (dbA for M/B chipset fan unknown)
Antec KS282 Case
comes with Antec PP303XP 300W PS (dbA unknown)
and Sunon 80mm KD1208PTB2 Case Fan came with case (32 dbA)
VisionTek Xtasy GeForce3 Ti200 (dbA unknown)
Pioneer 16x DVD-115 (max 70 dbA)
TDK CDRW 40x12x48x (dbA unknown)
2 Western Digital 30gig 7200rpm drives run in RAID 0 (max 38 dbA)
(and other misc PCI card non-noise producing h/w not worth mentioning)

Here are the noise makers from most annoying to quietest:

Pioneer DVD (makes no noise while idle, but while spinning in use, it's horrid!)
AMD stock CPU HSF
VisionTek GeForce3 Ti200 (during bootup makes an awful noise)
Sunon Case fan
Antec PSU
WD Hard Drives
M/B chipset fan

At some point, I'll replace the DVD drive but since I don't have CDs in there too often, it's ok for now.

I'd have to say the most annoying "constant" noise came from the AMD stock fan for the CPU! This beast was freakin' loud! This one item caused me to investigate into making the computer quieter. I initially bought the ThermalTake Volcano 6cu because it claimed to be only 31 dbA and has a copper contact. I doubt it is 31 dbA because the fan noise blowing onto the heat sink was almost as loud as the stock AMD fan. I then replaced "that" with the Zalman CNPS6000-AlCu. I am using the fan mate with it. At the max of 2,500rpm, it was too noisy for me. At 1,500rpm, it was silent! I did want more airflow so I kept adjusting the fan speed until the noise started to annoy me. I finalized at 2,000rpm. Me happy now! =) With the Zalman HSF at 2,000rpm, my CPU runs at about 94F/35C with the case open and idle. With the case closed, it runs at 105F/40.5C at idle. Keep in mind that I do run CPUIdle Pro which does keep the CPU running about 10F/5C cooler while idle (I was skeptical at first). With the CPU pegged for awhile, the CPU can get up to 128F/53C. Anyone know "at which temp" one should worry about the CPU getting too hot/high?

The next item I replaced was the Antec PSU. I bought a Zalman ZM300A-APF PSU. I'm glad that it was the 2nd gen. model from them. The PSU is very quiet! I am impressed!

Replacing the case fan was an interesting task. I tried 2 other ones before I got the right one. I replaced the original Sunon with an Antec 80mm 3pin Case Fan. It claims to be 30 dbA. It wasn't silent but wasn't bad either. The wind noise was higher than expected. Next, I bought a Vantec 80mm Stealth Fan with 21 dbA. It was somewhat quiet but the motor had a strange higher pitch noise. I could barely make it out. Since I knew it was there, it bothered me. It wasn't that loud but the Antec fan without wind noise was quieter. I finally got a Zalman 80mm fan with 20 dbA in silent mode (1,700rpm). I think running it at normal produced some noise so I'm fine with the silent mode.

My GeForce3 Ti200 makes a very loud/whining fan spin noise for about the first 15-20 seconds during a cold boot. I don't know why this is but it always goes away after several seconds. There is some constant fan (wind) noise coming from it while the PC is on but it is mostly suppressed when the case is covered. I "might" get a slot fan for 3d cards and remove this the fan on the 3d card sometime in the future (no hurry).

The fan on the m/b is pretty silent.

I now hear the noise from the 2 hard drives (very minor) - which isn't that bad expect during disk access.

I am now sold on Zalman! I'm sure there are better products out there but I'm happy with the 3 Zalman components I purchased!

You read this whole thing? Well, it did take time to write it up. I hope this thread is somewhat helpful to some of you out there seeking quiet solutions!

Here are a couple of pics below of my PC internals:

Dru's Quiet PC Pic1
Dru's Quiet PC Pic2

Dru · Post by **Dru** » Mon Aug 12, 2002 2:32 pm

Round 2: The Journey Continues..

I did a lot of fan stopping/listening to isolate different sound levels from various components in my PC. I've now eliminated the M/B chipset fan, GeForce3 Ti200 card fan, and Zalman 92mm fan that came with the Zalman Aluminum/Copper combo HS (shown in the picture link below from left to right). The video card fan was the loudest. Next was the chipset fan, and then the Zalman 92mm fan. The fanmate which I used with the 92mm fan is the right most item in the picture.

Dru's now removed noisy fans

I've now put in 2 Panaflo 80mm fans (based on a lot of reading on this web site). These puppies are pretty quiet. I have 1 of them above the CPU HS and the other above the video card and motherboard. I've attached the 2nd Panaflo to the Zalman bracket using just a nut and bolt (cheap!). I still have the Zalman 80mm fan which draws air outward on the back as shown in the picture below. To me, the Zalman 80mm fan is quieter than the Panaflo but only when the Zalman is in its so called "silent" mode. But! It doesn't push as much air as the Panaflo. Basically, I like the extra CFM of the Panaflo without any "real" noticeable increase in noise. Notice there's now just a HS on the M/B chip (picture from the above post shows the fan). Also, the 2nd Panaflo blows over the video card (notice the blue HS on the video card in the picture).

Dru's 2 New Panaflos Added

So, now with the temps. CPU temp while idle with the case open is 95F/35C. With the case closed and idle CPU, the CPU reads at 105F/40.5C. I have yet to peg the system for awhile to see what the CPU max temp hits.

The last noisy components are the 2 WD 30gig hard disks which "whine" while idle(I notice it now that the rest of the system is quiet)! The seeking is pretty annoying, too. I plan to order 2 Seagate Barracuda IVs within the next 2 weeks to replace these (woohoo! can't wait!).

**Signing off for now**

Post by **MikeC** » Mon Aug 12, 2002 2:32 pm

Looks like you're well on the way there <IMG SRC="modules/phpBB_14/images/smiles/icon_smile.gif">
 
 There is an IBM noise muffling software that works on most WD -- they were sharing the same technology (and even identical models, really) for a while. Can't remember whether we've got it in the software links section, but you should be able to find it at IBM still. Usually helps.
 
 Then try suspending the drives in elastic or resting on soft foam if you don't move your PC around. It's super easy & cheap to do & usually makes a big difference in noise. Check out the articles about HDD in the <A HREF="http://www.silentpcreview.com/modules.p ... es&secid=4" TARGET="_blank">mods & projects</A> area. There are 3 of them, all worth reading.
[addsig]

Dru · Post by **Dru** » Mon Aug 12, 2002 2:32 pm

I read the articles and like the suspension idea. However, I will just buy the Barracudas because I like the fact that they are quiet in "stock" form. I'm not a "my PC must be perfectly silent" guy.. so I can deal with an near but not completely silent system.
 
 
[addsig]

Dru · Post by **Dru** » Mon Aug 12, 2002 2:32 pm

Received my 2 Seagate Barracuda IVs... But! I found out these puppies don't perform well in raid! DUH! So I took the advice from a forum topic on storagereview.com and called Seagate. They want me to ship them my 2 Cudas. Once they get them, they'll send me the Raid firmware ones. Mine say firmware 3.19 and Part # 9T6002-003. According to their forum info, the Raid ones are firmware 3.51 and Part # 9T6002-304. I have to pay the shipping to send the drives but they will pay the shipping for sending out the Raid ones. I'll let you know what happens.

I also decided to replace my internal ribbon cables with round ones. I read the mod project here about mod'ing the case so I did it, too... to see if that would change the noise from the back fan. It's funny because the removed grill looks like a ninja weapon. The fan itself doesn't make noise but it makes the noise passing through the case grill. I've found that there really wasn't any real change in noise! I probably wasted my time but it was interesting to try. I used simple tool cutters to remove the original grill. You can see the pics below.

Since there wasn't any noticable change in noise, I disconnected the case fan and see if the system stays stable. Only the Zalman PSU is blowing air out of the case. So far, so good. Also, with that lower fan off, the system is quieter. I can barely make out the Panaflos inside the case.

Case Stock Grill
Grill Removed
New Grill added
Rounded cables

Dru · Post by **Dru** » Mon Aug 19, 2002 3:59 pm

Ok. My 2 40gig Barracuda IVs have arrived. It took a total of 2 weeks to get the raid "friendly" ones (3 days to ship there, 1 week for Seagate processing, and 4 days shipped back).

I'm glad they came in because these WD drives are "still" driving me crazy! I'll install them within the next day. My guess is my system will be fairly quiet after this. This should be my last "quiet system" modification.

As people have said, the part and firmware #s are different for these Raid "friendly" ones. Here's a picture of the label on one of my new Cuda drives.

Dru's Raid Barracuda IV's Label

Dru · Post by **Dru** » Wed Aug 28, 2002 1:37 pm

I put in my new Cudas a few days ago. The first thing that came to mind was why did I ever have those 2 Western Digitals in the first place?! These Cudas (noise-wise) blow the WDs out of the water! They are quieter than I expected them to be.

I bought 2 40GB Cuda IVs instead of a single bigger drive because I wanted to run them in Raid 0 (striping). Also, I bought the single platter ones since overall, they are probably quieter than running 2 2 platter drives.

I ran a program on my 2 7200rpm WDs (were also in Raid 0) with a program called HDSpeed (don't recall the link but it says "George's Disk Performance Test v0.14"). The new Cudas had about the same performance but with "slightly" better Sequential performance. So, having these quiet drives doesn't hinder the Raid performance. Thank goodness we can have both a quiet "and" speedy drive!

I did not get a chance to test the non-raid-friendly Cudas I had since I had to send those in before getting the raid friendly ones. I sent them in without even using them at all. I just went by what others said on other forums about running these drives in Raid.

Again, I'd have to say the noise from having 2 Cudas is almost inaudible. The Raid performance is great! I still wonder how much noise difference there'd be having 2 2platter Cudas instead. It probably would still be pretty quiet, but I was shooting for "as quiet as possible".

Next in line will be the DVD drive replacement for my PC. I might be getting that Sony model that's mentioned in another thread here. I can wait on that for some time, though since the system is overall pretty quiet.

Lastly, I did notice the Zalman PSU does give off a little more noise when it needs to exhaust heat at a faster rate (not too often). So, now the PSU is once again the loudest component in my PC (when the DVD drive isn't in use). Still, the system is much quieter than my original system.

Till next time..

Dru · Post by **Dru** » Thu Jan 09, 2003 10:08 am

I actually replaced my DVD/CDROM drive a couple of months back. From the experience, the main thing that has been silenced is the reading of DVDs (well, DVD movies). During the spin up of reading a DVD, there's about a 1-2 second sound emitted I imagine from the rotational acceleration? But during constant viewing of a DVD movie, it's pretty silent.

For normal CDs, I still get the standard spinning noise but the noise feels somewhat less than other standard drives emit.

Oops... didn't even mention the drive. It's a Liteon LTD-165H. I got a good deal on it. It was $40 with free 2nd day air shipping a couple of months back. I think it's about $44 now. I bought mine at GoogleGear.com with the direct link here. I don't work for them but do buy from them from time to time. I have had no problems with them.

For an update on the airflow in my system:

Rear fan exhaust: Zalman 80x25 (5V) * nice and silent
Fan over HS/CPU: Panaflo 80x25 (~7V-9V) (using Zalman Fanmate 1) * can hear when case is open and barely audible when closed
Fan over GeForce3 Ti200: Panaflo 80x25 (5V) * silent
Fan in Zalman 300 PSU: standard fan * only very minor air exhaust sound

Athlon XP 2000+ temps
idle: ~48-52C
load: 58C

Like some others, I can now hear the 2 40GB Barracuda IVs seeking! It's still pretty quiet to me, though.

I really don't plan on silencing this computer any further. My next silencing project will be building a new PC.

Silencing my system journey

Silencing my system journey

Raid "Friendly" Barracuda IVs