I just stumbled upon this. This guy is obiously another end of the spctrum than SPCR.
http://www.overclock.net/cooling-experi ... thing.html
Someone in that thread even claimed they made 135 d/BA computer, which I seriously doubt though.... But intresting contrats to SPCR in anycase. Just reading this made my ears hurt.
And it really made me think how good silent PC's really are. Not only it requires skill ( anyone can made computer sounding like tornado ) but its also art. And not to mention SPCR's will most likely suffer less noise based stress diseases.
There are silencers and then there are...
Moderators: NeilBlanchard, Ralf Hutter, sthayashi, Lawrence Lee
Dude seriously we all need some of these in our PC.
http://cgi.ebay.com/Lot-of-2-Delta-60mm ... dZViewItem
This fan defies the laws of physics, look at the specs!
http://www.xoxide.com/thermaltake-high- ... m-fan.html
http://cgi.ebay.com/Lot-of-2-Delta-60mm ... dZViewItem
This fan defies the laws of physics, look at the specs!
http://www.xoxide.com/thermaltake-high- ... m-fan.html
I've known a few people who go out of their way to make their PCs as loud as possible. They'll stick in the loudest fans they can find even when building a low powered media centre system for the living room.
I think it's more about appearing cool than cooling their PCs. Louder=more powerful and macho, if you complain about the noise then you're just a sissy. Real men use multiple 100CFM fans and blast loud music to cover it up.
One of my friends regularly uses super fast 120mm fans in his builds, cutting extra holes in his cases to fit as many as possible. When even that isn't enough power/noise he glues multiple fans together so that they run in series. Back in the Socket A days he tried to fit a couple of 200+CFM fans to a Si-97 heatsink. When it was turned on the force was so great that it bent the Si-97s heatpipes and damaged the CPU socket.
It seems crazy to me, but then he feels the same way about low noise computing. To each his own I suppose...
I think it's more about appearing cool than cooling their PCs. Louder=more powerful and macho, if you complain about the noise then you're just a sissy. Real men use multiple 100CFM fans and blast loud music to cover it up.
One of my friends regularly uses super fast 120mm fans in his builds, cutting extra holes in his cases to fit as many as possible. When even that isn't enough power/noise he glues multiple fans together so that they run in series. Back in the Socket A days he tried to fit a couple of 200+CFM fans to a Si-97 heatsink. When it was turned on the force was so great that it bent the Si-97s heatpipes and damaged the CPU socket.
It seems crazy to me, but then he feels the same way about low noise computing. To each his own I suppose...
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JazzJackRabbit
- Posts: 1386
- Joined: Fri Jun 18, 2004 6:53 pm
To a certain extent I envy them, especially the people who are happy to sleep near a noisy PC. Personally I find it hard to sleep if there's any continuous noise at all. Even a buzzing power brick at the other end of the room will keep me awake.JazzJackRabbit wrote:I took time to read entire thread, needless to say it was quite entertaining.
It would certainly make things easier and cheaper if I didn't bother how much noise my hardware made. I could use an off the shelf HDD video recorder, rather than building a low noise media centre. Or pack my system full of hard drives rather than using remote storage.
Then again I do value my hearing...
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JazzJackRabbit
- Posts: 1386
- Joined: Fri Jun 18, 2004 6:53 pm
Meh, consider quiet computers a better quality of living. Now you can listen to your music at a reasonable level instead of blasting it at full volume just to drown computer noise, or you can simply read a book without having to turn off your computer because its noise distracts you. Of course you have to pay a little more for it, but it's worth it.
Although I was really shocked when some people in that thread said they liked living near a major road because tire noise was soothing to them... Noisy computer is one thing, but noisy street by your house....
I also hate buzzing and whining power bricks because there is very little I can do to silence them. I have to unplug my cell phone charger from the wall each time it's done charging because it has this annoying high pitch whine. Antec MX-1 enclosure power brick is the same way, but at least I can tuck it in under my desk so I don't really hear it. My UPS has slight buzz, that I have to live with because I don't want to lose my work due to a power surge. Usually buzzing is amplified if you put the power brick on a hard surface. Had that problem with Yamaha speakers brick, drove me nuts for two years before I finally sat down and figured it out. I put some hard foam under it and 95% of the noise went away.
PS my next target is my sound receiver. I have Harmon/Kardon receiver and like all analog receivers it gives off slight background noise through speakers even when nothing is playing. Since I listen to music at low to medium levels the background noise is quite noticeable to me. Apparently all analog receivers give off this noise, so the only two solutions is to buy ultra expensive receiver with good circuitry that isn't noisy or buy digital receiver. Since I'm not willing to fork thousands of dollars for high end receivers I'm thinking of buying Panasonic XR57 receiver, it's a digital receiver and from what I have read they have zero background noise. Worth trying I think.
Although I was really shocked when some people in that thread said they liked living near a major road because tire noise was soothing to them... Noisy computer is one thing, but noisy street by your house....
I also hate buzzing and whining power bricks because there is very little I can do to silence them. I have to unplug my cell phone charger from the wall each time it's done charging because it has this annoying high pitch whine. Antec MX-1 enclosure power brick is the same way, but at least I can tuck it in under my desk so I don't really hear it. My UPS has slight buzz, that I have to live with because I don't want to lose my work due to a power surge. Usually buzzing is amplified if you put the power brick on a hard surface. Had that problem with Yamaha speakers brick, drove me nuts for two years before I finally sat down and figured it out. I put some hard foam under it and 95% of the noise went away.
PS my next target is my sound receiver. I have Harmon/Kardon receiver and like all analog receivers it gives off slight background noise through speakers even when nothing is playing. Since I listen to music at low to medium levels the background noise is quite noticeable to me. Apparently all analog receivers give off this noise, so the only two solutions is to buy ultra expensive receiver with good circuitry that isn't noisy or buy digital receiver. Since I'm not willing to fork thousands of dollars for high end receivers I'm thinking of buying Panasonic XR57 receiver, it's a digital receiver and from what I have read they have zero background noise. Worth trying I think.
Jazz,
I'd do a little more reading on the "digital" receivers your talking about. I assume you mean receivers with digital amplifiers. AFAIK, they are only silent (not hissing) when nothing is playing as the amps can be shut off dynamically. I have a Yamaha VX1400 from a couple years back and there is no hiss from it, unless it's produced by the source.
Digital amps tend to be very good (in efficiency and sound quality) in the lower frequency range where the quantization will not be noticeable (think mp3 sound quality). I'm sure Panasonic wouldn't make a crappy sounding receiver for that price, but you may be better off going with a higher quality analog receiver that includes more features and costs less.
Most audiophiles would agree that digital isn't always better.
I'd do a little more reading on the "digital" receivers your talking about. I assume you mean receivers with digital amplifiers. AFAIK, they are only silent (not hissing) when nothing is playing as the amps can be shut off dynamically. I have a Yamaha VX1400 from a couple years back and there is no hiss from it, unless it's produced by the source.
Digital amps tend to be very good (in efficiency and sound quality) in the lower frequency range where the quantization will not be noticeable (think mp3 sound quality). I'm sure Panasonic wouldn't make a crappy sounding receiver for that price, but you may be better off going with a higher quality analog receiver that includes more features and costs less.
Most audiophiles would agree that digital isn't always better.
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JazzJackRabbit
- Posts: 1386
- Joined: Fri Jun 18, 2004 6:53 pm
This is going a little offtopic, but as far as I know digital amps do not hiss because unlike in analog amplifiers the amplifying part is digital, so there is no circuitry noise that is always present in analog amplifiers.
I may be wrong of course, but it will probably be easy to find out. My sister has T-AMP with polk bookshelf speakers, I could probably crank out the volume and see if there is any background hiss. If cheap $30 T-AMP won't have any, it's a good bet that $300 panasonic won't have one either.
I probably wouldn't mind getting better quality analog amplifier, but like I said, first, I don't want to spend a fortune on it and two, I really don't need extra features that are tacked onto higher priced amps. Ideally I'd prefer good quality stereo amplifier, but they don't make those anymore. My current amplifier is Harmon/Kardon AVR-147, while not top of the line it is a definite step up from the budget sector. It retails for $250-300 and I got it for $200 on black friday, it's hard to beat the value, so I really don't want to spend $500 only to find out that the sound quality isn't that much better. However, I'm willing to try panasonic sa-xr57. Not every review on it is positive, but I don't see very negative reviews about it and most people seem to be satisfied with it. If it doesn't have background hiss then I think it's worth trying one. In the worst case I'll use the best one for music one and use the other one somewhere else.
I may be wrong of course, but it will probably be easy to find out. My sister has T-AMP with polk bookshelf speakers, I could probably crank out the volume and see if there is any background hiss. If cheap $30 T-AMP won't have any, it's a good bet that $300 panasonic won't have one either.
I probably wouldn't mind getting better quality analog amplifier, but like I said, first, I don't want to spend a fortune on it and two, I really don't need extra features that are tacked onto higher priced amps. Ideally I'd prefer good quality stereo amplifier, but they don't make those anymore. My current amplifier is Harmon/Kardon AVR-147, while not top of the line it is a definite step up from the budget sector. It retails for $250-300 and I got it for $200 on black friday, it's hard to beat the value, so I really don't want to spend $500 only to find out that the sound quality isn't that much better. However, I'm willing to try panasonic sa-xr57. Not every review on it is positive, but I don't see very negative reviews about it and most people seem to be satisfied with it. If it doesn't have background hiss then I think it's worth trying one. In the worst case I'll use the best one for music one and use the other one somewhere else.
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ist.martin
- Posts: 220
- Joined: Fri Jul 18, 2003 11:59 am
- Location: Vancouver, B.C.
Panny ..
JazzJack - I have been using a Panasonic XR45 - precursor to the current XR57 as the main amplifier in my office for about 4 years now. It gets played for 4-10 hours a day through some very top quality speakers.
There is no background noise at all, and the sound quality is very good. I care a lot about my audio quality (I cannot tolerate most MP3's for long), but I also apply common sense and spent a lot of time and effort ABX testing to see if I could hear the difference between more expensive components (never mind trying to decide which was better, I was just trying to identify them in a blind, SPL-matched test) .
It turns out, in spite of trying, I was unable to ABX-differentiate expensive versus modest cd players and cables/wiring. Higher power amplifiers can be ABXed from lower power ones, but not by price. In highly dymanic music, power does make some difference.
Speakers and room improvements are a totally different story. Any monkey can immediately differentiate them - the differences are significant. This is where 95% of the budget and effort should go, if sound quality really is the goal.
Bottom line - get the XR57 if you can afford it, I would be very surprised if you are disappointed.
Cheers,
Ian
There is no background noise at all, and the sound quality is very good. I care a lot about my audio quality (I cannot tolerate most MP3's for long), but I also apply common sense and spent a lot of time and effort ABX testing to see if I could hear the difference between more expensive components (never mind trying to decide which was better, I was just trying to identify them in a blind, SPL-matched test) .
It turns out, in spite of trying, I was unable to ABX-differentiate expensive versus modest cd players and cables/wiring. Higher power amplifiers can be ABXed from lower power ones, but not by price. In highly dymanic music, power does make some difference.
Speakers and room improvements are a totally different story. Any monkey can immediately differentiate them - the differences are significant. This is where 95% of the budget and effort should go, if sound quality really is the goal.
Bottom line - get the XR57 if you can afford it, I would be very surprised if you are disappointed.
Cheers,
Ian