my second attempt on silencing my DAW

[hexen]

hi,

new to this site, but wow
it looks awesome, it seems to good to be true that there is such an evolved and advanced site dedicated to this subject.

since i found this site (2 days ago) i have searched and read many articles already, but decided to post this since i have a few very specific questions.

first off, i have already tried to silence my DAW (computer used to record/produce music) in the past (year ago) and unfortunately had crappy results with the thing still sounding like a vacum cleaner

if only i knew about the existance of this website back then!

basicly in my original attempt; all i did was i bought a new power supply and cpu fan
and i also pulled out all other fans (case fans)

i bought a antec power supply (350 watt) which said "silent" on the box
....it is NOT silent

i also bought a cpu cooler which said it was "quiet" on the packaging
....again, far from it ! (louder than the power supply)

so now a year later the machine is still unberably loud with a annoying and very distinctive hum (which leads me to produce music in the same frequency asa the hum!)
but after reading some articles on here ive decided to try it again but this time with help from this community here, and im ready to buy some of the recomended gear (heatsinks, fans, powersupplies) but wanted to ask some questions first.

my machine is an old Athlon 2000+ (socket A) on a ECS k7s5a board (videocard is a fanless asus 6200)

1. i have a HUGE heatsink (not installed) my friend gave me called "Sonic Tower" by Thermaltake (designed to be used with no fan)
i have never tried using it in fear that my cpu might overheat.
is it possible to use this instead of a heatsnk/fan combo because the cpu is an old chip compared to todays standards?

2. if not, which combination of heatsink/fan is optimum for my socket A setup? it seems that the most recommended gear on here (ninja heatsink, nexus fan) will not fit my socket.
also it would be good to know whats compatible with my mobo and what would fit around the cpu

3. i noticed that alot of the fans and heatsinks are rated up to rating of 8 and 9, but that the power supplies top off at 7.
does that mean that there is really no point in getting a fan rated above 7 since the power supply will be louder anyways?

4. what is the general consensus on hard drives? is it true that samsung spinpoint drives are some of the quietest?

5. this question might be really obvious for most, but how do i check/monitor my cpu temperature? (is it something i have to install? its not having to go to bios is it?)

aside from my music computer (daw) i also have a REALLY OLD dell (pentium2!) that i use strictly to surf the net.
and as much as i am not a fan off dell, i have to admit that the old P2 is pretty darn quiet! sometimes i cant even tell if its on unless the harddrive or optical drive is working.
if i really listen to it i can hear a faint frequency in the upper range, but it is not annoying like the music machine

even if i could make my music machine SPL to match the old dell, that would be good enough for me

anyhow, i really appreciate any help

[miahallen]

hi,

new to this site, but wow
it looks awesome, it seems to good to be true that there is such an evolved and advanced site dedicated to this subject.

Welcome to SPCR!

1. i have a HUGE heatsink (not installed) my friend gave me called "Sonic Tower" by Thermaltake (designed to be used with no fan)
i have never tried using it in fear that my cpu might overheat.
is it possible to use this instead of a heatsnk/fan combo because the cpu is an old chip compared to todays standards?

Very effective heatsink, but not great in passive mode, the fins are too tightly space for good airflow at low air pressure. But it can still be relatively silent with a low speed fan installed.

3. i noticed that alot of the fans and heat sinks are rated up to rating of 8 and 9, but that the power supplies top off at 7.
does that mean that there is really no point in getting a fan rated above 7 since the power supply will be louder anyways?

One of the important factors concerning power supplies is that the are almost never running at max load, especially with your older hardware. All modern power supplies vary the fan speed depending on the heat being generated, and a good power supply with enough power will most likely run 24/7 at it's lowest fan speed, therefore remaining very quiet. This site rates products with the most stringent standards of any site I've ever found and a rating of 7 is by no means bad (just not the best). That being said they are rated considering all fan speeds, not just slow ones.

4. what is the general consensus on hard drives? is it true that samsung spinpoint drives are some of the quietest?

Yes, they are some of the best, but more important than brand, is mounting method.

5. this question might be really obvious for most, but how do i check/monitor my cpu temperature? (is it something i have to install? its not having to go to bios is it?)

There are many free temp monitoring programs available just google any one of them: speedfan, motherboard monitor, mbprobe (lightweight, good for older systems), systool, etc... Check their sites for motherboard compatibility.

Good luck!

[hexen]

thanx for the info miahallen.

is there more info about harddrive mounting on spcr?

is there a specific fan speed controller i should look at?

[butters]

Your Athlon XP may be into its golden years, but at a TDP of 70.5W, it's dissipating more heat at load than any of today's non-Extreme Core 2 Duos, and the difference is probably even greater at idle!!

The Sonic Tower is likely the best cooler available for Socket A. Everything better has dropped compatibility with this platform, and it seems that they're in the process of discontinuing the ST as it is. If you have room for a new platform in your budget, you can get much faster processors today that are also easier to cool quietly.

If not, it comes down to your case (enclosure), which you didn't specify. If you can mount two 80mm fans (an intake in the front and an exhaust in the back) or one 120mm fan as a rear exhaust, you should be able to cool your CPU and GPU passively without your PSU fan ramping up too much under load. You might want to replace your current PSU with a truthfully quiet model made by Seasonic (such as the Seasonic S12 series).

There are two main methods of mounting HDDs to eliminate a great deal of noise. The first is generally called "soft-mounting," which means that the disk and the mounting screws are mechanically isolated from the drive cage using soft silicone grommets. This will eliminate much of your vibrational noise. The even better solution is called "suspension," wherein you suspend the disks from the drive cage (or the drive cage from the rest of the case) using elastic cord. This gets rid of nearly all vibrational noise, leaving just the sound of the moving parts themselves. See this thread:

viewtopic.php?t=8240

If you want an easy way to buy into the latest in mainstream quiet PC technology, check out the Antec P150. It's hard to build a loud system in this case, and it comes with an HDD suspension system right out of the box.

[hexen]

thanx butters,

actually i stayed up till 6am ! yesterday just reading articles on SPCR (probably for about 6 hours straight)
i learned so much in one go - and read the review of the P150, as well as all 3 reviews of the P180, various reviews of heatsinks, fans, powersupplies, and all kinds of other related articles

i feel ALOT more knowledgable about the subject now and cant wait to build my next machine (which will be pretty much a copy of the SPCR/EPCN p150/solo build)
btw, i wonder how much difference in SPL there would be if i built the machine exactly as EPCN, but without the acoustifoam.

anyhow, sticking with the thread-subject, im not going to go crazy with the current machine (xp-2000) since it is such an aging system, but i do plan on making/demoting it to my next testing+internet machine, so i still want to make it considerably quiter (i will probably install the sonic tower and add a nexus case fan but probably leave the PS since when i silence the cpu fan with my finger, the overall noise isnt bad at all)
btw, the case for the system is a 'premium ez4000'
http://www.auction4it.com/lotimage/100/tn_ATXEZ4000.jpg
and i took out that plastic side panel circle thing so the inside is exposed by alot (since im not currently using any case fans)

also, i found this chart:
http://www.lostcircuits.com/cpu/xp_2200/3.shtml
it sais the xp2000 operates at maximmum of 60 watts (55 typical)

[hexen]

so would anyone recommend AGAINST NOT trying to run the xp2000+ passively with the SonicTower and only one case fan?

[miahallen]

Worth a try, just keep an eye on your temps