I'm making my first real attempt at making my pc quieter, silence might be hard to get with my budget and current gear. Anyway, I'm gonna lay out my plan and ask some questions, hopefully I can get some help.
First, my case (Antec SLK2650-BQE) has a single 80mm intake, I'm going to cut a 120mm in front, seal all airways in with aluminum tape otherwise. The inside of the case is going to be lined wth Wurth sound dampening material. The floor and ceiling with also have a layer of egg carton foam. My hard drives are coming out of their rack (I have 2 noisy WD-SE's) and going on the insulated floor in front of the 120mm intake fan. Video card has a Zalman V700-Alcu and is on 5V, so it's fine for now. The cpu is a Mobile XP 2500+ @ 3200+. I tried dropping the speed, but my A7N8X-E Dlx doesn't allow voltages under 1.575, so anywhere between stock and where it's at now yeild the same temps, so I'll leave it there. The cooler is a Coolermaster Jet 7+ copperbase, with a Vantec Stealth on it now. Plan is to lap the heatsink (it's pretty poor now) and use some OCZ Ultra 5+ paste for better transfer, remove the 80mm stealth, get a decent air moving 120mm on the back, remove the honeycomb grill and run an exhaust duct from the heatsink to the exhaust fan, hopefully temps should be the same or better than current. I'm using the stock Smart power 350-S, I'm going to open up the intake vents to get more air to it and mount it using rubber grommets between the screws and the case (stealing them from the unused 3.5" rack). Also I've got some earplugs I'm going to try and rig up to mount the two 120mm fans. And I'm going to replace the plastic feet with large rubber ones. I also plan to grab some cable sleeving and organize those to create better airflow, as well as an enermax fan controller I have kicking around.
Anyway, that's the plan so far, here are my questions . . .
Current temps are about . . . this is in a room with woodstove on right now btw
CPU 38°C
Case 24°C
HDD's 29°C each
I'm assuming that temps are going to go up with the decoupled drives and all the sound proofing, but I think these temps are fine for now. Will the exhaust being dedicated to the cpu be a problem though?
Should I remove the bottom section of the front bezel and use a mesh grill instead? Should allow more cool air, but may also allow more noise? Opinions?
I have two types of egg carton foam, one is soft and large cones, one is more rigid and smaller cones, I'm assuming the soft stuff would be better under the drives?
I'm limited in what I have access too as well, I'm a (very) poor college student, and just need some peace and quiet, so please don't suggest new parts, I just can't afford them as of yet.
I'll prob have some more questions once I get these answered, so please bear with me.
First (real) attempt at some silence
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I hate computers
Excellent; an SPCR project on a budget of zero- finally a real challenge!
Have you thought what fan to go for? Seeing as Nexus fans are out of the question due to price.get a decent air moving 120mm on the back
Your temps are great. I doubt the HD temps will rise by much.
Doubt it. However, how is the hot air from the HD's and vid card going to escape? Throught the PSU?Will the exhaust being dedicated to the cpu be a problem though?
Re: front bezel, leave it for now. If it becomes apparent that your rig is really struggling to get cool air in after the rest of the silencing mods are in place, then is the time to get out the Dremel.
Yes, the softer foam is best under the hard drives to absorb vibration.
I think you might be surprised how quiet you can get this thing with no cash outlay. To the silencing testbench Batman!
haha, I need a utility belt with Bat Anti-Shark spray to say thatTo the silencing testbench Batman!
I did a little poking and prodding this evening, the foam made a big difference, and while I was at it I tried one HDD at a time and found one was louder than the other. One is a black topped WD 80GB SE, the other the same, about a year or two older and silver. I looked online, seems the newer ones use a quieter motor?
Anyway, I checked, and between the two, I'm using 53GB's, no need for two I guess, so I'm going to take the louder one out when I tackle this and save some trouble.
Anyway, seems the loudest components are the HSF (Vantec stealth, not that loud), exhaust (Coolermaster Neon LED 120mm) and that one hard drive (worst part of all). So I have to focus on those areas. As far as exhaust, I only have the one 80mm in the power supply, I don't know if that will be sufficient, and the side panel has a 80mm hole for the air guide thing (should I cover that btw?)
I should probably look into a PSU with a 120mm fan shouldn't I?
It depends if you are going to use the PSU in the "exhausting case heat" role. This tends to make the power supply noisier than it might otherwise be, because the intake air is already heated. I was thinking you could open up all the PCI slots and have the hard drive and vid card heat escape that way, duct the CPU, and then the PSU only has to deal with it's own heat. If you want to exhaust case heat through the PSU, 120mm will probably be better at this than 80mm for the same amount of noise.I should probably look into a PSU with a 120mm fan shouldn't I?
There are lots of DIY hard drive enclosures floating around on the forums. Alleycat's gel pack + aluminium design is particularly good.that one hard drive (worst part of all).
If you decide to open up the PCI slots, yes. Otherwise no.the side panel has a 80mm hole for the air guide thing (should I cover that btw?)