I was so close to acceptable, then I bought a WD5000AAKX...
Posted: Wed Jun 15, 2011 11:14 pm
For the past few months, for some reason I cannot explain, my computer has been driving me nuts. Something just "clicked" inside of my head, and suddenly I realized I was living with a jet engine. So I discovered silentpc, and a couple hundred dollars worth of stuff I never imagined buying, here I am.
I got my Seasonic X-560 and WD5000AAKX on the same day...one was the biggest improvement yet, but the hard drive...well, unbearable might be too strong, but I can't stand it. I have a couple of 120mm Noctuas (with the low noise adapter, of course), an Antec True Quiet 120mm (set on low of course) and an 80mm Noctua zip tied to my videocard (still waiting on my Gelid Icy Vision). I cannot hear any of them, except the 80mm when I'm gaming and set it to 100%...and even then, it isn't too bad. Really, I can't. I've stopped every fan and I honestly cannot tell the difference.
But the hard drive...it's a replacement for a 4 year old Seagate which developed a very annoying, very high pitched, constant whine, so I obviously had to get a new one. Naturally, I searched around these forums and read the reviews, recommended drives, etc., settled on a Caviar Blue because I heard good things and honestly couldn't imagine using a 5400RPM drive (and can't afford a SSD).
It's so loud, though! The seeking goes in and out...I guess that's what it's supposed to be like, but sometimes it'll be quiet and sometimes it'll go for minutes. That isn't my main problem, though, but rather...I believe you guys refer to it as "airborne acoustics"? Of course this is a constant noise, whirring and whirring and whirring. I know it isn't the vibration. I suspended the hard drive with some Stretch Magic like I saw in the pictures, and I can't really say that had much of an effect. When I touch my case I can't feel much of any vibration, suspended or not, so I'm sure it's the drive's whirring, and not vibrations, that is getting to me.
It bothers me SO much because I booted my PC with the hard drive unplugged by accident when I first got it, and it was so, so silent it nearly brought a tear to my eye before I realized what was really happening. I feel like I have reached perfection here, EXCEPT for the hard drive, and it's killing me.
So anyways, so sorry for the long-winded post, I'm just a little frustrated and wanted to tell my stories. Basically I'm asking for a recommendation? I'm returning the WD drive, I think, because I'm not convinced that any kind of enclosure will help. When I was looking for drives I completely looked right past the 2.5 drives....I don't know why, really...so I've been reading into those. I've also been thinking about 5400/5900rpm drives...my Seagate was 7200rpm, but 4 years old, so I figure maybe a 5400rpm drive 4 years later might not be such a decrease in what I'm used to?
I want silence, basically my top priority. If a 5400rpm drive is get-used-to-able, I'm willing to give one a shot. I don't want to deal with RAID or anything like that. This will be my only drive, so storage space is important, but I'm used to a 250gb drive so I don't really need 1TB or anything crazy like that (although I won't say no if the price is right). I'll be trying my best to read reviews and this forum for a while, just thought I'd make a post for once.
Edit: Here's what I've been looking at...
WDEARS drives. From what I've read, very quiet, high capacity, but still 3.5" so I dunno if it'd be a better option than a notebook drive. Also 5400rpm, but again, used to 4 year old 250gb 7200rpm so dunno if it'll be much worse.
Pretty much all the 2.5" notebook drives. I've been reading through the reviews, and besides the fact that a lot of them are kind of dated already, none really seem to stand out. I guess the WD Scorpio Blue, since it's recommended, and the Travelstar 5k500.B, since it's recommended, but again, none stand out. Was thinking a Scorpio Black. 2.5" but 7200rpm, don't really know.
Then one that really stood out to me, the Momentus XT. Obviously the fastest choice, I've read people saying it's not really worth it but that was when they were more expensive than they are now. Still, $99 for 500gb makes it the most expensive choice, but maybe worth it. Only thing keeping me from buying it is noise, because I've read mixed reviews - good silentpc reviews, newegg/amazon reviews seem to be conflicting on the noise front, but then again many of those people are on laptops which I'm sure changes the game.
So...yeah, decisions decisions! Right now I'm dealing with my old drive's high pitched whining, and it's driving me CRAZY, so I might not even wait for a response!
I got my Seasonic X-560 and WD5000AAKX on the same day...one was the biggest improvement yet, but the hard drive...well, unbearable might be too strong, but I can't stand it. I have a couple of 120mm Noctuas (with the low noise adapter, of course), an Antec True Quiet 120mm (set on low of course) and an 80mm Noctua zip tied to my videocard (still waiting on my Gelid Icy Vision). I cannot hear any of them, except the 80mm when I'm gaming and set it to 100%...and even then, it isn't too bad. Really, I can't. I've stopped every fan and I honestly cannot tell the difference.
But the hard drive...it's a replacement for a 4 year old Seagate which developed a very annoying, very high pitched, constant whine, so I obviously had to get a new one. Naturally, I searched around these forums and read the reviews, recommended drives, etc., settled on a Caviar Blue because I heard good things and honestly couldn't imagine using a 5400RPM drive (and can't afford a SSD).
It's so loud, though! The seeking goes in and out...I guess that's what it's supposed to be like, but sometimes it'll be quiet and sometimes it'll go for minutes. That isn't my main problem, though, but rather...I believe you guys refer to it as "airborne acoustics"? Of course this is a constant noise, whirring and whirring and whirring. I know it isn't the vibration. I suspended the hard drive with some Stretch Magic like I saw in the pictures, and I can't really say that had much of an effect. When I touch my case I can't feel much of any vibration, suspended or not, so I'm sure it's the drive's whirring, and not vibrations, that is getting to me.
It bothers me SO much because I booted my PC with the hard drive unplugged by accident when I first got it, and it was so, so silent it nearly brought a tear to my eye before I realized what was really happening. I feel like I have reached perfection here, EXCEPT for the hard drive, and it's killing me.
So anyways, so sorry for the long-winded post, I'm just a little frustrated and wanted to tell my stories. Basically I'm asking for a recommendation? I'm returning the WD drive, I think, because I'm not convinced that any kind of enclosure will help. When I was looking for drives I completely looked right past the 2.5 drives....I don't know why, really...so I've been reading into those. I've also been thinking about 5400/5900rpm drives...my Seagate was 7200rpm, but 4 years old, so I figure maybe a 5400rpm drive 4 years later might not be such a decrease in what I'm used to?
I want silence, basically my top priority. If a 5400rpm drive is get-used-to-able, I'm willing to give one a shot. I don't want to deal with RAID or anything like that. This will be my only drive, so storage space is important, but I'm used to a 250gb drive so I don't really need 1TB or anything crazy like that (although I won't say no if the price is right). I'll be trying my best to read reviews and this forum for a while, just thought I'd make a post for once.
Edit: Here's what I've been looking at...
WDEARS drives. From what I've read, very quiet, high capacity, but still 3.5" so I dunno if it'd be a better option than a notebook drive. Also 5400rpm, but again, used to 4 year old 250gb 7200rpm so dunno if it'll be much worse.
Pretty much all the 2.5" notebook drives. I've been reading through the reviews, and besides the fact that a lot of them are kind of dated already, none really seem to stand out. I guess the WD Scorpio Blue, since it's recommended, and the Travelstar 5k500.B, since it's recommended, but again, none stand out. Was thinking a Scorpio Black. 2.5" but 7200rpm, don't really know.
Then one that really stood out to me, the Momentus XT. Obviously the fastest choice, I've read people saying it's not really worth it but that was when they were more expensive than they are now. Still, $99 for 500gb makes it the most expensive choice, but maybe worth it. Only thing keeping me from buying it is noise, because I've read mixed reviews - good silentpc reviews, newegg/amazon reviews seem to be conflicting on the noise front, but then again many of those people are on laptops which I'm sure changes the game.
So...yeah, decisions decisions! Right now I'm dealing with my old drive's high pitched whining, and it's driving me CRAZY, so I might not even wait for a response!