Hello all,

I've finally finished my drive to shut the computer up. Here's my write up:

http://www.simonzone.com/hardware/quiet/

It's fairly long, (like this whole project, it got out of hand ) and is reasonably standard stuff most of the time, although there is probably some interesting stuff for the regulars here in Step 5 and 6 if you want to skim ahead.

any questions can be asked here of course.

cheers,

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Simon

Good job, very well done!

Kudos for step 6.

Have You tested with the HD fan in the back? Less noise in front, though You'd have to punch out that fan grill in the back and make sure that it sucks only air from the "HD compartment". On second thought, try moving the HD back as well (hard to mount...).

Cheers,

Jan

I haven't tried moving everything to the back. A couple points:

* The grill at the back in 92mm, I had a 80mm I wanted to use.
* IDE cable length is an issue.
* Mounting and suspension is an issue. (no cage there).
* I would still need a air intake at the front, which would channel and release a lot of noise from the fan and HD, IMHO.

Perhaps if I was better planned mounting in the back would have worked, but I'm happy with how it is now and don't feel like spending more time and money on it.

Does anyone know how to let air into a case, but not let noise out?

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Simon

Nice writeup.

One suggestion: you have the same HD as I do, and I found that while the Maxtor utility wouldn't set AAM mode, the Hitachi feature tool would. The difference in seek noise is incredible, and the performance drops only slightly.

simon you just need to move the fan to the back, leave the HD as it is now and leave the hole where the fan was in the front open (some dust filter wouldn't hurt i guess). the fan will suck the air from the front and push it out the back. theoretically the airflow should be the same but minor aspects like leaks or positive/negative pressure might change the results. the fan as exhaust will also remove the hot air which might leak up through your space age air isolation material

you could try that and monitor the temps

to let air in but keep noise out (err keep noise in?) you can use mufflers. mufflers have been discussed quite often and in many variations in the forum, just search for muffler(s).

Re:Hitachi feature tool -

I haven't tried setting any of that stuff up. Seek noise doesn't bother me enough to make me get of my butt and do it. maybe in the future.

Re: Fan

The grill at the back is 92mm vs my 80mm fan. But using a 92mm fan would probably mean greater air flow for less RPMs. I don't know what difference it would have if the fan was not directed right at the HD. But anyway, maybe something for the future if I get the urge again. (and the time).

I had a look at some of the muffler info. Seems to require a lot of room/space. I guess turning the whole top 3 bays and section of the case into one big muffler/wind tunnel is possible, with everything (fan, HDs) mounted inside along with insulation foam/material. But designing acustic 'filter' sections is probably a bit beyond me. (And they consume a lot of space from what I saw.)

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Simon