Can't believe I've missed this thread...

From newest to oldest:
Dell 2209WA - Very quiet, high-frequency whine. Brightness does not affect it, but the image modulates the volume. I can usually hear a bright picture, while a dark image is effectively silent. Annoying when I notice it, but even a slight background noise masks it completely. Outstanding picture quality & connection options for the money.
Panasonic Viera TC-32LZ800 - Typical LCD power-supply buzz. Brightness setting makes no difference. Much louder from behind the display with line-of-sight to the vents. Noticeable from 4-5 feet in normal usage with a quiet ambient. Has an excellent picture.
Dell 1905FP - Dead silent. Picture quality nowhere near as good as the newer IPS panels above.
Dell 2405WFP - Far too loud; returned for refund.
Iiyama Visionmaster 450 - Moderately loud buzzing & ticking sounds. Quieter than a typical 3.5" HD, but louder than any of the above LCDs. In fairness, this CRT was 5+ years old before my PCs became quiet enough to notice the noise. The IPS panels completely surpass this monitor in every way except black level.

(Emphasis mine)

This is a critical piece of information for all who read this thread. Readers new to SPCR might think the hardcores here completely OC and off their rockers; in reality, the main difference is how much quieter the rest of our gear is that we notice things like low level buzzing/whining from things like monitors, AC adapters, CFL bulbs in our homes, etc. Are we better served by our near-silent gear? Some might say no; noise is everywhere in the modern world, better to learn to live with it. Most here say yes -- our homes become havens from the madness beyond.

That was a year ago. Interestingly, this monitor has stopped making any audible noise at all. I think the whine disappeared at least 6 mos ago. Hard to know precisely, because usually, brightness was set at 90% to keep the whine from becoming audible. Now, even at 100%, there's nothing.

I wonder if similar "break-in" period during which whine disappeared as been noticed by other users?

How often do you find yourself hiding out in The Chamber?

Not often. Only when I really need to catch up on some sleep and it's noisy in the neighborhood -- construction is a big reason, mostly of properties being redeveloped here and there.

Evident from this thread is that there's a certain amount of sample variance when it comes to buzzing and/or whining. I don't want to say this thread is useless as a result but there's no guarantee that the unit you bought won't make noise if someone in this thread said their unit was free of noise. And you might get a proper functional unit even if someone here has stated that theirs was making noise.

My experience confirms this as I've had three units of the same Viewsonic VP2030 model of which two, while functioning normally and looked ok from the outside, were noiseless, and one, which was malfunctioning and had a crooked backpanel was making high pitched whine that is effectively absent from the other two samples. I'm not sure if there was something physically broken inside the unit or if the noise just leaked through the imperfect build of the LCD or if it was for some other reason.

Also, I use the sliders in the GPU driver to adjust gamma, brightness and contrast to my liking. So maybe, if your LCD or whatever whines, but you find a brightness level through the OSD where it doesn't, leave it at that level and adjust it through the driver. I don't know if this will get around the problem though and frankly I'd be surprised if no one thought of this.

Here are my obervations (all at normal viewing distance)


I've personally owned these 5 monitors:


Samsung 151S (outdated 15", TN panel): constant high pitched noise below +/- 75. Normal brightness was around 70, at night I would turn it down to a comfortable 55-60 but the noise would become unbearable then (got louder). I had a not-so-quiet PC back then, but the Samsung easily beat my PC in noise, even at 2-3m distance.

Eizo L795 (19", PVA panel with 10 bit lookup table): completely silent, at all brightness levels. I was so happy to get rid of the noise of the Samsung 151S when I got this monitor. The Eizo only makes noise after I switch it off: the casing and components make some cracking noises for say 15 minutes (=cooling down); not a problem for me. Power consumption is 52W at brightness = 70.


NEC LCD224WM (22", TN panel): my first widescreen lcd. Starts making medium-low hum below 70, but it gets higher and louder when brightness is switched lower. Not as bad as the outdated Samsung 151S but still audible in a quiet room.

Dell 2407WFP rev. 2 (24" S-PVA panel): I really had high hopes when I got this monitor; big and beautiful, lots of real estate, high quality panel. But unfortunately it too made a high pitch noise at normal brightness (which for me was below 40-45, anything above was too bright). Also the heat that came off the monitor was significant. Power consumption was 62-65W, too high for my taste.

Other monitors that I personally know that make the backlight inverter noise are the Acer AL2216W and the Samsung 2333HD

I'm currently still using my silent Eizo L795, all the other monitors have been sold. But I'd like more working space so I'm looking for a (silent) widescreen.

From all my research on the internet throughout the years I've found that Samsung monitors are the worst in the noise compartment, except when they have a closed case + external PSU (=no ventilation holes).

So I'm currently looking for a new monitor that is
-at least 23" (and widescreen)
-has a VA or IPS panel
-has a black bezel
-consumes less than 50W, preferably much less (at normal settings)
-is known to be silent, at normal settings
-is matte, not glossy
The monitors I'm looking at now are the the Dell U2410 (reportedly noisy), HP LP2475W (mixed reports), NEC LCD2490WUXi2 (unknown, the 26" version reportedly produces a slight hum), Eizo S2433WH or WE (unknown), the new NEC EA231WMi (unknown).

Unfortunately there are hardly any monitors out there that have BOTH a high quality panel (IPS or VA), AND a closed monitor case (=external power supply, =no need for ventilation holes, = noise can not escape from the monitor components). To me, this is just disappointing and frustrating. The manufacturers just don't seem to understand. They should either make sure to use a silent backlight inverter in the first place, or make sure that it's not audible by building something around it within the monitor, or produce the monitor model in such a way that it has an external power supply.

Most Eizo monitors are said to be silent, but I've read some complaints about (just) a few models, including the new Eizo EV2333WH in particular.

I know that there are now some (newer) monitors out that have an external PSU (LG W2284F, W2486L and W2286L, AOC V22, Fujitsu Q22W, Samsung P2370 and XL2370 and the just released Acer S243HL that reportedly consumes just 17W) that have an external PSU but most if not all of them have TN panels.

I think that most LED-backlit monitors are silent, as I haven't come across any complaints about noise yet. But all affordable monitors that use LED backlight have... TN panels.

Dell SP2309W: High pitched whine unless at maximum brightness.

LG - 2442: Medium-High pitched whine when brightness is set below 90%. Inaudible when at max brightness

Samsung T260

Was perfectly silent for the first couple of months. A couple of days ago it started an annoying buzzing sound at brightnesses below 100%. Seems tempramental and sometimes it's possible to find a sweet spot at medium brightness where it doesn't buzz. But currently I'm trying to get used to 100% brightness until I get I get Samsung to fix it on warranty.

Samsung 2233RZ - No noticed sounds at 40cm in front. Getting the ear near back 5-10cm near vent holes a faint high pitch whine is present at any brightness, no noted changes when changing brightness, changing brightness does give a bit of lower frequency "beep" , which is only present during changes.
Highest ambient noise is the HTPC ~4m away with 7200RPM seagate and ~800 RPM Noctua.

Samsung SyncMaster 245T - loud buzzing when MPA off. When MPA was on, the buzzing turned quieter but could still be clearly heard. Unfortunately, MPA caused visible flickering, which made this screen intolerable in desktop use. In game console/movie use from a distance of 2 meters or more, the buzzing was tolerable. This was the older, S-PVA model, purchased in January 2008.

Samsung SyncMaster 2494HS - very quiet, at least in my environment which consists of a MacBook and a not-so-loud home server in the neighboring room. In a totally silent room, I can hear a very, very faint buzz. But it's nearly silent.

I swapped my 245T for a 2494HS and went from "annoyed to the extreme" to "very satisfied" (even though 2494HS is a TN panel with worse viewing angles).

Sceptre X20WC 20.1" 5ms Widescreen LCD Monitor with Speakers - the monitor does exhibit a weird flutter/whine/warbling sound that undulates for several seconds, then goes away for a few seconds, then repeats. It's quiet enough that having a small fan (as in an appliance, not a computer fan!) running nearby masks the sound completely. There is an odd aspect to it as well: when the monitor is busy drawing an image, such as when one opens a new window in an application, the noise completely stops... then when the screen draw completes, the noise begins again. It may be coming from one of the speakers, cannot be sure on that.

Samsung 2343BW: pretty loud, very "tonal" whine, easily audible at a normal working position at anything but 100% brightness. At first I thought one of my Raptors was finally giving up (which I would more or less welcome from a noise perspective ) but after powering down it turned out to be my brand-new screen (to my horror). I'll get a second one next week or so, will report back.
EDIT: the second one is just as bad, for now I have reduced brightness through the drivers but image quality/color depth seems to suffer...
EDIT2: lowering the brightness through software killed the black levels, instead I reduced the R/G/B intensities on the monitor OSD to 0 (default 50) while leaving the brightness at 100. This way, the screens are bright but acceptable.

Pico-review:
+resolution (2048x1152) is great, >100dpi ditto, pivot stand works well, actual power switch (at the back though)
-touch buttons suck, not sold on the 16:9 format (coming from 16:10 24"), stand is not very stable, max. height adjustment is nowhere near high enough.

Samsung SyncMaster 2494HS
Pretty much silent as long as brightness above 88. This is a problem as its a VERY bright screen, so I adjusted brightness in software on my 4870 instead to about -65 (equivalent of 45 on screen).
Now its OK. Below 88 the whine is terrible, no way - no way. Sounds worse than my fluorescent desk lamp which is pretty bad in itself now due to the increased draw on my PSU on the local ring main .... time to start a computer lamps thread!
Apart from that - great screen. Seems like all Samsung screens have similar issues, though a lot of it is likely dependent on country and power (110v vs 240v). I am in UK. The screen is the EDC version if it helps, which is more eco than the older version apparently.
I find it stange that the 2494HM version has been reviewed many times but no comment on the whine. Is everyone else in the world deaf?

Samsung T240HD
Samsung T240HD is a 24" TN panel running 1920x1200 (16:10).

Very, very loud if below 92 brightness. 92 and above is quiet. The problem is that anything over 80 brightness is like staring at a tanning bed.

It interested me that there is a distinct "switch" in sound from 92 to 91. At 92: no sound. 91: sound. The sound increases in volume and irritability as the brightness goes down, with 0 being the loudest. The sound is a wonderful mix of high pitch whine mixed with loud buzz. The built-in speakers have no affect on the sound. The sound is simply unbearable, there's no other way to put it. Headache inducing.

Unfortunately I purchased it from NewEgg and they have a Nazi no return policy on monitors. It's a shame because I've purchased from them many times in the past without hassle. I will not be purchasing monitors from them again. I called Samsung support and they will fix it under warranty (it's brand new), but it's all handled via mail and will take roughly 2 to 4 weeks to complete. Uh, what am I supposed to do with no monitor for a month?! So I'll be selling this on craigslist for a loss so I can get something else. All I want is a quiet 1920 x 1200 24" monitor. Any recommendations?

Fumble, Have you tried reducing the brightness within Windows GFX drivers?
Catalyst Control Center on my ATI 4870 lets me reduce the brightness - if it wasn't for that i would be at a loss.

It is fine now. the only issue is if I ever connect a non PC item via HDMI I won't have that control, but that's unlikely anyway.

I think you will find the same issue on most Samsung screens TBH. Unless they have external brick as discussed.

Thanks for the tip, but I'm on a Mac and lack software-controlled brightness. It's unfortunate that customers need to resort to "tricks" like that. Hey manufacturers: 1) Don't assume all of your customers will want the brightest setting (which is almost always too bright) 2) Don't put brightness controls on in the first place if your monitor will buzz when they're used 3) If you do, please be honest and label it the "brightness/buzz volume" button.

For now, I can only compute in front of this monitor with my fancy in-ear headphones in to block out the sound. I'm just glad I have those

I am sure there is some app you can get like this:

http://download.cnet.com/Brightness-Con ... 33945.html

Yes your right it is crazy. Cheap power supplies I guess!

EIZO FLEXSCAN SX2761WK
27" S-PVA panel running 1920x1200 (16:10).
Observed at 0.5m distance with a very quiet environment.

Makes a slight humming noise when brightness is set 0-50 or 75-100. When brightness is set to 50-75 no humming can be heard. However a slight slight electrical buzzing can still be heard of which I've never heard any monitor to be completely free from.

I'm running it with a brightness of 60 and I'm happy with both picture and noise.

Prad review (claims no noise):
http://www.prad.de/en/monitore/review/2 ... 2761w.html

Viewsonic VX2262wm: Totally silent no noise, humming, buzzing at 50% brightness .

Samsung P2070: 100% Totally silent at 50% brightness. Also the external psu does not make any sound. Unbelievable!

Samsung T220: Very annoying humming, buzzing or whatever you call it. It starts below 99% brightness. When 50% its louder.

*I have 4 Nexus 120mm Real Silent case fans +seasonic s12 330

Samsung 2494HS nice and quiet and no issues.
Benq G2400W the same as above nothing against it sound pollution wise.
Acer X233H before I got that one I often wondered what the fuss was about but as soon as I fired it up I understood. Terrible whine/buzz unless brightness is set to 100%.

Has anybody used Samsung XL2370? Is it noisy?

Now I use Samsung 2333SW, it produses little noise on 100% brightness and loud when brightness is lower then 98% It is unacceptible for me. The problem is that there is no XL2370 in our shops stock, so I have to order it from Russia So I need to be 100% sure it is silent.

LG W2600H-PF

Quiet enough that I would recommend it to anyone who values silent computing. Also very good monitor overall.

It is not completely silent though; there is a very subtle humming that (interestingly) does not change significantly accross different brightness levels (I use it at 41%). This slight humming is easily covered by the ambient noise (computer, lamps etc - note that I consider my ambient noise fairly silent). It obviously comes from the back (the vent holes) of the monitor where you can hear a buzz far more easily. Sitting in front of the monitor and considering other ambient noise, I can barely hear it, if I try. After four months of using this monitor (sorry for posting my review so late) I do not notice this humming any more, unless I pay attention to it. Perfectly acceptable to me.

Note on model naming: at the product spec label at the back of the monitor I can read: "LG Flatron W2600H-PF" and bellow that "Product code: W2600H-PFS.AEUGAFP" and "Model no.: W2600HS"

Finally I got Samsung XL2370 (led lcd) and it's totally silent at any brightness level! So if you need silent monitor for home use pay 2 times more and buy a led model.

Okay, silent is good of course!

And dodging the price issue for now... how is the performance compared to a traditional fluorescent backlit model? Is the LED an improvement in brightness or clarity? Just curious as I'd ultimately like to remove those little mercury death tubes from our home.

sclawson
By default the brightness is too high. I lovered it to 20% (usually 40-50% is enough for me). I don't see any difference in colour quality or contrast (XL2370 is a monitor with only white led, not with RGB led). So the main difference is silence

Holy cow! Either I got an extremly bad one or maybe I'm just more sensative to the buzzing because my W2600HP was by far the most noisy monitor I've ever heard!!! Read my post earlier in this thread.

Well, I did read your post - before posting mine - and there you wrote about LG W2600HP-BF model, and this is clearly not the same model as mine. It is evident from the name and I also followed your link and google it to find out that they really are completelly different models. For instance, yours is wide color gamut (mine not) and yours has 4 USB ports (mine has 2), yours has silver frame, mine is (expect a line at the bottom) glossy black.

Well mine was also glossy black expect a line at the bottom. But otherwise you're right. After some googling it appears the BF model is the "european" version of the W2600. LG really fucked up the naming of these models because there is a HUGE difference between the two:

W2600HP-BF : IPS-Panel
W2600H-PF : TN-Panel

For my part I say; stay away from the BF model because it is noisy as hell.

Also here is a quote I found about LG's homepage:


I really hate this type of disclaimers