How about suspended hard drives in a foam box? http://www.mypage.tsn.cc/pcsilencing/images/img_9245_small.jpg http://www.mypage.tsn.cc/pcsilencing/images/img_9247_small.jpg My "bird house" box made from foam (designed like this to suck intake air through the bottom filter) wasn't quiet enough so I m...

SPCR has been a huge value to me personally over the past 2 years or so, as I've learned more about silencing PCs and passed my knowledge on to others. So thank you for all the great articles and forum discussions, which have completely altered my PC user experience. Like most of us here I'll never ...

I've heard of people silencing coil whine in PSUs with candle wax or special goop, so it might work in a CRT but I haven't heard of anyone who's actually tried it.

But if you open up your CRT be very careful as there are some very high voltages in there!

Here are some photos of my Panaflo mod (click to enlarge). This shows the mods I needed to make to my Panaflo to get it to fit: http://www.mypage.tsn.cc/pcsilencing/images/img_9116_small.jpg And here it is installed before putting the HDD/DVD trays back in. As you can see the CPU HS is pretty optima...

Yep, Dorothy is the person to get Panaflos from if you are in the UK. It's where I got mine from and her service is excellent. :shock: Unfortunately there is no such thing as a high airflow quiet fan, so you just have to pick the one best for you. I still believe the Panaflo is one of the best at an...

It's a standard low speed L1A (made in Japan). I can't remember the full manufacturing code off hand, but it's the same one a lot of people around here use. Yes, the Xbox has overheat protection and that sounds like what you've experienced. When you say "out of the box" I presume you mean the fan se...

As it was my intention from the start to use the Xbox as a more general entertainment system (frankly because those divx DVD players aren't quite up to the job yet), dealing with the noise level was important from the start. Me too. In fact I researched dedicated media player boxes (with or without...

Is a top mounted fan really necessary? What were your temps like with the 60mm fan? (I don't have a Tivo, so I'm not sure if there is any temp monitoring facility). My first thought (after doing a similar mod in my Xbox ) would be to put an 80mm Panaflo in the back. There looks to be plenty of room ...

To answer your original question: yes, ducting should always improve CPU temperatures (if done right) no matter what CPU you've got. In turn that means you can usually turn your fans down and have a quieter PC. However it can direct hot air onto other components, heating them up. So you have to look...

Modding an Xbox isn't easy, so if you aren't confident of your soldering/dremelling skills it's definitely a good idea to get a professional to do it. I nearly stuffed up my mobo when I installed my modchip, as I lifted a tiny track I was trying to solder to. Fortunately I managed to bridge it OK, b...

Yeah, mine is set to backup each Friday night. I use Genie Backup Manager for selected files only which is pretty quick, but it can do full backups too. There are plenty of backup applications around and you can even use WinXP's built in one for basic use. I think you should be able to back up 120GB...

A cheap form of external backup is burning to CD/DVD. Unless you're paranoid about your data or it is mission critical for your business you don't need to do it that often. I have 2 internal drives in my home PC and I set up an automatic weekly (data only) backup from one to the other - no user inte...

I'm hoping my Ford filter holds out as well as that. It's going strong so far, but it's only been a few weeks and I don't keep my PC on 24/7. But cleaning it should be easy as all I have to do is turn it on its side and vacuum the dust off.

An excellent find there Krispy. I was just lucky with the one I bought, as it just happened to fit the bottom of my case perfectly (I measured it before I bought it though!). But this is the place to go if you have a specific size requirement for a filter. And of course bigger is always better for a...

Thanks guys! Not as well executed or as neat as yours Bluefront, but I'm pretty pleased with the end result.

Of course, there's always room for improvement. As we all know here it's never finished!

He's got a point. Some people may have their silent PCs in a nearby closet, with wires running out the back to the monitor and running a wireless keyboard/mouse set. It really would be useful. But then again, I don't know of any people that do that. You missed one thing. It's an IR remote that need...

gitto wrote:A mouse with a 40mm cooling fan - to increase responsive for the hardcore gamer.

It's already been done!

I just spotted this on an Aus PC website. Can you believe it? A remote controlled fan controller! :shock: :shock: With a 12m range! Wha...? Why.....? :? :? From the website: The first invention (remote control) of wireless fan speed control in the world. Yeah, that's because nobody else has been stu...

Another thumbs up for the Sunbeam Rheobus. I've used it for over a year now and you can't beat it for cheap, simple, manual (non-PWM) fan control.

As a bonus I've also got one channel hooked up to my CCFLs, so no need to mount any additional switches for them.

The only way I can think of to improve temps without increasing noise is to add some ducting between the fan and CPU/GPU. The hard drive tray does a pretty good job but if I completely enclose the fan in a box that connects directly to the CPU/GPU heatsinks that will ensure 100% of the airflow will ...

Yeah, if it wasn't for the incredibly annoying buzzing sound the stock fan on my 1.6 would probably be OK. All it needs is a quieter bearing really. When I took it out I noticed it is a Delta!

Nuff said.......

Well I did the Panaflo fan mod, and it is much quieter now. No annoying "buzzing" at any speed. I've taken some photos and will post them on my website soon. It required quite a bit of case and fan modding to get it to fit, but Mr Dremel came in handy for that! :lol: However I'm slightly disappointe...

Here is my previous setup, which has since been superseded: http://www.mypage.tsn.cc/pcsilencing/images/114_1438_small.JPG I used the two HDDs plus steel sides to create a "box" and I suspended the whole thing with elastic top and bottom. Very quiet and very secure. More details on my website here

I use MBM. Sadly it has stopped being updated since July last year, so I guess newer mobos won't be supported, unless someone else takes the reins.

So what is MBM's spiritual successor? Would that be Speedfan? What is the main difference between the two?

It looks like a great initiative, I hope it takes off with the other PSU vendors and raises the profile of energy efficient PSUs. After all it's a win-win situation for everyone.

Now we have to do the same for these and the people that drive them (the truck I mean! )

starsky wrote:I want to capture peoples recommendations at the top so people don't need to trawl through the threads unless they want details

Nice one Starsky, thanks for keeping this list up to date.

I just found this at Xbox-Scene: My Xbox has an NMB fan model number: 2810KL-04W-B50. A google search pulled up that it is 33.5dB, uses 2.16 watts, 180mA, 3800rpm, and moves 52.8m3/hr (I think that's near 30CFM). The post is dated Nov 2002 so I guess it's a v1.0, and I have no idea what fan the curr...

I know this has been covered once or twice before, but not in much detail, so I thought I would kick off a thread for anyone to chip in their Xbox silencing experiences. I also want to post this in SPCR even though the Xbox is not strictly a PC, as I am more likely to get some intelligent suggestion...

Give up my cold cathodes? I've only just bought them! :P I never had anywhere to put them before as I don't have a windowed case (and never intend to!). But mounting them underneath so they spread the glow out onto the floor is a bit different I think, kind of like the cars in Need For Speed Undergr...

He he, I'm sure I'm not the only one who's done that!