SPCR

hello

are you actually satisfied with the noise level of your system?

or you think its much more to be done to achieve satisfactory noise levels?

if you are OK, what system do you have? which component you think played the most important role to decrease the noise?

thanks

I'm quite satisfied. The only thing I can really hear above ambient noise is my Raptor seeking. I've got a 2 fan system, both of them are scythe s-flex fans running 800-1000rpm. The best thing for me was getting to a point where the system is thermally comfortable with a minimum of active cooling.

I'm not quite satisfied yet.
Yates are on their way and a psu replacement is planned aswell.

I am waiting for the mini Ninja befor I'll order a new heatsink and how it performs.

Hmm, to be honest, I'm probably never completely satisfied on my computer until its dead quiet

Actually, I'm disappointed with my laptop's fan. It has a 40mm blower that ticks, frequently; the AC is on, because it's the summer, but it gets annoying late at night when I've got everything shut off except my fingers. I've measured the space, and I can fit a 60mm regular fan in there, and assuming it can move air laterally, I'm going to get to work re-wiring the 3-pin motherboard connector to a 4mm laptop header.

I also want to upgrade to a Core 2 processor; I hope their prices drop with the rest.

The laptop hard drive, though, has convinced me to go 2.5" for my next big-budget build. Because it's not that 3.5" drives aren't quiet, they really are if you're using the right one. Desktop drives move so much more mass and cause cases to reverberate. My HTPC would be inaudible if not for the terabyte of shimmy that runs down the TV cabinet. Soft mounting helps, but in that particular case it's not an option just yet. (I'm too busy...)

I won't be happy until I don't hear a difference with my computer on or off.

When I tested my computer with a Phantom 500W, Scythe Ninja on the CPU and a VM-101 on the video card, that put a smile on my face... until I had to add the hard drives, and the case fans...

Currently, I'm extremely unsatisfied, Lawl. My original plan was for a gaming computer with UV reactive contents viewable through the side window (Lexa case I had intended to buy). Apparently it turned into a Silent PC project but I failed to redo my shopping list and apparently a few parts were already bought. Now I'm stuck with a decently quiet PC (after some fine tuning and excess fan removal).

Hopefully I can shut it up and send its noise level below ambiance once I save up money for some new parts.

zoob wrote:I won't be happy until I don't hear a difference with my computer on or off.

When I tested my computer with a Phantom 500W, Scythe Ninja on the CPU and a VM-101 on the video card, that put a smile on my face... until I had to add the hard drives, and the case fans...

Well, in few years, you will get SSD then HDD noise is gone... That leaves only fans Or then some fanless water cooling system?

I don't think there are many people happy with the noise their PC makes.
That's how we found this site

I'm at peace with it, but not completely satisfied. You can find the details in my sig -- the components may change but the performance may only improve.

Big improvements came from:
+ changing GPU cooling = no more blowdryer
+ changing chipset cooler = no more dentist's drill
+ damping the case with sound-absorbing material = less vibrations
+ switching to quality case fans and controls = less overall noise, more adjustability

Still not happy with:
- HDDs = Seagates vibrate like hell

Other good things that incidentally resulted(from SPCR):
. discovered CnQ = less heat, more comfortable living room
. Seasonic PSU = better airflow and cooling, also stability

It takes 20% of effort to kill 80% of noise, but 80% of effort to kill the last 20%. Good old 80-20 rule.

Edit: Zalman CPU coolers are quiet(or indeed silent) at low RPM(1300), but sound like light aircraft at anything above. Guess I gotta look into properly silent ones...

Thanks to the wealth of information on this site, and these forums. Am am VERY happy with the noise my system puts out. It is above ambient noise levels, but several degrees of magnatude quieter than my last system. Here are the biggest improvements I've made in order of significance:

1) New chipset cooler: HR-05 SLI (the stock 40mm on the A8N-SLI Delux is LOUD!)
2) New case: Antec P180b
3) PSU fan swap: Liberty 500W with YL (near the bottom)
4) HDD suspension (fourth post on the page)
5) Replaced all fans with Yate Loons
6) Soft mounting of all case fans

Not only is it very quiet, it's very quiet with 7 120mm Yate Loon fans, 5 of 7 running full speed! The CPU & PSU are thermally controlled. The last fan is the stock on on my 8800GTX, and it is inaudible normally, when gaming it ramps up to a max of 80%, and does become audible (but not loud) but when I'm gaming I don't notice it at all (I'm usually wearing headphones anyway). So yes, I am very happy.

Das_Saunamies wrote:It takes 20% of effort to kill 80% of noise, but 80% of effort to kill the last 20%. Good old 80-20 rule.

So true, I think I've reached my 80%....it's a good thing I'm happy with it...going further would require a LOT of effort.

Satisfied with 6 of my systems. Still working on three of them. Made some bad purchases before I started reading SPCR. Thanks for all the great info everybody!

Quiet fans, power supplies, and CPU coolers have made the most differences in my builds. No more Vantec Stealths, cheap power supplies, and crappy cases.

Noise down, computing power up, electric bill down. What more can you ask for? (More Solos!)

I am extremely satisfied on my daily use pc. That plan is now wrecked as I just purchased a BFG 8600GT card. The X1600pro with Zalman VF900 gpu heatsink was darn near silent but the 8600gt was a bargain.

My HTPC is pretty quiet and I'm almost satisfied, but it may require some re-configuration of some fans and block some port holes, etc.. I am trying not to spend any more money on that one.

my general use PC has only one noisy component left, one of those small hsf's on my Radeon 9550. other than that the two 120mm nexus fans @7V and soft-mounted HDD's make a pretty silent system.

HTPC's are usually a different story, since the wife, family and friends expect it to be as quiet as any other home entertainment equipment.

my HTPC will also have it's two 120mm Nexus fans running @7V, but it's the LG DVD writer that makes far more noise than any other component.

In other words there is always some tweaking to do

blubberhoofd wrote:my general use PC has only one noisy component left, one of those small hsf's on my Radeon 9550. other than that the two 120mm nexus fans @7V and soft-mounted HDD's make a pretty silent system.

My HTPC has a Radeon 9600xt. I replaced the heatsink & fan with a Zalman ZM-NB32K Northbridge Chipset Heatsink. I can't think of the SPCR forum message links which showed others who have done this swap, but it is a cheap way to turn an older video card to passive cooling.

<edit - found the link>

viewtopic.php?t=30253

Yes. finally.

My computer is completely inaudible. Only using laptop hard drive and low voltage yate loon fans. since yesterday, when I got the yate loons.

So it took me about 2 years of being here to achieve my goal

klankymen wrote:Yes. finally.

My computer is completely inaudible. Only using laptop hard drive and low voltage yate loon fans. since yesterday, when I got the yate loons.

So it took me about 2 years of being here to achieve my goal

Congratulations

color wrote:hello

are you actually satisfied with the noise level of your system?

or you think its much more to be done to achieve satisfactory noise levels?

if you are OK, what system do you have? which component you think played the most important role to decrease the noise?

thanks

Absolutely not. Can still 'feel' my undervolted fans when I turn on the system. And if I move close (1 to 2 feet from the case) I can even still hear the fans.

Harddrive is even worse. I can clearly hear the vibration sound even from as far as 3 feet away from the case.

I've put in acoustic dampening material around my case. I've enclosed the drives in enclosures. I've moved to watercooling. Thrown out my previous case (Antec P180) and replaced it with something more quiet. And I can still feel and hear my computer working.

There will always be moving parts in my system, and I need a better case. that dampens the vibrations more.

color wrote:hello
are you actually satisfied with the noise level of your system?
or you think its much more to be done to achieve satisfactory noise levels?
if you are OK, what system do you have? which component you think played the most important role to decrease the noise?
thanks

i'm satisfied with my old system in my sig. only two 120 mm fans hooked on coolermaster fan controller. at 6v, the system is inaudible at my normal sitting position midnight. i had to put my ears within 20 cm of case exhaust to hear the faint woosh sound.

my new system is in progress. fans play the most important role i suppose cause ... they are nearly everywhere. my new video card will be a passively coold for sure, and no more than two 120 or larger fans in the system, undervolted. wd hardrive with suspension should work well.

I'm generally satisfied with my P180 setup. It is audible if i put my head within a foot of the case, but seated normally I can't hear it, which is quite nice.

I'm quite satisfied with my desktop system. The only fan I use is an undervolted Nexus, the CPU and GPU are watercooled passively. The only thing that is making noise is the HDD, but it's not that bad. Oh, and the subwoofer is humming too, but I can turn this one off...

It's a different story for my laptop. The overall noise is bearable, but when the CPU hits 60°C, the CPU fan is spinning at a tremendous 6000 RPM and the chipset fan ramps up, making way too much noise. I mainly use this laptop for Internet and office duties, and the CPU rarely reach 50°C. At this temperature, the CPU fans is spinning at 2000 RPM, which is not silent but bearable. This laptop uses a real Pentium 4 CPU...

I am quite satisfied with my system. It's the one in the sig, with some changes:
- I'm using two Fander FX-120 instead of the Tricools (big improvement)
- The fan on the ninja has rotated counterclockwise by 90°
- The upper Fander is sucking his air via a duct from under the ninja (thanks for the idea, cmthomson), thus providing better cooling to the VRMs and the NB. The CPU also got cooler, maybe due to the "close-top-vent(as-seen-from-the-ninja)-effect-and-your-CPU-temps-will-improve-effect" in the P180
- Some changes to the cable routing were done, making my P180 almost a P182 cable-wise
- Last but not least, the change that improved noise mostly so far was dropping the old WD1200BBB, which was really loud.

During daytime, my system is below ambient. During night, with windows closed, it's definitely above ambient.

Still on the to-do-list:

- Drop that Maxtor 200GB SATA and maybe the old Samsung 160GB (don't know which exactly) to get one or two Samsung 321LJs.
- Do a better suspension than the one in the P180


Again, we see the 80-20-rule in action. The first actions costed in total around 30€ in total including a dremel clone, various other materials and all fans (I got them for free, thanks again kater for the hint) and provided maybe 80% pf the way to a silent system. The remaining 20% will cost around 130€ (two Samsungs and suspension).

i was satisfied with the noise level in my previous system... the loudest thing in it was a zalman vf900.

in my current system, i havent had a chance, or the inclination to quiet down the fans in it. i intend to this weekend, however.

currently, a core2duo E4400, MSI p35 board, yate loon rear fan, scythe ninja CPU cooler, but... i have 2 medium speed yate loons in front, and unfortunately they wont operate at 5 volts. so... this weekend i'm gonna be pulling them out and sticking a resistor on them to quiet them down.

hopefully then i'll have acceptably quiet fans, and then i'll begin overclocking to what my noise tolerances will allow.

I am very unsatisfied with my current system.

I am running a NMB-MAT low speed 92mm fan for the CPU and video card, a same brand low speed 120mm exhaust and a S12 380W PSU and I can hear it if I get to within 1m of it.

Will be moving to Athlon X2 BE-2300 with on board graphics soon to limit the fan count to one 120mm 800RPM S-FLEX and the PSU fan.

Luckily I run diskless (network boot) so I don't have to worry about HDD noise.

Almost there. My pc is inaudible 99% of the time. During the wee hours with the windows closed and the frigde unpluged:) , I can hear the psu fan from where I sit (pc on the floor about 1m away from ears).

I already have a 1600rpm s-flex fan which will replace the stock unit in my seasonic s12 380 (sleeved version). I´m using a 6A19 chassis. The rest of the moving parts are two 12cm emb papst fans @600rpm and a WD scorpio. Actually I did enjoy a brief time when my pc was inaudible from more than 0,5m, using a modded generic PSU (two 8cm fans @800rpm) but it was running hotter than I would have liked.

I'm almost satisfied. I have an Antec Solo case, with two 92mm Nexus fans running at 7v in the front, and one 120mm Nexus in the rear, also running at 7v. My AMD Athlon 64 3800+ is cooled passively by a Scythe Ninja, my Sapphire Radeon X1600XT is cooled passively by an Arctic Cooling Accelero S2. My HDD is a Samsung Spinpoint 500GB, and it's suspended in the elastic bands provided with the solo case.

All pretty awesome, but here comes the part that I'm not satisfied about: The PSU. It's a cheap CoolerMaster eXtreme Power 430W, and it's quite by most people's standards, but if you compare it to the rest of my system, it's really noisy. I'm contemplating on whether I should just replace the whole PSU by a Seasonic, or maybe replace the fan (I'm on a tight budget, the Seasonic would really hurt my wallet).

Also, I'd like to thank the topic starter for starting this interesting topic, and just as well everybody who posted

I am almost satisfied, still a bit of hard drive noise from my 250Gb WD's but it's gotten better after I moved of my RAID running 4 hard drives down to 2 hard drives.

Running 5 fans in total (including PSU fan) and the only time I can hear the fans is when temps of the CPU goes over 65*C (fans spin at 100% via Speedfan) but this rarely happens (only happened while folding on a hot day).

So as soon as I can get around to getting the Samsung HD501LJ and exchanging one of the WD's with it then I may get more satisfied with it. But atm I can only hear my computer when I sit close to it (within 50cm) from it and concentrate on it to hear it.

So overall I am satisfied.

"I'm contemplating on whether I should just replace the whole PSU by a Seasonic, or maybe replace the fan (I'm on a tight budget, the Seasonic would really hurt my wallet). "

Well, our fans are running at more or less the same speed, thus even a seasonic psu will be louder than them. You might also want to replace the psu fan, but with a faster one than the nexus. I picked one at 1600rpm to ensure it starts at low voltages.

As of right now I am almost completely satisfied with the noise level of my PC.

Just a few months ago, I thought I had it down perfect. I was living at home for the summer, and a combination of great components, quiet fans, and a P180 case made my system inaudible in my old room. I had to sell most of that computer for money, so I ended up with a very nice (but not built for silence) Cooler Master case. This made a huge (and horrible) difference! My hard drives seek very loudly and I can hear motor noise. Airflow isn't at all optimized, and relatively thin aluminum causes resonances.

Funny how you can solve a problem two ways. My options to make my computer quieter were:
1. Silence your computer to lower than ambient levels
or
2. Raise the ambient levels
As college starts back up again, number 2 became the solution. I now have the computer in the family room of my apartment, near my aquarium which is inherently noisy (quiet for most people). My only problem now is my hard drive seek noise, which seems to play tricks on me (sometimes it bounces off the walls and sounds like it's coming from a place I know it can't be). I would give it an 8 out of 10 in terms of my happiness. Soft-mounting would be a great solution, but the case doesn't really go well with it. Too much work anyways.

Technically this is my girlfriend's computer anyways, so I'm not too concerned about quieting it down any more.

::waiting for my next computer::