I'm Going Insane, and It's All Your Fault

[warriorpoet]

I've gone completely off the deep end.

Nuts. Crazy. Cuckoo.

Two years ago I was using an aluminum Chieftec Dragon-style case with (count 'em) 9 high speed fans. Deltas, Tornados, anything with high CFM I could lay my hands on.

Then I found this place, and my life has never been the same. A short rundown of my current system specifics should be sufficient to explain the transformation and my current conundrum.

Mobo: ABit AN8 Ultra (silent)
CPU: A64 3200+ @ 2.4 GHz
CPU Heatsink: Thermalright SI-120 w/ Nexus @ 5v
Video: Leadtek 6800GT
VGA Heatsink: NV Silencer 5 Rev.3 @ 25%
Case: the ubiquitous Antec SLK3000B
PSU: Antec NeoHE 500

now for the noise makers:

Exhaust Fan: Antec Tri-Cool on low @9v (suspended)
Optical: NEC 3540a; Panasonic (old, loud CD-RW)
HDD: Maxtor DiamondMax9 80Gb (soft-mounted)

Now, I'm not quite crazy enough to immerse my components in oil (yet), or place my tower in a closet on the other side of the house (yet). In fact, it's not that loud; it's not that irritating. The problem is that I Can Still Hear It !...and you are all to blame.

There is a point to this little rant. You see, by far the most intensely irritating racket occurs when loading a program, on startup, or when burning/watching DVDs. I've tracked it to the optical drives (wind up, high-speed wind noise) and the hard drive (monster lawnmower on nitro sounds).

Since I do not want to lose any performance, here's the plan:

Stage 1: Operation HDD Harmony
Objectives:
-install Smart Drive 2002 Copper Cool (in the mail)
-suspend Smart Drived HDD
-purchase new Spinpoint in February
-rinse, repeat

Stage 2: Operation Optical Obliteration
Objectives:
-enclose DVD/CD-ROM drives in foam
-figure out how to soft-mount an optical drive
-if all else fails, use sledgehammer

Stage 3: Operation Fan Fling
Objectives:
-remove Tri-Cool
-throw Tri-Cool as far as possible
-install/undervolt Nexus

Just a couple questions:

1. Where can I buy industrial O-rings? I do not want to use elastic, but recommendations for another rubber-type substance are welcome.
2. Has anyone enclosed their CD/DVD-ROM drives in foam? My primary concerns are increased temperatures and effectiveness of foam installation. Since I have no screw holes in my case (drive rails), I'm curious about the possibility of suspending the optical drives like HDDs.

...and in the spirit of the holidays:

Happy Thanksgiving!

[BlueTide]

Second one here. The good news(?) is that I can also hear my laptop these days (the hdd, not the fans) so I guess it is much better. But damn, it never ends once it has started. and gets expensive once you start to experiment with things that _might_ help a little further.

[Likif]

lol, another silence zombie joins the ranks after succumbing to the infection.

[ultraboy]

For optical drive, try program like Nero DriveSpeed to slow it down. Might help a bit with noise.

[warriorpoet]

For optical drive, try program like Nero DriveSpeed to slow it down. Might help a bit with noise.

That's the problem. I don't want to slow it down, and yet, I demand utter silence (more silent than the "vacuum" of space).

But seriously, what is the most effective way of quieting an optical drive without sacrificing performance?

[liquid_celica]

I know how you feel dude. My friends all scream at me when i mention "panaflo," "quiet," and "computer" all in the same sentence. I've been prone to tampering with all my fans at hours at a time cause they whirling noise is just too unbarable.

Ignorance is bliss...... SPCR saved and ruined my life . hahahaha

[NoizEnvader]

Welcome to the club.

As for dampening optical drive noise, thick foam does help a little.

Not sure how too suspend a 5.25 bay drive inside a case.

[jaganath]

I've gone completely off the deep end.

Nuts. Crazy. Cuckoo

As the old saying goes, "You don't have to be nuts to post here.......but it helps!"

I don't want to slow it down, and yet, I demand utter silence

OK, this is a tricky task. Essentially all forms of sound insulation are about ensuring that sound waves (which propagate noise) are contained and/or absorbed before they reach your ears. Hence putting the optical drive in a metal box will not work, as the drive will simply vibrate the walls of the box which will propagate the sound waves etc. One method used by professional recording studios is to build a room-within-a-room, where the inner (or 'suspended') room is lined with sound insulating material and all points where the 'inner' room contacts the 'outer' room have vibration-absorbing mounts (normally made out of silicone or vulcanised rubber). So a way for you to do this would be to put it in a sealed wooden box (with holes for the IDE and power cables) lined with foam, resting on soft rubber feet.

That said, it is a LOT of work to silence a noisy optical drive, and there are very few even remotely quiet CDRW/DVDRW drives on the market. What I do is basically try and use my CD drive as little as possible; download programs from the internet rather than buy them as CD's, etc.

Not sure how too suspend a 5.25 bay drive inside a case.

I think suspending an optical drive would hurt the functionality of the drive. Wouldn't all the vibration of the unsecured unit cause the disc to move around inside the drive, leading to faulty read/write operations?

[warriorpoet]

I think suspending an optical drive would hurt the functionality of the drive. Wouldn't all the vibration of the unsecured unit cause the disc to move around inside the drive, leading to faulty read/write operations?

I thought the same thing...until I considered the construction of an HDD. Anyway, if someone can give me a good link to an industrial O-ring resource, or suggest another form of rubber composite I'll be willing to try it "for the good of the team".

[jaganath]

I thought the same thing...until I considered the construction of an HDD.

Yeah, true, but HDD's are built to withstand a certain amount of shock (both operating and non-operating), which is usually stated on their spec sheet (ie 350Gs, 900Gs). I had a look at the spec sheet for my CDRW/DVD drive and it says nothing at all about shock tolerances. So it's hard to know how much bouncing about they can tolerate in operation (which is where you come in!).

if someone can give me a good link to an industrial O-ring resource,

I don't know about industrial, but these people seem to stock products similar to what you're looking for:

EndPCNoise.com

The sticky rubber feet look particularly useful. Also, they stock supposedly quiet optical drives here.

[warriorpoet]

That's the problem, they don't have what I want.

[Ralf Hutter]

Industrial O-ring source:

www.mcmaster.com

[Lghost]

You guys let overclocking refugee's post here, right??

- anyway, what are you spinning in that CD-ROM drive so often? Do you install and uninstall programs every time you use them? Put your audio tracks on your hard drive, if you are playing a game frequently and need the disc make an image on the hard drive and mount it with a virtual CD-ROM. (Daemon Tools works fine, I think Alcohol120% had a virtual drive as well). When you are through playing the game for a while just delete the image, if you play it again next year pop the disc back in and make an image again.

[DyJohnnY]

about the optical drive - also remember, max speed is attained only on the outer track, so experiment with turning it down until u find a suitable compromise.
and read speed is also influenced by media quality, so experiment with different media to see how much is that spinning worth it

[Aris]

well im going to silence my optical drives by replacing them with a single slim laptop optical drive, which will easily fit into one of the foam blocks from nexus(damptek) that fits perfectly into a standard 5.25" drive bay.

i havnt done it yet, and havnt seen anyone do this exact thing before. but i suspect the combination of it being a notebook drive and being softmounted/encased in foam will make it very livable.

-------------------------------------------------

also. what music do you listen to as your "hearing" your computer? the point of making a computer quiet is not to obtain total silence, its so you can listen to the things you want more clearly without interfearance.

go get some nice speakers, get winamp and itunes or whatever music program floats your boat, and turn on some tunes. i guarentee you your computer goes from quiet to DEAD SILENT about a second after your song starts to play

[jaganath]

go get some nice speakers, get winamp and itunes or whatever music program floats your boat, and turn on some tunes. i guarentee you your computer goes from quiet to DEAD SILENT about a second after your song starts to play

This is strictly speaking 'cheating' by SPCR standards, as you are merely increasing the ambient noise level to drown out the noise created by your computer, rather than reducing the level of noise it actually produces.

the point of making a computer quiet is not to obtain total silence

For me total silence (defined as 'I can't tell it's on with my eyes shut from 0.3m away') is the number one priority, but I can understand that other people aren't as bothered.

[warriorpoet]

You guys let overclocking refugee's post here, right??

- anyway, what are you spinning in that CD-ROM drive so often?

OC refugees??? I overclock everything I get my hands on, up to and including my ValueRam...

I currently have an 80 Gb HDD, so CD-ROM imaging is out of the question. Maybe after upgrading to a 200Gb drive...

It's not so much that it happens all the time, but when it does the racket becomes a major nuisance, especially on WinXP startup. When you have a PC just about silent, any extra noise makes a huge difference. Think of it as one single violin horribly out of tune in a string quartet.

[Aris]

go get some nice speakers, get winamp and itunes or whatever music program floats your boat, and turn on some tunes. i guarentee you your computer goes from quiet to DEAD SILENT about a second after your song starts to play

This is strictly speaking 'cheating' by SPCR standards, as you are merely increasing the ambient noise level to drown out the noise created by your computer, rather than reducing the level of noise it actually produces.

the point of making a computer quiet is not to obtain total silence

For me total silence (defined as 'I can't tell it's on with my eyes shut from 0.3m away') is the number one priority, but I can understand that other people aren't as bothered.

its not cheating. its the ultimate goal of SPCR. to reduce computer "noise" so that you can clearly hear the sounds you want to hear without background noise. like your tv, or the radio, or the kids/birds outside your window. why have the ability to hear if you dont want to hear anything at all. if thats all you want then put some ear plugs in, there you go. no sounds whatsoever

[NoiseFreeGuy]

well im going to silence my optical drives by replacing them with a single slim laptop optical drive, which will easily fit into one of the foam blocks from nexus(damptek) that fits perfectly into a standard 5.25" drive bay.

i havnt done it yet, and havnt seen anyone do this exact thing before. but i suspect the combination of it being a notebook drive and being softmounted/encased in foam will make it very livable.

Hey Aris, how did you make out with your notebook optical drive?
Did you suspend it inside your case? If so, can you report back on the steps you took and what it's like now?

I'm trying to decide what to do with my optical drives.

Thanks!

[Aris]

the damptek foam brick thing didnt work so well, it kind of fell apart when i started making holes in it and didnt hold it up well without folding in on itself.

I did use the slim notebook drive however, along with a notebook hard drive in the same 5.25" drive bay converter that holds both. Neither are suspended, but the HD is completely inaudible even so. I was really suprised how quiet they both were even hard mounted. The slim optical drive is one of the quietest optical drives ive ever had. Its far superior to any full size optical drive.

If silence is your goal, and you have the money, go with mobile products in your PC. Mobile processors, optical drives, and hard drives.

My current gamming rig has a pentium M 1.73ghz processor, a slim slot optical drive and a 2.5" 40gb 5400rpm sata drive. I put a large tower heatpipe heatsink on the cpu, and it can be cooled completely passive with no fans or case fans whatsoever. Even so, i put in some nexus fans undervolted down to a level where i cannot tell 1foot from the front of the PC when i hit the power button. Just to give me added assurance.

The system runs WoW at 1280x1024 with all the settings maxed with no problems, running a completely passive 7600gs video card.

I love it. Its the first time ive ever achieved my ultimate goal of complete silence from 12 inches away. Its sitting on top of my desk, right next to the monitor, and i cant tell it turns on when i push the power button.

[NoiseFreeGuy]

I did use the slim notebook drive however, along with a notebook hard drive in the same 5.25" drive bay converter that holds both. Neither are suspended, but the HD is completely inaudible even so. I was really suprised how quiet they both were even hard mounted. The slim optical drive is one of the quietest optical drives ive ever had. Its far superior to any full size optical drive.

Can you please tell me which 'slim notebook drive' (optical) you used?

If silence is your goal, and you have the money, go with mobile products in your PC. Mobile processors, optical drives, and hard drives.

I have gone that route and am very happy so far.
P-M CPU on an AOpen MB. Samsung 80 G 5400 Notebook HD.
The loudest fan in my system is my case fan currently.
Tri-cool set to low.

I love it. Its the first time ive ever achieved my ultimate goal of complete silence from 12 inches away. Its sitting on top of my desk, right next to the monitor, and i cant tell it turns on when i push the power button.

Sounds great!

[Aris]

i used this:

http://www.logicsupply.com/product_info ... cts_id/673

Panasonic Slim Slot loading DVD Writer.

I really like that its slot loading and not a tray, idunno why trays are so popular.

[kaange]

Case: the ubiquitous Antec SLK3000B

Stage 1: Operation HDD Harmony
Objectives:
-suspend Smart Drived HDD

Try this
a) unbolt and remove drive cage from case
b) place bed of soft foam on the cage mount base
c) place cage sideways on foam bed

This has made my system almost silent for HDD noise.

Caveat: My drives are a WD BB series IDE and a Samsung SpinPoint so seek noises were never bad but the idle vibrations made the case hum. Your Maxtor sounds like it may be the opposite but this mod costs nothing (I used the foam that came in the m/b packing) and is really easy.

Greg

[NoiseFreeGuy]

i used this:

http://www.logicsupply.com/product_info ... cts_id/673

Panasonic Slim Slot loading DVD Writer.

I really like that its slot loading and not a tray, idunno why trays are so popular.

Looks pretty cool alright.
One question about it.
Does it impart any vibrations to the case when it's spinning fast?

One problem I had with my previous drives, besides the noise they were making, was the violent vibrations they'd impart on the case when they were reading disks.

With my CD drive it was so bad that a couple of times some cables came loose and my PC wouldn't boot as a result!

[Aris]

ive noticed no vibration, or noises resulting from vibration whatsoever. just a "whooosh" sound of air as the disk spins.

[courante]

Aris,

I did a web portal search for the 5.25" drive bay converter you mentioned that allows you to mount the slim DVD drive. Unfortunately I couldnt find one. Can you add a link or a manufacturer?

Thanks!

[Aris]

This is the bay converter i use for the slim optical drive as well as my 2.5" notebook drive. It allows both to fit into a single 5.25" drive bay.

http://www.servercase.com/miva/miva?/Me ... t_Code=FM3

It matches the black face plate of the Antec NSK3300 very well. Theres vents on the front that allow air to be sucked through it and over the HD as well.