Suspended Barracuda V

Silencing hard drives, optical drives and other storage devices

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je_zza
Posts: 27
Joined: Mon Oct 13, 2003 6:06 am
Location: Sydney, NSW
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Suspended Barracuda V

Post by je_zza » Mon Oct 13, 2003 6:47 am

I have been reading silentpcreview articles for months and finally decided to try suspending my hard drive. The things making noise in my computer making noise are:

Pentium 3 800EB undervolted at 1.45V (rated 1.65V) with standard intel heatsink and fan, fan running at 5V
Seagate Barracuda V 80GB ST380023A
Generic 250W PSU, fan replaced with 80mm iCute low noise fan running at 7V
Geforce 2 Ti with Zalman ZM-NB32J with 80mm iCute low noise fan mounted next to it at 7V (sitting ontop a 3x5x4cm cardboard box wrapped in a sock!!)

The computer sits in my room and has been quiet enough to sleep with for a number of months now - but since doing the harddrive suspending yesterday it is so much quieter. I cannot hear the hdd unless i get right down at the front of my computer, and the seeks amazingly quieter than before - and I considered them quiet before!

Temps (degrees celcius) are as follows:

Idle
Case 32
CPU 35
HDD 37

Stress
Case 38
CPU 42
HDD 42

My computer was rediculously noisy at in february - now it is near to silent at 2am thanks to much advice here and on the web.

I did it on a budget:

The most expensive thing was the HDD - but that was an upgrade from my IBM deskstar which was too small at 20gb (and is one of the noisiest things i've ever heard in a computer - almost louder than a Thermaltake smart case fan 2) I'm in Sydney Australia, so it cost $200 AUD at the beginning of the year, now I could get it for $140

I bought the Zalman heatsink online from a shop in brisbane for $12 and a Thermaltake smart case fan (for $25 or so). The 'smart' fan is much louder than specified. The bearings tick and I was very dissapointed. Should have known because it can also blow 80CFM.

2 x iCute 80mm Case fans @ $12 each from THX in York Street CBD . Whilst I have no experience with Panflo or Papst fans because I can't find a retailer nearby, these iCute fans are incredibly quiet and very good value. Peter in the store reakoned that many others said the same. At 7V they are nearly silent and blow enough air for the purpose I want them for. If anyone has any information about them I'd be interested to know. The package is pretty general, all it has is www.casepower.com.tw and they have the number 802512SS.

The elastic I got to suspend my HDD cost $1 for a metre from the rockclimbing store at uni!! Bloody fantastic! Anyone who has not thought about suspending their HDD definately should. Take it out of your case and lie it on some carpet or a towel, and see how much less noise it makes. If you're impressed then you know what to do!

My PSU is the only dodgy thing about my comptuer - everything else is definately (more than) adequately cooled. It does not concern me too much becuase the outflow is not warm, but there is quite possibly not enough airflow to tell and it smells slightly. It has run fine for a number of months now. My computer is very stable.

I will try posing a picture if I can work out how to - this is my first post and sorry if its a bit long!

je_zza
Posts: 27
Joined: Mon Oct 13, 2003 6:06 am
Location: Sydney, NSW
Contact:

Post by je_zza » Mon Oct 13, 2003 7:05 am

Image

Basically if you havn't suspended your HDD try it because it makes a hugh difference! I used standard screws to attatch the hdd to the cord compared to the garden Plastic Cable Clamps as used by Scott Aphonos in his article in the storage section, which was my inspiration.

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