John Sayers’ Recording Studio Design ForumAn archive of johnlsayers.com, 2003–2022

How to get rid of noisy computers...?

Started by chinocurva on 5 August 2005. 10 replies.

Originally posted at johnlsayers.com, topic 4156.

chinocurva
I mean, the noisy fans within them... Hello everybody...! I was wandering, did anybody of you achieve the hability (or luckiness) of being away from that common issue? Is there any good design that really works and doesn´t compromise the functioning of the PC...? I know... the best thing is to get the computer out of the room. But for some people or for some layouts is imposible to do that... Well, I´d love to here your comments...!! Thank you very much!! Chino.
Deluks
It's the quantity and speed of the fans that all adds up to make a racket, I'd suggest getting a fan speed controller for a front bay in your case, or fitting a Zalman fanmate to each fan and lowering the speed by about 50%, be sure to keep an eye on temps though. The graphics card is usually the noisiest culprit, swap it out for a passive cooled Geforce4 or ATI equivalent, or get a low noise or passive cooler for it. Again see Zalman or Arctic Cooling for ideas. For ultimate isolation build an mdf box lined with rock or glasswool, and then another mdf box inside of that with your PC in it. Cut a hole for a 12cm case fan at the back of the inner box and connect it to your motherboard, then fit a vent to the top of the outer box so heat is driven out the back of the inner box, then just rises from the external box. oh yeh, don't be fooled into spending loads on computer case acoustic foam, it doesn't help all that much in my experience.
Tomas
There are components for "silencing" your computer. Be warned that it is not a cheap solution. Here is a list of fans or other noisy stuff that you can take care of: Mother board, look for design with passive cooling. 0dB. Vide card. There are video cards with passive cooling. If you want some power there, I believe Gigabyte Geforce 6800 is one of such cards. You could put passive cooler like Zalman ZM80D-HP on existing card. That is 0dB. Processor. Good cooler (like thermaltake silent tower) with fan control can make it quite silent. Yet better solution is water cooling, but you should read many reviews as some ready made water cooling systems have fans and/or pums that make noise themselves! I have DIY water cooling and noise level is none, because I got good water pump used for aquarium water pumping, that is really silent. But water cooling is not very convenient. Another solution is DIY PASSIVE cpu cooling, based on heatpipes. I have read description of one successful project, but it was in russian. My friend is doing it right now, if he succeeds I will make one for myself. This would mean 0dB from CPU. Power supply. Get fanless power supply, for example Yesico FL-480(T). It's 0dB. Case fans. What's that? Really, I use none and it works somehow, althought it's one hell inside. No fans - 0dB. But if it overheats, you could put one or two 12cm fans powered by 5V, it's should be impossible to hear at 1m distance. Now the hardest part where is impossible to avoid moving parts - hard drives. HUGE reduction in noise level is decoupling them from case. I use Zalman ZM-2HC2 it helps drives to dissipate heat more efficiently and has dampers to keep noise down. I will try to make a double isolated box and put heatpipes damped in silicone sealant to keep it cool inside after I finish my sound treatment for the room. If any success I will post it in these forums. When I swich my PC on I get only ~1-2dB above ambient noise at listening position (and those are 4 harddrives). Hope that will get you started.
chinocurva
Hummm... I´m starting to like the idea of a "more-frankensteined-machine"... hahahaa!! Though is more difficult to get some of those 'replacements' for the fans here in Argentina, it´s a fact that some of them are totally easy-to-buy. And the reason why I´m trying to reduce the noises is because I don´t want to be far away from my computer. Yes, it is always better to move long away all the noisy sources, but it is very uncomfortable too... Well, changing some parts, and with a concious soundproofing, like Tomas and Deluks say, I think it´ll be alright. Or close. Thanks!! Let´s try!! :wink: Chino
Sword9
98% of the 2" machines I used to know made twice as much noise(on the decibel scale) as any computer I've run across lately.....ah, the good ol' days..... If you can get a dedicated ventilation system to it, your best bet would be some type of externally ducted enclosure...aside from that, look for steel cases instead of aluminum, huge heat sinks, and large but slow moving fans (like off of a 92 civic).
chinocurva
Sword9 wrote:
98% of the 2" machines I used to know made twice as much noise(on the decibel scale) as any computer I've run across lately.....ah, the good ol' days.....
Hahahaaaaaaaaaa!!! I really liked that one... it is sooo true...!!! But, "the world is changing", like Galadriel said :), and even two-year-old kids manage computers better than other people that I know... Hahahaaa!! That´s a sign of it. One´s complaining because there´s always something else we can do to get things better, don´t we...? Bigger fans... that´s good too. Thank you so much! Chino
Jef Gibbons
This is a great resource for silencing your PC http://www.silentpcreview.com/ Also, if you're in Canada or the States you can go for one of these (very cheap... relatively). http://www.frontierpc.com/P180SPCR.aspx I'll be picking one up as soon as my movie is done (in the next few weeks). I'll post back with my feelings on it. As for right now, my computer is about 4 times quiter than my R2D2 air conditioner I've been using, so what's the point!