[ServinginEcuador]

I've been struggling with a computer that simply ruined any listening pleasure anywhere within 20 feet of the thing. The fans were making so much noise it was driving me batty. These Panaflos move a lot of air, but make too much noise while doing so. Then, one day I decided to spend the $$ on a PSU that was supposedly much, much quieter than any other server PSU made. Well, this dual Opteron system didn't get much quieter with the new PSU, but for a day or so I was quite happy. Last week I ordered a pair of 120mm and a pair of 80mm to replace the Panaflo fans that I bought specifically to move air while being "quiet".

Today I got fed up, bought a Dremel, some cutting, boring, and grinding bits and set out to mod this thing, as song said, "My Way". Here's what this case looked like a couple of hours ago:

Notice the smallish holes for air flow for the 120mm, and the curved slots down by the PSU for the 80mm fans! What a poor design for noise and air flow. Great case in every respect BUT the fan cutouts.

To combat the fan noise I got some Nexus Real Silent fans which, while not moving much air, are reportedly very quiet. The silicon gaskets were another $5 each, so I got four of those to eliminate any possible vibrations coming from the fans to the case.

Here's what the case looks like now:

Ghetto it is... but super-quiet 'tis too! Finally, this noisy beast has been almost completely tamed, and now I can plug the CDP and headamp back in to enjoy while I work. There's only the front 120mm to replace with the last Nexus I bought, and it's the last thing I can hear making noise. Once that fan goes I'll be basking in near silence once again.

Man, I almost scrapped this entire rig to buy a dual core setup just to rid myself of the noise. Once I explain the savings that the Dremel and bits represent she'll thank me for not going the other route!!!!

 

[3x331m]

For my quiet PC's, I use only 120mm fans, and run them at half of the max RPM/Voltage. The Swiss made Artic Cooling is my favorite price/performance fans. The AC 120mm is inaudible when you close the case if you cut its voltage in half.

 

[Deiz]

Fan noise was a bane for me at one point, too.

Hell, at one point I had four Delta fans - Which put out 52-56 dB each.

Bang, vacuum cleaner.

Now I run four 7-volt-modded Scythe S-Flex fans. Nice and quiet - The heatsink fan's still a bit of a bugger when the CPU hits 48c.

 

[3x331m]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Deiz /img/forum/go_quote.gif Fan noise was a bane for me at one point, too. Hell, at one point I had four Delta fans - Which put out 52-56 dB each. Bang, vacuum cleaner. Now I run four 7-volt-modded Scythe S-Flex fans. Nice and quiet - The heatsink fan's still a bit of a bugger when the CPU hits 48c.

My quiet PC's brain is a core Yonah overclocked, and I was able to use the stock fan at half the voltage... inaudible.

 

[ServinginEcuador]

Quote:

Originally Posted by 3x331m /img/forum/go_quote.gif For my quiet PC's, I use only 120mm fans, and run them at half of the max RPM/Voltage. The Swiss made Artic Cooling is my favorite price/performance fans. The AC 120mm is inaudible when you close the case if you cut its voltage in half.

I find that when you drop the voltage on many 120mm fans you drop nearly all wind noise, but greatly increase bearing noise. My old fan got a lot quieter when I lowered the voltage, but suddenly a higher pitched noise came in even louder. I HAD to run the fan at 12v and live with the noise. Not now.

 

[AuroraProject]

2 ideas, 120mm fans only (Yate Loons & run them at 7v for maximum quiet) and water cool it!

Peace and quiet!

 

[NiceCans]

After sufferring from a noisy PC interfering with my music for way too long, and considering all the options for going the "silent PC" route, I decided to go in another direction altogether.

I placed my PC in another room and run it remotely. I do all my browsing and other business on my laptop using my PC only as a Media-PC serving all my music and video needs.

Unfortunately, here comes summer with air conditioner and window-fan noise

 

[Trippytiger]

I've been thinking of doing the very same thing to the PSU exhaust in my little headless music server too. The one 80MM Arctic Cooling fan in the system is quite buzzy, but since it doesn't really have a reputation for being noisy I suspect that it's just loud because it's having to work so hard to overcome the backpressure created by the rather restrictive louvers that comprise the exhaust vent. But I'm a bit wary of doing this, because I don't think I'll be able to get the PSU case apart, and I don't really want to fill it up with metal filings that could short something out when I turn it back on.

Did you have much trouble with metal shavings getting everywhere when you Dremeled out the fan grills?

 

[ServinginEcuador]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trippytiger /img/forum/go_quote.gif Did you have much trouble with metal shavings getting everywhere when you Dremeled out the fan grills?

I took some time to tape large pieces of paper towels all around the area I was working on. Just make sure to tape it really good and seal all around your work area. I also cleaned up the entire computer to remove any possible shavings before I closed it up and prayed it would'nt short out and fry itself. Thankfully, the lower piece was held on by six screws so I could easily remove it to cut off the 80mm fan slots.

If you decide to do this remember that metal shavings are conductive - and can fry your system. Remove things like your video card, cover everything with multiple layers, and if possible have a second set of hands running a shop vac or regular vacuum to suck up the shards as you work.

 

[ServinginEcuador]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trippytiger /img/forum/go_quote.gif Did you have much trouble with metal shavings getting everywhere when you Dremeled out the fan grills?

Almost missed the part about this being the PSU - forget it! Find a quieter PSU with smaller honeycomb and a larger (like 120mm) fan instead. With the incredible amount of amps inside a power supply it is quite a risk messing around removing metal from one. That is unless you can open it up, avoid touching ANYTHING inside, somehow block-off or tape paper (WITHOUT touching anything)or something to prevent shards of metal from getting into your PSU, and cut the metal off WITHOUT touching anything inside the PSU - then go for it. Did I mention DON'T TOUCH ANYTHING INSIDE THE PSU?

 

[Trippytiger]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ServinginEcuador /img/forum/go_quote.gif Almost missed the part about this being the PSU - forget it! Find a quieter PSU with smaller honeycomb and a larger (like 120mm) fan instead. With the incredible amount of amps inside a power supply it is quite a risk messing around removing metal from one. That is unless you can open it up, avoid touching ANYTHING inside, somehow block-off or tape paper (WITHOUT touching anything)or something to prevent shards of metal from getting into your PSU, and cut the metal off WITHOUT touching anything inside the PSU - then go for it. Did I mention DON'T TOUCH ANYTHING INSIDE THE PSU?

Well, a new PSU is definitely not happening. My system is a seven-year old Compaq Deskpro EN that I picked up at a university surplus sale for $20 (and then sunk several times that amount into it putting new parts in...). The case design is incredible, but it's a 'slimline' design, which means that the power supply is fantastically proprietary - funny shape, weird mobo power connector, etc.

And I simply cannot figure out how they put it together, but then I haven't really given it a good going-over yet. Hopefully I'll be able to find some way to take it apart, though, because I don't plan on doing any cutting while it's intact. If all else fails, I might try it with some tinsnips, though, as those wouldn't leave anything behind.

Mostly I wish that I hadn't bought a fan with a thermistor. The thing won't even start on 5V, which pretty much dashes any hope at making it quieter without improving airflow.

 

[SK138]

I had the similar issue with my PowerMac liquid cooled dual G5 (with over 6 fans) few days ago. When that machine starts turning it's fans at full speed it's like a wind tunnel. I can't turn off or mod the fans or the CPUs would fry so I put the G5 in the basement and I am connecting to it remotely using my super silent MacBook. I should have done this months ago. Now my home office is super quiet for my listening pleasure

 

[Jon118]

My computer right now runs 3 80MM fans and they are loud. With the door open you can hear in in pretty much any room in the house. I'm definitely going with liquid cooling for my next desktop, but I'll probably have a laptop for a while, that will replace this junker pretty soon, so I'm not worried about my noise problem.

 

[ServinginEcuador]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jon118 /img/forum/go_quote.gif My computer right now runs 3 80MM fans and they are loud. With the door open you can hear in in pretty much any room in the house. I'm definitely going with liquid cooling for my next desktop, but I'll probably have a laptop for a while, that will replace this junker pretty soon, so I'm not worried about my noise problem.

Have you looked into finding some quieter fans like the Nexus brand? With only three in your computer you should be able to nearly silence any noise from the fans by replacing them. Also look into getting a 5 1/2" fan controller to adjust the voltage from the front of the computer to get the best air flow to noise ratio.

 

[65535]

dig an 8 foot hole in your backyard bury a 35 gallon or so metal tank backfill, plumb the tank to an outdoors pump with 1/2" line and run that to cool your PC, then use 1 120mm fan to move air.