[llmobll]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tyop As to suspending harddrives, don't knock it until you try it. I've got two suspended harddrives and they're utterly inaudible with the case closed. No idle or seek noise at all. I've even transported the case 1800 km, with harddrives still inside, in the back of a car (not one of my proudest moments, but still).

I tried it, I'm convinced that it only has negative effects on the drive. And the whole you can't really move it too much is annoying. A decent drive will not have any audible noise.


Quote:

Originally Posted by ooheadsoo My 5 installed drives are composed of 2 seagate, 2 maxtor and a wd, all purchased within the last year or two sizes between 80gb and 120gb. They are all noisy as hell, sorry. I want a new case right now that will contain noise better.

Dude you were taken, next time look at the specs before you buy crap hardware. My roomate has 2 160gb wd & seagate and I haven't heard those things since the opend the package and unwrapped them.

Edit: Can you say fluid dynamic bearings:
http://www.nextgenelectronics.com/seagate120ata.shtml

 

[Zurg]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tyop Zurg: I happen to have exactly the same computer as the one you're building. I managed to fit a XP120 by turning it 180 degrees so the heatpipes points downwards but with very little clearance to the northbridge heatsink (1-2 mm). The Antec fan at the rear of the case is decent if you undervolt it to 5V or so, but I'd strongly recommend getting a good replacement fan.

Tyop, thanks for the info. The XP-120 looks like a monster but appears to be the best thing going for quietly air-cooling a CPU when coupled with a slowed down 120mm fan. The Thermalright website lists the P4C-800-E motherboard and says the XP-120 will work with "capacitor tilting". That led me to consider the XP-90 since hopefully my CPU won't be too hot to begin with. Clearly it won't cool as well as the 120 but it should fit more easily I would think.

BTW, any specific recommendations on good quiet fans and places to buy them?

Thanks, -Z

 

[ooheadsoo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by llmobll Dude you were taken, next time look at the specs before you buy crap hardware. My roomate has 2 160gb wd & seagate and I haven't heard those things since the opend the package and unwrapped them. Edit: Can you say fluid dynamic bearings: http://www.nextgenelectronics.com/seagate120ata.shtml

Do you mean that you can't hear it literally? Because I have all my fans set to settings where I can't hear them from 3 feet, but I can hear those hdds idling. My computer is 3 feet from my head. I can't really hear the fans but I can hear those hdds from just about anywhere in my largish room. I had to stick my head into my case to figure out where the noise was coming from because it wasn't coming from the fans, that's for sure.

 

[llmobll]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ooheadsoo Do you mean that you can't hear it literally? Because I have all my fans set to settings where I can't hear them from 3 feet, but I can hear those hdds idling. My computer is 3 feet from my head. I can't really hear the fans but I can hear those hdds from just about anywhere in my largish room. I had to stick my head into my case to figure out where the noise was coming from because it wasn't coming from the fans, that's for sure.

When I say noisy i mean you can hear the HD when its just idling. They have this annoying high pitched wine to them. I hate it.

 

[Nospam]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tyop ...As to suspending harddrives, don't knock it until you try it. I've got two suspended harddrives and they're utterly inaudible with the case closed. No idle or seek noise at all. I've even transported the case 1800 km, with harddrives still inside, in the back of a car (not one of my proudest moments, but still). ...

Just to be clear, I am not saying that suspending drives doesn't reduce noise. Obviously, if you've isolated the drive from the chassis with vibration-damping material, vibration-induced noise will be greatly reduced or eliminated.

My contention is that, given other, more effective ways to dampen vibration-induced noise (rubber washers/isolators, drive enclosures, vibration damping material, etc), suspending drives is a pretty cheezy (though low-cost), kludgy option that brings with it some serious disadvantages.

Remember, suspending the drives only reduces vibration-induced noise. It does absolutely nothing to reduce the noise of the spindle motor (or actuator arm noise). In my experience, the spindle motor is the loudest part of the drive. Properly mounting the drive to the case usually eliminates most, vibration-induced noise. Strategic placement of vibration-damping material should take care of the rest.

Again, this is just my opinion, based on experience and logical application of vibration theory (or what little I remember of it from school

). If you've found that suspending drives works best for you, by all means go with what works.

 

[Tyop]

Quote:

I tried it, I'm convinced that it only has negative effects on the drive. And the whole you can't really move it too much is annoying. A decent drive will not have any audible noise.

I guess it depends on your definition of quiet.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nospam Just to be clear, I am not saying that suspending drives doesn't reduce noise. Obviously, if you've isolated the drive from the chassis with vibration-damping material, vibration-induced noise will be greatly reduced or eliminated.

Yes, yes!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nospam My contention is that, given other, more effective ways to dampen vibration-induced noise (rubber washers/isolators, drive enclosures, vibration damping material, etc), suspending drives is a pretty cheezy (though low-cost), kludgy option that brings with it some serious disadvantages.

Consider the damping potential of one inch of elastic band on each side of the drive compared to a 2 mm rubber washer?

What are the disadvantages?

Sure the drive gets hotter because it doesn't have the case working as a heatsink, but I'd wager it doesn't get any hotter than inside a drive enclosure and it's still well within operating temperatures. Besides you can always use a low rpm fan to cool the suspended drive, something you can't do with an enclosed one.

Mobility isn't really a problem either, if you need to move the case to a LAN or something, just remove the drives. Compared to rigidly mounted drives it's a snap, just disconnect the cables and slide it out.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nospam Remember, suspending the drives only reduces vibration-induced noise. It does absolutely nothing to reduce the noise of the spindle motor (or actuator arm noise). In my experience, the spindle motor is the loudest part of the drive. Properly mounting the drive to the case usually eliminates most, vibration-induced noise. Strategic placement of vibration-damping material should take care of the rest. Again, this is just my opinion, based on experience and logical application of vibration theory (or what little I remember of it from school ). If you've found that suspending drives works best for you, by all means go with what works.

This is a good summary of what works and what don't. Why don't you get a few feet of elastic cord and give it a try?

HDD vibration & noise reducing methods - ranked

 

[llmobll]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tyop Mobility isn't really a problem either, if you need to move the case to a LAN or something, just remove the drives. Compared to rigidly mounted drives it's a snap, just disconnect the cables and slide it out.

Saw goodbye to your data.


Suspending a drive does little to nothing to a decent drive. This is my point. I don't need to suspend anything because there is no vibration.

/thread