[compuryan]

http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f46/co...-links-103084/

look under the quiet computer links in that thread ^
In my computer, to keep it quiet, I have some fans controlled by switches so if I'm not doing something intense, I can turn them off. I also have connected the fans to the +5v(or maybe its +7v, not sure) DC wire instead of the +12v. Anyway, its using the red wire on the 4 pin molex power connectors instead of the yellow for fans. This helps considerably. I also have a fanless cooler on my graphics card and a really quiet fan on my cpu. I got a quiet PSU with only 1 slow moving 120mm fan. Lastly, I installed some sound-dampening material and got some good rubber feet on the bottom. I also got one of those hard drive silencers where the drive actually fits inside the enclosure and it slides in a 5.25" bay. Its all pretty quiet.

 

[daglesj]

Things I've done -

Mounted the PSU in a silicon grommet where it screws into the case. Covered any parts where it touched the case with a couple of layers of tape or thin foam to reduce metal to metal vibration.

Sealed up any small holes or gaps in the case with foam or duct tape.

Filled up empty optical drive bays with blocks of foam.

Taken off the front face panel and covered over any holes with tape and foam, especially round drive bay cut outs.

Cases have so many so many holes in them that all allow sound to escape. Reducing these as much as possible helps. I've tried to seal off all but the holes for where fans are active. It all helps.

Lined inside of case with Paxmate foam panels.

Looked up and bought quieter fans on the web and only run with as few fans as possible.

 

[lantice]

Use some quieter cooler like Thermalright HR-01 plus for CPU cooling

Arctic Cooling S1 for GPU.

 

[oldson]

Quote:

Originally Posted by lantice /img/forum/go_quote.gif Use some quieter cooler like Thermalright HR-01 plus for CPU cooling Arctic Cooling S1 for GPU.

never changed a gpu cooler before. is it easy to do for a pc numpty ,like me?

 

[daglesj]

Usually 4 screws, pulling apart some gunk on the ramchips, cleaning them up, putting some fresh heat pads on, some silver paste on the GPU and carfully clamp the new cooler on.

Not too hard if taken nice and steady. Kind of a good Sunday afternoon job.

 

[oldson]

but not after the pub, i guess?

 

[daglesj]

Err no. That way lies tears and swearing.

 

[ear8dmg]

One thing I was pleasantly surprised by, is that my Goldring NS1000 noise reduction heaphones pretty much shut up the noise my computer makes. My PC isn't the noisiest but it's not ideal for music listening so these things have proved quite handy.

 

[Uncle Erik]

I like the noise reduction products offered by Silenx. Their fans are super quiet, you can get noiseless power supplies, and they sell damping products for drives and cases.

 

[enigman]

I highly recommend a little program called Speedfan:
SpeedFan - Access temperature sensor in your computer

It allows you to automatically adjust the speed (and thus the noise) of the fans in your computer (CPU, chassis, VGA, etc) based on various temp readings.

This allows you to configure the machine so that the cooling is there when you need it, but ramps down when you don't. When the CPU runs at near-idle for a while, my CPU fan will even shut off and I can still keep temps below 40c! (it helps that I'm using an energy-efficient CPU model)

Also check out silent PC review
silentpcreview.com | Everything about Silent / Quiet Computers
for some good tips on how to build/modify a computer to keep noise levels at a minimum.

Another surprising noise culprit can also be external hard drives - I turn mine off when I'm not actively using it.

 

[ear8dmg]

Speedfan doesn't work for everything though. It can only read the speed of my CPU fan, not control it. I guess most newere motherboards should have fan control sorted though.

Rivatuner is another program that will let you control graphics card fans.

Remember to keep an eye on temperatures if reducing fan speed.

I agree about external hard drives. Mine is pretty noisy. I have it sitting on top of a cardboard box to reduce vibrations that were being transferred to my desk.

 

[fameh]

You can take a look too at rehobuses. You can buy them cheap and they give you total control of your system. Prices variates between 12-40$. I have one like this one.
Thats a good option if your motherboard doesn't control well all the fans or if speedfan doesn't work well for you with all the fans (as occurs always with all my systems).


GPU cooler is basic. Common its the noisiest element from the system. Accelero has commented here and has awesome products in quality/price.

Another important thing is airflow. If you have a good CPU heatsink like Ninja and a good GPU cooler like Accelero S2, with 2 good fans in front of the case and in the rear part, you can have a very silent system with good temperatures. If you play something hard, then u can put the fans up with the rehobus.
Good airflow inside the case means good refrigeration, so u can slow down the fans and make the system quieter.

Don't forget to have enabled SpeedStep technology for your C2D, it helps too. You can test via CPU-Z the processor's current speed. To activate it:
a) In BIOS: Set it to enabled/automatic (controlled by operating system).
b) In Windows: Energy options. Set it to "mobile" (thats not always necessary, only sometimes).

 

[oldson]

cheers for all the suggestions guys.
i will mull them over, over the next week or 2 and see which option is best for me!

 

[lmf22]

Also try replacing the case fans with these:
SPCR's Fan Round-Up #2: 120mm Fans | silentpcreview.com

And the graphics card with this one (no fan):
Asus EN3650 Silent Graphics Card | silentpcreview.com
I don't play any games, so I don't know how this card will perform with games.

I have a similar case to yours, the Antec 182. I only have one case fan in the back and the CPU fan (the Zalman 9500 ::: Zalman, leading the world of Quiet Computing Solutions :::). Noise is very low; not audible when I have my headphones on and music playing at normal volume (even quiet music).

 

[m0ofassa]

I'm not sure how many other people have encountered this, but have you tried using WASAPI or ASIO4ALL playback? I have a high end PC that was built for gaming, not sound production and is very noisy when playing back through windows [vista] (quite audibly so), but my presentation is almost black when using WASAPI playback (only when i have my amps gain setting on max and volume on max can i hear hiss... and I only use it at 20% of that).