[GoRedwings19]

Do the artic cooling gpu fan replacements really help with the noise of the stock gpu HSF's?

I notice on stuff like the nvidia 68xx/78xx/79xx

that air is sucked in and then expelled back into the case. But the Artic cooler seems to suck air in from the case and expel it out of one of the slots at the back. Although this seems more efficient and the technical specs seem to add up does it really cools it better and if it does does it decrease noise?

 

[Wilson]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bones13 1) Samsung 250 g SATA2 is very quiet, even without special treatment. 2) Seasonic S12 units are also very good. 3) I would not turn down a Nexus fan much, ya can't hear them anyways. 4) If you don't play games, find a much older video chip set running with passive cooling (or on the motherboard is even better.) 5) If you are not going to play the newest games, consider researching a pentium M based system. Much lower power requirements.

Yes, the Samsung drive is exceptionally quiet. I put in an Antec fanless powersupply, and use a fanless video card.

I found that the case fan, even at lowered speed, is creating an airflow that has a low frequency resonance inside. After I padded the sides with foam, the PC noise is now barely audible. I am quite happy with the result.

 

[wallstreet]

Quote:

Originally Posted by saturnine I tried that. Somehow the freezing temps killed one of my storage drives, but I was able to oc this 3.0 P4 to a little over 3.7

If you actually leave the pc outside, it can can get moisture inside the machine due to frost condensation. I'm surprised it killed a drive and not your cpu.

 

[saturnine]

Quote:

Originally Posted by wallstreet If you actually leave the pc outside, it can can get moisture inside the machine due to frost condensation. I'm surprised it killed a drive and not your cpu.

It was actually in my attic

Pretty much the same temps as outside, but with less moisture. I believe the HD's death had something to do with either the fluid bearings getting too cold & causing the platters to slow up & cause friction, or the contraction/expansion of the platters due to day/night temps.

 

[ehcanadian]

this is the best advice i have ever heard i will share it with you.

want a truly silent pc, turn it off and go outside

i have a artic cooler and its pretty loud i bought it not to be quiet but rather to overclock so. if you dont need 3d acceleration than underclock your card as low as it will go and replace stock sink with a passive copper sink

but realy just get extension cables and use dvi so cable quality wont matter, other wise if your stuck with vga get a well shield cable and tuck your pc in the closet.

 

[Aryolkary]

The best thing if available: the Computer being in the Living Room and the monitor, keyboard, mouse, etc in your room. This is what I have. Since my bedroom's sharing the same wall with the living room, I just made a hole near the floor, and passed all the extension cables. ZERO noise, ZERO. I saved myself tons of money. The disadvantages: need of 3mts cables for audio (from the soundcard output) OR use USB DAC (I plan in the future) with the monitor's usb hub (a nice 21" CRT monitor).
Should I have a camera at hand in the future, I'll post some pics.

 

[comabereni]

This method has my vote if you have the right room arrangement (PC in adjacent room). Put noisy things in another room, far away from you. Works with children too.

-coma

 

[comabereni]

BTW, on a more serious note, I achieved a huge noise reduction in my PC by purchasing a big copper heatpipe CPU cooler (SilverStone NT01...only about $50), strapping a 80mm Panaflo to that cooler, replacing the PSU fan with another Panaflo, and putting both fans on potentiometers so I can turn down their speed. Because I'm running a P4, my CPU occasionally underclocks itself on processor intensive tasks when it starts to push 50C--in these rare cases I have to turn up the fans a little. I can barely hear the fans most times.

-coma

 

[Gabe Logan]

I got a huge and i mean huge tower of a copper heatsink(by thermaltake i think)that is just one of the components inside that allows me to add 2 low noise fans.The heatsink is so heavy i cannot have my tower standing up but on it's side.

 

[XFxGeforced]

wouldnt a wooden case absorb noise well, especially with the inside lined with acoustic foam

im making a nice wooden case right now with some walnut

 

[CaptSnuffy]

I recommend the Seasonic S12 for a power supply

SPCR gave it high marks and i've been extremely happy with the 600w model I bought. Now most of the noise in my case comes from the cpu fan and my raptor, which is a bit louder than a 7200rpm drive.

My video card would be one of the main contributors if the (tiny, cheap quality) fan didnt break. It works fine for just using the pc, but if you fire up a game or photoshop it'll just crash. I'm still in the process of sending it in for an RMA.

 

[Edwood]

Any Seagate after the Barracuda V series has that hella annoying self checking crap that is nearly impossible to disable. Rather than getting a recent 7200.X series, stick with Samsung, if quiet is your top priority.

As for PSU's, the Seasonic S12 series is very quiet. Of course, the Antec Phantom 350 is completely silent, but costs nearly three times as much.

-Ed

 

[imported_Greg_R]

I agree with Ed, the Seagates of recent years are no longer quiet. Samsung makes the best 3.5" 'quiet' drive (laptop HDDs are even more quiet but you have to deal with connection / mounting issues). I have a nice Antec case that has rubber grommets for all drive mounting and a 120mm fan (which I have speed controlled). A good fan controller is a must for proper tweaking of your rig (sound vs temperature). I wouldn't go with a fanless PSU... the PSU fan actually helps pull air through the case. The Seasonic S12 PSUs are very quiet (almost inaudible from 1-2ft. away).

I went with a water cooled system and it is not the best option (cost/performance) for a quiet PC. It's a good option if overclocking and silence are a concern. If you are just running your system at basic specs then get some quiet fans with speed control... this will be far cheaper and the system will produce the same amount of noise. Underclocking your system will REALLY help with the temperature (allowing you to run less fans). However, some people are not willing to live with the reduced computer performance.

 

[milhouse6]

Pretty quiet workstation here... pretty affordable too, considering the power.

Antec Sonta II (rubber drive grommets, beautiful HD access, dead quiet PSU)
Asus P5NG2-SLI (fanless mobo)
Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 on a P4 3G Dual Core
2x Asus 6600LE silencers (no fan!) driving 3x19"s (or 1 in SLI for games) (generally get 90fps+ @ 1024x768 at max on new games which is just fine for me)
3x Seagate SATA HDs (160, 200, 300)
1x Western Digital SATA HD (200) -- people complain that WD are loud, but not so here...

Oh, I have an extra 120MM fan in there -- another generic Antec one -- and the top half of the Sonata's air sleeve (the bottom part doesn't fit over the Freezer7)

I mean, like, sure -- you can hear it a little bit when it's on, but it's pretty damn quiet. There are no HD head crunching sounds, I can't hear the HDs spin up/down --the only minor annoyance is the slight whine of the freezer7 when SpeedFan is throttling it back.

I've got it under the desk on a rolling platform in a carpeted room. I'm looking forward to the day I figure out some sort of desk configuration that secludes it away but allows easy access when I need (which is all too often).

So the Freezer 7, the extra 120mm fan, the heatsink-only video cards, and the Sonata all together probably only add $125 over the cheapest possible build. Reasonable peace & quiet need not cost a fortune. Simply paying attention to whether or not your motherboard and video card are fanless can knock down a heck of a lot of noise right there.

[P.S. careful with that mobo -- it doesn't do dual-core with all CPUs!]

 

[Edwood]

As a rule, try to use larger fans spinning at slower speeds.

120mm is pretty much the way to go. But the downside is their larger size, and extra weight means the fan blades are prone to imbalance noise. Basically a "chuttering" sound if you use them at a slower speed, and have them standing up, blowing sideways.

Best to have them pointed up/down and use ducting to direct the air flow.

-Ed