Quieting a Computer
Feb 18, 2003 at 7:37 AM Thread Starter Post #1 of 43
NotoriousBIG_PJ

NotoriousBIG_PJ

Step 1: Plug power cable into wall. Step 2: Plug other end of power cable into....umm.... Step 0.5: Order something to power with power cable.
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What are the most cost efficient ways to quiet a computer. I have some ideas but I want to hear your hopefully cheaper solutions.
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Biggie.
 
Feb 18, 2003 at 8:11 AM Post #3 of 43
Turning it off
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But other than that, getting one of those VIA C3 chips that produce little heat... get a 5400RPM hard drive with fluid bearings ... and don't hope for a fast computer
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Feb 18, 2003 at 10:15 AM Post #6 of 43
Yes, I'm interested in changing my power supply and cpu fan. My video card also has a fan but I don't think its very loud.

How easy was the zalman to install? Also, does it go overtop of an existing heatsink?

Biggie.
 
Feb 18, 2003 at 6:08 PM Post #8 of 43
The best solution is to move your computer into another room, but of course that's a stupid solution.

Pc power and cooling (link russ gave above) is a good company. I purchased a really efficient heatsink from them and the noise was minimal. I had a friend who bought a power supply from them and I can barely hear it.

As for the heatsink on the video card, I usually wouldn't touch it unless its reallly cheap and tinsy. Believe it or not, my friend bought a video card with a plastic heat sink that cracked in half. The plastic was coated in silver paint just to make it look like it was made of metal. I talked to an electrical engineer about this and he told me that the plastic is used a structure to keep the fan on top of the chip, not to be used for cooling.
 
Feb 19, 2003 at 12:11 AM Post #9 of 43
If anyone cares, I just wasted a few hours researching and e-mailing a bunch of places. I'm fairly certain that the NX-3000 psu is the quietest fan based power suply on the market right now and when I find a place in Canada that sells one, I'll be buying it hehe.

Biggie.
 
Feb 19, 2003 at 12:19 AM Post #10 of 43
some pro audio sources sell soundproofed boxes for your pc or mac for recording studio use. it is supposed to kill all fan sound, and is transparent and just a little larger than your pc. try b and h photo.
 
Feb 19, 2003 at 12:26 AM Post #11 of 43
I just change my power supply fans from 12V to 7V or 5V and it's basically super quiet.

What CPU do you have? It's possible to go fanless with a Pentium3. A P4 or Athlon can run a quiet fan but then that depends on the heatsink and speed of the CPU. You can also run these fans at 7V or 5V.
 
Feb 19, 2003 at 4:50 AM Post #12 of 43
Quote:

Originally posted by NotoriousBIG_PJ

How easy was the zalman to install? Also, does it go overtop of an existing heatsink?


The Zalman cooler replaces the stock heatsink/fan combo that comes with the CPU. The included instructions and tools made it pretty easy to do.
The fan comes with a speed control that allows you to dial down the speed and resulting noise level, very handy!
 
Feb 19, 2003 at 5:38 AM Post #14 of 43
Quote:

Originally posted by lan
I just change my power supply fans from 12V to 7V or 5V and it's basically super quiet.

What CPU do you have? It's possible to go fanless with a Pentium3. A P4 or Athlon can run a quiet fan but then that depends on the heatsink and speed of the CPU. You can also run these fans at 7V or 5V.


Its actually possible to go fanless with a P4, as they automatically throttle back when they start to heat up. Tomshardware did a test where they pulled the entire heatsink off a P4 and it still ran. Slowly, but it still ran. Getting a large heatsink could allow for fanless designs at much higher clock speeds.
 
Feb 19, 2003 at 6:30 AM Post #15 of 43
Quote:

Originally posted by Subsonic
Any of the Swiftech heatsinks will work great. Put a Panaflo L1A on it and you're set. Also, replacing any case fans with L1A's will also quiet things down a bit. All we need now is a way to silent the hd's
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I agree with the Swiftech recommendation.
I also replaced the fans in my PS and my case with the L1As and they are basically silent. The loudest thing then became my video card fan...

My HD is a Seagate Barracude IV, and is silent with no special treatment. Of course, if you've got a 15,000RPM setup then I can't help you there.
 
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