How silent is your modded pc?

frosty · Post by **frosty** » Tue Nov 04, 2003 8:22 am

How silent is your modded pc?

I don’t have any measuring device, wished I had when I started, but my question is how far away or close do you need to be to hear it now that you modded or are still modding it?

I myself, thanks to everyone hear, :} I have to literally get down to less than a meter or less than 3 feet away to actually hear a gentle hum, which I attribute to too many low voltage fans, the psu fan and prolly mostly the Maxtor. But I am so pleased with it.
I used to be able to hear it at first from over forty feet away!

MGP · Post by **MGP** » Tue Nov 04, 2003 8:34 am

I went with "less than one meter," but it could certainly be quieter if I wasn't so addicted to the Hitachi 180GXP's performance (was going for the Cuda IV's before I bought it).

Its whine (which is very low) easily makes it the loudest component in my system. The drive's seek is very audible as I haven't used add-ons like NoVibes, but I really don't care about seek noise anyways. Compared to my old WD 120GB w/ 8mb cache, this drive is significantly quieter FYI.

Zyzzyx · Post by **Zyzzyx** » Tue Nov 04, 2003 8:37 am

Used my quietest system to 'vote' with. My wallmount system (in progress) is less than one meter noisy. Two L1As at 6v and a 40gb Cuda IV. No case, all open air mounted. (someday I'll finish this thing and get some pics)

My other systems range from about 1 meter away to other side of the room (if the hard disk is spinning).

Tigr · Post by **Tigr** » Tue Nov 04, 2003 8:50 am

I used to have this fantastic PII system that was modded to the extent of being completely inaudible unless you get your head under the table behind the computer - then you'd hear the fans. Well, RIP, it crashed, the motherboard is faulty and I have to replace the whole bloody thing.

So I voted with my other PC that is audible from less than 1 meter away, mostly because of the 12cm fans but also due to some resonance between the Seagate drives which I could not figure out yet.

Rook · Post by **Rook** » Tue Nov 04, 2003 9:14 am

My current PC is definitely more then 2m away, but I'm in the early modding stages. I've replaced the case with a Sonata, and used the Hitachi Feature Tool to cut down on seek noise. Planned upgrades are a Sapphire Ultimate 9600Pro video card (no fan) and a Zalman 7000A Alcu CPU cooler when I upgrade the CPU.

My old system, which was an Athlon 1200 with plain-jane (i.e. nothing designed to be quiet) components, was so loud that it gave me headaches. The case resonated enough noise that the case was audible on the other side of my house, even with the TV on. My current system is quiet enough to be inaudible about 5-10m away, but I'm hoping to cut that down to 1-2m with the above upgrades. If those aren't quiet enough, I'll look into modding the PSU.

Cost-wise, I can't justify upgrading components purely to reduce noise (my wife already thinks I'm nuts), so I'm upgrading to quieter components as part of the routine upgrade cycle, which is why it takes so long.

Post by **Ralf Hutter** » Tue Nov 04, 2003 10:49 am

Less than one meter for me too.

aphonos · Post by **aphonos** » Tue Nov 04, 2003 11:04 am

Have to get right next to it (and have a quiet ambient environment) for me.

PaleMelanesian · Post by **PaleMelanesian** » Tue Nov 04, 2003 11:13 am

Mine's audible across the room, but not too bad. The refrigerator in the next room is about the same level/quality of sound when it's on. New fans and CPU cooler are on the way, so maybe it'll be better after that.

(I'm getting a TT Silent Boost with a fan-swap in mind)

Rook, I hear you about the wife thinking you're nuts...

miker · Post by **miker** » Tue Nov 04, 2003 11:15 am

Less than a meter for me. Probably the loudest thing now is the Hydor L20 pump, sitting on foam. And that's pretty quiet. Also the sound of the 120mm pushing air across the radiator is a little bit.

silvervarg · Post by **silvervarg** » Tue Nov 04, 2003 1:17 pm

I also went for less than a meter. Loudest component is 1 Panaflo 24V M1A with a Zalman resistor attached with washers. Guess voltage now is about 7V. Chassi has some sound absorbtion materials as well.

Compoter noise in beaten us slight buzzing of the screen.
Screen noise is beaten by the slight ticking of the wallclock 2 meters away.

Post by **MikeC** » Tue Nov 04, 2003 1:35 pm

PaleMelanesian & Rook --

After you silence your machines (less than 1m), get her to play with it a bit, mention how quiet it is & how pleased you are with it. Then find a friend, neighbor, someone who has a noisy PC in a quiet environment. Take her over there & sit her infront of that thing. Then she'll see you as the strong silent hero that you really are.

Post by **MikeC** » Tue Nov 04, 2003 1:51 pm

Today, I turned the noisier of the 2 PCs under my desk off. The main one that's left requires my head be next to it to hear it. So nice and quiet, I think my writing efficiency went up by 30%

After lunch, I'm reading through this thread when I start hearing a periodic "blurb" from under the desk. I sit quietly to hear it, and sure enough there it is again -- "glug". I'm starting to get a bit concerned. This PC has 2 'cuda IVs in it, 18 mos old. Is one of them going?

Open up the case, listen for 3 minutes, nothing. I sit at my chair again, and almost right away, I hear the "glug" - but this time I feel it too. It's coming from my belly. er... lunch making its way down...

EDIT: On the other hand, the HDD is making a similar noise, too! S--t!!

aphonos · Post by **aphonos** » Tue Nov 04, 2003 2:10 pm

MikeC wrote:Open up the case, listen for 3 minutes, nothing. I sit at my chair again, and almost right away, I hear the "glug" - but this time I feel it too. It's coming from my belly. er... lunch making its way down...

Too bad the poll can't be edited to include "Quieter than my stomach digesting." Of course this would be a highly subjective measurement, since I'm sure some readers would have digestive noise >30-40dB.

Rook · Post by **Rook** » Tue Nov 04, 2003 2:45 pm

MikeC wrote:PaleMelanesian & Rook --

After you silence your machines (less than 1m), get her to play with it a bit, mention how quiet it is & how pleased you are with it. Then find a friend, neighbor, someone who has a noisy PC in a quiet environment. Take her over there & sit her infront of that thing. Then she'll see you as the strong silent hero that you really are.

My wife already thinks the PC is quiet. Maybe I should tell her that if the computer gets quieter, I'll actually start to hear her when she speaks to me.

We need to start up a SPCR support group... Snarly Husbands Against Fan Turbulence (SHAFT) or something like that...

frosty · Post by **frosty** » Tue Nov 04, 2003 3:17 pm

They say as men get older higher pitched sound goes first, thus: you start to not hear children then women, maybe nature’s way of giving old, tired, men a break.

Actually when women can’t hear your computer then you have truly hit on a success!

MikeC I never let it get that bad, I am like a big horse, grazing on food all day off n on.

chrono · Post by **chrono** » Tue Nov 04, 2003 4:00 pm

i can hear my current computer from downstairs and down the hall. It sounds like an inverted vacuum or something

that's why I'm building a new system.. this one is hopeless.

Post by **MikeC** » Tue Nov 04, 2003 4:17 pm

So whose is SILENT??

JEN · Post by **JEN** » Tue Nov 04, 2003 4:30 pm

I chose "less than 1 metre". Here is a picture

I can't say it looks quiet

Noisiest components in order of highest dB

1. Speaker buzz
2. Router buzz
3. Monitor buzz

ez2remember · Post by **ez2remember** » Tue Nov 04, 2003 4:32 pm

MikeC wrote:So whose is SILENT??

Yeah, own up you!

The question is, how is silence interpretated? Someone that can't hear their PC over ambience may call it silent.

I assume any PC would make some kind of noise, just not audible over certain ambience level. A heart beat makes noise, but it's not audible unless you have ultra sensitive ears and ambience is low enough.

I can hear my heartbeat though, seriously.

My ears are becoming more sensitive to noise, and when I wear ear plugs I can hear my heartbeat, what should I do about this noise?

JEN · Post by **JEN** » Tue Nov 04, 2003 4:45 pm

When i'm in my room, I mainly notice my heart beat too

I also notice how quiet my pc is, when the speakers, router, and monitor have been unplugged from the mains to get rid of the buzz

DryFire · Post by **DryFire** » Tue Nov 04, 2003 5:15 pm

mine is still being silenced. I"m currently saving up for a new psu and possibly a zalm 7000 alcu or cu

I also need to suspend my noisy maxtor drive.

josephclemente · Post by **josephclemente** » Tue Nov 04, 2003 8:01 pm

I am surprised by the results. Most of you can't hear the faintest noise from your machine less than 2 meters away?

I can hear a single 7v Panaflo L1A from across the room. I can hear a pin drop from across the room. I can hear some power bricks in the right environment. I know if a television is on even though volume is completely mute.

I wouldn't dare say I have great hearing capabilities. In noisy environments I'm much more likely to miss a lot of words when someone is speaking to me. But from the way the poll is worded, I'm thinking "true, absolute dead silince from 2 meters away".

Is everyone's systems really that quiet??

Post by **MikeC** » Tue Nov 04, 2003 9:03 pm

"true, absolute dead silence from 2 meters away"

This is not really a valid comment/question because no one has a true, absolute dead silent environment in which to judge. In the anechoic chamber, I am so aware of my own breathing when just watching or being quiet in there. And it is NOT dead silent in there either. (0~10 dBA in the mid-band)

All we can say is silent in the sense that we can't hear it. While there might be the odd hyperbole here (ego & all that), I would think that most people are telling it as they hear it, Joseph.

Ambient noise in most systems is enough to obscure a lot of steady noises below 20 dBA. A pin drop, IMO, is easier to hear than a steady low hum at the threshold, because even if that noise is very low in level, it is a short sharp staccato sound that is an immediate change from (presumable) the quiet ambient before. We hear change quite easily. And a 7v Panaflo inside a case is much harder to hear than out in the open.

My system emits noise, it is not silent. This one measures 16~18 dBA @ 1 meter. When I get next to it, I can hear it easily, especially near the back where the PSU and case fans are mounted. Yet from a meter away in my chair, I can't hear it under my desk next to my feet.

lenny · Post by **lenny** » Tue Nov 04, 2003 10:42 pm

Perhaps a new poll "Is your computer quiet enough for you yet?". To which I'd have to answer "of course not" *sigh*

SometimesWarrior · Post by **SometimesWarrior** » Tue Nov 04, 2003 10:54 pm

Well, during the night I can hear the suspended Spinpoint from around the corner in my L-shaped room. But during the day, I honestly can't tell if the PC is on unless I'm sitting next to it. So I put "1 meter away".

Perhaps another way to phrase the question: "How late at night does it have to be for you to hear your PC?"

dago · Post by **dago** » Wed Nov 05, 2003 12:55 am

MikeC wrote:Then find a friend, neighbor, someone who has a noisy PC in a quiet environment. Take her over there & sit her infront of that thing. Then she'll see you as the strong silent hero that you really are.

So we all now know why MikeC started this site : to attract women !

And you're also prentending it works ... well ... that's a though one to try ("ding-dong > Eh, would you come to my place to see how quiet is my PC ?")

uh-umh ....

Post by **MikeC** » Wed Nov 05, 2003 1:09 am

dago, you missed something -- I was addressing those fellas who are married: they take the WIFE to the neighbor's noisy PC to show what magic he's achieved with the computer at home!

But if you considered "come over and check out my quiet PC, baby" as a come-on for even a tiny fraction of a second, that's it, we're going to have to send the silent nut police over, you've gone beyond way beyond help!

Tobias · Post by **Tobias** » Wed Nov 05, 2003 1:27 am

MikeC, there is another way. Get her a computer which you do not make silent and I assure you that she will start to appreciate your work sooner or later. And sooner or later the inevitable question will follow, "Can you make my computer silent as well?" which means that you got a blessing to spend even more time and money on the computers:)

lucienrau · Post by **lucienrau** » Wed Nov 05, 2003 5:29 am

Good point Mike and Tobias. Whenever we go to my parents house my wife always comes back home impressed with how quiet our systems are (and I'm not nearly done yet). My dad has 3 bog standard beige boxes and a LOUD server. It always gives me a little breathing room as far as time/money/upgrading goes

, though now she's saying that it's quiet enough

frosty · Post by **frosty** » Wed Nov 05, 2003 7:37 am

Mine is realy borderline about being within one meter, I used my wife as the actual point of ref since she hears better than I. I get a hearing test every yr where I work and my hearing is maybe a bit over standard for my age, and my pc is located under a pc desk and thus the sound is muffled a bit. If it were sitting on top of a table and about midnight I would most likely hear it about two to three meters away.

Also some of the SPCR I think have above average hearing and can hear much better than me. I do notice though that my hearing has improved or should I say I am more aware of noise now after being here since June, 2003.

But when I am sitting alone near the pc and I have very little room noise, my wife’s mom’s mouth, her tv, my dog scratching, my wife cutting veggies up far away. At this moment I have to place my head down between my legs and lean forward to actually know if my pc is on. That is my filter on the noise poll. :}

Now at work a different story, our new 2.4 intels are almost silent, but my pc at my station is a noise laden 1 gig with 3, yes 3 screaming fans. I mentioned to my Boss about putting in panaflo’s and how I could do it for free and you should have seen the look she fired me. Oh well, one yr to go and I get a new station pc that will run UT2003!

I wonder too who is the silent one here?

How silent is your modded pc?

How many meters away can you hear the faintest noise?

How silent is your modded pc?