(continued)
12) Mice
There has been even less talk about quiet mouse feet or mouse pads, but it’s obviously better to use a soft cloth neoprene backed mouse pad the mouse has almost no sliding sound over a hard plastic one
Some recommended "quiet" mouse pads include;
Micetracker Mice Pads
Ulti-Mat Breathe - A cloth mouse pad that comes in several sizes, from small to very very large
13) Speakers
Speakers, particularly cheap ones, can have a "hissing" noise. Unfortunately I haven't seen any feedback on "quiet" speakers.
14) Aluminum
Aluminum does NOT lead to a cooler computer. In a PC case, cooling is dependent on airflow. If you run it with no fans, your computer will shut down/be damaged. In the unlikely event it might help, the only components directly touching the case are the hard drive and the PSU. The hard drive is slightly cooler, 2, maybe 3 degrees, touching the case. The PSU, and everything else, depends solely on airflow. Aluminum, being less dense than steel, is more prone to vibration/resonance. This will generate an audible hum when moving components are directly coupled to the case. You can theoretically make it as quiet as a steel case, but it a lot harder and requires more effort to do so. See
MikeC’s comments on the acoustic effects of aluminum cases.
15) Cats
You need one, they increase computer performance by 1000% and decrease computer noise by 8db
****
ETA: I've turned the belowt into a dumping ground of misc. info, until I can find a way to put it in the first post. Randomness in the presentation of the below information may ensue.
A) SPCR has been covered in the news due to the ever increasing popularity of silencing/making quiet computers, even in
the New York Times and
the Wall Street Journal.
Mike recently collected a bunch of articles on SPCR/himself/quiet computing in general
here.
B) For those who wonder about how much integrity SPCR has, see
here, and
here, which proves that SPCR is more about giving fair, honest reviews instead of being all about the Benjamins. (Oh, and the makers of the Magnum PSU are complete nutters).
C) Since it's kind of hidden, the Silent Front section has an article that shows off
the SPCR Sound Lab. This is where various products are tested for the reviews.
I've been told that my current browser will only allow me to read a post to a certain length, so if the FAQ thingy is long, others may be able to read the whole thing, while I can't. I've been trying to trim the fat to fit as much in there as possible, but I'm running out of things I think I can cut out right now. So, I wanted to post a couple of things here which probably won't make it in any further revisions.
D) ichbinleise - a German shop - offers a bunch of hard drive silencing products, foam, and verax rubber sticks in their on-line store. The foam and hd products have been branded under their own name. One of the HD silencing products looks like a
HD cage with foam between drives. It's apparently a rebrand of a product by
Alphacool and isn't any better than a Zalman hard drive cooler according to
scrawnypaleguy it isn't worth buying. More of their products under their own name can be found
here Some opinions on their products can be found
here. This compares it to a "Bituman Box", which is some type of home-brew enclosure. They are willing to sell to people in the U.S and in the European Union., so if you're really curious about some products not available here, given them a shot.
E) Yet more hard drive quieting info:
There are several products that use hard-ish rubber to quiet a drive down, such as the Silentmaxx X-Swing set and a Zalman cooler with heatpipes on it. The Nexus Disktwin attaches to the side of a HD, but it increase drive temps. There is a mixed to reaction to whether it actually helps vibration from the drive or not:
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes- review
No
No - MikeC
No
nici reviewed the new Scythe Quiet Drive
here and compared it to several other enclosures
here, including a subjective impression of noise reduction and temperature readouts.
For the record, Alphacool makes the Silentmaxx enclosure, which is sold under Silentmaxx (duh), Logisys (note: any claims that it uses heatpipes are WRONG. It's a translation error; somehow "cooling channels/fins" gets mistranslated as "heatpipes").
Alleycat made a hombrew enclosure that some people have replicated. Here's
his web page, and a
a couple of different
threads discussing it.
Stretchmagic is a popular material used on SPCR to suspend hard drives.
Here is a sample picture, though there is a thread dedicated to the initial discovery of this material. It's around $3? at hobby stores like Michael's.
F) Prototype VGA coolers
There are some prototype VGA coolers that are purely passive that have been shown at trade shows by
Arctic Cooling,
Thermalright, and
Scythe
G) Acoustic Foam
Yet more foam, this time by
SonexWilltec. Nobody's used it except Ralf Hutter, and he said it was okay. It doesn't have adhesive backing built into it, so you'll have to glue it on yourself.
H} Prototype Chipset Cooler
Ainex is releasing a new, passive chipset cooler in the near future. It looks like the Zalman 9500 minus the fan (and smaller in size, of course)
I) Rear noise from case
Put a blanket/acoustic foam/eggcrate foam/pillow behind your case. Having a hard surface like drywall or tile will reflect the noise better than a more absorbant material.
J) Ramble ramble ramble
Needless to say, I don't have any space either to say why I wrote this thing in the first place. Good as it is, SPCR doesn't have a recommended section, or even stickys, that point out miscellaneous products to make a quiet computer. I don't mean things like CPU heatsinks, hard drives and so on, but other things that aren't mentioned, or things people wouldn't think to ask about:
Fan isolators
Motherboard heatsinks
Aluminum vs. steel cases
Cheap methods to accomplish the same thing as professional products (DIY hard drive suspension, foam earplugs to isolate fans...)
That fan gaskets are useless
Quiet keyboards/mice, or how to make them quiet
The benefits of cats on dealing with noise
This has ALL been covered on SPCR, somewhere or another, but it's scattered all over the place. Moreover, someone might mention, say, fan isolators, but very rarely do people mention what company makes them, or if they are good (or crap). At one point, EAR isolators and grommets were one of the most popular products used by forum posters... but good luck finding out what part numbers they were, or where to buy them!
So, I threw this (way too long) FAQ-thingy to primarily list the different parts available that are mentioned rarely, such as the MB heatsinks by Zalman, Jing Ting, etc. so the readers finding out what type of solutions are out there, so they can find what works best for them. It's still up to them to do research for themselves, such as what models are recommended if they need 500gb of storage, the newest, latest heatsinks that haven't been reviewed by SPCR, the best COMBINATION of silent components that still enable them to have a quiet machine that's still light enough for a LAN computer, if it's really worth spending the cash to import a product from overrseas, etc[/b]
K) Misc fun or interesting stuff related to SPCR
Top 10 Signs you take Silent Computing too seriously
Silencing helmet
silencing humans
How do I beat silence addiction?
Damn you addiction
Another sign of the addiction to silence
I'm such a 'tard (share your PC-related goofups)
The Vicious Cycle
Bling and silent computing
Advantages to a Quiet PC?
The bug has me!
Making the computer sound pleasant
Does the journey for the dead silent pc ever end?
the $50 once and for all solution to ALL pc noise!!!!