First attempt at PC silencing
Posted: Tue Sep 11, 2007 6:35 am
So about 6 months ago, I pieced a system together for my wife which (I thought) would be quiet and efficient, powerful and economical. Well at least, powerful for what she would be doing. I used a lot of hand-me down parts Here is the relevant info... [[[SCROLL DOWN FOR PICS]]]
Athlon 64 3700+ socket 939 (retail box cooler)
Gigabyte nForce 4 SLI mobo
1 GB Corsair PC3200 DDR (matched pair)
WD 100GB 7200 rpm / 8mb cache
Pioneer slot-load dvd-rom
Onboard sound/lan
MSI 7100GS / 128 MB DDR2 / fanless
Coolermaster Centurion case
Rosewill 350W PS
I thought that by getting a fanless video card and sticking with the stock CPU cooler, I'd have a quiet PC! wow, how wrong I was. Well yeah, it's quieter than my gaming rig, which sounds like a dustbuster with a low battery. But it is NOT that quiet. There is a high-pitched, metallic, unearthly sound that I couldn't identify. Not ear-pleasing.
So using the method as described on the SPCR forums, I started testing things. First I stopped the big 120mm coolermaster fan on the rear panel. Nope, I could barely hear a difference at all. (I think this fan is moderated by the bios) Next the CPU fan. This was a little scary cause I had a difficult time getting the fan started again and I could just picture "letting the smoke out". I did notice a noise reduction, but not much.
Next I stuck a mechanical extendable rubber eraser in the 80mm fan mounted in the rosewill PS. I was thinking this was in for sure. No, the rosewill is actually pretty moderate (ie didn't notice it). I found a hidden front 80mm case fan... stopped that one. Nope, that hardly made a difference.
So here I am, staring at my motherboard, trying to figure out if somehow this electric whine was coming from my fanless video card. Maybe electrons were bouncing around or something.
I carefully examined the computer from every angle. Finally, I grabbed the hard drive to damp it a little. Immediately I noticed the very slightest change in the high-frequency hum. I shut the computer off, disconnected the IDE cable, and removed the HD from the tool-less cage. I grabbed some large bubble wrap, and made a 2" thick cushion. I set the hard drive on top of the cushion inside of my 5.25" drive bay, reconnected the ide controller, and fired it up. Yes! the annoying noise was very much damped....
...and replaced by fan whine. Oh man, this is gonna get interesting. So I did the fan check again and wouldn't you know, that "stock" CPU cooler is making a huge amount of noise. Okay.
So next step, make a permanent solution for that noisy hard drive, and order a Zalman AlCu 7000 for that computer....
also noticed: the case sides are very flimsy, and most likely that front case fan will be the next weakest link, since it doesn't have any speed reduction on it. And yes i realized my current "mount" for the HD lacks a good ground, so I'll be reversing it.
oh crap, I think I got the bug.
Athlon 64 3700+ socket 939 (retail box cooler)
Gigabyte nForce 4 SLI mobo
1 GB Corsair PC3200 DDR (matched pair)
WD 100GB 7200 rpm / 8mb cache
Pioneer slot-load dvd-rom
Onboard sound/lan
MSI 7100GS / 128 MB DDR2 / fanless
Coolermaster Centurion case
Rosewill 350W PS
I thought that by getting a fanless video card and sticking with the stock CPU cooler, I'd have a quiet PC! wow, how wrong I was. Well yeah, it's quieter than my gaming rig, which sounds like a dustbuster with a low battery. But it is NOT that quiet. There is a high-pitched, metallic, unearthly sound that I couldn't identify. Not ear-pleasing.
So using the method as described on the SPCR forums, I started testing things. First I stopped the big 120mm coolermaster fan on the rear panel. Nope, I could barely hear a difference at all. (I think this fan is moderated by the bios) Next the CPU fan. This was a little scary cause I had a difficult time getting the fan started again and I could just picture "letting the smoke out". I did notice a noise reduction, but not much.
Next I stuck a mechanical extendable rubber eraser in the 80mm fan mounted in the rosewill PS. I was thinking this was in for sure. No, the rosewill is actually pretty moderate (ie didn't notice it). I found a hidden front 80mm case fan... stopped that one. Nope, that hardly made a difference.
So here I am, staring at my motherboard, trying to figure out if somehow this electric whine was coming from my fanless video card. Maybe electrons were bouncing around or something.
I carefully examined the computer from every angle. Finally, I grabbed the hard drive to damp it a little. Immediately I noticed the very slightest change in the high-frequency hum. I shut the computer off, disconnected the IDE cable, and removed the HD from the tool-less cage. I grabbed some large bubble wrap, and made a 2" thick cushion. I set the hard drive on top of the cushion inside of my 5.25" drive bay, reconnected the ide controller, and fired it up. Yes! the annoying noise was very much damped....
...and replaced by fan whine. Oh man, this is gonna get interesting. So I did the fan check again and wouldn't you know, that "stock" CPU cooler is making a huge amount of noise. Okay.
So next step, make a permanent solution for that noisy hard drive, and order a Zalman AlCu 7000 for that computer....
also noticed: the case sides are very flimsy, and most likely that front case fan will be the next weakest link, since it doesn't have any speed reduction on it. And yes i realized my current "mount" for the HD lacks a good ground, so I'll be reversing it.
oh crap, I think I got the bug.