I'm sitting approximately 3/4 of a meter from my computer, and i can hear the fans, albeit very subdued.
Now ... I can listen to my wrist watch (its a typical bulova water resistant watch which I haven't been able to hear before) ticking away at a distance of 1 feet (this is a little under 1/3 of a meter) while the monitor is shut off.
The most dominant sound is from my NEC multisync FE 700 flat monitor (its relatively new ... 21st century technology). The second intermittent and perhaps most annoying sound is coming from my seagate barracuda 7200.7 160 GB during seeks. The only thing missing from this setup is the hard-drive suspension (this should help with the seeks i think).
I'm indecisive about keeping the hard drive ... i'm an avid gamer and fast load times are a must ... so i don't know if i wanna revert to a seagate IV ... Is there anything quieter and faster than barracuda 7200.7's in both idle and seek?
I read somewhere that "there's been enough posts about fixing PSU coil whine" ... i searched the forum but couldn't find anything that directly answered my question. Should i just pour some high-density wax on the coil and its OK? how about sticking some rubber tubing inside the coil to absorb the whine?
Here's my PC setup (i'll post pics soon)
-zalman CNPS7000B for AMD 64 3000+ @ 700 RPM
-AMD stock CPU cooler stuck on the radeon 9800 PRO's heatsink @ 1000< RPM
- 92 MM $2 fan mounted outside the PSU (LaFan ... some mexican company) running @ 1000< RPM
- The entire cost (minus the hard drive) for the silencing was about $55 canadian
is this quiet enough ?
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hypersipher
- Posts: 3
- Joined: Fri Mar 25, 2005 12:16 am
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That looks like a great & cheap setup.
For the harddisk, I'd say Samsung drives are a tad quieter but you DO have to suspend. The difference is night & day. If you don't go samsung, don't worry, the difference isnt all that big when suspended. Some melamine foam also helps keep the edge off harddrive whine.
I'm guessing you don't notice your 92mm fan because of your harddrive & coil noise. If you tame those, I'll bet the 92mm fan will become annoying. Noname fans usually have a great tendancy to click, not to mention die-out quickly (especially when used for a hot PSU). There really is no alternative here except the Nexus.
For coil noise, several attempts have been suggested. It was generally agreed that the safest material to pour over it would be that yellow sticky electricians goop (usually found inside PSUs). foam from earphones and toothpicks have also been suggested
For the harddisk, I'd say Samsung drives are a tad quieter but you DO have to suspend. The difference is night & day. If you don't go samsung, don't worry, the difference isnt all that big when suspended. Some melamine foam also helps keep the edge off harddrive whine.
I'm guessing you don't notice your 92mm fan because of your harddrive & coil noise. If you tame those, I'll bet the 92mm fan will become annoying. Noname fans usually have a great tendancy to click, not to mention die-out quickly (especially when used for a hot PSU). There really is no alternative here except the Nexus.
For coil noise, several attempts have been suggested. It was generally agreed that the safest material to pour over it would be that yellow sticky electricians goop (usually found inside PSUs). foam from earphones and toothpicks have also been suggested
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hypersipher
- Posts: 3
- Joined: Fri Mar 25, 2005 12:16 am
- Contact:
Thanks for the suggestions 
i compared a nexus 92 mm fan to a very slow stock fan, it wasn't worth the extra $14 to get a nexus. while using the barracuda, the monitor was the most noticable. i did return the drive, and will try out a samsung
i DO have an experiment in mind (in a week or so), i'll take two identical fans and remove the blades on one, then compare the noise levels. motor whine AND airflow compared to simple motor whine. if the motor whine is very noticable i have a nifty idea ... i can design a special motor bearing system which is totally noiseless. I have done it before but it will probably require a bit more wattage.
i compared a nexus 92 mm fan to a very slow stock fan, it wasn't worth the extra $14 to get a nexus. while using the barracuda, the monitor was the most noticable. i did return the drive, and will try out a samsung
i DO have an experiment in mind (in a week or so), i'll take two identical fans and remove the blades on one, then compare the noise levels. motor whine AND airflow compared to simple motor whine. if the motor whine is very noticable i have a nifty idea ... i can design a special motor bearing system which is totally noiseless. I have done it before but it will probably require a bit more wattage.