Problems identifying noise

Ackelind · Post by **Ackelind** » Wed Sep 28, 2005 12:46 am

I have a P180 setup which on paper is supposed to be very quiet, however, some times I find it not to be as quiet as I want.

The only sources of noise in my setup is a nexus fan at the back, running at about 600RPM, a Seasonic S12 430W with the vents around it taped up, and two Samsung Spoinpoint P120 sata, one 200GB and one 250GB.

When i listen close to the fan filter in front of the hard drives, i can hear a slight woosh from my hard drives, the same goes for the fan and the PSU. However, when i have my head a few feet from the case, some other noise becomes noticable. It is some sort of droning, medium-pitched noise. I heard it quite well when I had my head close to one of the sides of the chassi, but not when I got closer to the actual sources of noise.

Could it be my S12 that is making that noise, or is it the hard drives? I don't know where to start looking, since I can't hear from where the noise originates.

Shadowknight · Post by **Shadowknight** » Wed Sep 28, 2005 2:33 am

Try unplugging your hard drives power cables, then start up the computer. It's possible that if the drives are making the noise that you'll next to unscrew the mounting screws to the drives slightly. There have been reports of minor amounts of resonance going away by not having those screws tightened up all the way. Still, try having the HDs off before trying that.

Ackelind · Post by **Ackelind** » Wed Sep 28, 2005 11:43 am

Thank you, I will try that!

Since I have no temperature/motherboard controlled fans, all my fans will run at the same voltage at boot as in windows. I have my drives really loose, but i tightened them a few weeks ago when I started to hear sharp seeks, thinking my drive was loose and touching with the walls or something.

My next step will be enclosures for the hard drives, but I just want to make sure it isn't my S12 making the sound.

By the way, how did you mount your enclosure in the P180? I'm trying to find some way to mount two enclosures in the lower chamber at the same time, possibly by stacking them on the grommets.

spworley · Post by **spworley** » Wed Sep 28, 2005 12:13 pm

Fan noise is best isolated using the "stop each fan with your finger" trick. While you Just touch the HUB of the fan.. low RPM fans don't have lots of speed so you won't be hurt. DO NOT TRY THIS WITH FAST FANS.. like a chipset fan or stock GPU fan.

This lets you iterate through all the fans in your case, and you can quickly tell which one(s) are audible or not.

Aris · Post by **Aris** » Wed Sep 28, 2005 3:21 pm

basic troubleshooting. aka trial and error.

unplug the hard drives, turn on system.

if that doesnt remove the noise, then plug the drives back in.

next unplug or temporarily stop one of the fans from moving. you'll have to check to see if the noise goes away quickly then turn the system off so you dont damage whatever the fan was cooling. if the noise didnt go away, move on to the next item.

you may also have to try multiple items, as the noise may be from multiple contributing items.

you could also try troubleshooting it in the reverse order, by unplugging all noise devices, then plugging them back in one at a time till you find the culprit.

Ackelind · Post by **Ackelind** » Thu Sep 29, 2005 5:39 am

The problem is that I don't have many fans. Only my PSU and one fan in the case. The noise is also not heard as clearly when I am close, but becomes apparent when I'm a few feet away, at different angles.

The PSU fan is really hard to stop when mounted in a P180l. I will have to stop it with something and then move away from the computer, listening for a few moments, before unblocking the fan.

Ackelind · Post by **Ackelind** » Mon Oct 03, 2005 1:31 am

Well, I think I have identified the noise now. I disconnected my HD's and let the machine running with a failed boot over night. It is usually in the mornings when I wake up that I can hear the noise. And, the noise was still there. Perhaps a little bit weaker, but the noise pattern was clearly still there. It seems like it is my S12 that is the noisiest component in my system.

Is my S12 defective, or is it just not so silent? It doesn't sound like wooshing air nothing like my nexus even if i crank it all the way up. The sound is more uneven and resonant ringning. If it really is my S12 that is supposed to sound like this, I guess I'll have to sell it and go with a phantom 350 along with a nexus fan at 5V in the lower chamber. Would a nexus fan at 5V be more silent than a S12?

Ackelind · Post by **Ackelind** » Thu Oct 06, 2005 1:37 am

Last night, I ordered a FSP Zen. Will be getting it sometime next week probably. The Zen's cables are really short though, but I bought a pair of extenders when I first built my rig just in case, and I most definately will need them now. It will be paired with a nexus 120mm @5V in the lower chamber. Hopefully it will both be more silent, and provide better cooling for my hard drives. The Phantom was not available anywhere in sweden when I decided to go with a fanless PSU, and it is also much more expensive, so the Zen was my choise. Let's just hope for a unit without any coil whine.