very powerful, almost silent computer...how to finish

[Woland]

I built this:

Antec SLK3000B
Seasonic S12 380
Athlon 64X2 4200 and XP-90 with an 80 mm Panaflo.
Powercolor X700 - a passively cooled, dual DVI jobby with a huge heatpipe-sportin' heatsinsink.
Plus a ton of Ram and a Hitachi 250 GB hard drive.

The drive is loud as hell during seeks...which I actually don't mind because--for some reason--I love the sound of a hard drive chattering. The Seasonic is magnificent. The CPU fan is inaudible unless I really push the system (like 2 instances of Prime 95). Even then, I need to lean down to be able to distinguish the fan from ambient noise; the room is pretty quiet, but there are constant, faint noises that come through the air ducts.

The problem is the case. It really is a solid case for ~$50. Between the Panaflo, XP-90 and the 120 mm exhaust fan the CPU only hits about 40 C at 50% load (AMD gets a big high-five for this processor). Speedfan manages to keep everything inaudible to this point. But as things ramp up, the case starts to hum.

The front bezel is a pain in the ass. Even when it's firmly "seated," it's has a little play that I think is at least partially responsible for the hum. If I press down very firmly on the top or front of the case, the hum is reduced significantly.

Any suggestions for this sort of thing? Would lining the case with some vibration damping material help? I plan to replace the Panaflo with a 92 mm Nexus to try to reduce that "whoosh" noise from the fan at very high loads. The hum, though, is something I don't really know how to address.

Also, many, many thanks to Mike and the SPCR guys. Really, you have no parallel. I don't know of any other enthusiast sites that concern themselves with computing noise issues. But not only are you the only ones focusing on this problem, you do it well...really well.

Cheers all,

Pete

[lenny]

You can line the case with vibration dampening material such as polymeric mastic (available from McMaster Carr - do a search in the forums if you'd like to know more about it) or roofing tape, but it'll only get you so far. From your description, I doubt if it will solve your problem. You may want to consider soft mounting the hard drives (by suspension or using Sorbothane) and case fans (using isolators a.k.a. "rubber fan screws" or any number of DIY alternatives).

[stromgald]

I have a 3000B, but it doesn't hum. I have an idea to stop it though. Basically, I think the front bezel just has a little bit of looseness that only really comes to the forefront as fans ramp up. Get some really thin foam or just get some thick paper (index card). Open up the case and jam small strips of the paper or foam into the tabs/hooks that hold the bezel on (you shouldn't have to take the bezel off to do this). This will basically put more stress on the bezel hooks and hold it tighter onto the case.

I did a similar thing to my old Dell computer when I had a very noisy and vibrating DATECH fan. The stupid green duct would vibrate alot against the metal grill it was hooked into because the fan vibrated alot. I just stuffed the hooks/tabs with ripped up index cards, definitely kept it from vibrating as much.

[Elixer]

My 3000B used to hum a fair amount until I suspended my hard drives. If you haven't done so already I recommend you do it. I did it by turning the hard drive cage sideways and using a few bungies. If that doesn't fix the problem than you should soft mount your rear fan. Do a forum search for zip tie method and you should have a lot of good methods come up. Damping the side panels will help somewhat with "hum," but it's far more effective to just isolate the source of the vibrations that are causing the audable hum.

By the way:

WELCOME TO SPCR!

[sun.moon]

My 3000B used to hum a fair amount until I suspended my hard drives. If you haven't done so already I recommend you do it. I did it by turning the hard drive cage sideways and using a few bungies. If that doesn't fix the problem than you should soft mount your rear fan.

I second this advice whole heartedly. These two measures also fully eliminated the humming sound I had in my SLK3000B as well. The HDD suspension helped the most though - the difference was unbelievable.

EDIT: corrected typo....

[EugeneMak]

My 3700QBE occassionally hums and I tracked it down to the front door. One time it was humming, I held the front door, which was in the open position, and the humming stopped. I now have a piece of heavy black vinyl floor tile cut to fit the inside the front door.

[Woland]

I have a 3000B, but it doesn't hum. I have an idea to stop it though. Basically, I think the front bezel just has a little bit of looseness that only really comes to the forefront as fans ramp up. Get some really thin foam or just get some thick paper (index card). Open up the case and jam small strips of the paper or foam into the tabs/hooks that hold the bezel on (you shouldn't have to take the bezel off to do this). This will basically put more stress on the bezel hooks and hold it tighter onto the case.

I did a similar thing to my old Dell computer when I had a very noisy and vibrating DATECH fan. The stupid green duct would vibrate alot against the metal grill it was hooked into because the fan vibrated alot. I just stuffed the hooks/tabs with ripped up index cards, definitely kept it from vibrating as much.

I think I'll try this first. If that doesn't help, I may suspend the drive and try ruuber fasteners for the exhaust fan.

My 3700QBE occassionally hums and I tracked it down to the front door. One time it was humming, I held the front door, which was in the open position, and the humming stopped. I now have a piece of heavy black vinyl floor tile cut to fit the inside the front door.

The door definitely is part of the problem. If I open the door and apply downward pressure on it, the hum is reduced but not eliminated. I'll probably try lining the door as well as tightening the front bezel's grip on the case frame. Or maybe I'll just take off the door.

Thanks everyone.