Upgrading to quiet PC

[Shfyer]

Hi guys, I want to silence a very noisy PC and need help.

Well, first the list of components of my pc at the time I bought it:

Mobo: Asus M4A78
Memory: Shitty 2Gb DDR2-800 kingston
HD: Shitty 500Gb Seagate
DVD: Very old CD-RW drive I had around
PSU: C3 (I think) 300W PSU (surprisingly quiet)
Processor: AMD Phenom II x3 710
Processor cooler: Stock
Video card: Radeon HD 4350
Video card cooler: Stock
Case: A 20R$ (~9 dollars) incredibly horrible case

I bought it 1 year ago, at that time I didnt care about noise, and knew very little about PC hardware

My PC stays inside my wardrobe with the door open (only place where I can put it), so it heated a lot (65 ºC CPU at idle). Surprisingly, it was barely audible when I turned it on, but got louder with the temperature rise.

I decided to upgrade it, so I bought another shitty 2gb memory, a radeon HD 4770, a ST500BAZ PSU from seventeam, and a bunch of the cheaper fans avaliable and installed everything (11 of the noisier fans you can think of). It got VERY loud, barely could hear music with the PC on, so I bought an CM centurion 590 case, a fan controller and a CM Hyper 212 Plus cooler. Installed everything and now it is much better, but still FAR from quiet.

I currently have one 120mm adda fan and one 80mm adda fan on the front, both running at 40% of their max RPM, the fans that came with the case one is on the side and one on the back, both running at full speed, also two 80mm adda fans on the top that I leave turned off. Now the temps are great, 30 ºC mobo, 28 ºC processor, 51 ºC GPU and 27 ºC HD (HD almost at the same temperature than the processor o.o)

Now the biggest problem in my pc is the PSU (noisy little fucker), so I want to buy another one, preferably one that will do fine with a mid-range hardware in 5 years. I dont plan to use water cooling, so i guess a 650W PSU is enought. I have, at most, 140 dollars for the PSU. I also want to buy another fan for the CPU heatsink, a cooler for the video card that will probably fit future video cards and some quiet case fans.

I dont want to change the case right now, but later I want to get an Antec P180. The cpu heatsink is great for me for now (just 2 ºC more than the Scythe Mugen 2 and 4ºC more than Megahalems, only 600g).

So, if you have any suggestions it would be great ^^

[frenchie]

Hi,
And Welcome to SPCR
For PSU, check out the recommended list;
For fans, Nexus are a good pick;
For video card, check out the Accelero S1 (check compatibility list).

Hope that puts you on track !

[speedkar9]

The CM 590 is perfect for hard drive suspension if you remove the 3.5" hard drive bays. Suspend the hard drive(s) near the bottom of the case with some elastic.

Keep the fans to a minimum, and all at 120mm, soft mounted. For your case, remove all 80mm fans, put one 120mm in front for fresh air intake, and 1x120 mm out back for exhaust. Depending on how hot your system gets, you can install one more 120mm fan on the top, and block the other top vent.

The side panels should be swapped so the side without holes is on the left, blocking direct noise to the user and not disrupting airflow in the case. (If not, at least block the holes with some paper or something).

The Accelero S1 may require modding (cutting fins) for it to fit on the 4770, so you may need to explore other options for GPU cooling.

Also make sure your new PSU is mounted with the fan on the bottom, so it can intake fresh air from below the case. Corsair and Seasonic make very good quality PSU's that are quiet and will last you a few builds.

Cheers

[Shfyer]

Wow, nice idea, swappping the side panels. For gpu cooling, what other heatsinks you suggest? Cutting some fins isnt really a problem but I would prefer avoiding that.

About the PSU, 650 watts is too much for a mid-range system in 5+ years, too little or just enought? Also, is this 'PSU calculator' reliable? extreme(dot)outervision(dot)com/PSUEngine (3 posts to post links ><)
It says only 380W for my system is enought with a security margin o.o
Will measure how many amps my current psu uses to know certainly.

I will do the HD suspension later, when I solve my current problem lol. With less vibration will the HD perform better or only more silent?

[Shfyer]

I really hate doing this but...

bump

[OddSilence]

About the PSU, 650 watts is too much for a mid-range system in 5+ years, too little or just enough*

No one knows the future, but I think it should be more than enough...

is this 'PSU calculator' reliable? extreme(dot)outervision(dot)com/PSUEngine

Someone more experienced might tell you with more certainty, but if i'm not wrong: it's reliable, but maybe give values higher than needed, although a fairly large safety margin is good for counterbalancing future upgrades and PSU aging.

With less vibration will the HD perform better or only more silent?

Just using logic... unless vibration was such that would be greater than the maximum acceptable by the design of the drive, it should have no reason to perform worse... and since it is a mecanic component, if the vibration was so great probably it would damage the drive, not just make it perform worse.
But speedkar9 was talking about avoiding transfering vibrations from the drive to the case, which is obviously to reduce noise. But that you would know if you read a decent part of the SPCR forums, which I suggest you do.

[Shfyer]

I think i will get a 600 or 650 watt PSU, depending on the price.

Logic tells me that vibration wouldn't impact HD performance, but I saw here that vibration afects 'enterprise disk' performance, so I was wondering...

Well, thanks a lot for the help

[OddSilence]

"Oi" Shfyer,

I was a bit tired, although to be true, besides that I was a bit annoyed for your use of "swearing".

[Shfyer]

Uh...?

Sorry if I somehow offended you, I really didn't mean to.

I don't understand what you mean by "swearing", my english sucks... Maybe you can explain me that in portuguese

[OddSilence]

I think we can't write in other languages than english in these forums.

Nevermind, I overeacted, sorry...
_______________

About the vibrations, if i'm not wrong(hope more experienced people confirm it), usually people here worry about the transference of vibrations from the HDD to the case, not necessarily stopping the HDDs vibrations. I also think the HDD can vibrate both alot and little, both "hard mounted" and "softmounted", depending how well it is attached... By my little experience I once mounted a HDD with very loose screws and it vibrated alot, but if one tightens the screws I think most vibrations are limited by the weight/mass of the case? (but this is me thinking...)
I imagine with softmounting can happen the same, depending if the HDD is "secured" with tension, or just standing free... But my experience and knowledge are insuficient to confirm these things i've just wrote. I hope someone else can help you.

About the PSU, What I can say i have learned is that it is very important to buy a good quality PSU (I suggest you search reviews, etc), since a low quality PSU can have "inflated" wattage numbers, and by using lower quality components drops its quality even more with time. So by going with a good unit you're more sure of the wattage, and don't need for such large wattage safety margin (although some margin is always good).
But I suggest you read articles, reviews, and forum information, and wait for more experienced people to reply here.

[SebRad]

Hi, for PSU 350 ~ 450w will be ample for mid-range system. Good quality PSU can deliver their rated power, cheap ones might only deliver half their rated power! Most people way over estimate the power needs of their PC.
My over-clocked PC with Q9400 and GTX260 (hot beast) draws around 260w running folding@home on the CPU and GPU. Furmark and prime95 get towards 300w and these are measured AC figures so the DC load is only 4/5th of that!
I have run the system just fine off a Seasonic S12-II 330w PSU!

Regards, Seb

[speedkar9]

You also have to watch at what wattage the PSU's fan ramps up. A higher wattage rated PSU will tend to ramp up its fan at a higher wattage threshold - so choosing the correct PSU based on your system draw means the fan will stay at its minimum speed (and thus noise) all the time.

[Shfyer]

Wow, so 650 is way too much, specially if I want a silent pc. I might get a 400~500W PSU then, pc power needs shoudnt rise much, specially considering that componets are getting smaller (40nm and such). Will measure how many amps my current system draws to be sure it will be enough, but that means buying another multimeter, and I'm too lazy to do it now, will do it in a week of two ^^'

As I plan to keep this PSU for some years I will research alot before buying anything, I know poor quality PSU can become a big problem (once a veeeery cheap PSU I bought exploded, damaged capacitor o.o).

About the HD, I will research that later, for now it is inaudible and well secured.

[OddSilence]

Shfyer wrote:

Will measure how many amps my current system draws to be sure it will be enough, but that means buying another multimeter

The device you need to measure it is a "kill-a-watt"/"wattimeter". Be careful, because you can find them at ~15€ and as easily at 70€. A low-cost one is good enough (at least it was for me).

These devices usually have many functionalities for calculating how much does it cost to use for a month, etc, but you only need the basic functionality (measuring watts) and that is pretty straightforward to use, so don't worry about having to learn/read many instructions.

A couple of suggestions for measuring:
- If you use a UPS, when measuring, it's better to not connect to the UPS, since the UPS may use some watts on its own;
- Remember the value you measure is what the PSupply uses, so, the system uses less [discount the PSupply efficiency(or lack of it)].

Good luck,

[Shfyer]

Yes, but if I get a multimeter, put it in amperimeter mode, and put it in serie with the PC power plug I get how many amps it is drawing. Just multiply that value by the voltage (110 volts) and I get how many watts it is using. Multiply that value again by the PSU efficiency and you get aprox how much the system system draws. My multimeter died last week, when I buy a new one I will measure it.