Computer Silencing

[StudentSA]

Hi all...

I realise that this is off topic however I was wondering if anyone could suggest some cheap material that could be used to line a computer box in order to minimise noise.

I know you get special material specifically made for this but what common material would people suggest for sound absorbtion?

Regards,
StudentSA

 

[keny]

A water cooled case is out of the question?

i would be concerned that anything you put in there might catch fire.

I got so frustrated with my cpu's noise, i got a bunch of extension cables and put it in the closet.

also you can get variable speed cpu fans microcenter.com

you may want to try putting some acoustic foam on the wall behind the computer as most of the sound is bouncing off of the wall back at you essentially doubling the volume.

 

[mneary]

The noise is usually generated by fans, and to a lesser extent, disk drives.

Insulation can't help silence fans very much as they have to vent to the outside. You can buy low noise fans, especially variable speed ones. Since one or more of the fans is integral to the power supply, it may be more effective to buy a new case with a built in low noise power supply. Such a case might have other design steps taken to manage noise.

Similar problem with disk drives, since they are mounted to the same frame members that your case is mounted to. But disk drives vary significantly in the noise that they make.

I have one computer that is notably quieter with the covers removed, because it runs cooler and the fan stays on low speed.

 

[ericgibbs]

T
I have one computer that is notably quieter with the covers removed, because it runs cooler and the fan stays on low speed.

This is also what I do to reduce the CPU fan noise

 

[amando96]

i gave my fan a nice cleaning, all that dust couldn't be good, it has a small spring in one side of the axis, remove that and the fan will pop right off, giving you access to the bearings, or bushings, little bit of oil in there, and dust free blades should decrease the sound, at least a bit...
as for the open box, never worked for me, high temps around here.

 

[Birdman Adam]

It's really the fans that create the noise. If you buy high quality ball bearing ones, you will hardly notice them. When you buy fans, look for the decibel rating to see how loud they will be.

 

[DirtyLude]

Actually sleeve bearing computer fans are known to be quieter than ball bearing fans.

If you are really interested, I would suggest checking the SPCR forums.
silentpcreview.com | Index

 

[danrogers]

also allways use the biggest fan u can fit in, the larger surface area of the blades moves more air at a slower rpm so less noise

 

[xpi0t0s]

What I did to quieten my PC - it's not silent but much better than it was (it used to sound like a Harrier Jump Jet with takeoff problems, mostly from the Xilence PSU - misnamed in my opinion, they should rebrand themselves as Xucking_noisy_xastards; replaced it with a Be Quiet one which is much better) was to reduce the disk drives to a minimum by offloading them into a PC in another room connected via mains networking, swapped the CPU fan for a very quiet PWM driven fan so it would only respond to CPU heat, disconnected all other unnecessary fans and introduced a fan speed controller for the remaining fans (yeah, it's an Antec 1200 with 6 case fans and 2 CPU fans, plus the gfx and PSU fans which I wasn't willing to fanny about with).

The other thing I did was to measure the *actual* power consumption with one of those energy monitors and picked the Be Quiet PSU rating based on that. Peak consumption was 130W with a stress tester running so picked the new PSU accordingly.

 

[Reloadron]

What I did to quieten my PC - it's not silent but much better than it was (it used to sound like a Harrier Jump Jet with takeoff problems, mostly from the Xilence PSU - misnamed in my opinion, they should rebrand themselves as Xucking_noisy_xastards; replaced it with a Be Quiet one which is much better) was to reduce the disk drives to a minimum by offloading them into a PC in another room connected via mains networking, swapped the CPU fan for a very quiet PWM driven fan so it would only respond to CPU heat, disconnected all other unnecessary fans and introduced a fan speed controller for the remaining fans (yeah, it's an Antec 1200 with 6 case fans and 2 CPU fans, plus the gfx and PSU fans which I wasn't willing to fanny about with).

The other thing I did was to measure the *actual* power consumption with one of those energy monitors and picked the Be Quiet PSU rating based on that. Peak consumption was 130W with a stress tester running so picked the new PSU accordingly.

Maybe I am really missing something here but you measured the actual power draw at the mains and the system under a stress test had a peak consumption of about 130 Watts? That really isn't very much at all for a system which points to why so many fans? A simple HSF single fan with an exhaust and intake fan should be more than adequate for a system that draws 130 Watts peak at the mains. Just about any PSU would power that system, a good PSU with a single 120 mm fan would be more that adequate in the 300 Watt range depending on how the outputs are configured. I don't see any need for 6 case fans plus 2 HSF fans in addition to a PSU fan on a system that draws 130 watts peak at the mains.

Ron

 

[xpi0t0s]

When I specced the PC out initially it was with a view to future expansion. It's based on Core i7 tech and I wanted to allow for future possibilities such as multiple HDD, multiple gfx cards, maxing out the RAM, eventually getting a top-of-line i7 chip, loads of peripherals and so on, with easy access to everything. It's true the system as it stands doesn't need all those fans and a massive PSU which is why I could downgrade the PSU and disconnect most of the fans, and it is currently running with just one HD cooler/case input fan, the top case fan and 2 CPU fans (could cope with one probably).

 

[audioguru]

My pc is nearly 5 years old and is quiet:
1) Its fans have their speed controlled by the temperature. Most of the time their speed is slow and quiet. (I don't play stupid games that make the CPU work hard trying to figure out what to do)
2) Its fans are pretty big so they spin fairly slowly instead of screaming at full RPM like tiny cheap fans.

 

[Birdman Adam]

On my (old) dell desktop computer, all the fans: CPU fan, case fan, PSU fan, all blow at full-blast all the time. I too don't play intensive games, but it's too old to have that temperature functionality. Now my sister's new laptop is smart - it speeds up the fans as the temperature increases.

A big part of fan noise is how big it is - the bigger the fan, the slower it can spin while still pumping lots of air.

And I didn't know sleeve fans are quieter - I'll keep in mind when I build my first computer! Are they more/less expensive?

 

[audioguru]

Maybe the Chinese manufacturers don't know that the ball-bearings in a noisy fan need grease?
Sleeve bearings are cheap. Greased ball bearings cost a few pennies more.

 

[crutschow]

Most of the fan noise comes from the blades chopping the air, not the bearings.

 

[DirtyLude]

And I didn't know sleeve fans are quieter - I'll keep in mind when I build my first computer! Are they more/less expensive?

Quite frankly I shouldn't have said that because I've been out of the game for a few years now. When I was interested in this, sleeve bearings were the fans to get and Nexus, which was the best at the time was a pretty expensive fan. My latest fans are Scythe Slipstreams which are quiet low pressure fans that are very cheap. I don't know what the current fan to get is. Maybe they are magnetic bearing fans now.

My last computer was passively watercooled. I had two passive radiators cooling it. It's my Wife's computer now. I didn't bother to do much with the new computer. I plastered sound deadener on the inside surfaces, replaced the fans and am using a TRUE 120 and that's it.