How to silence a noisy PC?

FrankGrimes

I built my PC about a month ago and nearly all is well. It is based in a box bedroom and I use it for two purposes – for doing normal PC stuff and as a Windows Media Center PC for serving up data to my Media Center Extenders in the living room and bedroom.

As the PC is not in the same room as the TV silencing it was not a top priority. However, it is one noisy mofo and when the door to the box bedroom is open it can easily be heard downstairs. I bought an Antec case that said it was quiet and a special fan that was supposed to be silent. I currently have all the fans pretty much running at top speed as it crashed the first few times when setting up and I thought it might have been overheated.

So how do I get it down to a reasonable noise level? Should I check my mobo and see how hot it is running and adjust fan speeds accordingly? I have heard about fan controllers – should I get one and what exactly do they do – do I need to connect to each fan separately? I’ve no idea what the optimum operating temperature is so am wary of slowing down the fans yet but I need to get this sorted asap as the noisy is a true head wrecker. Nice one.

Here's the list of gear I bought: http://www.komplett.ie/k/shoplist.asp?mode=receive&si=260838&su=9BA29081-E395-4D80-AABD-09C82B06E003

Nocturnal

I have the antec super lanboy case,gussing you could possibly have the same one?
The case fans are actually extremely quiet.It just sounds like the noise is coming from them because there are holes in fron of them where the noise comes out,If you actually open the case and listen you'll probably find its something else.In my case it was my ati radeon graphics card that i found very loud which ill probably get a replacement for.as in replacement fan.The fan that came standard with my amd 64 proccessor is also slightly loud.
Check it out...

mad m

What type of Motherboard did you get? Those Sonata's are quiet but have you thought about getting a passive cooler for graphics card? I have the sonata case but got a Zalman heatsink and fan for Cpu and its nice and quiet and also have a silencer heatsink&fan for my 9700pro....How many fans do you have,and what processor do you have in system.

Ruu_Old

you could also put some of those rubber suction feet on the bottom of your case, might help too. best of luck with it

Khannie

"be quiet" psu......amazing the difference it makes. I went from jet engine to gentle breeze.

www.hitide.ie

hostyle

As others have already posted, you need to figure what components are causing the noise, and work from there. I've found on my own systems that the most noise usually seems to be caused by the following (loudest first):

1. Cheap fans (buy quality, clean regularly, get a fan controller, use water cooling)
2. DVD/CD-ROMs (buy quality ones, get rubber mounts, case noise dampening material)
3. Certain HSFs (replace with quieter one, use water cooling)
4. PSU (replace with quieter one)
5. Hard-drives (ensure they are tightly secured and not dying, get rubber mounts, case dampening material)
6. Cages or other internal extras being loose (tighten them up, or wedge stuff in to stop them vibrating)

I'm not a gamer so I don't have any noisy graphics cards.

FrankGrimes

Thanks for the replies. I'll look into it more when I get home later and post details.

The sound does seem to be coming from the fans though so maybe I should get a fan controller. Can anyone recommend one as I'm not sure how they work (i.e. can it control fan on the graphics card)?

Ri_Nollaig

FrankGrimes wrote:

Thanks for the replies. I'll look into it more when I get home later and post details.

The sound does seem to be coming from the fans though so maybe I should get a fan controller. Can anyone recommend one as I'm not sure how they work (i.e. can it control fan on the graphics card)?

probably not unless u want to do a little re-wiring but u could replace the whole fan/heatsink on the graphics card with a nice zalman one they have standard fan plugs they will connect to a control unit and allow u to run on 12v (loud) or 5v(silent) everything u need is here

Khannie

The be quiet psu's control your fan speed based on the temperature in the case. Quality. I'm tellin' ya.

ElNino

What size fans have you got? 120mm fans are a lot quieter than the standard 80mm fans.

Stoner

Hi Frank,

I've seen the hardcano in action and its very good,

http://www.thermaltake.com/accessories/a2259hardcano13/a2259hardcano13.htm

hopefully your fans have speed control cables , the yellow ones, you might have to invest in better quality fans

Recently I bought an enermax UC 9Fat is was the biz also had three temp settings, 45 to 60 and it had SATA connectins at the fromnt along with the 18in one card reader. I sent it back yesterday as i ordered the wrong colour.

The hardcano one may be a little better as it handles more fans and is not stuck to just three temp modes. however it does not have the SATA connections.

www.scan.co.uk have the enermax and i think dabs have the hardcano.

Canis Lupus

My pc when I had it at home was in a box room and very noisey. But I've brought it to my new place and in a room not much bigger but I guess the floor is now different and I can sleep with it running now.

So check what it's sitting on.

Then your next and best option to quietening a pc is switch to watercooling or get bigger fans.

jozi

If you dare, stop each fan in your case till you find the one making most noise (make sure they keep spinning when you let go).
You'll prob find the chip set fan and gfx fan are noisey, if you got the zalman then its shouldnt be the cpu fan.
I got a sonata to and can sleep with it on, got 2 papst fans and a fan controler stuck to them. Gfx has a arctic cooler (highly recomend them).
The stock psu in the sonata should be ok, its a single fan psu so shouldnt be to loud (i replaced mine with a better psu i had, friend has it now with now complaints).
Good luck making your system more quiet

Jozi

FrankGrimes

Thanks lads,

I've been working 16 hour days all week so haven't had a chance to look into this further but hope to have a look at it on Sunday and will post the details of what I have and I'm sure one of the suggestions above will hit the spot. Nice one.

mp3guy

http://www.packrat-toyz.com/images/Airsoft/Wholesale%20Airsoft/G26%20with%20Silencer.jpg

FrankGrimes

Good one - have to say you just got me to laugh out loud in the middle of the office