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5 Simple Steps to a Quieter PC

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the do-you-hear-what-i-hear dept.

~*77*~ writes "Silencing a computer can be a costly endeavor, but taking a few relatively inexpensive steps can have a drastic impact on the noise produced by the common computer system. Before starting on any sound reduction upgrades, analyzing a system to pinpoint the areas in need of the most attention will help determine the best course of action and the best way to spend any money."

4 of 430 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Ummm... what about the HDs? by arkhan_jg · · Score: 5, Interesting

    If you're having multiple drive failures in one or two cases, I'd really recommend looking at the power supplies.

    I have a case that killed a drive every few months until I twigged and replaced the PSU with an antec 350W. If the power rails are 'dirty' with fluctuating voltage, they can slowly kill a drive. This is a known problem with cheap PSU's, and it can be cheaper to spend a bit more on a quality supply than keep swapping drives.

    --
    Remember kids, it's all fun and games until someone commits wholesale galactic genocide.
  2. Re:Cool, but... by glesga_kiss · · Score: 5, Interesting
    how do I silence a noisy UPS?

    Can you put it in another room and run a cable, maybe even install a dedicated wall plug? You could even put in a two-socket wall plug, put a blanking plate on the second and mount a serial port on it to hook up to the UPS. If you wanted to go nuts that is!

  3. Re:There is no step 2 by jargoone · · Score: 5, Interesting

    My Dell 400SC has a single 120mm fan in the back. Most of the time, I can't even tell the machine is powered on. It get a little louder when it's doing something CPU intensive. It's the quietest PC I've ever owned.

    BTW, you didn't even have to RTFA, you just had to RTF summary. I can't get to the article, but the summary says the steps are inexpensive, which leads me to believe that you don't have to spend loads of money.

    One more thing: I am not a Dell fanboy, but Macs are expensive.

  4. Re:There is no step 2 by legirons · · Score: 5, Interesting

    "My Dell 400SC has a single 120mm fan in the back. Most of the time, I can't even tell the machine is powered on. It get a little louder when it's doing something CPU intensive. It's the quietest PC I've ever owned."

    We have various racks of Dell desktop machines at work. When you turn the whole lot on at the power supply, it creates a gale that blows papers in adjacent rooms, as all 16 computers startup with their fans set to maximum.

    At another building, we have 16 server-style (big, lockable, etc.) dell machines. It's only marginally below the legal limits for noise that people are allowed to work in.

    Another similar installation (PCs, not Dells) was found to be "okay if you stood at least 4 meters away" in terms of harmful volume of noise.

    My home PC (zalman flower-CPU, new PSU, etc.) ranges from "annoying" (most of the time) to "people think you've left the hoover on" when it detects that it's too hot.

    So yeah, if Macs are better than that, I might get one. Dell sure as hell isn't the answer.

    Why do you say "Macs are expensive" when they supply not only the cheapest decent computer around, but the iMac which (after all the initial PC puffery) was found to be cheaper than building a similarly-specc'd PC, and the G4 which is so much cheaper than equivalent PCs that they built a cluster supercomputer out of them. And this is comparing them to the price of Dells, of all computers?!?