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5 Simple Steps to a Quieter PC
~*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."
Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
1 component needed to make your PC quiet.
1) Sledgehammer
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You'd think he'd reference the guys who are diehard fanatics instead of the some guy who has 5 ideas. This is the place to find all the info, comparisons, and information for people who want more than just "you should think about changing out some parts in your system".
The article is just a simple summary... check out Silent PC Review for really in-depth coverage.
Some hardware review sites are dedicated to cooling equipment. One of them is Pimp My Rig.
Personally, I replaced my Intel stock fan with the Thermalright XP-90 + Panaflo 92mm L1A.
I am fed up with the noise from my comuter, so I did the following.
1. Installed the BeQuiet sound elimination kit for Chieftec
2. Got a better CPU fan
3. Installed four Zalman 12dB(A) fans in the chassi.
4. Enjoy the sound of nothing.
Ouch. That's probably the 60-cycle noice of the first transformer, and it's a bear to deal with after the hardware was designed.
Try plugging something in constant use into it that draws a little bit of current, like your nearby clock or lava lamp.
If you can still hear the Metallica your computer isn't loud enough.
"It has always been this way and it won't change, god bless the fucked up USA" The Briefs
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.
1. Write up a guide for easily silencing your PC /.
2. Get posted on
3. Get slashdotted
4. Comp is effectively silenced and reduced to a smoking pile of scrap metal
Man, *that* was easy!
I have to disagree here - I've got a pair of dual G5 towers, a 20" G5 iMac, a 17" G5 iMac and a dual G5 XServe - only the XServe makes a noticable hum. Now, the Sun E450 - THAT is loud :-)
Oh, I just do 'emerge -u kde gnome' and then go for a walk...
What I'm listening to now on Pandora...
Go for a walk? More like go into cryogenic deep freeze.
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!
I would, only I have yet to find an ape suit that fits me. But imagine the fringe benefits, such as being able to scratch one self in public...
My 2x2.0 G5 tower is next to silent (except with the 10.3.8 update and I had to switch proc performance from "automatic" to "highest" to keep them from become overly excited executing even the simplest of tasks).
I finally received my XServe (2x2.3) and set it up Friday. It is dead quiet. So quiet, in fact, that I had to temporarily shut down the Dell PowerEdge 4600 just to hear it. Still not satisfied, I slid off the top panel for visible proof the fans were running. I spotted only three fans, but the software reports 8 up and running within normal ranges.
For now, I'll trust the blowers tab on Apple's Server Monitor software.
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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.
It could be the start of a resonance cascade. I recommend you stash an HEV suit and a crowbar nearby, just in case.
Slashdot - where whining about luck is the new way to make the world you want.
Ok smart guy, then the question becomes;
"how do I quieten down all those cars and busses and trucks?"
In the free world the media isn't government run; the government is media run.
"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?!?