Fan noise

[ArBiTaL 24]

A little way down this first page is my first post, titled "which case?". There, i hyperlinked to HERE (http://www.xoxide.com/newlianli60.html), asking which colour.

Now another question: How much noise do you think this 6 fan attatched case (with HSF, chipset fan, graphix fan, system exhaust, etc) will make?
And what does a REALLY loud system sound like? enough to stop me going to sleep @ night (as it'll be in my room)?

[Hc000]

i sleep thru 40db fans... dunno about how loud yours will be it depends on the fan, i never tried fans anywhere near 80db but i doubt u can sleep thru that..

[1Time]

Here's what I've done to quiet the PC in my bedroom:
1) put it on the carpeted floor under my table
2) put it at the opposite end of the room from where I sleep
3) hang a towel on the wall about a foot from the exhaust
4) hang a towel on the back of a chair and position the chair within a foot from the PC, between the PC and where I sleep
5) and sometimes I even turn it off (of course not always the best option).

[David]

I believe a member here once wrote an article on how to work out how noisy your PC is. It is somewhere in the Overclockers.com archives.

To be honest, you only should add fans that you need. I have dual XP1600+ CPUs, and I only have 1 fan on each HSF, one on the Vcard, and one in the PSU. My temps are in the upper-40s to lower-50s and the system is as solid as a rock.

David

[Johnny Knoxville]

here are some tips for quieting your system:
1) PSU - get a Zalman or a quietPC (www.quietpc.com) PSU, these are the quietest available, but are expensive. Alternatively get an antec or an emermax (or another quality psu) and replace it's fan with a quiet fan like a panaflo, if you don't know what you're doing i don't recommend this, you can get an electric shock from touching the capacitors even when the PSU is off.
2) Case - Put some noise dampers on the sides of your case, and/or remove all case fans (or replace them with quiet papst fans or get some variable resistors and reduce fan voltage).
3) Graphics card - Depending on your graphics card, you can cool it passively with a Zalman heatsink. If not you may tolerate the noise, it's usually very quiet.
4) CPU - this is usually the most noisy part of the system. Remove the stock hsf and get a Zalman HSF (e.g. the Zalman 6500cu for intel, i think it's 6000 for AMD), put it on quiet mode. Or replace the fan on your HSF with a quieter one e.g. a 120mm panaflo.
5) Hard Disk - get a Seagate Barracuda V (quietest hard disk available by far - look at review at www.storagereview.com). Alternatively you can get those coolers for your hard drivers that will quite it down too, you can also put some noise dampers above and below it. Make sure it's completely fixed in position.
6) CD-Rom - liteon's make a hurricane noise when they read/write, get something else e.g. a plextor or yamaha.
7) Motherboard Northbridge - if you have a fan you can remove it and get a passive zalman cooler, or just try it without the fan or replace it for a quiter fan.

[Tygur]

Originally posted by ArBiTaL 24
And what does a REALLY loud system sound like? enough to stop me going to sleep @ night (as it'll be in my room)?
The really loud fans don't just have a louder hum. They add a higher-pitched "scream" to it that is much more noticable, and I believe that is what bothers people. I suppose they can prevent people from sleeping. My hearing is bad, so I can sleep through anything.

[ArBiTaL 24]

Oh great, "screaming" fans. What's next, exploding processors?:D

All you'd need then is for it to spark, and you've got yourself you very own, long lasting cathrine wheel! lol:cool:

[The VTech]

Hey Arbital, I have 8 fans in my case and a tiny one on the motherboard and GF4 card. The MOST noise came from the case 80mm fans that came with the case, 5 of them. I replaced them with Antec quiet fans and have seen a very noticable change in the "scream" "whine" and overall noise from it. I also use Antecs TruePower 480w PSU that has 2 fans bt you can't really hear it unless you are behind my PC. The 80mm on the Thermaltake is very quiet as well. If you look around at on line stores or a local palce, I'm sure you will find some lower db fans that will work out great for you. Here is a link to the fans I added Antec Blue "Smartfan" (http://www.directron.com/blueledfan.html)
Good luck to you.

[ArBiTaL 24]

Thanks!! :)

[Ugmore Baggage]

A loud case is very bad for general "quality of life" issues. I once slept in a highway underpass (I was hitchhiking and it was pouring) so I can safely tell you that no amount of noise less than trucks rolling by 3 feet over your head will keep a tired person from sleep. But I wouldn't have wanted to have a conversation, watch TV, read a book, think, make love, or do anything beyond sleep there.

I don't find it harder to sleep if I can't hear crickets out my window, but I do enjoy it.

[ArBiTaL 24]

Yea. Ugmore- i noticed you replied to my other post. Do you think that case'll be VERY noisy?

[The VTech]

As I stated, mine makes noise but not so much I have to turn the volume up more on the TV or talk louder to someone in the room. :)

[Ugmore Baggage]

Using stock fans that case would be too noisy for me. I replaced all of my fans with Panaflos ($5 each) and my case could be considered quiet with all of them running full blast, although loud enough to detect from across the room. I don't (often) sleep in the room but I like to hear every breath and nuance of music I listen to, not just the notes. I like to be completely aware of my surroundings and any droning hum may mask a sound pattern.

Like Vtech said, I can always hear conversation and music, but the amount of music I hear at the frequencies my computer drones at are limited. With a loud computer music will become "do re me phhhh so la ti do"

It looks like the case you're interested in is biased toward OCing and looks, with almost no consideration given to sound control. It's your choice, sure is purty.

PS If you hate the fan noise you can always turn them off or control them. They look well placed for OCing. The further you want to go, the more noise your case will make. If you aren't going to OC, anything past the CPU and PSU fans are just for looks. If you are, noise is a fact of life.

[ArBiTaL 24]

Oh, i'm DEFINATELY going to oc:D. I have also ordered a baybus, which should control the noise a bit. Are those things easy to fit?

[ArBiTaL 24]

BTW noise doesn't bother me that much. I mean, it does a bit, because i sleep in the same room as my PC, but it doesn't worry me a huge deal. :)

[Ugmore Baggage]

most fan controller come with mini 3 pin headers, the same size as mobo fan headers. Most case fans come with the big "molex" connectors that go directly to the PSU. You may have to get a few kits of male 3 pin connectors, or I suppose you could solder...

DigitalDocs are a pain to install because of all the temp probes and programming involved but still aren't what I'd call difficult (like a water system would be). In hindsight I think a rheobus is the better solution because it adjusts speed instead of just on/off control.

[ArBiTaL 24]

Aparently (sp?), it fits using "bare wire". That's what the reply to my e-mail was. I presumed that means that it's just stripped, bare wire that i have to attatch to a molex or 3pin myslef...

As for rheobus- sorry, i've already ordered. I looked at one but it only controls 4 fans, and i have 6 on my case. The device isn't a digitaldoc, it's a streight 6 switch baybus. see it here. (http://www.xoxide.com/dualvol6porb.html)
Apparently, it has a little thing inside the device that allows a percentage of the fan's speed- it is not streight on/off.

Thanks for your advice anyhow!!:)

[eternalflame]

Oh great, "screaming" fans. What's next, exploding processors?:D

All you'd need then is for it to spark, and you've got yourself you very own, long lasting cathrine wheel! lol:cool:

DONT make me show you the vidio of the explodeing pII