Project silence

Well gang I have been on a mission to quiet down my PC.

Here is a run down of the type of fans I have had within my Chieftec case.

My CPU type is TbredB 1700@ 2.0ghz
Temps measured by Speedfan.
Ambient was close to 70*F. Give or take 2 degrees.
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4x Sunon Med spd fans. 40CFM @ 34dBA.
1x Sunon Ultra High Spd fan. 88cfm @ 44dBA.

CPU temps: 32*C idle
Case temps: 29*C

I got very tired of the noise coming from my PC. I hated watching movies or playing games b/c I had to crank my speakers up really loud.

I decided I was going to quiet this thing down. I read up on Paxmate, Magic Fleece, etc. for things that would dampen the sound. From the reviews I have seen, they are just pointless and an absolute waste of money.

I stumbled upon some 80mm Panaflo L1A fans. They are listed as 24CFM @ 21dBA. I was able to grab several of these from FrozenCPU.com dirt cheap. These were to replace all my case fans. I also bought a Enermax Temp monitor. It allows you to monitor 2 seperate temps for your computer and allows the manual adjust of 2 fans. (I have the 3.5" model BTW.) This would allow me to adjust the fan speed on my super duper loud CPU fan for my AX-7. (I know it isn't as loud as a Tornado but I think this sucker is loud.)

CPU temps: 38*C idle
Case Temps: 28*C

I wasn't happy. I still heard too much noise coming from my PC. It is about 2 feet away from my ears at night so I don't like the whirl of the fans.

I realized that the noise I was hearing came from my GPU fan for my Albatron TI4800SE. So I purchased a Zalman 80-HPa for a replacement device. No fan for the GPU means even less noise. I was quite pleased with this product as it allowed me to gain an additional 12mhz on my core. It rests at 328 right now.

CPU temps: 36*C
Case temps: 30*C

Recently Case-mods.com had an price error on the SLK900u heatsink. I picked up 2 of these bad boys for my server and my main rig for a whopping 52 bucks. I also picked up a Zalman Northbridge HS. I was replacing my stock Abit HS/F which made a whirl.
After placing one of the Panaflo L1A fans on the SLK I was shocked by my temps.

CPU temp: 34*C
Case temps: 29*C

After the addition of the SLK, I was able to completely remove 2 of the Panaflo fans. For the first time I could hear my hard drive
grinding away.


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Currently the loudest thing in my room is my laptop fan. I can't believe how loud this Dell is!!

For those of you out there that think a quiet PC is out of reach..........you are dead wrong. Patience and planning is the key.

I know if I used the Paxmate I would have an even quieter system but I don't wanna **** away any more of my money for just a 2dBA loss.

TechTV's Yoshi (a regular Modder with some serious Dremel 'skillz') did a cool Silent PC mod, complete with Paxmate (and 3 other foams) and some mufflers for the fans!
Here's a Link

And BTW: Those Dell laptops are freaking LOUD!! I had a client call me up because she couldn't boot at all... I turned it on and was freaked out how loud that thing was! If you're in the market for a laptop again, you may want to look at the Sony Vaios (concerning the cooling noise) - They're pretty quiet and don't get hot on the lap.

And another PS: PICS PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE!!!!

Check out silentpcreview.com. They have great articles on making a silent PC.

You might also want the vantec stealth fans 27 CFM @ 21dba, 2150 rpms, they are probably more expensive than the panaflos.
I have a Sony Vaio NVR23, with an AMD Athon XP 1800+, it also gets somewhat loud, which Dell models are you referring to?

The Tech TV episode I saw is what got me inspired. Needless to say I don't have the dough to spend like they did but I did my best.

I prefer the Panaflo fans over the Stealth. The Stealth fans make a different pitch noise compared to the Panaflo.

Pics I don't think I can manage b/c no digi cam.

way to go! i just finished silencing up my PC a few weeks ago, intake and exhaust 120's are aluminum frame titan fans @ 5v, only a slight whir, if any noise at all.

my heatsink's fan makes no noise @ 1450 rpm, and the only other fan is my sparkles which runs @ 5v almost all of the time

Same zalman northbridge cooler, same zalman heatpipe gpu cooler.

The only thing that makes noise are my optical drives and my hdd.. hopefully soon only my optical drives.

currently idling 36 degree case temp and a 40 degree processor temp, not bad

sooo... then what'd u do with your old fans?

I have a nice stockpile of 80mm fans in my room. I eventually am going to mod my server rig to allow for a 120mm fan for intake, replace the PSU fan, cut the grill out out in the back of the case.
This is all for my server.

What I silenced was my main rig.

I am considering buying some Paxmate now just to cover up the holes in the front bezel. The noise that comes out of them is bothering me now. If it isn't one thing it is another.

heh... trust me... soon you'll start going crazy over your HD noise

i did the same thing a couple of months ago... ripped out all of my delta fans and replaced them with Panaflo L1A's on a 7V-12V baybus ... this made my video card cooler stand out... so i ripped it off and replaced it with a passive heatsink... next my cpu fan was replaced with an adjustable 80mm YSTech fan... finally, i gutted my Enermax PSU, replacing the rear 80mm fan with a Panaflo, and getting rid of that extra 92mm fan they stuck at the bottom of the PSU...

my 2nd machine received a similar treatment... now i'm dreaming up ways of silencing the HD's as they are the only sources of annoying noise left... unfortunately, the only truly silent HD's i've seen are the 5400rpm Maxtors and some Seagates (but those seem to be as picky about their operating temp as the IBM deathstars)

there are hard drive enclosures that stop the noise, www.silentpcreview.com has a couple of ways to reduce hdd noise, including a really awesome enclosure

I found the best way to curtail the noise is to change the psu fan. I think the best one is some 19dba fan I got from bestbyte for $3 shipped. It does an excellent job and you can't hear the power supply at all.

Well I think I will be able to stand the noise of my HDD.
Its a WD 80gb 8mb drive. Don't wanna lose the performance.

I found Yoshi's silent PC to be pretty creative as well..........however I would imagine that adding mufflers to normal case fans would cut your airflow down to about 0. Which begs the question.....if you're gonna restrict your airflow so significantly that it makes the fans virtually silent, is there really any point in having those case fans to begin with?
From my point of view, a muffler idea is creative but in the end not a truly viable solution. I think that proper ducting, quiet fans and huge-@$$ chunks of copper is the way to go ;-)

Well I have expanded Project Silence to my server rig.

I replaced the PNY fan on my GF2 MX 64mb card with the NB fan from my Abit board. Spins a lot slower. We will have to see if the card fries or not due to the lack of CFM over it.

I also added a Panaflo L1A for intake into the server case. Should help temps out. Its completely inaudible due to the case being smashed inbetween my bed and computer desk. I think the noise generated from the fan is being directed down into my carpet. I am quite pleased with myself right now.

The muffler idea that Yoshi had was silly.

I will be replacing the 80mm Panaflo L1A on the heatink tomorrow. I will post my results later.

I have officially completed Project Silence.

I ended up moving my server PC into my Cheiftec case, and switching my main rig into that.

The case I moved my main machine into only has 2 80mm fans available. And boy are they restricting airflow. When I get a dremel I plan on cutting those out.

As for my SLK900u, I moved a Zalman 92mm fan on it on the lowest setting possible. Audible at around 19dBA. There are 2 Panaflo L1A fans that reside in the case. 1 pushes and 1 pulls.
The 92mm fan grill on my Antec Truepower has been removed due to the clips of the SLK900u. They were getting caught in the grill and I was unable to put the PSU in after the transfer.

Case temps did increase in the transer. I am resting at 41*C on an OC of 2.1ghz for my 1700+. (via speedfan)
Core = 1.55v

I have some pictures to show you guys, but ATM my host is having some issues. There will be pics by midnight EST.

Pic of PC under TV. (there is a glass door in front of the PC to prevent any sound from moving towards me.

Pic of the insides on my main rig. (i plan on getting the spaghetti under control ppl. I just bought some more spiral wrap.)

wow. i have a total of 11 fans in my case, and at least 9 of them running at all times...and i sleep just fine. my computer is pretty close to my bed too. 7 x 80x25 1 x tornado 2 x 120x38 and 1 x 92x25

no problemo...

I used to be at that point. I had close to 13 fans in one case. 3 of them were 60mm delta screamers. Then I went to watercooling, then back to aircooling.

Silent pc, hmm? Unfortunately I can't do it. I NEED my 6.75" and They will shut off before they are completely silent (though they get damn close with alot of airflow left in them. My PSU is temp controlled and is a weighty SOB, so it's always almost silent. And I've never even heard my northbridge. Maybe once this buzzing pump is gone. I'm adding a dead silent 92mm to my mosfets. It's a mitachi space fan. Model M922512AM. I think it came out of a Giant PSU 300watt AT from like 15 years ago. I can't find any info on it, so I only know the electrical info. 12vdc 0.21A for about 2.5watts. My northbridge is iffy... I may add a 60mm heatsink... I may add a 70mm heatsink. The only 60mm fans I have are loud. And when I 7v the YStech 26CFM, I can't even feel airflow. It's like a freaking pinwheel. The 70mm has an adjustable fan, but I worry about the weight. Either way Im going to have to break a few fins and drill mounting holes through the base... as even small copper sinks feel too heavy to me to mount with epoxy. Then I might notice my radeon 9700's fan. But hell, mounting an old Pentium sink should fix that. Anyhow... in a few days... these 6.75" pats at 12v should be my loudest component. And I can live with that. If I lose them, then my wd800jb will sound too loud. And I'm NOT replacing that sweet piece of machine yet.