any tips to reduce the mechanical noise coming from a pc?
I tried out low noise fans but still not enough. Noise is coming from
hard drives too.

regards
ale

On Thu, 24 Mar 2005 13:27:37 GMT, ale wrote:

any tips to reduce the mechanical noise coming from a pc?
I tried out low noise fans but still not enough. Noise is coming from
hard drives too.

regards
ale


Ale,

We just updated our remote recording PC with a "Tsunami Dream" case

http://www.thermaltake.com/xaserCase...mi/sna/sna.htm

The fans and drive bays are all mounted on cushy rubber grommets which
helps to keep radiated noise at a minimum. The mfr rates fan noise at
21 dBA. I can say that it's -very- quiet and well built.

A guy I work with has a son who is building water-cooled PC's for
studio use. Here's his link:

http://www.liquiddaw.com/

JL

ale wrote:
any tips to reduce the mechanical noise coming from a pc?
I tried out low noise fans but still not enough. Noise is coming from

hard drives too.

regards
ale

check these resources:

http://www.silentpcreview.com
http://www.endpcnoise.com

bobs

Bob Smith
BS Studios
we organize chaos
http://www.bsstudios.com

ale wrote:
any tips to reduce the mechanical noise coming from a pc?
I tried out low noise fans but still not enough. Noise is coming from
hard drives too.

regards
ale

You can "reduce" the noise but you'll never make it silent no matter
how much money you throw into computer components.
My solution to the problem was a "KVM extender".
Now my control room is truly silent.

"Chip Borton" wrote in message
...
ale wrote:
any tips to reduce the mechanical noise coming from a pc?
I tried out low noise fans but still not enough. Noise is coming from
hard drives too.

regards
ale

You can "reduce" the noise but you'll never make it silent no matter
how much money you throw into computer components.

I don't mean to be picky, but passive cooling is always an option, if you
have the bucks...

"ale" wrote in message
...
any tips to reduce the mechanical noise coming from a pc?
I tried out low noise fans but still not enough. Noise is coming from hard
drives too.

It depends on how much money you're willing to spend to keep it quiet. A
quite cheap solution is something like a nexus breeze case with lots of
added DIY foam, seagate hardrives, graphics card without a fan, etc. I have
one, and it's very silent.

"Chip Borton" wrote

You can "reduce" the noise but you'll never make it silent
no matter how much money you throw into computer
components. My solution to the problem was a "KVM
extender".

Agreed.

In article writes:

any tips to reduce the mechanical noise coming from a pc?
I tried out low noise fans but still not enough. Noise is coming from
hard drives too.

Distance is your friend. Too many people try to record withing a short
cable's reach of their computer. Get it into another room, or at least
a quieter case. Every thing you do to reduce noise will reveal another
noise source. You have to keep at it until you're satisfied with the
result. Larger, slower fans are quieter than stock fans, newer disk
drives are usually quieter than older ones, and there are cases that
are more solid and some have resiliant mounts for rotating parts.
Antec makes a fanless power supply (though at 350 watts, it might not
leave much room for powerhouse processors, multiple disk drives, or
gigabytes of memory) and there are several CPU fan alternatives.
Unfortunately, there's no one "best" so you just have to pick one, try
it, and see if the improvement it makes is satisfactory or if you have
to try something else.

It can get expensive, though. This is one of those things (see the
"male chassis mounted mic connector thread" for another example) where
the original manufacturer cuts all the corners he can in order to keep
the selling price down, then leaves the buyer to add in all the things
that the manufacturer didn't.

--
I'm really Mike Rivers )
However, until the spam goes away or Hell freezes over,
lots of IP addresses are blocked from this system. If
you e-mail me and it bounces, use your secret decoder ring
and reach me he double-m-eleven-double-zero at yahoo

wrote:

check these resources:

http://www.silentpcreview.com
http://www.endpcnoise.com


Also: http://www.quietpc.com

--
Anahata
-+- http://www.treewind.co.uk
Home: 01638 720444 Mob: 07976 263827

ale wrote:
any tips to reduce the mechanical noise coming from a pc?

1 - put foam inside the left panel of the PC. This reduces fan noise
from the CPU fan; You can also do that on the right side, but
the benifice is likely to be less.

2 - if your graphics card has a fan, consider getting one without a fan;

3 - replace the power supply by a "silent" power supply with a 12 cm
fan instead of the usual 8 cm fan. This fan rotates slower (less
noise) and is also on the inside (near the CPU) side of the power
supply instead of facing out.

There are even power supplies without fans (passive heatsinks
protruding from the rear face). Those are expensive and I have
read that their reliability is not very good.

4 - a counter-intuitive suggestion: add a case fan. We had a case
here in which the PCs were quite silent with the case open,
and noisy with the case closed. The reason is that, with the
case closed the CPU fan is just circulating the air inside the
case. After some seconds the CPU heated up and the fan increased
speed (and noise). With the case fan the hot air was pushed out,
the temperature of the CPU decreased, the fan slowed down, and so
did the noise (2 slow fans are quiter than 1 fast fan).

BTW, make sure all fans are controlled by the temperature
(3-wires fans), otherwise they are always at maximum speed,
even when not necessary.

5 - since usually the cases and the motherboards are not designed together,
the CPU fan doesn't push the air out. Some brand PCs are better
designed. For instance, I have seen Fujitsu-Siemens in which
the power supply fan also worked as a CPU fan. In others there
was a funnel sending the hot air out.

Recently I have seen cases with a similar device: a telescopic tube
from the left panel to the CPU area to direct the air to the outside.

I tried out low noise fans but still not enough.
Noise is coming from hard drives too.

You could try getting a different hard drive. But I think a silent case,
which has, for instance, foam around the disk area, is a better bet.

--
http://www.mat.uc.pt/~rps/

..pt is Portugal| `Whom the gods love die young'-Menander (342-292 BC)
Europe | Villeneuve 50-82, Toivonen 56-86, Senna 60-94

The rubber supports for the harddrives help quite a bit. Also the
newer HDs are quieter.

Al

On Thu, 24 Mar 2005 14:44:35 GMT, John La Grou wrote:

On Thu, 24 Mar 2005 13:27:37 GMT, ale wrote:

any tips to reduce the mechanical noise coming from a pc?
I tried out low noise fans but still not enough. Noise is coming from
hard drives too.

regards
ale


Ale,

We just updated our remote recording PC with a "Tsunami Dream" case

http://www.thermaltake.com/xaserCase...mi/sna/sna.htm

The fans and drive bays are all mounted on cushy rubber grommets which
helps to keep radiated noise at a minimum. The mfr rates fan noise at
21 dBA. I can say that it's -very- quiet and well built.

A guy I work with has a son who is building water-cooled PC's for
studio use. Here's his link:

http://www.liquiddaw.com/

JL

"Tommi M." wrote

It depends on how much money you're willing to spend to
keep it quiet.

Wrong


A quite cheap solution is something like a nexus breeze
case with lots of added DIY foam, seagate hardrives,
graphics card without a fan, etc. I have one, and it's very
silent.

"very silent"... Oxymoron

I just drilled a hole through the wall. stuck a small piece of PVC pipe
in, put the computer in the next room and ran the cabling through the
pipe. It's both the cheapest and quietest solution, and the hole is
small enough that it can easily be patched over when you move
residence.
Cheers, Rick.

--
John L Rice


"Powell" wrote in message
...

"Tommi M." wrote

It depends on how much money you're willing to spend to
keep it quiet.

Wrong


A quite cheap solution is something like a nexus breeze
case with lots of added DIY foam, seagate hardrives,
graphics card without a fan, etc. I have one, and it's very
silent.

"very silent"... Oxymoron


kid : Is it atomic?
Dr. T : Yes, VERY atomic.

Bingo! The best and cheapest suggestion.
My CPU's in the room on the other side of the wall from where I
record.
And I didn't even have to buy any extension cables!




On 24 Mar 2005 11:47:48 -0800, "rickymix"
wrote:

I just drilled a hole through the wall. stuck a small piece of PVC pipe
in, put the computer in the next room and ran the cabling through the
pipe. It's both the cheapest and quietest solution, and the hole is
small enough that it can easily be patched over when you move
residence.
Cheers, Rick.

Mike Cleaver Broadcast Services
Voice-overs, Newscaster, Engineering and Consulting
Vancouver, BC, Canada

I made this simple box several years ago. It works great and cost me next to
nothing.

http://www.members.shaw.ca/langem/

Martin


"ale" wrote in message
...
any tips to reduce the mechanical noise coming from a pc?
I tried out low noise fans but still not enough. Noise is coming from hard
drives too.

regards
ale

"Powell" wrote in message
...

"Tommi M." wrote

It depends on how much money you're willing to spend to
keep it quiet.

Wrong

Exactly how?
I'm referring to a full passive cooling system, which is the quietest
possible. And that costs.

A quite cheap solution is something like a nexus breeze
case with lots of added DIY foam, seagate hardrives,
graphics card without a fan, etc. I have one, and it's very
silent.

"very silent"... Oxymoron

Forgive me, english is not my first language. Very quiet, then?

"Powell" wrote in message
...

"Chip Borton" wrote

You can "reduce" the noise but you'll never make it silent
no matter how much money you throw into computer
components. My solution to the problem was a "KVM
extender".

Agreed.

Wrong. Passive cooling.

"Tommi M." wrote in message
...

"Powell" wrote in message
...

"Chip Borton" wrote

You can "reduce" the noise but you'll never make it silent
no matter how much money you throw into computer
components. My solution to the problem was a "KVM
extender".

Agreed.

Wrong. Passive cooling.


Oh yes forgive me, the hard drive noise. But, not such an issue compared to
a couple of fans, which are completely possible to replace.

Tommi M. wrote:

"Powell" wrote...

"Chip Borton" wrote

You can "reduce" the noise but you'll never make it silent
no matter how much money you throw into computer
components. My solution to the problem was a "KVM
extender".

Agreed.

Wrong. Passive cooling.

Wrong, because passive cooling does not eliminate HD noise, and remote
placement does. It ain't just about fans when one is trying to record
low SPL sources. Install passive cooling and you have reduced the noise.
Put the computer in another room and the noise prolbem is history.

--
ha

"Tommi M." wrote in message



I'm referring to a full passive cooling system, which is the
quietest
possible. And that costs.


I accidentally ended up running an Athlon-64 3200 with standard AMD
heat sink for several hours the other day, with the fan unplugged.
The software monitor put the chip temperature around 60C, which is not
particularly unhealthy. It seems like the major sticking point with
the typical PC might be the power supply.