Slightly off-remote-topic:

Lately I have spent quite a few hours (and dollars) on silencing my 1G Athlon T-bird. Tried a few of the better heatsinks out there (e.g. NoiseControl Silverado) and currently use a Koolance case with watercooling. But it still gets hot enough in there to make my Enermax PSU fan - and the water cooling HSF - go into noisy overdrive. Any suggestions?

(And believe me, I am visiting the techie overclocking forums etc. for this as well...:)

Well, yeah, but only if it doesn't take much work. :-) My system currently has a PC Power Cooling Silencer power supply and two Silencer case fans. Uses the stock Intel P3 fan. Toss in an IBM 75GXP hard drive and a Antec SX830 case, and the thing is nearly quiet.

Nice case:-) I think I may try to drop in a Duron 950, that should drop the wattage by about 15 or so. Should make a difference, still plenty fast enough.

Even with the super-low-RPM case fans, my system runs about 8 degrees C cooler than it did in my old case (an Addtronics 7890A, also common). I've had the SX830 since before they were popular. :-) A much better case compared to the Addtronics. Better quality, better airflow, better ergonomics. I can get into it with zero screws, zero thumbscrews and I don't even need to move it out! :-)

Yep, no question. That Antec is popular for good reason.

This Koolance case is not so bad either actually. Granted, it does not allow for easy removal of drives and the mobo is *cough* screwed in. But the case is solid, with good quality and finish. And really very very quiet at lower temps.
http://www.koolance.com

Half the fun of having one of these home-assembled computers is tinkering with it:-) Which is a big part of the reason why I am still trying to quiet it down more. Because it has to be possible darned!

Daniel,

Where did you get your case and fans? I live in the GTA and would like to check them out as well. I hate the noise from my PC.

Ordered from the US. :-) I thought, a year ago, that there was someone up here who carried PC Power & Cooling stuff, but I don't know if they're still in business. Also, you didn't actually save anything by going to them.

I'm such a nut about making my PC quieter, that I'm seriously researching noise cancellation.

In theory, I could capture the annoying PC noise. Then invert it using an audio editor, then play that inverted noise out the PC's speakers.

Problems encountered... the speakers obviously don't emit the sound from the same spot the PC makes it's noise. Secondly, that cancellation sound needs to be constantly emitted, as long as the PC is on. I can get the sound to loop, but there's a small (and very obvious) delay between plays. Then, of course, I want to be able to add my CD, MP3, etc, computer sounds on top of that cancelling sound... in real time. My old sound blaster card can mix several sourced, so that problem is my least.

Anyone else interested? Since the PC's sound is fairly constant, it should be very doable.

Dave

Dave,

Youdaman. I can appreciate your admitted nutty-ness :)

The thought of noise-cancellation crossed my mind as well, only in the form of an external unit that you may find in such places as The Sharper Image etc.
But frankly, I do not have a whole lot of confidence in the effectiveness of these gizmos.

But if you are THAT serious about it, perhaps you should consider immersing all heat generating components in non-conductive oil. Saw some guys at the amdmb.com forums talk about that. It would eliminate ANY need for fans. It would also get terribly messy if you like to swap components a lot. :-)

I'm hoping the next iteration of the Koolance case (apparently due in August) will handle higher CPU temps at low fan RPMs.

If you are real serious about noise, you could buy an Apple iMac or Cube. (No Fan!!) I don't know if you are partial to Win software. Just a thought.

Damon

I'll admit I did get serious about a no-noise computer when I saw Apple's cube. Thinking "hey, why can't win-PC makers use the same strategy to make a fanless PC?". Heat does rise, after all. Put some 1" feet on your PC case, drill several holes in the bottom and top, and you should have a pretty darned good plume of hot air rising out the top. It might need some deflecting fins inside to make sure cool air passes by the hottest spots, but that shouldn't be too hard. I like the idea so much that the next PC I build myself is going to include a home made case, designed specifically to create a rising air current thru it. With the 1" or so space beneath the case I can mount the power supply so that the cord comes out the bottom, and it's vents are aligned top and bottom too.

Hey, I succeed with getting about 80% of my PC's sound to disappear with a negative sound! Playing the inverted sound requires careful syncronization (timing) I discovered. Apparently the fan waveform is cyclic, and you have to match it's cycle perfectly to perfectly cancel it. My 80% was just an experiment, and not easy to replicate twice in a row. Timing is everything, it seems.

Dave

Kidding! Always wondered if that would work. Hope you don't have any fans with variable speed :-)

Have to admit that Apple does a much better job in designing computers. Except...there's no need to tinker with these machines. What's the fun in that, huh? :-)

Another Quiet PC thought: Keep it off!

I tried it. Worked great! Didn't emit a peep!

Side benefits: More time to do other things. Lower electric bill. Less chore for the house AC (cooling down all that hot air my PC made). Other electronic devices get more attention (Found I could play asteroids on my Handspring Visor!). Wife no longer fears I'm going to turn murderous from playing too much Quake.

Problems: Coming down from a PC high is painful; I suggest tapering off slowly. The PC will then become the most expensive doorstop in the house. Of course, it's probably an old PC's job at the moment. ;-)

Dave

Good suggestion. I tried it, but for some it took forever to load this thread?