Quieting Existing PC

[kramsauer]

I have an existing greybox PC that I bought and have since upgraded with new graphics card, recorder cards, hard drives, and more. It isn't exceedingly loud, but it's louder than I would like when there are no other sounds in the room (TV, radio, etc). How do I go about tackling the task of quieting it down? I suppose I could go build a new one, but I have a feeling that a few well-placed upgrades will help me out immensely and at a much lower cost/headache level. I suppose the first thing is to find out where the sound is coming from.
To tell the truth, I honestly don't know what is making most of the noise. How do I figure that out? There are fans on the processor, power supply (and possibly) the graphics card. I can't tell which one is the loudest/most important.
I don't think the hard drives cause all that much sound. I have an external drive that I can't hear at all unless it is accessing, and even then it's really quiet. So I think I need to tackle the fan issues first. I realize it's probably simply to replace hte power supply with a quiet one, but what about the CPU fan?
I know the usual trade-off is with heat. To be frank, I don't really care all that much if I run a little warmer than what is usually recommended -- if the whole thing tumbles down in an overheated mess, well, it's a few years old anyway.
Doesn't anyone know of a good starting place online? I've googled all sorts of phrases and gone through most of the quiet pc vendors, but I find it hard to believe that I need to spend $2k to get a decent quiet PC.
Any help is greatly appreciated.

[Fickey]

You can try Speedfan:
http://www.almico.com/speedfan.php
It's free software that can run your fans at slower speeds to keep things quieter. It can also monitor temps to speed the fans up when needed. Of course, this is dependent upon what your motherboard supports.

You could also buy some hardware fan controllers, which usually have a knob of some sort to allow you to control fan speed.

If your CPU cooler or other fans are just naturally too loud, you might need to invest in some upgrades there, Zalman is a good brand to try. For things like chipset or video card fans, you might be able to go fanless with a big enough aftermarket heatsink. If you go fanless, you'll need to consider airflow:
http://www.short-media.com/articles/..._cooling_guide

[kramsauer]

I have a feeling that my bootleg PC doesn't support it, but when I get home, I'm definitely giving SpeedFan a try! Thanks.

[btvfreak]

Try temporarily stopping each fan, one at a time. Just place your finder on the middle of the fan to slowly stop it. You can then see how much of the noise is reduced from each fan, which will tell you which ones need to be replaced or controlled with a fan controller.

Also, visit SilentPCReview.com:
http://www.silentpcreview.com/

[mlomker]

I made it a point to buy a video card without a fan. That somewhat limits you to a card of mid-range power but you really don't need more than my 7600GS in an HTPC, anyway.

Are you sure you don't have case fans in addition to the others? I bought a fan controller and that was mostly just to slow down the 3 case fans in my machine. If you don't have case fans then it's probably the PSU. You could swap yours out for a Seasonic and it'd make a big difference. There are quite a few large CPU heatsinks with quiet fans--Zalman being one of the most prominent brands.

The silentpcreview site is an interesting read.

[Bigbird999]

kram
Usually it is the PSU that is the loudest, especially if it is a cheap one (although some video card fans sound like jet engines). Can you post your specs as to what cpu, vid card and size/speed of any case fans? The good psus are much quieter.

BB

[thundermax]

http://www.silentpcreview.com/

[SideShowCecil]

I keep my HTPC housed inside a large armoire. You can’t hear a thing from it in there. There are enough holes in the back (for media wiring) to provide sufficient ventilation; though if I leave my stereo amp on overnight it can get pretty toasty in there.

[yle]

Originally Posted by mlomker

I made it a point to buy a video card without a fan. That somewhat limits you to a card of mid-range power but you really don't need more than my 7600GS in an HTPC, anyway.

Are you sure you don't have case fans in addition to the others? I bought a fan controller and that was mostly just to slow down the 3 case fans in my machine. If you don't have case fans then it's probably the PSU. You could swap yours out for a Seasonic and it'd make a big difference. There are quite a few large CPU heatsinks with quiet fans--Zalman being one of the most prominent brands.

The silentpcreview site is an interesting read.

Which 7600GS do you have? Is it in a regular sized case or a SFF case?

[tvgk]

I have a 6800XT that sounds terrible when the fan is running at 100%. It had this really obnoxious noise that made it stand out from the normal "blowing" sound of my case fans. I use a program called Rivatuner to change the fan speeds. I knocked my fan speeds down to around 94% on the video card and that annoying noise is gone. My GPU temps are still the same.

[Fickey]

Ah, excellent point, thanks for the reminder. I've never used it, but apparently ATITool can do the same for supported ATI cards. There even seems to be some "cross platform" support between the Nvidia and ATI focused tweakers.
http://www.techpowerup.com/atitool/

There's also the ATI Tray Tools, I have no idea which is preferable:
http://www.guru3d.com/article/atitraytools/189/

[Bigbird999]

Fickey
I put an after market Zalmann on my AGP 1600 Sapphire. The fan can run at 5.5 or 12 v (they provide a wiring harness adapter for both voltages). At 5.5 v, it is inaudible and the temps are almost exactly the same.

BB

[mlomker]

Originally Posted by yle

Which 7600GS do you have? Is it in a regular sized case or a SFF case?

A pair of the Asus cards. They are both in full-size cases.

[Fickey]

Originally Posted by Bigbird999

Fickey
I put an after market Zalmann on my AGP 1600 Sapphire. The fan can run at 5.5 or 12 v (they provide a wiring harness adapter for both voltages). At 5.5 v, it is inaudible and the temps are almost exactly the same.

Thanks for that, BB. I may try something like that when I get around to silencing my PC, too

[GeorgeH]

CPU fan $40-50.

VGA card fan $22.

Quiet case/power supply $80.

---

The hard part is determining what temps are suitable for the components.

My CPUs idle under 30C. may out below 45C. My video cards max out at 40C. My hard drives max out at 35C.