Case Still Not Quite Enough !

[cjob68]

Hi,
I purchased the pvr-250 & Snapstream along with the Antec Sonata to use as a PVR in my living room. However , after setting it up and getting it all working I find it is still to loud. Don't get me wrong it is way more quite than any other PC I have ever owned but I can still hear it humming if the tv gets quite and I would like it to be silent ( maybe not possible. )
I put a Seagate Baracuda HD in because they are rated as being quite.

Can anyone give me any tips or suggestions on other things I can try to make it as close to silent as possible ?

Thanks In Advance
Jason

[Eric3a]

Unplug it.

Couldn't resist.
Eric

[seekr]

I use a Sonata as my HTPC and I'm happy with the noise level. I can barely hear it when the TV is muted, but it's situated in a corner where some of the noise seems to be absorbed.

Most quiet pc guides list the power supply, cpu fan, video card fan, and cooling fans as the most important noises to silence.

I outfitted my Sonata with a fanless VIA based motherboard, a quiet cpu fan , and 2 quiet 120mm case fans.

For output to my HDTV, I purchased a fanless SAPPHIRE ATI RADEON 9600 Video Card and use the ATI component dongle.

I use Western Digital 200/250 GB drives and haven't been able to hear any noise from them outside the case, so I haven't felt the need to buy the smaller but quieter Barracuda's (not to mention pricey). The drives I've purchased averaged below $.50 cents per gig so from my fuzzy math it's cheaper to purchase another drive than bother with burning shows to DVD.

The Sonata has a fairly quiet stock power supply, so I've just left that in for now, it's the loudest component I have left.

The best place I've found for information about building a quiet HTPC's is: SilentPCReview.com

You've probably got a reasonable starting base so all is not lost. I'd recommend replacing the loudest component and re-testing until it's to your satisfaction. The CPU fan and internal fans are a fairly cheap noise reduction for starters.

Hope this helps,

--seekr

[cjob68]

Did you do any testing to determine which is the noisiest ( other than placing your ear near the motherboard and guessing which is the loudest ? )

[seekr]

You can easily check the case fans, they can simply be unplugged for a minute with the case off.

It's possible for you to momentarily stop a fan on the graphics card or cpu, but it's really easy to break the fan or damage the component. You have to be REALLY careful.

I've used a soft plastic pen top to gently stop a fan for a few seconds. Do not stop the fan for more than a couple of seconds. Use at your own risk, it's your components you'd have to replace.

--seekr

[ptfigg]

Try using some of this acoustic absorbing foam...I just finished this project and it's pretty quiet.

paul.

[cjob68]

Hi,
Can you tell me where you got the acoustic absorbing foam ? Do you know if they sell it in Canada ?

[ptfigg]

This is where I ordered it from...it's in the states.

http://www.frozencpu.com/cgi-bin/frozencpu/noi-02.html

paul.

[wayner]

Originally posted by cjob68
Hi,
I purchased the pvr-250 & Snapstream along with the Antec Sonata to use as a PVR in my living room. However , after setting it up and getting it all working I find it is still to loud. Don't get me wrong it is way more quite than any other PC I have ever owned but I can still hear it humming if the tv gets quite and I would like it to be silent ( maybe not possible. )
I put a Seagate Baracuda HD in because they are rated as being quite.

Can anyone give me any tips or suggestions on other things I can try to make it as close to silent as possible ?

Thanks In Advance
Jason

I recently bought this same case and also found it too noisy. Here is what I have done:

The power supply has some connectors marked fan only. Make sure that the case fan is connected to one of these connectors rather than to a regular power cable. The fan was hooked up to the wrong cable on my system and once I fixed it the case fan was MUCH quieter.

You don't mention your CPU but I have a 3.2GHz CPU which comes with a fan right on the CPU heatsink. This fan is rather noisy. I will be soon replacing this with the Zalman 7000A-ALCu heatsink/fan combo which is supposed to be much quieter. There are many more cooling options that can be explored at wws.silentpcreview.com.

I originally had the ATI9600XT card which had a fan. I replace this with the Sapphire 9600 without a fan and that also helped.