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geekhack Community => Other Geeky Stuff => Topic started by: DanGWanG on Wed, 23 March 2011, 09:45:47

Title: How do you make your computer quieter?
Post by: DanGWanG on Wed, 23 March 2011, 09:45:47
To be more specific, I recently acquired a MSI Twin Frozr II GTX 560.  This is causing my setup to be a lot louder than previously experienced.  I would imagine my full aluminum case is not isolating the noise db as well as another, more sturdier case.

I've seen some people stick material against the inside of the side panel, but I'm not sure if that's to reduce noise or has some other purpose.  Noise has never really been an issue for me previously, but for some reason this is bothering me.  Maybe it's because I'm older now.

Any suggestions, ideas or comments?
Title: How do you make your computer quieter?
Post by: panda-R on Wed, 23 March 2011, 10:00:38
Usually I start off by buying quieter components. That is inherent with making a trade off with performance usually but that's better than having a vacuum cleaner that you call a computer.
Title: How do you make your computer quieter?
Post by: ashort on Wed, 23 March 2011, 10:07:38
I built a computer several years ago (back when the p4 was new and shiny!) and I couldn't believe how loud the fan was.  While researching quiet fans and quiet cases, I started getting hard drive errors.  I was able to recover all my important files and swap out the hard drive.

The computer was stupid quiet after that. The noise my computer was making hadn't been the fan, it was a bad drive.  The fan had always been very quiet.

I recommend running it with the case off and see if you can find the noisy component or components.
Title: How do you make your computer quieter?
Post by: DanGWanG on Wed, 23 March 2011, 10:15:20
Prior to installing the GTX 560, my system was at a low and acceptable noise level.  There's nothing I can really do to mitigate the sound coming from the graphics card voiding the warranty or something silly like that.  Basically, the rest of my system is quiet enough.  It's just the graphics card that's posing a problem right now.
Title: How do you make your computer quieter?
Post by: panda-R on Wed, 23 March 2011, 10:19:01
Quote from: DanGWanG;316723
Prior to installing the GTX 560, my system was at a low and acceptable noise level.  There's nothing I can really do to mitigate the sound coming from the graphics card voiding the warranty or something silly like that.  Basically, the rest of my system is quiet enough.  It's just the graphics card that's posing a problem right now.


tell you what wanger, you're a respectable gher around here so I will trade you my MSI GTX460 Cyclone which is very quiet for your GTX560. Straight up trade and you don't have to worry about owing me anything.
Title: How do you make your computer quieter?
Post by: Fwiffo on Wed, 23 March 2011, 10:28:39
Check out Silent PC Review (http://www.silentpcreview.com/).

1) Aluminum cases are the worst for noise even though they look pretty and are lightweight. There are some cases designed specifically to reduce noise (Antec has a ton of great cases, for instance). Panels that are laminated (metal/plastic/metal) really dampen sound much better than just plastic, steel or aluminum.

2) Most people have huge overkill on their power supply. Measure how much power your computer uses under full load. Most people use less than 300 watts, so it makes no sense to have a 1000 watt power supply, even in an SLI system. You definitely want some headroom to keep your power supply in its most efficient range, but more than double is way overkill.

3) Bigger fans move more air at lower RPM and are radically quieter. The worst noise sources tend to be those tiny chipset fans and video card fans, or cheap stock processor coolers. Get a fanless motherboard to eliminate that noisemaker completely. Get over-sized after-market heat-sinks with 120mm fans for your processor and video card. You can get better cooling and less noise.

4) 10,000 RPM hard drives are huge noisemakers. Better to get an SSD plus a quiet 7200 RPM drive, or even a 5400 RPM power-saving drive if you are obsessive about noise. Use silicone grommet things to mount hard drives and fans so vibrations are dampened before they're transferred to the case. You can even mount your hard drives with bungees if you're really serious.

5) Get a fan controller and use temperature monitoring software with your machine under load to optimize your fan speeds to keep your noise levels at a minimum while keeping things safely cool.
Title: How do you make your computer quieter?
Post by: DanGWanG on Wed, 23 March 2011, 10:31:05
Quote from: panda-R;316724
tell you what wanger, you're a respectable gher around here so I will trade you my MSI GTX460 Cyclone which is very quiet for your GTX560. Straight up trade and you don't have to worry about owing me anything.

Already got one of those in my other build :)  Thanks for the offer though, that would have been a really good deal for me!

Quote from: harrison;316731
There are three things i do to every system i build
  • throw out the fans that came with the case, and replace with reputable/premium fans (higher flow, lower vibration and DBs)
  • volt-mod all 12v fans down to 7v where possible, or use fan controllers
  • apply sound/vibration dampening to all large/flat panels (like DynaMat, i've got a 50ft roll of eDead)

#1 has been performed in this case.
#2 I'm not sure that's a viable option for the graphics card, is it?  I'd really prefer not to reduce any performance in this factor.  The MSI Twin Frozr is known to keep low temps, which sacrifices low sound db for performance.
#3 Where can I find some of this DynaMat? or eDead?
Title: How do you make your computer quieter?
Post by: BucklingSpring on Wed, 23 March 2011, 10:42:13
Quote from: Fwiffo;316736
Check out Silent PC Review (http://www.silentpcreview.com/).

1) 2) 3) 4) 5)


All good advices... Expecially bigger fans. SO much quieter.

None gone passive cooling?

My 600Gb Raptor 10K makes a lot more noice than my SSD but I don't think it's worst than the other drives.

This seams to confirm it as well.
(http://media.bestofmicro.com/T/0/243396/original/sound_level_database.png)

But I'm also surprised that Video Cards are in the same range as hardrives. I would have guess much louder.
(http://www.xbitlabs.com/images/video/power-noise/premium_noise.gif)

If you have the space and money... That's a quick fix endorsed by the Pros
http://www.podcastingnews.com/content/2009/01/primacoustic-machine-room-computer-silencer/ (http://www.podcastingnews.com/content/2009/01/primacoustic-machine-room-computer-silencer/)
(http://www.podcastingnews.com/content/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/quiet-computer-recording-box.jpg)
Title: How do you make your computer quieter?
Post by: DanGWanG on Wed, 23 March 2011, 10:47:21
Quote from: Fwiffo;316736
Check out Silent PC Review (http://www.silentpcreview.com/).

1) Aluminum cases are the worst for noise even though they look pretty and are lightweight. There are some cases designed specifically to reduce noise (Antec has a ton of great cases, for instance). Panels that are laminated (metal/plastic/metal) really dampen sound much better than just plastic, steel or aluminum.

2) Most people have huge overkill on their power supply. Measure how much power your computer uses under full load. Most people use less than 300 watts, so it makes no sense to have a 1000 watt power supply, even in an SLI system. You definitely want some headroom to keep your power supply in its most efficient range, but more than double is way overkill.

3) Bigger fans move more air at lower RPM and are radically quieter. The worst noise sources tend to be those tiny chipset fans and video card fans, or cheap stock processor coolers. Get a fanless motherboard to eliminate that noisemaker completely. Get over-sized after-market heat-sinks with 120mm fans for your processor and video card. You can get better cooling and less noise.

4) 10,000 RPM hard drives are huge noisemakers. Better to get an SSD plus a quiet 7200 RPM drive, or even a 5400 RPM power-saving drive if you are obsessive about noise. Use silicone grommet things to mount hard drives and fans so vibrations are dampened before they're transferred to the case. You can even mount your hard drives with bungees if you're really serious.

5) Get a fan controller and use temperature monitoring software with your machine under load to optimize your fan speeds to keep your noise levels at a minimum while keeping things safely cool.


Thank you for the insight, and I'll definitely browse the link.

However, just a few things in response to the list:

1)  Totally understandable, which is why I mentioned that I have an aluminum case in the OP.  But at this point, nothing I can really do about the case I bought...unless they have fancy 3rd party panels that I could replace or something.

2)  My PSU is 750w (powering core i5-750, 8GB RAM, 7200 RPM HDD, DVD-RW, GTX 560, Hyper 212 CPU fan and 3x Case fans) and under load prior to adding the graphics card, didn't make any substantial noise.  The current noise I'm experiencing is certainly coming from graphics card.

3)  Of the 3 case fans I have inside, 2x are 120mm, with the top blowhole being 80mm.  All are low noise fans, under ~23 db.  I think the 80mm one is like 12-15 db.

4) My plan is to get an SSD eventually.  Currently I'm using a low db 7200 RPM drive.  I'm not particularly obsessive about the noise, I'm just looking to make this setup a little quieter.

5)  I think this option is something I need to start looking into.
Title: How do you make your computer quieter?
Post by: DanGWanG on Wed, 23 March 2011, 10:50:20
Quote from: BucklingSpring;316740
But I'm also surprised that Video Cards are in the same range as hardrives. I would have guess much louder.
Show Image
(http://www.xbitlabs.com/images/video/power-noise/premium_noise.gif)


If you have the space and money... That's a quick fix endorsed by the Pros
http://www.podcastingnews.com/content/2009/01/primacoustic-machine-room-computer-silencer/ (http://www.podcastingnews.com/content/2009/01/primacoustic-machine-room-computer-silencer/)
Show Image
(http://www.podcastingnews.com/content/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/quiet-computer-recording-box.jpg)


@Video cards vs. HDDs noise comparison - I think those video cards are kind of outdated.  The newer GTX 500 series (and probably the ATI HD 6xxx series too) use dual fans, which significantly increases noise.

@Crazy refrigerator looking storage device - I do not have the space nor money lol...but good idea I guess!
Title: How do you make your computer quieter?
Post by: Fwiffo on Wed, 23 March 2011, 10:51:49
There are good after-market graphic card coolers that can beat stock coolers in temperature and noise-levels, so I'd certainly look into that.
Title: How do you make your computer quieter?
Post by: DanGWanG on Wed, 23 March 2011, 10:55:30
Quote from: harrison;316731
there are 2 options here.  open cell foam will absorb sound, where rubber matting will absorb vibrations.

Any recommendations or places to buy cell foam?

Quote from: Fwiffo;316748
There are good after-market graphic card coolers that can beat stock coolers in temperature and noise-levels, so I'd certainly look into that.

Good information to know.  Will definitely look into that.  Should I be worried about voiding warranty though?
Title: How do you make your computer quieter?
Post by: DanGWanG on Wed, 23 March 2011, 13:05:07
Any specific page I should start at?  I'm at 8 right now, but it seems endless.
Title: How do you make your computer quieter?
Post by: speakeasy on Wed, 23 March 2011, 13:27:23
You can buy acoustic foam from FrozenCPU (http://www.frozencpu.com/cat/l2/g7/c117/list/p1/Sound_Dampening-Computer_Case_Silencing.html)
Title: How do you make your computer quieter?
Post by: DanGWanG on Wed, 23 March 2011, 13:29:41
Quote from: ripster;316857
Just search my own posts.  A lot of the thread is people telling me the Sandy Bridge has a bug in it.

Or maybe I'm remembering wrong.


Starts on Page 17, for future reference :)  You pretty much summed everything into one post even.
Title: How do you make your computer quieter?
Post by: DanGWanG on Wed, 23 March 2011, 13:38:53
If you weed out all the non-sense in that thread, it covers A LOT of ground and is highly informational.  Maybe it should be made into a Wiki/Sticky for Other Geeky Stuff forum.
Title: How do you make your computer quieter?
Post by: BucklingSpring on Wed, 23 March 2011, 13:39:38
That's what I use on my video card.
Cuts the sound in half and keep it cooler than stock.

Zalman VF1000 (http://www.zalman.co.kr/eng/product/Product_Read.asp?idx=276)
Title: How do you make your computer quieter?
Post by: guilleguillaume on Wed, 23 March 2011, 13:46:46
I'm a bit dissappointed with my last PSU, Silverstone SFX 450W that is too loud...

I think it's a bit more silent than my other computers but it seems it will be impossible to find the perfect PSU without NOISE except if I buy a Seasonic Fanless one. I already needed this size of PSU for a Lian Li PC-Q08 to fit the watercooling parts without having to go with a PSU extender.

I already have too a Lian Li A05N Noise Dampened from Caseking.de and it's fantastic, the hardware is a bit more hot but nothing to worry about.

I'm already thinking about changing my barely new PSU....
Title: How do you make your computer quieter?
Post by: DanGWanG on Wed, 23 March 2011, 13:51:20
Quote from: guilleguillaume;316889
I'm a bit dissappointed with my last PSU, Silverstone SFX 450W that is too loud...

I think it's a bit more silent than my other computers but it seems it will be impossible to find the perfect PSU without NOISE except if I buy a Seasonic Fanless one. I already needed this size of PSU for a Lian Li PC-Q08 to fit the watercooling parts without having to go with a PSU extender.

I already have too a Lian Li A05N Noise Dampened from Caseking.de and it's fantastic, the hardware is a bit more hot but nothing to worry about.

I'm already thinking about changing my barely new PSU....

You should be able to fit a standard ATX PSU into the Q08 without PSU extender and still use water cooling.  I've seen many people do this, this being one newer example (http://hardforum.com/showpost.php?p=1036996740&postcount=375).
Title: How do you make your computer quieter?
Post by: pietro on Wed, 23 March 2011, 23:50:12
It's very easy to build a quiet computer these days

*use a passively cooled processor like an atom on a mini-itx board with onboard graphics and underclock it
*use RAM that runs cool
*use a pico power supply
*use an ssd or other solid state drive
*use a fanless/passive cooled case

A basically silent computer
Title: How do you make your computer quieter?
Post by: typo on Thu, 24 March 2011, 03:21:52
walmart has something like dynamat from scosche. i would not use it for car audio. it is fine for a computer case. you get like 4 square feet for like $5 if i remember correctly. it is in the automotive area by the radio's. the only reason is it is much less expensive than dynamat. the problem with these pads is they trap heat.

water cooling is not completely silent either. there is usually a fan on the radiator. plus the pump motor makes some noise. for my music server i did not want an atom. i have a underclocked amd 64 3400 with a fan controller running it at 600 rpm and a ssd. old agp graphics card. i have a 500 watt psu i just took the fan out of since it is only drawing 180 watts at full load. no case fans. i can not hear it if the music is over 40db. of course this is not the performance of your system.

i think your real solution is a less powerful graphics card. or an after market cooling solution for it. there are some with heat pipes that are much quieter.
Title: How do you make your computer quieter?
Post by: Peter on Thu, 24 March 2011, 04:19:33
Your best option is to install a better heatsink, one that supports a 120mm fan.  IMO Thermalright makes
some of the best http://www.thermalright.com/products/index.php?cat_id=30 (http://www.thermalright.com/products/index.php?cat_id=30)  but mounting it will void your warranty
so you may want to use a software-solution instead .. They arent exactly cheap either !

Nvidias stock fan-control sucks BIGTIME (or rather : BLOWS bigtime)
Even if you install the extra control-panel app, the fan can not be set lower than 35%, MORE than enough if your 'puter is just iddling or you aren't doing anything heavy .. (and you have a decent airflow in the case)
However, that may be enough to make the noiselevel less nerving ..
http://www.nvidia.com/object/performance_group.html (http://www.nvidia.com/object/performance_group.html)


Riva-tuner lets you set the fan anywhere from 0-100%, based on user-defined temperatures .  
http://www.guru3d.com/rivatuner/ (http://www.guru3d.com/rivatuner/)

For the CPU and system/case-fans there is also Speedfan, http://www.almico.com/speedfan.php (http://www.almico.com/speedfan.php)
Supposedly it can also control the fan on certain NVIDIA-cards ..
Title: How do you make your computer quieter?
Post by: bpiphany on Thu, 24 March 2011, 04:26:58
Oversized PSUs isn't necessarily bad. Get one with a 120mm fan though. Then the fan sits further into the computer. In my previous system I had one of those huge CPU heatsinks with a 120mm fan mounted sucking air through it and then blowing it out through a duct to the 120mm fan mount on the back of the case. Leading all the CPU heat directly out of the case. Those were the only fans in that setup, slow moving and barely audible. I didn't have any fancy graphics card though. But a supplementary exhaust fan should take care of that I guess.
Title: How do you make your computer quieter?
Post by: steeef on Thu, 24 March 2011, 10:00:28
Seasonic makes great PSUs, priced by how efficient they are. Usually come with a quiet 120mm fan.
Title: How do you make your computer quieter?
Post by: JBert on Thu, 24 March 2011, 17:24:36
Quote from: Peter;317511
Riva-tuner lets you set the fan anywhere from 0-100%, based on user-defined temperatures .  
http://www.guru3d.com/rivatuner/ (http://www.guru3d.com/rivatuner/)
All this talk about the fancy hardware, and this guy may have nailed it!

My GTX275 mostly makes a droning fan noise so I set up profiles in RivaTuner to change fan speeds. Once I got that done, I made RivaTuner's hardware monitor switch profiles when the GPU runs hot or cools down. Works wonders in Windows, and the statistics graph window is kewl to look at.

I'll snap a pic next time I boot into Windows (using Linux now).
Title: How do you make your computer quieter?
Post by: phillip on Thu, 24 March 2011, 17:33:10
edead here: http://www.edesignaudio.com/index.php?cPath=1_24
Title: How do you make your computer quieter?
Post by: wongster on Thu, 24 March 2011, 17:48:05
I think Rivatuner is a great tool to use in order to control the fan speed on the graphics card. I set profiles for both idle and graphics-intensive situations and have shortcuts to them (for example, I hit the short cut for "high fan" when I play a game). I have also tried out MSI Afterburner, which is a great tool to use as well.

When at the idle setting, the acoustics of my card are very easy on the ears (computer sits about two feet away). You just need to understand and accept that in order to lower the acoustics of the graphics card, you need to live with higher GPU temperatures.

As others have said, getting quieter components will have the largest effect in noise reduction.
Title: How do you make your computer quieter?
Post by: What is X? on Sun, 27 March 2011, 02:59:40
Use EVGA Precision or MSI Afterburner to turn down the idle fan speed. Only so much you can do about load noise though.
Title: How do you make your computer quieter?
Post by: godly_music on Sun, 27 March 2011, 08:40:29
Wow, you guys sure are overthinking this.

If the new graphics card is loud, replace cooling with aftermarket cooling.
Title: How do you make your computer quieter?
Post by: Brodie337 on Mon, 28 March 2011, 05:33:50
First thing I'd do is play around with MSI Afterburner and create a new fan profile. If that's not enough, then look into aftermarket cooling. I use the Arctic Cooling Accellero Xtreme Plus (Say that 5 times quickly) and it manages to keep my incredibly hot GTX480 fairly cool and pretty much inaudible.
Title: How do you make your computer quieter?
Post by: Enzyme on Tue, 29 March 2011, 09:07:05
look on guru3d

there is software (even some microsoft plugins) that allow you to tune your gfx card fans via a nice curvy line graph (temp/rpm).

so you can tune it very precisely for any level of performance, most of the noise will come when the fans are running at +80% and under that is usually enough to keep things cool.

there is also other software available for case/cpu fans and if they run straight off the 12v, temperature sensors can be placed accordingly to allow fine tuning, and fan controllers are cheap these days if needed.

i use 3x 12cm thermaltakes with attached sensors (soon to be 6), those things can blow out up to +70cfm and it sounds like a helicopter got stuck in my case at full speed.

and remember newer gfx cards can run at +-110degrees C quite happily without frying, so when your using 2d and your card is running at 30-50C do you really need the fan on at all?

i set mine to start at about 60C, and 80% when it reaches its max of 120C on a nice bell curve, as the temp raises so does the fan speed, so i never get close to max temps and is reasonably quiet for most of the time.

its all tweakable.