Noisy computer

[Dida]

my computer at home is very noisy. I have 2 fan on the PSU, 1 cpu fan, 1 case fan and 1 video card fan. How can I reduce noise? I am thinking about a water cooling system.

 

[REDY]

Maybe your fans are filled with mess and you must clean it...

 

[El_Machinae]

That's usually a solution. Do they have good airflow?

 

[Scuffer]

Bigger fans with slower speed make less noise for the same cooling. And obviously if a fan's bearing is going, replace it.

 

[taper]

What motherboard/videocard/processor do you have? Can you pinpoint the noise to a certain component? I have a DFI LanParty nF4 that was very noisy, then their support forum said that replacing the chipset fan would fix it. And it did.

 

[ainwood]

Moderator Action: Moved to computer talk.

 

[FriendlyFire]

my computer at home is very noisy. I have 2 fan on the PSU, 1 cpu fan, 1 case fan and 1 video card fan. How can I reduce noise? I am thinking about a water cooling system.

I have

2 PSu fans
1 cup fan
2 case fans
1 gpu fan

The noisest is my GPU + CPU fans. You can always remove the dust filters on the GOU fan to reduce noise.
Or you can buy custom GPU/CPU fans on the market most are quiter

 

[Dida]

it seem very difficult to get custom fan for the GPU, because the fan is more or less built in.
How do I pin point the noise? that is kind of hard to do. any suggestion? I am thinking about upgrading my video card, but I am afraid this might add even more noise.
And those Dell computers I use at work is really quiet, I wonder how do make their PCs so quiet. I can hardly tell if my 2 workstations are on.

 

[Comraddict]

what kind of fans: what are their rpm

there are fans with adjustable speeds
there are cpu fans that are loud, and ones that are quiet!

 

[Chieftess]

If they sound loud enough that they sound like a lawn mower, then it's probably the ball bearings that have worn out. That happened to my old computer.

 

[FriendlyFire]

The noisest fan on my system was my GPU fan.

I suspect that Dell systems uses passively cooled GPUs, i,e heatsink cooling only GPU cards like the low end 500se, 5200, 6200.

Go onto EBAY and look at cooling, plently of specialist fans and heatsink combos,

 

[Dida]

the video card is a FX 5200, small fan.
PSU is a 2-fan Thermalstake (did I spelt that right) silent power
CPU fan is the standard fan that came with the Athlon 64 CPU's
one 80 mm fan on the case.
All these fans are pretty new.

 

[Speedo]

And those Dell computers I use at work is really quiet, I wonder how do make their PCs so quiet. I can hardly tell if my 2 workstations are on.
-----------
I suspect that Dell systems uses passively cooled GPUs, i,e heatsink cooling only GPU cards like the low end 500se, 5200, 6200.

Most business PCs use onboard video, so nothing extra is in there. Those true workstations with appropriate graphics cards (nVidia Quadro or ATI FireGL) use larger coolers and fans to keep the noise down. The small desktop models also use the BTX setup, with one larger (9cm in our PCs) fan blowing air through an extremely large heatsink at the front of the case, with the chipset directly in line behind it, and a few vents to direct air in strategic directions. So, most of those PCs only have 2 fans.

Cool running, quiet systems depend mostly on fan quality and size. I would say that most of you problem comes from the PSU and CPU cooler. I've had a Thermaltake "SilentPower" PSU, and believe me despite the name it will howl like a tornado. You should have a fan control on it, though, so you can turn that fan down a bit... I've never actually used a stock A64 HSF, but I know they use a smaller (4, maybe 6 cm) fan which is a likely culprit.

My comp has 6 8cm fans venting the case, the GF7800GTX cooler, and 2 12cm fans (CPU and PSU). It's extremely quiet and, with the case fans turned on low, you have to be about a foot from the case to hear it.

 

[Dida]

So larger fan is quieter than smaller fans? this sounds counter intuitive.

 

[Padma]

A larger fan can move the same volume of air while spinning at a slower speed.

 

[Speedo]

A large (12cm) fan can in fact move much more air than a smaller 6 or 8cm fan, while producing a fraction of the noise.

This is mainly because the larger fan has a much greater area through which to pull air- a 12cm fan has 4 times the area of a 6cm fan, and more than twice the area of a 8cm fan.

Your 6cm fans usually run in the 6-7000 rpm range, your 8cm ones will be 3-4000, while the 12cm flavor is only doing 1000 or so.

 

[Dida]

A large (12cm) fan can in fact move much more air than a smaller 6 or 8cm fan, while producing a fraction of the noise.

This is mainly because the larger fan has a much greater area through which to pull air- a 12cm fan has 4 times the area of a 6cm fan, and more than twice the area of a 8cm fan.

Your 6cm fans usually run in the 6-7000 rpm range, your 8cm ones will be 3-4000, while the 12cm flavor is only doing 1000 or so.

but it is hard to fit such a large fan on the CPU>

 

[Speedo]

Heh, well, you just have to have a gargantuan heatsink

I have a Thermaltake SonicTower, personally. If you look up a pic of it you'll see what I mean.. the two towers of it are 12cm tall and wide... thus a 12cm fan sits perfectly between them.

 

[Hakim]

On short perspective you could buy one of those kits with noice reduction sheets to put inside your case.

On a longer perspective, buy silent hardware. Most hardware today claims to be silent but this cannot trusted. Try to find reviews on the internet that really confirms it is silent.

When buying fans, I'd recommend the Papst fans, they are very silent (partly because they don't go as fast).