OK, I'm looking to cut down on the noise from my rear case fan WITHOUT slowing the fan down. I'm actually looking to speed the fan up and mitigate the noise some other way. There's a setting in my BIOS to turn off the fan speed management and I like my CPU temps a lot better with the fan running at full speed. I just can't stand the noise. I'm looking to maybe use a duct or something to channel the noise away from me. Just wondering how feasible this is before I spend any money?
You have to vent the sound somewhere that it won't just reverberate back at you. Only you can determine how feasible that is. Have you looked into getting a bigger fan? With bigger blades, I mean.
^ I thought about it but my case is not big enough, really. I think it's only big enough for an 80mm (Maybe 90 max, I'm not sure). I thought I could get a plastic dryer duct and vent it behind my desk (I have my PC on my desktop to cut down on dust and make it easier to get to when I need to do some maintenance on it or something.) Anyway, I thought I could run the duct back there and tack a piece of thick carpet to the wall to absorb the sound that comes out (while still allowing the hot air to come out). So what I'd do is somehow aim the outlet of the duct at the carpet. I don't know though because I never used that kind of duct in this way. The plastic itself might transmit noise. Is this fan going to be powerful enough to push the air about two feet? Edit. I used this trick with a piece of carpet in my hard drive bay and it was surprisingly effective without raising the HD temp at all. It sounds really unorthodox but it works. Edited by - randomprecision on 6/30/2011 11:08:23 PM
I guess that's worth a try, but the noise is being transmitted through the PC case, as well. You might do better to go wireless (keyboard and mouse) and just move the PC farther away from you.
I doubt that a duct would help much unless it's made of pretty heavy duty sound-proofing materials. I've used AcoustiPack to line my case and create ducts (both inside the case and on the fan outtake), but compared with slowing fans down (or replacing them with quieter models) the difference was minor. Is it possible to add an additional fan anywhere (even if that means cutting an extra hole in the case)? Several slow fans can potentially be quieter than a single fast one, and you might be able to use the airflow more efficiently, for example having a side fan directly ducted to the CPU cooler. Another alternative would be to underclock and/or undervolt your CPU a bit. Depending on what it is, you might be able to undervolt it for cooler performance, while still maintaining stock speed and normal stability. Obviously not an option if you're overclocking and after maximum performance though.
Well, slowing it down would work fine for noise. But it's already quiet. It just moves so slow it barely blows any hot air out of the case. If I hold my hand about two inches behind the fan I can feel a slight breeze of warm air. Most of the noise I'm hearing when I run the fan at full speed sounds like blade noise rather than motor noise or vibration (The noise made by the blades beating the air). There may be slightly quieter fans but for the same size fan (80mm) I doubt it's going to get much quieter for the same speed.I could probably do it on the top of the case but it would probably compete with the power supply fan (The power supply has a front and rear fan). Just a bigger project than I was really looking for. I don't really want to risk destroying a perfectly good computer because of my obsessive compulsive worrying about heat.Actually, that's exactly what the stock CPU cooler is. It's got a fairly powerful maglev fan with a duct that runs to the side of the case. The problem is that there's only two speeds for that fan. Really slow and full speed. It sounds like a jet on full speed. Great cooling power but it would drive me batty. Anyway, this is just a typical Emachines/Gateway stock case. There's no room for anything in there but the motherboard, power supply and a couple of drives. There isn't even room for a front fan. I might just buy a new case with larger fans. That would be simpler and safer than trying to rig something.That (even if it could be done) wouldn't be my first choice. It's a single core Pentium 4 on a plain emachines motherboard. The whole computer is probably obsolete by at least two years and very little can be done in the BIOS. I'm just trying to see if I can keep it running a couple more years by anticipating what could possibly fail (or what could cause it). I figure heat and dust are the main culprits I need to watch for. I blow it out about once a month and try and make sure all the fans are still spinning right.
I don´t know if it is the case or not ... maybe your pc is full of dust and therefore the fan needs to speed up in order to keep the airflow going. Most people never clean their pcs (inside) and let me tell you ... if you get your fingers on a pc who has never been cleaned it´s really ugly ... even worse if the guy who ones the pc is a smoker. But if you want to do it yourself you need to be a little "pc doctor" unplug all cords an the best would be to use a "Compressed Air Cleaner" and a dust brush Cube
have you thought about getting rid of that case and getting a new one ? It´s some work i know but if you want to keep the board it may be worth the task Cube
Often the bearings on the case fans get dust in them. Your case may not be dusty but the fan internals might be. They are supposed to be sealed and last 100K+ hours before failure but it is a cheap mechanical part. Options: 1. Replace fan and power supply and put sound dampening material in place. http://www.acousticpc.com/quiet_computer_case_insulation.html 2. Add a second fan, that is high volume but quieter, thereby taking the load off the other fan. Place said new fan in a way to lessen the noise. http://www.acousticpc.com/index_quiet_computer_fans.html 3. Move to liquid cooling (a big move of sorts) 4, Buy a new case or move your existing case away and sound proof around it. A case withing a case so to speak.
Dirty Cop (All Her Luv) - review by Danielmayu33216
Posted - Jun 30 2011 : 8:24PM