trying to silence my PC

[%hMa@?b<C]

as the thread title describes, I am trying to make my PC as quiet as possible for very little money. My Northbridge fan just died on me, so i replaced the NB heatsink/fan with a ThermalTake CL-C0034 and it is very quiet. My current rig is
ECS Elitegroup KN1 Extreme Motherboard
AMD Opteron 165
1 GB DDR 400 ram
GeForce 6200LE PCI-e gfx card

the only noise currently is from the fan on the stock heatsink on the CPU and the fan from inside the PSU.

If I were to replace the CPU's fan with this
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835119072

and the PSU's fan with this
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835119074

as well as add one of these as a case fan
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835119074

would it do the trick in cooling adequately?

[wolfen69]

i personally like my computer fan noises. when it is not on, (which is rare) the silence is deafening and annoying.

[jespdj]

Have a look at Silent PC Review (http://www.silentpcreview.com/) for lots of good info about how to make your PC quiet.

[blastus]

You didn't mention what kind of case you have so I assume it is a crappy flimsy aluminum case. 99% of PC cases are complete crap when it comes to noise. You can reduce noise level significantly by getting a high quality case like the Antec SOLO (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129018) Without a good case there's not a whole lot you can do to make your computer truly quiet.

For your CPU fan I would recommend a Scythe Ninja (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835185061)

Don't replace the PSU fan. Get an 80+ certified PSU that is rated for low noise like the Antec earth watts EA500 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371007) The more efficient the PSU the less heat it will produce which means the fan can run slower which means less noise.

Finally get a fan controller. A fan controller will enable you to regulate fan speed and control noise.

[gn2]

Be warned that there are components inside a PSU that can deliver lethal electric shocks even with it disconnected from the mains.
It is possible to kill yourself opening a PSU if you do not know exactly what you are doing.
Not recommended in any case because if the the replacement fan is significantly quieter at the same voltage as the original fan, it will probably not pass enough air to keep the PSU cool enough which can result in a fire.

My suggestion would be to get a Seasonic or Corsair PSU and sell your old one on eBay or keep it as a spare.

[mips]

Be warned that there are components inside a PSU that can deliver lethal electric shocks even with it disconnected from the mains.
It is possible to kill yourself opening a PSU if you do not know exactly what you are doing.


I dunno about lethal unless you have a bad heart or pacemaker.

The capacitors in a PSU last time I checked was about 400V. Yeah they have given me a good kick in the but before but never killed me. The mains on the other hand will probably kill you.

Either way, if you don't know what you are doing STAY AWAY!!!

When I used to study electronic enigineering we used to fool around in the lab. We took some big capacitors and charged them up, threw them at some poor unsuspecting soul and said "Catch!"
Once again if you don't know what you are doing STAY AWAY!!!

[Mateo]

Well, I want to do the same thing. My computer is crazy noisy. It's gotten noiser as its gotten older. The fans seem to kick on if I have more than a couple of browser windows open. And if I'm crazy enough to load up something in 3D the thing gets so noisy it sounds like the computer might blow up. I desperately want to quiet my rig down but don't know how.

[mips]

AcoustiPack insulation
http://www.quietpc.com/gb-en-gbp/manufacturers/acousti

Their homepage has links to several countries.

[Onyros]

I'm used to very, very quiet computers (and laptops). I have an AOpen EY855-II, a SFF cube and it's an incredibly quiet setup. It's running a Pentium M @ 1.5GHz (Dothan), so it is also a very power efficient box.

So, for people that are looking at investing in silent computers, take a look at those AOpen cubes, especially if they're supposed to be silent: they truly are :)

[gn2]

When I used to study electronic enigineering we used to fool around in the lab. We took some big capacitors and charged them up, threw them at some poor unsuspecting soul and said "Catch!"

Just as well I wasn't in your class, I would have sent you a Fistagram to let you know my thoughts. :|

Seriously though, PSU's should definitely not be opened and customised, far better to just replace it with a suitable one.