Hello, my WN 7 PC is quite noisy (especially when compared to my iMac's). I can see that the case is rather bottom of the market and the PSU is noisy, so where should I start replace the PSU or the case first for the biggest impact? The case I have looked at is the Fractal design R3. Any opinions?
maybe change the psu and if you have a stock cpu cooler change that aswell i have in the past and it has made a massive difference, its only going to be fans that are going to make most of the noise.
Thanks, I guess it is logical that the fans are the cause of the noise. So, I will start looking at a PSU any suggestions for a nice quiet one? (current is 450 Watts ATX size) Also, when one changes the cooler on the CPU does one just unscrew one and screw in another? Is it that simple? What about thermal paste does one need to reapply it?
now I see a post suggesting the case, I guess, it's going to be both if I really want to silence the beast.
if you can afford to go both then a good case and psu will get your pc quieter i do abit of research before i purchase either a psu, fan or case i will look for reviews and most of the time people will comment on noisyness.
no specs for pc mentioned but if you have a high end graphics card silence is a dream that you wont achieve whilst gaming. intel stock cooler should be renamed intel junk box as its easily the worst cooler ever made by the hand of man. ( amds run it a close second ) noisy psu is very unlikely unless the psu is under heavy load if you have a 470 or 480 graphics card noise you will get. The only likely hood of the case been an issue if you have a cheap case with noisy case fans but most cheap cases don't even supply a case fan so I don't see how that would be an issue.
yeah if you get the same socket cooler it should be ok most coolers have fixtures and fittings for most boards now, but get one that is for your socket , am2 am3 lgaXXXX etc, and most of the time thermal past is already applied to the heatsink of the cooler.
Giles, Don't be worried about changing things about, The thermal paste will need cleaning off the cpu and new paste added prior to fitting a shiny new cpu cooler. Just remember to take off the plastic protective sheet off the bottom of said new cooler lol.. I killed my first PC by not doing that. New cooler £36 - £40 Thermaltake frio or such like New PSU - depends on W's required. £40 to £300 New case fans .. I have just found bifnex (ithink they are spelt like that) 140mm case fans £5 each brilliant flow and super quiet Anyhow good luck with it
This was my xmas project to do, I firstly bought a Fractal R3 case and was fairly happy with the results, however my psu was 5 years old and still audible, I therefore not really having the budget but needed a quiet PC bought a Corsair AX750. Now the PC is super super quiet and im very happy
This is getting out of hand. Firstly, what's your budget?? What is your full system spec? We can give you much better help with this as opposed to people just throwing ideas around
Wow! Thanks guys, so many replies, just great. Being a novice at modding I am a bit apprehensive (the only thing I had to do with the iMac's was add more RAM)... I think I will go with... PSU, and case change seeing as the Fractal R3 comes with fans. Not sure where to pull the stats and facts of my machine, but I am no gamer or over-clocker. Windows is a bit of an experiment for me, learning as I go... thanks to you guys!
Thanks all, I appreciate that the question I asked was a bit vague and short on technical detail, but I have been able to get the answers i needed. Thanks. I promise not to post such a vague, technically light post again... honest.... I will look into the fractal Design R3 and a Corsair AX750.
Or at least wait till B.. Pete is on holiday .. and he wont shout at you then On an other note ... Pete, you mentioned Silent Typhoons work bril with Rads in a post someplace, have you tried push and pull set ups ? If so which did you get best results from ?
Very good choice. Sound damping features of the Fractal Design should greatly help (also look nicer). As for the Corsair AX750, this is a crazy PSU. I have it on my system.. and when my system is at idle.. the PSU fan doesn't even turn. Under load it does, and it's still super quiet. Very efficient PSU. If you want to extend the quietness level further, with your new case, be sure to a nice cable management. Here are mine (old and new comp): Old: New: See, it's possible to have the same nice result like the Mac Pro To add, you can get Noctua fans. They are on the expensive side, they are not the best fans around (doesn't push much air - low static pressure), BUT they are extremely quiet. I have them. I don't expect to be able to perform some crazy overclock with these, pushing my CPU to 4GHz, but they should handle a 3.8GHz overclock. (fans are set at lowest speed). If you plan on getting them, be sure to watch for combo packs (2 fans in 1 package), and specials. I don't know about were you live, but here in Canada, they are not worth the high price tag, unless it falls on special. If your GPU is loud.. then be patient and watch for Nv GPU Pro next version (2.2). It will have everything to make your GPU quieter at idle (only idle). But, be patient... despite having the software on my desktop and working, there is a lot of work still to be done.
Simple test - unplug your case fans and see how loud it all is. I had a cheap case once and one fan made such annoying noise that I had to unplug it so was just running with a 80mm fan - poor for cooling but it was peaceful. If without the case fans running it seems nice and quiet you can either buy a quality case (probably best) or buy quiet fans to replace the ones on the case)
Before you go spending a lot of money try and identify where exactly the noise is coming from. Is it noisy all the time or when its under load? Is it fan noise, HDD noise or something rattling? Take the side of the case off and try and identify which components are noisy. You might find its one fan that needs replaced or even a good clean with an air duster might make a difference.
So, I removed the case fan, there was some reduction but not much, say 10% This leaves the PSU and the CPU cooler in the frame. I don't run programs that create load on the PSU nor CPU, It gets noisy just running the desktop. Probably go for a quiet PSU first, then a case and finally the CPU fan last as I am not confident with this, only want to do it if I have too. If I can get the noise down to an acceptable level without touching the CPU cooler, then fine I will leave it there.
put your finger to stop for a small moment your CPU fan (at the center, not the blades.. else it will hurt). see if that helps. Of course, let the fan spin soon after, you don't want any overheating issues. Try the same with you graphic card fan. Your PSU will be hard due the grid.. so it's ok.. just bring your ear close to it to judge.
