Been following CPC and bit-tech for a while now, I'm awestruck by the awesome mods you guys can create. It's inspired me to attempt my own, albeit it a rather simple one. I spend alot of time on the computer doing web design and programming, and have been toying for a while with the idea of trying to make it quieter. It used to sound like a 747 on take off, but I had an attempt at quieting it down. I have the Cooler Master Cosmos S case, I've replaced the stock cooler master fans, with artic cooling F12s, and the stock intel heatsink with zaward VIVO Direct Heatpipe Touch Dual Fan Quiet CPU Cooler, made it a touch quieter and cooler as well, I've also just replaced the bog standard no name no frills PSU with a OCZ 750W SealthStreamX. It's still too noisy, anythingelse I can do to it to make it whisper silent? Or as close to as possible? Oh and sort out the worst cable management, lol. Probably the noisest component is the aging nvidia geforce 8800GT. I'll put some pictures up later. At work at the moment.
Generally, bigger fans are better for low noise, as they don't turn as fast as smaller ones. for lower noise, proviced your airflow in the case is good, and you're not running into heat problems already, there's some no-fans-at-all CPU coolers that you could use. I'd Recommend good cable management then, though. Other than that, QuietPC makes accoustiblocks, which reduce rattle in your case. They also make pads that can dampen down the PC a bit more. That 8800 would probably need a new cooler or a replacement to do anything about that noise level. Zalmann makes some decent ones. Also worth considering if "quiet" is a priority would probably be a watercooling setup.
Reduce the amount of fans helps a lot. I had this problem big time with my workstation and reduce it to just 2x 120mm fans and the GPU cooler on my Quadro FX First i made the case as air tight as possible, then decided where i wanted air to flow, blocked off the rear 120mm fan mount and re-directed exhaust air from my CPU into the PSU. i also changed the fan in the PSU to a spare Akasa amber and connected that to my fan controller. This way the PSU has no control on fan speeds. Little dodgy but i keep an eye on things. Also fan grills great to stop fingers getting hurt but they do generate a lot of noise, same goes for filters. Regular cleaning and remembering to shut down before working on the machine helps. lol! And yes that is card board and PVC tape, for getto baffles of win, really did help with temps I have since moved that machine into another case, where upon anything is on water cooling and only 2 fans are running at less than 1000RPM. I have fitted one fat papst to the rear of my 120mm radiator as a backup serious air flow boost when i am rendering, and a set of 120mm (2) fans on the side panel to pull air out when needed. But there pretty much turned off all the time. Edit update Did a little maintenance today, so snapped some pics for a better idea. As you can see, i have two side mounted fans, but there usually turned off but they suck air out the case if needed. Then inside you can see that monster papst 38mm thick fan which can shift air if needed. Cable management looks nasty in there, but its fine plenty of air flow! Also it a little hard to see, but there is a fan grill in the roof for two 120mm fans, i removed the fans and left it open. This allows hot air to rise up and out of the case naturally.
modded Q-tec, lol! I hacked off a whole bunch of 4 pin molex cables and soldered a single PCI-E connector on for my GPU. This ment ripping her open much to my surprise not too bad inside. Pulled out the crap fan and bolted in an Akasa. Result, silent PSU that is stable under these conditions.
Yes the video card is definitely on the agenda for replacing. I could definitely do with replacing the 2 cooler master fans I've got left, and fitting a fan controller for the rest, oh and sort out the dastardly cable management. I've been looking at the Cosmos and the cable management options don't appear too good. Might need some new holes.
Finally got around to doing some cable management on the machine, looking at the before and after pics it doesn't look much better, lol. Got in a panic on the reboot got a fatal error on start up! Thankfully one restart later and it cleared. Before starting the clean up. During the clean up. Final Result I think it's a slight improvement over the mess it was before.
