[Marktait]

Ok guyz, so many people overclocking crazy but no one mentions noise problems.I need a solution to the sound coming from my CPU Fan. its spinning at 7005 RPM usually so its pritty damn fast, its a great Fan but its so damn noisy, anybody have any suggestions on how to bring down the sound levels from the CPU fan? Thanx

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1st Computer
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AMD 1700+ Athlon XP
ASUS A7V133A VIA Motherboard
512MB PC-133 RAM
64MB GeForce 3 Ti200 (Det 27.51)
60GB IBM 7200RPM HardDrive
16x/48x LG DVDDrive
40x Compag CDDrive
16x/10x/40x LiteON ReWriter
Creative SoundBlaster Live! 1024 Player
Creative 4.1 Surround Sound 1600 Speakers
10/100 Netgear Ethernet Adapter - 2nd Computer Networked
WinTV Primio FM TV/Radio Tuner

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2nd Computer
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1.2Ghz AMD Athlon Thunderbird
512MB PC-133 RAM
64MB GeForce 2 MX200 (Det 27.51)
60GB IBM 7200RPM HardDrive
40GB Seagate 5400RPM HardDrive
16x/48x LG DVDDrive
24x/10x/40x Samsung ReWriter
Creative SoundBlaster 128
10/100 Genius Ethernet Adapter - Cable Connection
10/100 Genius Ethernet Adapter - Laptop Networked
10/100 Genius Ethernet Adapter - 1st Computer Networked
300Watt RMS 2.1 Active Subwoofer Logic Speakers
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Windows XP Professional Corporate Platinum Edition(IE6 SP1 beta)
Windows XP Plus Pack
Office XP Corporate Edition with Frontpage
Publisher XP Corporate Edition

[Dirty Harry]

Noise control is all over the net, do a few searches and you'll find hundreds of sites dealing with it.

All quiet solutions have their drawbacks though, here a few off the top of my head:

- If you insulate your case you also insulate the heat, and need more and faster fans. Sound doesn't add up, two fans aren't twice as noisy as one.

- Water cooling is totally quiet, if you want to mess with the pots and pans.

- You can also pay more and get more, there are a lot of "quiet" heatsink fan combos, but generally a fan gets louder the more it cools.

- Cut up your case, and put in bigger slower fans that move more air at a lower rpm.

- You get used to the humming after a while. Crank up the speakers, maybe your neighbours like your mp3's.

- If you really want to overclock, liquid nitrogen is the way to go !

H.

[Marktait]

The 1.2 downstairs is as sweet as can be and is pritty much silent, but the Athlon XP is just getting so much on my nerves. Such a noisy fan in there, i cant really complain though because i got the fan for free of my supplier. I had heard about this plastic pipe that you can put over the CPU + Fan and then lead it to the back of the case, maybe that would silent it?

[Dirty Harry]

A 7000 rpm fan is noisy by nature. Switch it to a slower fan, and look for quiet, ball-bearing fans. Pabst makes the best ones, IMO.

H.

[pimpin_228]

I like the noise

[clutch]

I use sound deadening material that you would find in car audio shops (like "Road Kill"). It doesn't do much for temp insulation either way, but it is a good deal quieter when using it on the larger parts of the case and motherboard backplate.

[Marktait]

I'd rather not remove the CPU fan if possible, i had thought of maybe buying a 5000RPM Fan. Also i DONT LIKE the noise

[clutch]

First, here's the material I was mentioning:

http://www.coolerguys.com/cpucool/dynamat.shtml

You can get this at most places that sell decent car audio equipment. Next we have a better HSF option:

http://www.coolerguys.com/cpucool/P4.shtml

Check out the Zalman cooling units, as they use a much larger fan (which is mentioned earlier, tends to spin slow and make less noise) to produce effective cooling. I am thinking of going this route for my P4 myself because of the 6000RPM Delta unit I have on my P3.

[Marktait]

That Fan looks great, is there anything like that on the market for an Athlon XP and do you know where i could get one from an England based Shop on the internet?

[clutch]

I don't know, as I haven't checked their site out much yet. Here's their link though:

http://www.zalmantech.com

[Xiven]

For UK check out www.quietpc.com too.

[tsonta101]

My case used to host a GlobalWin FOP38 (7K rmp), a blue Orb on my GF2 and another 3 low speed intake and exhaust fans. All of them managed to keep my o/ced Athlon at 38C idle (49C under load - heavy gamer here!)...i didn't mind about the noise, since my speakers were cranked up during gameplay. A decibel meter device showed values of 62 to 67 decibels, while moving it around the case.

After about a year, i couldn't take it anymore, the noise was simply too much. SO, i bought a less noiser cooler, removed intake and exhaust fans (just left the blue Orb on the GPU)...noise levels are down to 43 to 45 decibels and temps are up from 45 to 58 (idle and load respectively).

The winner: my ears (and neighbours) are still thanking me!

PS. When i find the time and money, sound proofing material is the next step.

[CrazyKillerMan]

Quality of your HSF combo also makes a large difference.

I have a Dragon Orb 3 4500 rpm. On my 1.2 tbird, it cools it just as well as the Volcano 6Cu+ which was LOUD!!!

I have 2 - 92 mm intakes and 1 - 92 mm blowhole, along with 2 80 mm fans above hard drives shooting hot air out. The case is prolly around 45-50 dB. The problems with adding some serious fans comes down to dB. When taking a 40 dBa fan and adding it to 3 30 dBa fans, the total is going to depend on the loudest fan. 6dB is about twice as loud. So when dealing with a moderate 40 to 50 dB and jumping that to 55 - 60 dB is going to increase overall loudness to the human ear like mad. Where I downgraded the speed of my HSF and added more intake fans, the noise is still less and it actually cools better now than ever.

Sound damping will help alot, as long as the material is placed strategically, there could be a respectable AND noticable dampining in decibels.

So if you are stuck on a HSF method of cooling, I would recommend something other than an all aluminum solution. There are alotta great HSF out there, you just have to check out some reviews. I am happy with the dragon, but there are some new heatsinks out on the market that use techniques that increase surface area, which increases cooling. HS design is alot.

[Brian Frank]

If you can stand some noise, the Vantec CCK-6027D. It's 20 bucks and is a copper cooler with a 5500RPM fan. It's not a jet engine, but you can hear the fan. I'm very impressed with this fan. Most reviews I've read, and one I wrote over at TechWareNet (see link in sig, no pimpin' intended;)) can be summed up like this: It's cheap and cools well.

[Marktait]

Im looking at these flower fans, anybody used one? They dont seem as if they would cool properly and i was just wondering if anyone uses them?

[clutch]

DansData.com has a pretty good comparison on coolers in general, and it includes a few of the Zalman units in both modes:

http://www.dansdata.com/coolercomp.htm

HTH

[Brian Frank]

That's one of the best all-around cooler comparisons I've seen.

[Dirty Harry]

Cools well... the main question is how many Cubic Feets per Minute (CFM) the fan moves, and to some extent when it sits on a CPU cooler how much of that airstream hits the sink. Some sinks are better, some worse, but the more efficient the fan the better each sink performs.

Generally speaking more CFM = more noice as long as the diameter and type of fan stays the same. Different fan brands are different what comes to noise, Pabst remains one of the best. Still, their efficient models are quite loud, but quieter than most. Most fan manufacturers spec the CFM and noice (db) values.

If you cool with fans (as opposed to water cooling) you have two options: 1) more fans as 2 fans are **not** twice as loud as one or 2) larger fans which move more air at a slower RPM. In most cases its easy to fit a few extra blowholes and perhaps change the fans to slower ones. The major rule is front fans to blow in, back and top fans to blow out, and test your options with the side fans.

H.

8 fans running and counting....

[INFERNO2000]

best solution is to spring for an Alpha 8045 or swifty 462 and get a slower 80mm that puts out the same cfm as the loud 60.

that's what I do

[FrogMaster]

Me too... I was getting crazy with 60mm delta
I have put an Alpha 8045 with 80mm slow rpm fan on top of the xp 1700+ o'clocked to 1650 MHz and changed the psu for a triple-temp-controlled-fan one (big a$$ 470 watts psu )
I can hear me thinking now